Podcasts about manasseh

What does the name Joseph actually mean—and how does that meaning shape the stories of both Joseph in Genesis and Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus?In this episode of What's in the Name?, Dr. Mario Melendez explores the Hebrew meaning of Yosef, “to add” or “to increase,” and traces that idea through Scripture.From Rachel's prayer for another son, to Joseph being taken away and restored, to the preservation of Israel during famine, the theme of addition and subtraction runs throughout the Genesis story.Then we turn to the New Testament, where another Joseph adds something very different: honor instead of shame, protection instead of accusation, and obedience in the face of uncertainty.Two Josephs. Two stories. One name with remarkable significance.In this episode:The Hebrew meaning of JosephWhy Rachel gave him this nameThe irony of “addition” and “subtraction” in GenesisJoseph's role in preserving IsraelEphraim and Manasseh and the double inheritanceHow Joseph's story connects to Genesis 50:20The significance of Joseph, the earthly father of JesusHow both Josephs point toward preservation, restoration, and God's purposes

Send us Fan MailTo continue receiving this podcast, please subscribe to: https://thebiblejourneydailypodcast.buzzsprout.comThis Podcast is part of season 23 of a project to complete an in-depth study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.Episode Notes:God forgives sin. But consequences… that's another matter entirely.  We all know this in everyday life. A person can get drunk, crash their car, and later repent. God can forgive the sin of drunkenness completely, but the smashed car still needs repairing. The insurance still needs to be paid at the higher rate, if you can get insurance at all.... The consequences remain. In that case, the consequences are reversible. The car can be fixed, and the damage can be undone. But other situations have irreversible consequences. Forgiveness can be found, but the fallout cannot be undone. For ourselves and for others. 2 Chronicles 33 offers a powerful illustration of that truth. It's the story of a king who sinned deeply, repented sincerely, and was forgiven fully, yet still lived with consequences that could not be reversed. So, I'd like you to join me in this chapter as we look at the life of Manasseh, a king whose story reminds us that God's grace is real… but so are the consequences of sin….Support the showThis podcast is entirely the work of Jeremy R McCandless...Follow and support me on Patreon.Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | PatreonTo receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at:Jeremy McCandless | SubstackCheck out my other Podcasts.My History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.comThe L.I.F.E. Podcast: Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment.https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.comThe Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891The Classic Literature Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle, and now also on Audible, Visit:Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest update

09-27-2026Redeemer Church | Rev. Dr. Justyn TerryIntroduced by Pastor Dave Brown Scripture Reading by Pastor Dave Brown 2 Kings 22:1-10; 23:1-3 Pastor Dave Brown read the account of King Josiah, who became king of Judah at eight years old and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah ordered repairs to the Temple. During the restoration, Hilkiah the high priest discovered “the Book of the Law” that had been lost and neglected. After hearing the words of Scripture, Josiah gathered the people of Judah and Jerusalem, read the covenant aloud, and renewed the nation's commitment to follow God with all their heart and soul. The people pledged themselves to the covenant as well. Sermon Summary Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry: “God's Work of Redemption” Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry centered his sermon on the life of King Josiah, presenting him as an example of how God prepares people, calls them into redemptive work, and uses them to draw others into His purposes. Using the illustration of restoring a neglected building, Terry compared God's redemptive work to the renovation of a great house or castle. Just as a damaged structure can be restored to its original beauty, God delights in redeeming, repairing, and restoring people, communities, and His creation. Josiah's story demonstrates that God often prepares leaders long before their public accomplishments are visible. Although Josiah's father Amon and grandfather Manasseh were wicked kings, Josiah chose a different path. Terry suggested that the influence of Josiah's mother Jedidah and perhaps other faithful family members helped shape his character and direct him toward God. This reminds believers that the quiet work of discipleship, parenting, mentoring, and spiritual formation often becomes the foundation for future ministry and leadership. Terry emphasized that Josiah did not immediately attempt dramatic reforms. He spent years growing, learning, and preparing before undertaking the enormous task of restoring the nation. When he finally began the Temple repairs, the discovery of the Book of the Law became a turning point. Hearing God's Word exposed how far the people had drifted from God. Rather than respond with pride, Josiah responded with repentance, tearing his robes in humility before the Lord. A central theme of the sermon was the ongoing necessity of Scripture. The people of Judah had allowed God's Word to be forgotten, and their lives reflected that neglect. Terry reminded the congregation that God's Word continues to reveal truth, correct error, and guide believers in faithful living. Regular engagement with Scripture, worship, and Christian fellowship enables God's continuing work of redemption in the hearts of His people. Josiah's renewal did not stop with his personal repentance. He gathered the entire nation, read the covenant publicly, and invited everyone into renewed obedience to God. Terry highlighted this as an example of godly leadership: leaders first allow God to transform them, then they help guide others toward transformation as well. He noted that meaningful change rarely happens alone. God often calls believers to invite others into His work, whether in families, churches, workplaces, or communities. The sermon concluded with a challenge for every believer to consider three questions: What redemptive work is God doing in your own life? What work has God prepared you to do for His kingdom? Who is God calling you to invite into that work? Rev. Dr. Terry encouraged the congregation to remain open to God's transforming power, patient in His preparation, faithful in their calling, and intentional about drawing others into the work of God's kingdom. Scripture References Mentioned During the Sermon 2 Kings 22:1-10 – Josiah's reign begins and the Book of the Law is discovered. 2 Kings 23:1-3 – Josiah renews the covenant before the people. 2 Kings 21:20 – The evil reign of Amon, Josiah's father. 2 Kings 21:5-7 – Manasseh's desecration of the Temple. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch/Book of the Law). Deuteronomy 6:5 / Matthew 22:37-39 (referenced conceptually): Love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Ephesians 2:10 (referenced conceptually): God has prepared good works in advance for His people to do. Psalm 127:1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Habakkuk 2:14 (referenced in the closing prayer): “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Key Takeaway: God's pattern is to redeem people first, prepare them through His Word, call them into meaningful service, and then use them to lead others into His redemptive work.

Pastor Will Martin | Joshua 13The conquest is won, the land is at rest — but there's still unfinished work and a divvying up left to do. Pastor Will Martin surveys the land grants given to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan, revisiting the famous story of Sihon and Og and tracing what remains for God's people to claim.

Speaker: Pastor Tim Yorgey

Joshua 17:12-18 (KJV) Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 13 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out. 14 And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto? 15 And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. 16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. 17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only: 18 But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.

The Church of the Souls Evolution with The Reverend Blake Rubie Lou Famoso's Near-Death Tunnel, Heaven's Golden City, and the Faces of the Mother and Father God In a solo, thirty-minute broadcast, Reverend Blake Rubie continues his tour of heaven, retelling a Vietnam veteran's fatal 1964 Mustang crash and tunnel-of-light experience before describing heaven's living flowers, golden city, and the faces of the Mother and Father God. A Shorter Show Continues Last Week's Heaven Talk Reverend Blake Rubie opens The Church of the Soul's Evolution on Saturday, September 26th, thanking Doug from BBS Radio and TV for finishing a new seven-minute theme song, Grey Brain, Golden Soul, which he says is strong enough to become a mainstream hit. He tells listeners this broadcast is part two, continuing directly from last week's show, where he spoke for thirty minutes about the journey toward that distant world of light, the true source of the soul. He reminds the audience that his programs now run just thirty minutes instead of the longer format he once used, so he must move quickly to finish this second segment on heaven in the time allowed. He explains that the soul serves as the brain of the spirit, and that human beings are not their bodies but their spirits and souls, made of light energy able to live within a fire that would destroy ordinary matter. Lou Famoso's Fatal Mustang Crash Rubie retells the story of Lou Famoso, a Vietnam veteran he calls one of the most complete near-death experiences he knows, who was driving his brand-new 1964 Mustang nearly one hundred miles an hour down a poorly paved country road on a Saturday night. Because those early Mustangs carried heavy front ends, the bumps in the road sent the car out of control, flipping it end over end until it crashed and caught fire. Famoso was thrown clear, since cars of that era lacked seatbelts, and suffered a gaping head wound before his spirit left his body and entered the tunnel Rubie has described on earlier broadcasts. Rubie explains that the tunnel is really nothing more than the sun, ninety-three million miles away, whose light takes about eight minutes to reach Earth. Once the physical eyes and ears are gone, he says, the material universe disappears entirely, leaving only spirit and soul, pulled by the sun's gravity down that tunnel of light toward the point of light in the distance. A World of Brighter Colors and Living Flowers Rubie describes what Famoso and every arriving spirit finds on the other side: a world resembling Earth but two to three hundred percent brighter, where colors leap out and hillsides are covered in living flowers that watch passersby and bounce back up when stepped on. He explains that the spirit itself is translucent, rainbow-colored, and holds the same organs as the body but arranged in mirror fashion, while keeping familiar facial features even as it gains the power to reshape its appearance at will, most citizens choosing to look about thirty years old. Arriving spirits quickly remember their own pre-existence, recalling being carried down through Earth's atmosphere by an angel before birth and placed gently alongside the mother, entering the womb sometime after conception, usually three or four months into gestation. Rubie says the borderlands of heaven are filled with angels of every rank, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim among them, all serving the Mother and Father God, the co-creator gods of this solar system. Angels, the Tree of Life, and Heavenly Feasts Rubie insists that the old story of angels rebelling against God is a fabrication invented by ancient rulers seeking power, since angels, unlike humans, were created without free will and cannot rebel. He describes the trees of life scattered through heaven's borderlands, bearing twelve kinds of fruit that spirits can eat, alongside fields of wheat baked into bread and long feast tables, some two or three hundred meters long, set with gold and silver cutlery, candlesticks, and fountains flowing with water from the river of life. No meat is served, he says, since spirit bodies need no protein, though the leaves of the nations can be smelled to deepen one's spirituality. He tells listeners that Jesus promised to prepare a place for those who love him and the Mother and Father God, describing custom-built mansions already waiting, furnished with whatever a person loves, whether marble floors inlaid with roses or a simple log cabin, all created purely by thought. The Golden City and Its Guarded Throne Room Rubie explains that souls shine with a light matching their spiritual growth, comparing it to a sixty-watt bulb at birth that can brighten across a hundred-year lifetime, so that arriving spirits find themselves mingling with soul groups of similar evolution. Those who reach the holy city pass through one of eight pearl gates, named for tribes such as Benjamin and Manasseh, into streets of gold lined with precious stones and silver fountains, traveling by noiseless chariots piloted by angels that carry fifteen or twenty passengers at a time across the hills and valleys of heaven. At the city's center rises a golden dome marking the throne room, which not every spirit is developed enough to enter, since the light there is said to wash over the unprepared like a hurricane-force wind, leaving them prostrate on the ground. Rubie compares reaching the throne room to earning the rank needed to attend a high-level convention, saying spiritual development alone grants admission to witness the Mother and Father God directly. Face to Face With the Mother and Father God Inside the throne room, Rubie says, Jesus sits on a throne beside the Mother and Father God as a co-creator god in his own right, surrounded by high-ranking angels including Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel, along with ten-foot-tall four-faced cherubim bearing the features of a man, an ox, an eagle, and a lion. He describes King David there as heaven's chief praise leader, playing a golden harp that every arriving soul eventually receives as well. Rubie says beholding the Mother and Father God means looking into eyes full of pools of love, faces marked by both authority and kindness, the Father crowned with snowy white hair and a muscular build, the Mother regal and beautiful like a queen. After the life review and celebration, he says, souls may plan their next incarnation using heaven's libraries and halls of justice before he runs out of time. Rubie closes with a short prayer thanking the Creator for love and existence and asking blessings on all of God's children, signing off until next week.

God hardly ever fits into our traditional viewpoint. He rejected every firstborn; from Ishmael to Jacob, to Reuben, to Manasseh, to Eliab and the list continues. We forget that we must fit into God's modus operandi, not the other way around. Hence many of us are not effectively harnessing the tremendous power available in the graphe.

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

00:00:00 2 Kings 1 – Ahaziah Sendeth to Inquire of Baal-zebub, and Elijah Bringeth Down Fire From Heaven00:03:21 2 Kings 2 – Elijah is Taken Up by a Whirlwind Into Heaven, and Elisha Succeedeth Him00:07:21 2 Kings 3 – Jehoram's Reign, and the War Against the Moabites00:11:23 2 Kings 4 – Elisha Multiplieth the Widow's Oil and Raiseth the Shunammite's Son00:17:31 2 Kings 5 – Naaman is Cured of His Leprosy, and Gehazi is Smitten Therewith00:22:29 2 Kings 6 – Elisha Causeth Iron to Swim and Smiteth the Syrians With Blindness00:27:26 2 Kings 7 – Elisha Prophesieth Incredible Plenty, and the Arameans Flee00:31:17 2 Kings 8 – The Shunammite's Land Restored; Hazael Murdereth Ben-hadad, and Jehoram Reigneth00:36:11 2 Kings 9 – Jehu is Anointed King, Slayeth Joram and Ahaziah, and Jezebel is Eaten by Dogs00:42:05 2 Kings 10 – Jehu Slayeth the Sons of Ahab and All the Worshipers of Baal00:48:32 2 Kings 11 – Athaliah Usurpeth the Throne, and Joash is Anointed King00:52:19 2 Kings 12 – Jehoash Repaireth the House of the LORD and is Slain by His Servants00:56:00 2 Kings 13 – The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash, and the Death of Elisha01:00:11 2 Kings 14 – Amaziah's Reign, His War With Israel, and the Reign of Jeroboam II01:04:53 2 Kings 15 – The Reigns of Azariah, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Jotham01:10:49 2 Kings 16 – Ahaz Reigneth Wickedly in Judah and Maketh an Altar After the Pattern of Damascus01:14:16 2 Kings 17 – Israel is Carried Away Captive Into Assyria for Their Sins01:20:54 2 Kings 18 – Hezekiah's Righteous Reign, and Sennacherib Besiegeth Jerusalem01:27:15 2 Kings 19 – Hezekiah Prayeth, and the Angel of the LORD Smiteth the Camp of the Assyrians01:33:16 2 Kings 20 – Hezekiah's Sickness, His Life Lengthened, and the Babylonian Envoys01:36:32 2 Kings 21 – The Wicked Reigns of Manasseh and Amon in Judah01:40:14 2 Kings 22 – Josiah's Good Reign, and Hilkiah Findeth the Book of the Law01:43:47 2 Kings 23 – Josiah Destroyeth Idolatry, Keepeth the Passover, and is Slain in Battle01:51:01 2 Kings 24 – Jerusalem is Besieged and Nebuchadnezzar Carrieth Away the First Captives01:54:05 2 Kings 25 – Jerusalem is Destroyed, the Temple Burnt, and Judah Carried Away Captive

00:00:00 1 Chronicles 1 – The Genealogies from Adam to Abraham and Esau00:04:49 1 Chronicles 2 – The Sons of Israel and the Lineage of Judah unto David00:10:13 1 Chronicles 3 – The Sons of David and the Royal Line of Solomon00:12:46 1 Chronicles 4 – The Posterity of Judah, Jabez's Prayer, and the Families of Simeon00:18:11 1 Chronicles 5 – The Line of Reuben, Gad, and the Half Tribe of Manasseh00:21:49 1 Chronicles 6 – The Sons of Levi, the Singers, and Their Cities00:28:58 1 Chronicles 7 – The Sons of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher00:34:18 1 Chronicles 8 – The Posterity of Benjamin and the Stock of Saul00:37:40 1 Chronicles 9 – The Inhabitants of Jerusalem after the Captivity and Saul's House00:43:06 1 Chronicles 10 – The Overthrow of Saul and His Death on Mount Gilboa00:44:57 1 Chronicles 11 – David Anointed King at Hebron and the Catalogue of His Mighty Men00:50:13 1 Chronicles 12 – The Company that Came to David at Ziklag and Hebron00:55:27 1 Chronicles 13 – David Fetcheth the Ark from Kirjath-jearim and the Death of Uzza00:57:23 1 Chronicles 14 – David's Prosperity, His Children, and Victories over the Philistines00:59:20 1 Chronicles 15 – The Levites Bring Up the Ark to Jerusalem with Joy01:03:19 1 Chronicles 16 – David's Festival Sacrifice, Psalm of Thanksgiving, and Order of Worship01:07:49 1 Chronicles 17 – Nathan's Prophecy of the Davidic Covenant and David's Prayer01:11:40 1 Chronicles 18 – David Subdueth the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites01:14:04 1 Chronicles 19 – The Messengers Humiliated by Hanun and the Defeat of the Ammonites01:17:14 1 Chronicles 20 – Rabbah Spoiled and the Giants of the Philistines Slain01:18:44 1 Chronicles 21 – David Numbereth the People and Buyeth the Threshingfloor of Ornan01:23:28 1 Chronicles 22 – David's Preparation for the Building of the House of the Lord01:26:31 1 Chronicles 23 – Solomon Made King and the Distribution of the Levites01:30:15 1 Chronicles 24 – The Divisions of the Sons of Aaron by Lot01:33:41 1 Chronicles 25 – The Number and Offices of the Singers01:36:57 1 Chronicles 26 – The Divisions of the Porters, Treasurers, and Officers01:41:13 1 Chronicles 27 – The Captains for Every Month and the Rulers of the Tribes01:45:40 1 Chronicles 28 – David Exhorteth the People and Giveth the Pattern of the Temple to Solomon01:49:49 1 Chronicles 29 – The Offerings of the People, David's Thanksgiving, and His Death

00:00:00 2 Chronicles 1 – Solomon's Choice of Wisdom and His Wealth00:02:52 2 Chronicles 2 – Preparation to Build the Temple of the Lord00:06:17 2 Chronicles 3 – Building the House of the Lord on Mount Moriah00:08:43 2 Chronicles 4 – The Vessels and Utensils for the Temple00:11:44 2 Chronicles 5 – The Ark Brought into the Most Holy Place00:14:11 2 Chronicles 6 – Solomon's Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple00:21:07 2 Chronicles 7 – The Lord's Glory Fills the House and His Covenant00:24:55 2 Chronicles 8 – Solomon's Buildings and the Ordering of the Service00:27:42 2 Chronicles 9 – The Queen of Sheba Admireth the Wisdom of Solomon00:32:14 2 Chronicles 10 – The Ten Tribes Revolt from Rehoboam00:35:02 2 Chronicles 11 – Rehoboam Strengtheneth His Kingdom and the Levites Resort to Him00:37:48 2 Chronicles 12 – Rehoboam Forsaketh the Law and Shishak Spoileth Jerusalem00:40:20 2 Chronicles 13 – Abijah Warreth Against Jeroboam and Overcometh Him00:43:45 2 Chronicles 14 – Asa Destroyeth Idolatry and Overcometh Zerah the Ethiopian00:46:03 2 Chronicles 15 – Asa and the People Make a Covenant with the Lord00:48:32 2 Chronicles 16 – Asa Seeketh Help of Syria and is Diseased in His Feet00:51:01 2 Chronicles 17 – Jehoshaphat Reigneth Well and Sendeth Levites to Teach the Law00:53:36 2 Chronicles 18 – Jehoshaphat Joineth with Ahab and Micaiah Prophesieth00:58:42 2 Chronicles 19 – Jehoshaphat Reproved by Jehu Setteth Judges in the Land01:00:31 2 Chronicles 20 – Jehoshaphat Proclaimeth a Fast and the Lord Fighteth for Judah01:06:29 2 Chronicles 21 – Jehoram Slayeth His Brethren and Walketh in the Ways of Ahab01:09:40 2 Chronicles 22 – Ahaziah Walketh Wickedl| and Athaliah Destroyeth the Seed Royal01:12:04 2 Chronicles 23 – Jehoiada Maketh Joash King and Athaliah is Slain01:15:51 2 Chronicles 24 – Joash Repaireth the House of the Lord and Falleth to Idolatry01:20:37 2 Chronicles 25 – Amaziah Smiteth the Edomites and is Overcome by Joash01:25:25 2 Chronicles 26 – Uzziah Seeketh God and Spreadeth His Name but is Smitten with Leprosy01:29:04 2 Chronicles 27 – Jotham Reigneth Well and Prevaileth Against the Ammonites01:30:16 2 Chronicles 28 – Ahaz Walketh in Idolatry and is Delivered into the Hand of Syria01:34:56 2 Chronicles 29 – Hezekiah Cleanseth and Repaireth the House of the Lord01:40:40 2 Chronicles 30 – Hezekiah Proclaimeth a Solemn Passover for Israel and Judah01:45:17 2 Chronicles 31 – The People Destroy Idolatry and Bring in the Tithes01:49:16 2 Chronicles 32 – Sennacherib Invadeth Judah and an Angel Smiteth the Assyrians01:54:44 2 Chronicles 33 – Manasseh's Great Idolatry His Captivity and Repentance01:58:24 2 Chronicles 34 – Josiah Destroyeth Idolatry and Repaireth the House of the Lord02:04:06 2 Chronicles 35 – Josiah Keepeth a Solemn Passover and is Slain in Battle02:08:43 2 Chronicles 36 – The Rebellions of the Last Kings and the Proclamation of Cyrus

(This podcast was previously published on, November 3, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   Judges 6   25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him (to Gideon), Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:   26  And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.   27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.   28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.   29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.   30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.   31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.   (If Baal is a god, let him plead for himself.)   32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him (against Gideon), because he hath thrown down his altar.   33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.   34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.   (The blowing of a trumpet signals the people to action or causes the people to pay attention.)   35 And he (Gideon) sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.   36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,   37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.   38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.   39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.   40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.  

The frilled lizard is often called a dragon, but did God make real dragons? Does this curious reptile that runs on two legs and climbs trees actually spit venom? Discover how this lizard's crazy neck collar reminds us of Gideon's army in the Bible and encourages us to be mighty warriors.Here's our trail map:Is the Frilled Lizard a Real Dragon?Are Frilled Lizards Venomous?Why Does a Frilled Lizard Have a Frill?How Does a Frilled Lizard Remind Us of Gideon's Army?Download this lesson's free coloring sheet: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/why-do-frilled-lizards-have-a-frill/Related Lessons to listen to next:What Is the Most Venomous Snake?: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/2f9c3f05-388e-443d-a23f-03980c46de8f/Were All Dinosaurs Big? With Ken Ham: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3b67b81a-ceac-4fa1-85cf-588a32f23a30/What Is The Difference Between A Turtle And Tortoise?: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/dccb26a1-9dde-498f-8d6d-573f1478e243/Eryn's Books:Where Wonder Leads: An Adventure in God's Wild and Wonderful World: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/wonderMade to Marvel: 52 Family Devotions Exploring the Wild Wonders of God's Creation: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/marvelThe Nature of Rest: What the Bible and Creation Teach Us About Sabbath Living: https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Rest-Creation-Sabbath-Living/dp/0825448891Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family's Faith Through God's Creation: https://www.amazon.com/Rooted-Wonder-Nurturing-Familys-Creation/dp/0825447615936 Pennies: Discovering the Joy of Intentional Parenting: https://www.amazon.com/936-Pennies-Discovering-Intentional-Parenting/dp/0764219782Episode Links:Dragon books by Master Books: https://www.masterbooks.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=dragonsBooks & Curriculum by Master Books: https://www.masterbooks.com/Save half off on CTCMath: https://payments.ctcmath.com/purchase/homeschool-discount?tr_id=NPTNat Theo Club Bonus Video: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/memberGet full lesson guides in the Nat Theo Club: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/clubFree Frilled Lizard Coloring Sheet: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/why-do-frilled-lizards-have-a-frill/Ask your nature question: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/askScriptures Referenced in This Episode:“The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!'” Judges 6:12 (NCV)“The Lord turned to Gideon and said, ‘Go with your strength and save Israel from the Midianites. I am the one who is sending you.'But Gideon answered, ‘Lord, how can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family.'The Lord answered him, ‘I will be with you. It will seem as if the Midianites you are fighting are only one man.'” Judges 6:14-16 (NCV)“Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men to defeat the Midianites. I don't want the Israelites to brag that they saved themselves.'” Judges 7:2 (NCV)“So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can defeat us.” Romans 8:31 (NCV)“So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can defeat us. 32 He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will surely give us all things.” Romans 8:31-32 (NCV)“Everyone who is a child of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world—our faith. So the one who conquers the world is the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:4-5 (NCV)Terms Learned in This Episode:Reptile: Cold-blooded vertebrates with dry, scaly skin including lizards, snakes, turtles and tortoises, alligators, crocodiles, and caiman.Agamidae: A family of lizards that includes frilled dragons, bearded dragons, and many other “dragon” lizards. Most have strong legs, long tails, and features such as crests, spines, frills, or colorful throat patches.Bipedal Running: Running on two legs instead of four.Arboreal: Living in trees or spending much of life in trees.Deimatic Display: A sudden behavior an animal uses to scare an enemy. It might puff up, show bright colors, hiss, or open part of its body to look bigger and more dangerous.This podcast episode contains paid advertisements.Mentioned in this episode:Order Where Wonder Leads: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/Wonder Bundle both of Eryn's new books to save and get a free gift: https://thenaturaltheologyproject.com/bundle

(This podcast was previously published on, November 2, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   Judges 6   1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.  (7-years)   2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.   3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;   4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.   5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.   6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.   7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites,   8 That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;   9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;   10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed MY voice.   If we fear those things the world fears, we take on "another god".  Instead we should turn to our God and ask HIM to deal with those fears which come from this world and we ask God to protect us as HIS people and know that HE is God and in control of those things which this world fears.  

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

Join Fr. Aaron & Marissa Burt for this week's episode, in which they consider the readings for Year A, Proper 21: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:28-32.We discuss the opportunity available to all to repent, the example of King Ahab and Manasseh, the Christian call to charity, and Jesus' parable of the two sons.Notes:--2019 Book of Common PrayerThe Bible ProjectOrdinary Time: The Season of Growth, by: Amy Peeler0:54 Collect3:29  Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-3219:57 Psalm 2528:51 Philippians 2:1-1346:41 Matthew 21:28-32 Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.

September 13, 2026 - Sunday PM Sermon   In this episode Hiram confronts Marcionism—the early church controversy of dismissing the Old Testament—and explains why the whole Bible is essential for Christian faith. Framing the talk around the title "Old Testament Lessons for New Testament Christians," the sermon walks listeners through ten concrete lessons drawn from Genesis through the Prophets and the Writings that shape New Testament belief and practice. Topics covered include the historical example of Marcion and his edited Bible, the continuity between Old and New covenants, and ten specific takeaways: (1) God as Creator (Genesis, Psalms), (2) the equal value of every person as God's image-bearer (Genesis, Leviticus, Proverbs), (3) God's heart for the nations (Jonah, Ruth, Joshua), (4) the inevitability and purpose of suffering (Job, John 16), (5) the indispensability of prayer (Psalms, 1 Samuel, Jeremiah), (6) God's seriousness about obedience (Leviticus, 2 Samuel, Numbers), (7) God's sovereignty over nations and rulers (Exodus, Daniel, Romans 13), (8) God's willingness to forgive anyone (Manasseh, Isaiah, Psalm 103), (9) divine providence surpassing human plans (Joseph, Esther, Romans 8), and (10) the hope of better days to come (Isaiah, Hebrews, John 14). Hiram weaves scripture references and illustrative stories—Job's suffering, Jonah and Nineveh's repentance, Joseph's providence, and the restoration of Manasseh—into pastoral encouragement. He emphasizes practical implications for listeners: don't reject the Old Testament, value every life, persevere through suffering, pray regularly, respect God's commands, submit to civil authorities while praying for them, trust God's providence, and live in expectation of Christ's return. Participants and contributors mentioned in the recording include Darrell (who reads a passage), co-teachers Barrett and Grant (noted for teaching the Psalms class), Neal (co-teaching with the speaker), and Chase (who leads the closing invitation song). The episode closes with an invitation to receive prayer, restoration, or baptism and an appeal to embrace the hope both Testaments point to in Jesus Christ.   Handout: Old Testament Lessons for New Testament Christians Hiram Kemp 1. God is __________________________ _________________________ (Genesis 1:1) 2. Every ______________________ has ______________________ (Genesis 1:26-27) 3. God wants all _____________________ to know ________________ (Jonah 3:1-10) 4. ______________________________ is _________________________ (Job 1:20-22) 5. ______________________ is _____________________________ (1 Samuel 1:9-18) 6. God does not _____________ ___________ lightly (Leviticus 10:1-3; 2 Samuel 6:6-7) 7. God is _____________ over ____________ & ___________ (Daniel 4:17, 4:25, 4:35) 8. God will ____________ ______________ & ______________ (2 Chronicles 33:1-20) 9. God's _______________ is ____________ than our __________ (Genesis 50:15-21) 10. Better _______________________ are ________________________ (Isaiah 2:1-4)   Duration 34:48

Joseph's naming of Manasseh and Ephraim shows how God brought him through years of injustice, slavery, and imprisonment into a life of peace, purpose, and fruitfulness. Manasseh means God made him forget, not by erasing the past, but by freeing him from rehearsing the bitterness, hurt, and loss that had plagued his mind. Ephraim means God made him fruitful, proving that Joseph's life was not wasted in the dungeon and that his suffering had prepared him to save and bless others. The way forward after deep hurt is not to keep circling the past in sorrow, self-pity, or bitterness, but to trust God, stop remembering what cannot be changed, and look ahead to the purpose He still has. Forgetfulness had to come before fruitfulness, and Joseph's life shows that God can restore the years that seemed lost and make a wounded life useful, fruitful, and full of blessing.

This sermon explores the life of Joseph to illustrate that God's providence is sovereign and that all times are known to the Almighty. It argues that believers often mistake temporary comforts, symbolized by Joseph's sons Manasseh and Ephraim, for God's ultimate purpose, leading to spiritual stagnation. The message encourages the audience to recognize that these reliefs are not the expected end but rather stepping stones toward a greater divine plan. By referencing the quickening power of Scripture, the sermon urges believers to trust in God's ability to work all things together for good, even amidst dark and mysterious trials. Ultimately, it calls for a refusal to settle in weariness, urging Christians to keep moving forward in faith toward the eternal hope that God has prepared.

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

We completed the book of Isaiah in our last episode and now we're back in the narrative histories of 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings. Hezekiah's son Manasseh takes the throne and turns the good of his father's kingdom upside down by participating in every kind of spiritual evil imaginable. As such is the case, God says through his prophets that he will clean Jerusalem out like a bowl, turning it upside down. 2 Chronicles records that Manasseh is taken captive by Assyria later in life, at which point he repents and turns to the Lord for help. Before his death, he turns Judah back to the Lord, but only in partial obedience. His son Amon will take the throne after him, but will only reign for two years, repeating his father's mistakes.2 Chronicles 33 - 1:04 . 2 Kings 21 - 6:15 . Proverbs 3 - 12:13 . :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

This week, we look at Jacob's blessing over Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, in Genesis 48 and his blessing to 4 of his sons--Reuben, Simeon/Levi, and Judah. We'll trace how God works in the lives of His people. He gives His people a place, determines their portion, and holds them accountable. We'll then see in Genesis 49 how God promises a ruler, ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

Ephraim and Manasseh In verse 10 of chapter 48, about how his eyes are not working very great, he can't see very well. And you're like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute." So we're recalling Isaac's nearly blind eyes. He was in his tent, he thought he was about to die. And this is the moment where Yaaqov…

In this episode, with Paps Back, we feature Manasseh Nyaga as he tells us his endeavors around Africa. Enjoy!

As usual, all our chapters are full of meaningful lessons: first, Hezekiah after his life is extended 15 years is succeeded by a 12 yr old son, Manasseh who turns out to be a very bad king.  We wonder about the role of Hephzibah, his mother in this.  The spirituality of whom we marry is very important. Her name is apparently of Phoenician origin, meaning, ‘delight of Baal.' Again the spirit takes Ezekiel to Jerusalem and gives him insight into God's reaction because of his full awareness of the minds of those living there. God always has such knowledge! Awesome!  Ezekiel learns, “But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.” [Ch. 11 v.21]  And today?In Luke (Ch. 7) we read how messengers come to Jesus from John the Baptist.  Our Lord has been doing many remarkable miracles, but when he brings to life again a young man who is being carried out to his burial, “fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying,  ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!' and ‘God has visited his people!'  And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John,  calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  [v.16-19]The way Jesus answers him is instructive – and challenging!  John evidently had certain expectations of the Messiah's work – and what was happening did not fit these.  We look back at ch. 4 and see how Jesus quoted from a scroll of Isaiah when in the Synagogue, v.17-19. It is now instructive to note how Jesus responds to these messengers, “”Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” [v.22-23]He is telling John to check out and “believe all that the prophets have spoken”!  These are the words of Jesus we will read in ch. 24 v.25, when, after his resurrection he speaks to 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus.  This is a lesson for us as we anticipate the return of our Lord and our expectations are increasing!  We must take a lesson from the quandary of John the Baptist and look to “all that the prophets” have written!  Are they not like pieces of a jigsaw!  We have more and more pieces that seem to fit, but there are still others we are not sure about: events yet to come, maybe very soon, will make the picture clearer and clearer. 

In Due Season This message centers on Galatians 6:6–10 and the truth that what we sow, nurture, and faithfully continue in will eventually produce a harvest. Using Caleb and Joshua as living examples, the message shows that faithfulness requires endurance. Caleb held to God's promise for decades and, at eighty-five years old, was still ready to possess what God had promised. His life illustrates Galatians 6:9: "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." A major emphasis is that weariness can become weakness if we stop believing and obeying what God has said. Israel's failure in the wilderness was not because they lacked information, but because they allowed their own reasoning, fears, and circumstances to carry more weight than God's Word. Caleb had "a different spirit" because he wholly followed the Lord. The message warns that rejecting God does not always look openly rebellious; sometimes it simply looks like deciding that our opinion, priorities, or logic are more important than what He has revealed. Galatians 6 also teaches that we reap according to what we sow. Continually sowing to the flesh—self-centered thinking, fear, worldly reasoning, bitterness, or unbelief—eventually corrupts how we see God, people, and circumstances. But sowing to the Spirit through the Word produces an everlasting way of seeing life. We learn to trust the One who controls what we cannot control and to view temporary troubles through eternal truth. The message also stresses shared responsibility within the body of Christ. Just as Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh could not simply receive their inheritance and abandon their

STORIES OF GRACE | This SundayEvery story has a past. And because of God's grace, no story is beyond redemption. Nicole Smith shares her powerful story of grace, redemption, and fulness in Christ. From David to Manasseh, Isaiah to Paul, Scripture reminds us that God has always been a God of grace. His grace cleanses us completely, changes us radically, and sends us willingly to live on mission for His glory.Whatever your story holds, God's grace is greater.Join us next Sunday as we continue our series, Glorious Grace: The Letter of Ephesians.#EastridgeCommunityChurch #GloriousGrace #StoriesOfGrace #ByGrace #Ephesians #GodsGrace #LiveOnMission

This passage records the family of the western half-tribe of Manasseh and its place in Israel's history. Study and transcript: https://sharonrpc.org/devotions/1-chronicles-7-14-19-your-inheritance-is-secure

09/13/2026 Rev. Siyoung Jung No King in Israel: The Book of Judges (Part 10): God's Wisdom in Our Trials Judges 7:1-8, 15-25 ESV Gideon's Three Hundred Men 7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.' 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. 4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,' shall not go.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” 8 So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.   15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” 16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.'” 19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. 25 And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

7 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: 5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Re 7:1–8.

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

09/06/2026 Rev. Paul Bang No King in Israel: The Book of Judges (Part 9): The Deliverer Who Needed Delivering   Judges 6:11-27   English Standard Version     The Call of Gideon 11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” 19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah[b] of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. 25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. The Sign of the Fleece 36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.  

God Empowers the Weak (1)  (audio) David Eells, 9/6/26 To all those who have struggled to please the Lord and do His Will, I want to share with you some good news. It will be a rest and refreshing, a casting down of the burden of salvation, in all its many facets, by self-works. It is not in ourselves to do these things but in Him. Personal strength and determination will not be enough. As a matter of fact, it will get in our way and His. He will wait until we give up so that He may give the free gift through faith that He also supplies. So, ask for faith. Gideon was faced with an army that was “like locusts for multitude.” He gathered together all the manpower at his disposal. All of this human strength stood in the Lord's way of doing a miracle for His glory. Man would certainly take the credit, and then others would not see the true source of our physical and spiritual salvation. (Jdg.7:2) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. At this point, the Lord proceeded to choose only 300 men and then gave them trumpets for weapons. In the natural, there was none weaker than this army. Now the Lord could show that His “power is made perfect in weakness.” And what of David, who was naturally the youngest, smallest and weakest of Jesse's sons? When Samuel anointed him with the power of the Spirit, he went on to slay Goliath with a sling in the very next chapter. How often is this scenario repeated through the Scriptures so that we might know that weakness is a true strength when it qualifies us for the Lord's power. We should refuse to size up the opposition, knowing that when the “odds” are against us, they are in our favor. Our victory is assured by the fact that it was accomplished already at the cross. Each of us needs to become as a child because we can walk with the Lord if we become as a child. The thing about grownups is they're self-confident, self-sufficient, and self-dependent. The world thinks of those traits as being positive, but in the Kingdom, God does not consider it that way. The Lord says the only way you can enter into the Kingdom is to be a child. Jesus said, “suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God (Mar.10:14). Forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God, is what it said in the original. Of such is the kingdom of God. (15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. (16) And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.” Now we tend to think of the Kingdom as someplace that we're going to so that we can enter into it, but actually we're entering into the Kingdom here on Earth. In reality, the Kingdom is to be every place in your life. The kingdom of God is within you (Luk.17:21), Jesus said. The Kingdom is every place in your life where God is able to rule, where He is King. God is not able to rule until you're in agreement with Him. To be a child is to be confident in your Father, not self-confident. It's to be dependent upon your Father, not self-dependent. This is valuable to God. As He said, “my righteous one shall live by (“from” in the Numeric) faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him” (Heb.10:38). What pleases God is that we live from faith, that we do not live from our self-confidence, or our self-sufficiency, or our own ability, or the strength of the arm of the flesh, but that we put our trust in God and walk with Him like a little child walks with his father. In other words, there's no other way to enter into the Kingdom. We must give up being grownups. We must become as children. In order for God to be able to rule everywhere in our lives, we have to become as children.  (Mat.18:1) In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (2) And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And these were His disciples that He was speaking to. These were not the lost Pharisees; these were the disciples of Jesus, those who were learning and following Him. He said you will not enter in unless you turn and become as little children. The process of the Christian life is this process of turning and becoming as little children and becoming God-dependent, God-sufficient and God-confident. (Mat.18:4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.  You see, Jesus was a little child. That's Who He was. He says, if you receive one of these little children, you receive Me. That's somebody who's in My likeness; you receive Me. He was a child. He really was. He wasn't a grown-up in the ways of the world, in the ways of confidence in the world, the strength of the world. Grown-ups are known for making their own way, making their own living, being self-sufficient, being great providers, but the Lord wants to wash all that out of us. He wants us to put all of our confidence and our trust in Him and become as little children. If you receive one such little child, you receive Jesus. That's the way He was. He was confident in His Lord. I'll tell you, the best way we can help ourselves is by walking by faith in God's Word. You've probably heard the old saying that “God helps those who help themselves,” but that's not found in the Bible. That saying is credited to Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard's Almanack. No, the best way to help yourself is walking in faith in God's Word.  (Rom.14:22) The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. That's what the Bible says. You can help yourself. You can help yourself to everything that God has for you through faith in His Word. (Luk.10:21) In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. What was He talking about? Reveal what things to the babes? Well, the disciples had just come back from being sent out by the Lord to take authority over the works of the devil. They came back rejoicing that God had given them authority over the power of the devil and that they had done the works of Jesus, and they saw that the spirits were subject unto them. But why did Jesus call them babes? Well, it was babes who received this revelation of the authority of Jesus, and it was babes who received this revelation of how to use the authority of Jesus. Let's back up a little in this chapter. (Luk.10:3) Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. (4) Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. So we see they were babes because Jesus sent them out totally dependent upon the Lord.  (5) And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace [be] to this house. (6) And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. And so he said, “salute no man on the way,” because you really don't know people, but you find out later who people are. We're going to find out before the end of the tribulation who people really are and who His children are.  God sent these disciples out as children, as totally dependent upon the Lord, not self-sufficient, not able to take care of themselves. He deliberately took away their ability to take care of themselves when He sent them by not letting them take any kind of insurance with them. The only thing they took was His assurance because He said, “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luk.10:7), meaning that if you just go, God will always pay His workers. You don't have to worry about it. God is that way. He wants us to go without our own sufficiency or our own insurance so that we can see His provision on the way. I really, truthfully believe that Jesus never changed this way of sending out people. Many times, if God says, “Go,” you may go. It doesn't matter if you have the wherewithal to do this. If God says, “Go,” you may go. He will never fail you. He will meet you on the way. He's done it many, many times with me when He said, “Go,” and I've noticed, “But, God, I don't have this” or “I don't have gas” or “I don't have money.” But God doesn't take “no” for an answer. If He says, “Go,” you can go because He will be there. He'll put gas in your car. He's done it to me several times. Or He'll make it run without gas. He's done that, too. Or He'll put money in your pocket somehow or another. He'll do it. Or He'll make your money stretch. He can surely multiply it. He can do all things. He'll have you meet up with people whom He has put there specifically to supply your needs, if you go by faith and be obedient to Him. If you go as a child, just trusting in your Father.  In America, there are far too few children. Everybody in America seems grown-up. Everybody in America wants to insulate themselves against anything that could happen, as though they don't believe in a sovereign God. The Bible says, “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven” (Joh.3:27). God, Who is Sovereign, will make sure that He blesses you if you go by faith in Him. Believe me, the time is coming when everybody will have to go by faith in God because He's going to take away all the things that people have insured and insulated themselves with from the things that might happen in the world. But God is God. He never goes to sleep. He's never fallen off the throne. He's there always. He is going to make sure that His Word comes true. And we can be just like little children. We can cast ourselves on His mercy.  Children never even think about where the next meal is going to come from. Little children don't worry about those things; they just know that it's Momma and Daddy's responsibility; they'll take care of that. And you know, that's the way God is with us. He wants that kind of relationship with us. God's not happy with anything less. (Heb.10:38) My righteous one shall live from faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. God doesn't have pleasure in self-sufficient people. He has pleasure in people who walk by faith, talk by faith, live by faith. And it is a pleasure to live by faith. I don't yet know all of what living by faith is; God's only shown me the little parts that He's shown me, but I would love to live by faith in every direction. Some directions I've never even thought about, and other people will come and say, “Oh, did you try this?” For example, a sister in the Lord once told me that she and some other people just picked up some instruments and started playing them by faith, and pretty soon they got better and better at it. They were surprised at how God blessed them. Well, that led us to pray over our children, Nathan and Jennifer, by faith, and God answered that prayer. I tell you, it was just the very next week after that when they started playing music, picking it up quite naturally, by ear. So there isn't anything God won't do for those who put their trust in Him.  There is nothing that God can't do and won't do for those who put their trust in Him. I believe this is the reason that He said He revealed these things unto babes. God reveals the authority of God and God reveals the power of His name to people who will become children, people who will cast care to the wind and put themselves in His Hands, just trusting in Him, believing in Him. (Eph.3:20) God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. God loves it when we are weak, but we don't see it that way. We like to be strong, and we do our best to make sure that we're strong in every situation that we can get in. As I said, we do our best to insulate ourselves from any possible mishap, but that doesn't please God. It doesn't please God that we put our trust in the gods of this world, the saviors of this world. The apostle Paul learned that lesson. He was caught up to paradise and he said, “On behalf of such a one (the man who was caught up to paradise) will I glory: but on mine own behalf I will not glory, save in my weaknesses” (2Co.12:5). The King James Version translates that word “weaknesses” there as “infirmities” because they had the idea that the apostle Paul had some kind of sickness or infirmities, but a closer look at this reveals that's not the case at all. Those translators believed the apostle Paul had an eye disease or something like that and that God said, “my grace is sufficient for thee” (2Co.12:9), meaning, “You just keep that because you need that; you need that to be an overcomer; you need that to humble you.” But obviously that would be contrary to a lot of the rest of the Word. The Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). It doesn't say that we're healed only when we really need it, and it doesn't say that we're healed only sometimes. You were healed all the time. Let's read on. (2Co.12:6) For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forebear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me [to be,] or heareth from me. (7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. So we see that he said what the “thorn in the flesh” was. He said it was a messenger of Satan, an angelos. The word there is angelos, which is translated 181 times in the New Testament as “angel” and the other few times as “messenger,” but it means the same thing. It's the same Greek word, angelos. Here was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul so that he wouldn't be proud. Paul didn't say it was a sickness that was sent to buffet him. And, by the way, to “buffet” is not just one blow, like a sickness. It's to beat over and over and over. It's many blows. That's what buffet means. But a thorn in the flesh, in this case, was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul. In the Old Testament, for every verse that talks about a thorn in the flesh, never, not once, is it ever a sickness. It was always referring to the enemies of God's people that came against them, and in this case it's the same thing. An angel of Satan was sent to buffet Paul so he wouldn't “be exalted overmuch.” (2Co.12:8) Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. The King James here has that this word is “weakness,” but this word and the word up in verse five are the same Greek word, so one of them can't be “infirmity” and the other one “weakness.” Both of them have to be the same thing, and the truth is they are, because using the same Greek word in talking about Jesus, the Bible says, “for he was crucified through weakness” (2Co.13:4).  Now, nobody would have put “infirmity” there. Jesus wasn't crucified through infirmity, so they had to put the truth there and the King James did use “weakness” in that case. (4) For he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. See, when you are weak in Christ, you're going to live through the power of God. It's when you are not able. It's being weak in ability to save yourself, being weak in ability to deliver yourself, being weak in ability to heal yourself. He says when you're in that condition, then God's power is going to be with you. This is the same thing Paul said back in 2 Corinthians 12:9. I'm pointing out this verse because in the King James they used the word “weakness” here and it could not possibly be put in as “infirmity” because we can't read anywhere in the Scriptures that Jesus was infirm, nor was He crucified because He was infirm. Now, that's the same word that's being used over here and over in 2 Corinthians 12:9. He said, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness.” You know, if we will be weak as a little child, God's power will be there. Most often, God's power is not there because we refuse to be weak. We want to be strong in a circumstance. We see what we think needs to be done and we run to do it, and we are not ceasing from our works. We are not entering into the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:11). We're not refusing to be strong. If we will refuse to be strong and we will put our trust in God, we will see His power there every time.  This reminds me of a vision I had years ago, in which Mary and I were sitting in some lawn chairs in front of our house in Louisiana. While we were sitting there, we saw this power line hanging from pole to pole. The strange thing about it, as we were looking at this and studying it, was that the power line was almost touching the ground in the middle because it was sagging so badly. And while we were watching that, a tornado came over that power line and sucked us up out of our chairs. Then the vision changed, and I feel like we were over in Florida, and the Lord was showing us something about our ministry over there. But what He showed me about that always stuck with me. As we were sitting there, ceasing from our works and resting in lawn chairs, watching the power of man come to an end (that's the power lines), as we watched the power of man come to an end, then the power of God took over. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. God's not ready to move until we cease from our works because we have faith. Every time you have faith, you can stop; you can cease from your work, you can cease from your struggling; you can cease from trying to save yourself because the Bible says you are saved. It doesn't say He will save you. If it said that, you'd wonder what method He wanted to use, but since His method is past tense and you believe it, you have to stop; you have to cease. And so God's power is made perfect in our weakness.  Paul said, “most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses (not “infirmities” because it's the exact same Greek word), that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Co.12:9). Glory in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. That's the way a child is. They have all the power of Daddy because he is the provider, he is the deliverer, he is the savior. He takes care of it all, and they don't think it should be any other way, and we should be that way, too. We've been trained up to think otherwise, to be grownups, but you know, we shouldn't be thinking in any other terms than what a child thinks. This is the way God wants it.  Well, I think that we can see by now that the ‘verse,' “God helps those who help themselves,” is not Godly at all; it's antichrist. It will never allow you to enter into the power of God. It will never allow the Spirit and the power of Christ to rest upon you. So Paul says he glories in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. (2Co.12:10) … I take pleasure in weaknesses…. King James says “infirmities.” Nobody takes pleasure in infirmities. That's ridiculous. The word here is the same Greek word again; it's “weakness.” Yes, we take pleasure in weaknesses. It's great to be weak. It's great to not have the ability to deliver yourself because then you get to see the miracle of God. And he went on to say, in “injuries,” or actually the word there is “insults,” according to the ancient manuscripts and the Received Text and several others; it's “insults,” not necessarily “injuries.” You don't take pleasure in injuries, but “in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2Co.12:10). Now, what was this buffeting that this angel sent his way, this angel of Satan? Some people say there are no such things as angels of Satan. You know that the demons are angels. Some people say the demons are not angels, but no, that's not what the Bible says. The demons are the angels of Satan, so just forget about that theology. Don't believe that and don't go down that road because it's wrong. Michael and his angels fought with Satan and his angels (Revelation 12:7), the Bible says. Demons are all fallen angels. That's where they came from. They are the fallen angels, the non-elect angels. So what is this buffeting? What are these many different blows that the angel of Satan brought Paul's way in order to make him weak, and bring him into a position of weakness? Well, Paul gives a list of them. (2Co.11:21) I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. (22) Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. (23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. He's talking about the places where he was weak to save himself. You know, when we get into places where we don't see any possibility of saving ourselves, that's wonderful because we get to see the power of God. If we walk by faith in those places, then we get to see the miracles of God. That's what God wants to teach us. He brings us into those places. Remember, God was the One Who sent this angel of Satan to humble Paul.  Why do we need humbling? We need humbling because we're grown-ups and we need to become children. We need to not be self-sufficient; we need to be God-sufficient. We need to be trusting in our Lord because His promises are there to save us in all these situations. So God brings us into these places, and Satan's angel brings us into these places where we're weak, where we need the power of God. If we will be weak, we will see the power of God. Many times we want to look for man's help, man's way, man's wisdom.  Let's continue reading Paul's list. (2Co.11:24) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; (26) [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; (27) [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. He was in all these places in order to be weak so he could see the power of God. God put him in those places, like He brought the Israelites into those places in the wilderness so that they could see the power of God. Being weak is not a time to be anxious or worried; it's a time when you should expect to see the power of God. It's God's purpose to bring us to weakness so we can see His power. This is His plan. Don't ever be cast down because of what you see, because what you see is these places that make you weak. It's God's plan for you when you get into these places that you put your trust in Him and that you see His power. This is the place where God's power rests upon you. This place of weakness, the place of your own inability to save yourself or deliver yourself, is the place you can look for the promise of God and trust in God.  Paul went on, “besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches (2Co.11:28). (29) Who is weak (that's the word “weak”), and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? (30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.” That's another place that the King James calls it “infirmity.” It's the same word! In the same text, if a word is translated one way in one part of the text and another way in another part of the text, that is dishonest. That is deceiving; it's wrong. It either has to be one or the other. If you look at this word in other parts of the Bible, the conclusion is that it's talking about weakness, not infirmity. Thank God for the places that He brings us to where we're weak! That's the only place we ever see miracles. Do you realize that? It's the only place we ever see miracles, and yet that is the place we're most tempted to throw up our hands and be anxious or worried or troubled. That is the place where all miracles are given, right there, in a place of weakness, the place where you're unable. Now, if you have the mind of a child and you get in that place, you just expect Father to take over from then on. This is something that He normally does. God normally supplies your need, like in the teaching Jesus gave about the birds and the flowers. He said they don't labor and they don't toil to clothe and to feed themselves (Matthew 6:26,28). You mean, the Lord is saying you don't have to work to bring about this clothing and feeding? You don't have to toil? That's exactly what He said. Go back and read it. It's so clear. That's exactly what He said. He knew that you'd get yourself in a situation, and He even ordained these situations to come, where you wouldn't be able to provide for yourself. And He said, “are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father (Mat.10:29). (30) But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. (31) Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Look, not even a hair falls out of your head; can you imagine that God doesn't know it?! He knows us so intimately that not one hair can fall out of your head without Him knowing it. I mean, your hairs are always falling out and growing back. How can He number the hairs of your head? That is an intimate God Who can number the hairs of your head. He knows a lot, so how could we possibly get into a situation that He doesn't know about and hasn't planned for? He is our Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord our Provider. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. You can't get so far out that God can't reach you. You can't get in so impossible a situation that He can't take care of it. He can pay your taxes out of a fish's mouth (Matthew 17:27). He can do anything. Think about some of the things that God has done in the Scriptures, and He really did do them. He stopped the solar system for a day so Joshua could defeat his enemies. God can do anything. And, you know what? The great thing about it is He's “the same yesterday, and to-day, [yea] and for ever” (Heb.13:8). He is the same. He will still do anything to meet your needs if you will be weak and have faith. Be weak and have faith. Now, the time when you ought to have faith is when you're weak, because God doesn't need to meet your needs when you don't have any. You don't need a miracle until you need a miracle. Don't think that you can avoid a trial of your faith by receiving the miracle before you need it. No. God tries your faith. The miracle doesn't come till the miracle's needed. Trust in Him between here and there because He will be there. He will do what you need. Be confident in Him. Be children in Him. This is what we need to learn, and it's not an easy lesson. It demands the death of self, but religion has trained us up with the mind of the beast because religion has taught that God helps those who help themselves and it trains us to take care of these situations. Religion trains us to trust in the arm of the flesh. They even changed God into a god which He has never been so that they can trust in the arm of the flesh. “Now God does it this way,” they say, as if Jesus doesn't heal the same way He always healed, by laying hands on the sick or by speaking the word of faith. He's always healed that way and He still does. But you see, they've changed God so that you can trust in the arm of the flesh, so that you can be strong. You can run out and get the strength of the world, make your alliances with the world, get your insurance from the world. They'll change God and go to any extent to let the flesh live. But we have to become as a child; otherwise, Jesus says, you're not entering into the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 18:17). The Kingdom of Heaven is where God rules, God reigns, God saves, God delivers. He hasn't changed. Man has attempted to change Him.  God put us here in this weak position. He planned for us always to be in a weak position, so that He could be our Savior. (2Co.4:7) But we have this treasure (the treasure Paul is talking about is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God) in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves. God put this treasure, this knowledge of God, in such a weak vessel so that when anything happened, it would have to bring glory to Him and not to us. He could have put us in a strong vessel. He could have put us in a very knowledgeable, very wise, very strong, very healthy vessel, and we wouldn't have needed His help. He wouldn't have needed to be God, would He? We would have been our own gods.  If we watch all the children's superhero shows, we'll notice the thing that's super about them is they're their own gods. They do what they want. They are able. That's not what God ever wanted. God didn't choose us because we are able. He chose us because we're not able. He wanted to give us His ability freely through grace, and that's unmerited. You can't earn it; you can't pay for it. He wanted to give it to us freely. When you get yourself in an impossible situation, think about it. God put you there and He put you there so that you could see how great He is. So God put this wonderful treasure in a very weak earthen vessel. (2Co.4:8) We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; (9) pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; (10) always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus (which is the death of self), so that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. God wants Jesus to live through us, but we have to be weak for Him to do that. The power of Christ will rest upon those who are weak. We're powerful only because we have faith in God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) but He doesn't strengthen until you're weak, you see. We have to cease before He will start. We have to keep the Sabbath and cease from our works and enter into His works through faith. God not only put us in a world that's bigger than us and with an enemy that was a lot bigger than us; He put us in a vessel that was weak to begin with, so that when the salvation came, we would also know it was from Him and not from ourselves. We think we're so great and we've been trained to be self-sufficient. Mommas and daddies train up their children to be self-sufficient. That's not what God wants. He wants a child. He's always chosen the weak (1 Corinthians 26-29). He's never chosen the strong and this gives you hope. This gives you hope that when you get in impossible situations, God planned for you to be there so that He could show you His power, His deliverance, and His salvation. This is God's plan. It's been His plan from the beginning and He's done it over and over. (Deu.7:6) For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. And did you know that God still does that? God has still chosen you above all the peoples upon the face of the earth. Did you know that? If He chose you, He chose you above someone else, but He didn't choose you because you're wiser or smarter or more able or mighty, because “not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]” (1Co.1:26). God chose the weak. God called the weak “above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deu.7:7) The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples. And it's still that way, isn't it? God chose “the fewest of all peoples.” Why did He do that? Certainly, if He was fighting battles with all the Canaanites, He would want the greatest number, wouldn't He? No, because when the battle was won, He didn't want anybody to say, “Look what we did!” And when the battle is won in our lives, He doesn't want anybody to be able to say, “Look what we did!” “Look how powerful we are!” “Look how wise we are!” Or “Oh, we were smart enough to follow God.” You know, all these things that people could say. No. God said He didn't choose us because we were the mightiest but because we were the fewest. It's still that way today. The true Christians are few. Don't think that the Christians in this country are the many. What do they call them? The “moral majority.” That is just totally ridiculous! For proof of that, look at the people we have in elected office. If there was a moral majority, believe me, you would always have a government that was moral and good because that's the way democracy works. There's no moral majority. Never was.  God chose us because we were the fewest of all peoples. (Deu.7:8) But because the Lord loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he swear unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, and from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (17) If thou shalt say in thy heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? (18) thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; (19) the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. And so shall the Lord thy God do to all of the curse that you come against, and to all of the flesh that you have to conquer, and to all the principalities and powers that you have to conquer. They are made strong, and you are made weak for a purpose, so that you can see the power of God move against them.  We never need to count on our own strength. David did that and brought a curse on Israel (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). He counted the people of Israel and brought a curse on them because God sent a pestilence that killed 70,000 men, just so David couldn't count on his own strength (2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Chronicles 21:14). When you count on your strength, look out because you have trouble coming. God's going to humble you. God's in the humbling process with us. He wants to deliver us from trusting in the arm of the flesh. You know, in almost every battle that Israel won, they were outnumbered. Isn't it amazing that God demanded that they be outnumbered before He would give them the victory? For example, in Judges we're told that the Israelites had an army coming against them that the Bible says were as the sands of the sea for multitude (Judges 7:12). The Midianites, the Amalekites and the children of the east were coming against them, and all the men of Israel who could be gathered together weren't enough to do the job and they knew it. At first they were counting on their own ability and the numbers they had, but they were ridiculously outnumbered. (Jdg.7:2) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. Well, that was just the beginning of God whittling down the people and those people who are fearful will not be the ones who have the victory over the enemy. Being weak is one thing, but being fearful is quite another. Being fearful is not trusting in the power that God has given us to come against our enemy. Being fearful is judging by your own ability. It's looking at your own ability or your own inability, but that's where God is putting us on purpose. This is God's plan to put us in a position of weakness, to make our enemy look big. He sent the Israelites into a promised land where the enemies were giants, and they were vastly outnumbered. It was God's plan for it to look like an unfair contest. In every trial that we go into, it's going to look that way so that when we get the victory, we know it's God's power, not our own.  If you're thinking, “Yeah, but God chose Gideon, a great man of valor, to bring this about.” Well, let's go back and look at Gideon. (Jdg.6:12) The angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. The Lord tells you the same thing. He's with you. His authority is behind you whenever you walk for Him. Whatever we do, we do in the Name, representing Him. His power and His authority are behind us when we act on the Word. (Jdg.6:13) And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.  Have you ever thought, “Where are the mighty works of God?” Well, I'll tell you where they are. They're waiting on people to be weak. If people won't be weak, they won't see them. As long as we're strong to save ourselves, we don't need God. There's no faith involved in that. So now Israel had just gotten itself into a position of weakness, and do you know what? God chose just as weak a man to lead them. (Jdg.6:14) The Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee? “This thy might”? What is the Lord talking about? What does He mean here? It's because God sent Gideon. This kind of reminds you of Peter. “Lord, you just bid me to come to You on the water.” And when the Lord said, “Come,” Peter stepped out of the boat. The Lord said he could do it, and just on the word of the Lord, Peter did it (Matthew 14:28,29). He stepped out of the boat by faith. Nobody else stepped out of the boat, but he did. You know, if the Lord told you in the Word, that's all you need. “In this thy might.” God's always going to be behind His Word. If you step out on His Word, exercising faith in His Word, then His might is going to be there. You're always going to be weak, but His might will be there. “Have not I sent thee?” It's the same thing the Lord did to Moses when he protested, “O Lord, I'm not an eloquent speaker” (Exodus 4:10) and God answered him with, “Who hath made man's mouth?” (Exodus 4:11) God chose Moses not because he was great; God chose him because he was weak. (Jdg.6:15) And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Gideon wasn't listening, was he? “My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least of my father's house.” There it is. God chose the weakest and the least. Don't expect God to send Superman. That's not what He's looking for. This will not accomplish the purpose that He has. God is going to send someone who's weak, someone who is like a child. That qualifies some of us. You know, we can be as a child; we are unable in so many things. Sometimes we're forced into a position of being unable. But I tell you that what Jesus wants for us is not that we be forced into a position of weakness, but that we walk in that position of our own free will, refusing to be strong. This is the great thing. If we will learn to refuse to be strong, we will see the miracles of God now. And when we get forced into that position later, it won't be a big thing. It was no big thing for Moses to go through the wilderness with the children of Israel. They were being tried. He wasn't being tried. He'd already gone out into that wilderness and lived in that wilderness by faith in God. And God sent him because he had been there. He sent him back to bring the rest of the Israelites through that wilderness. And if you've been there, it won't be a big trial for you, but you'll be able to show others. This is very important for the times that are coming. People who are weak are going to be strong in the times that are coming, and others are going to be fearful. This wilderness experience that's coming is going to weed out the strong from the weak. The ones who are strong, who've always trusted in their own strength and who refuse to do anything else, they're going to fall by the wayside. It's going to be the babes who are going to go through the wilderness and make it to the other side. And God's always planned it that way. God will not permit salvation to come any other way but by grace. Some people look around and they say, “Look what God did here,” and “Look what God did there,” but if you look carefully, it's what a man did. They're giving credit to a man. (Exo.7:3) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. It's funny, but you see God on both sides of this thing. It was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart, as it says here, so that the miracles that came would be mighty miracles. God gave the Israelites a strong enemy who would not let them go. (Psa.105:25) He turned their heart to hate his people, To deal subtly with his servants. The Egyptians brought the people of God into bondage because they hated them. And in Psalm 106, God made them set His people free.  First God hardened the Egyptians, then He made them set the Israelites free. It was God's plan to put them in an impossible situation so that they would know how great God's salvation was. “I hardened Pharaoh's heart and multiplied my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Exo.7:4) But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. It is God's plan to put us in an impossible situation. We think it's the devil's plan and the devil fighting against us. No, it's God's plan for us to be in impossible situations. A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven (Joh.3:27), the Bible says, so God puts us in these impossible situations full-well planning to do a miracle for us. When we get in these situations, we shouldn't look at the impossibility of the situation and then look at our strength and say, “Woe is me!” because we can see from history this has been God's plan all along. When we get in that kind of situation, we should figure that the odds are in our favor, if you figure odds. See, when a situation is impossible, that's when the odds are in your favor. It's just the opposite for the world because they count on their strength and not God's strength, but when you look with your eyes and you see the situation is impossible and you see the promise of God, that's when you should be confident in God. He put us in this situation so we could see what a great Savior He is. He hardened Pharaoh's heart; He turned the Egyptians' hearts to hate His people, to bring them into bondage so that He could do mighty miracles to deliver them. It was His plan all along to do mighty miracles to deliver them. Instead, people want to be strong. The Egyptians wanted to be strong. Pharaoh called for their wise men and sorcerers and magicians to see if they couldn't do the same curses that Moses was bringing. (Exo.7:11) Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. (12) For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.  So the curse is sent by God upon the earth. The whole chapter in Deuteronomy 28 is about the curse, and it came by the Hand of God. I know that we've been talking about the hand of the devil, but that's not what the Scripture says. God said He sent the curse. But men, in whom we put our trust, they also propagate the curse. In this instance, Moses brought this curse, but also the magicians brought this curse. And the magicians, the sorcerers, never took away a curse, not one time. (Note that the word in the New Testament for “sorcery” or “witchcraft” is the word pharmakia.) According to this, they can't take away a curse. They can bring a curse, but they can't take one away. Moses was the one who always took the curse away, both the one that he brought (from the Lord) and the one that the magicians brought. Moses was always the one who took away both curses (Exodus 7:12; 8:13). And it wasn't until the sorcerers came to the end of their ability that God made a division between Goshen and Egypt. The sorcerers couldn't duplicate any of the curses from the plague of lice onward (Exodus 8:19). That's when God made a division, right there. When they failed to duplicate the plague of lice, when they came to the end of themselves, their ability, then God made this differentiation. By the way, we are called to walk in health. For instance, God said, “I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exo.15:26). When did He do that? God did it right here. When the sorcery came to an end, when the witchcraft came to an end, then God made a division. From then on, the curses always fell upon the Egyptians and not on the Israelites. So what are we here for? We are here to be weak in the ways of the world. The carnal church is not weak in the ways of the world. They have absorbed and taken hold of the ways of the world; that's why they're called the “harlot.” And we're called to step out by faith, to put our trust wholly in God, not just in the area of healing, but in deliverance in circumstances. The Lord came to deliver us from everything that involves the curse of sin and of death. In fact, in Ephesians, where he says, “by grace are you saved (sozo) through faith,” the word “saved” there is used in the Scriptures for salvation of the soul, for salvation regarding healing, for salvation in circumstances (when they were in the boat that was filling with water, for instance), and for deliverance from demons. The same word is used in all of those instances. Sometimes it's translated “made whole.” (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. God will not permit us to have His salvation where we can earn it or where we are strong enough for it. He doesn't permit it. He puts us in situations where we're not strong or wise enough. But the world and the worldly Christian will try to convince you that you can be wise enough, you can gain enough strength to take care of this thing and they will give you all their worldly wisdom so that you'll come against it but, ultimately, because God loves you, He will see to it that you fail. In all of your efforts to save yourself, because He loves you, He will see to it that you fail. Men can't take one curse off, although they can sure shove it around. Only God can take a curse off because these curses come to try us, to get us in the position of being saved by God. Therefore, if you fail in this point, then you're going to go around the mountain again and you're going to come into the same trial again. This is why men can't ever deliver you because, if you do it man's way, well, you're just going to bump into it again down the road. You're going to go around that mountain, and the same trial again and again; and you'll just keep going around until you get it right. All man can do is put more curses upon you, you see. You'll keep going around and come back to the same trial until you get it right, until you do it God's way. How many times did God run the Israelites around out in that wilderness? And they cried, and they moaned, and they groaned, and they wanted to go back to Egypt (Exodus 14:11-12; 16:3). That's what the worldly church leadership is teaching people. “Go back to Egypt. Go ahead. There's nothing wrong with that. That's the way God does it now. Go on back to Egypt. Go back to the ways of the flesh. Go back to the strength of man, the arm of the flesh,” and so on and so forth, you know. They want you to put your trust in the arm of the flesh, but no, don't do it because there's a curse in that. (Jer.17:5 Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.) The curse is here, if nowhere else. You see, we've been given a certain amount of time to run this race and to bear fruit, and if all you do is run in circles, you're never going to finish the race. You never finish the race running in circles. We're running a race against time and at the finish line, we have to have the fruit. And God puts these trials in our way so that we go through them His way and overcome them His way. He puts them in our way because they're much bigger than we are. We can cry about going back to getting the strength of Egypt, or we can walk by faith in Jesus to overcome and have that strength for the next trial. Every time you overcome, you have that strength from Him. You can look back and remember what God did, and that's His plan. It was God Who brought the Israelites out into that wilderness, into some impossible situations.  When they first came out of Egypt and were going south, they were free; they were delivered; it was nothing but open country in front of them. (Exo.14:1) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. (3) And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. (4) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh….  Who do you think Pharaoh might be? He was the ruler over the Egyptians, but I'll tell you another thing that can be seen here. If you remember, Paul likened the Israelites going through the Red Sea to them being baptized (1 Corinthians 10:1,2) and, of course, going through the Red Sea, the old man dies, but the new man is given life. So the old man was the Egyptian and the new man was the Israelite. When they went through the Red Sea, they were baptized in the Red Sea, in the water and in the cloud, and the old man, the Egyptian, died. Well, Pharaoh was the Lord, the god of the Egyptians. In fact, that was what his name meant – “The God.” Now, who is the god of the flesh? Satan. The devil is the god of the flesh and has been given power and authority to do what he does. Jesus said, “all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth” (Mat.28:18). “All of it. All of it's been given unto Me.” Therefore, what the devil has, God gives him. And what the devil has, we give him. You can make “Pharaoh” bigger or you can make him smaller. You can take away his authority and power by agreeing with the Word, or you can give him authority and power by believing in him, believing in his strength and believing in his might. You can do that. Well, God made Pharaoh strong. He hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He made him strong. He made Pharaoh's people strong so that the salvation would be from God.  God gave us an enemy to conquer that appears to be so much stronger than we are, and that's the flesh. You look at your flesh. You look at the old man, the Egyptian, and you say, “Oh, Lord!” You get worried. The more you look at him, the more worried you get. “How am I ever going to beat this giant?” But God puts you in those positions on purpose. He has you there with enemies that appear much bigger than you are, but in actuality they're just bread for you. I like what Joshua and Caleb said about the people of Canaan: “they are bread for us” (Num.14:9). They're just something that is made for you to eat up and get bigger and stronger. God put them there so that His power would totally conquer them. He wasn't counting on your power. The Israelites had no power against the Egyptians. The Egyptians were a mighty, well-armed army, and God put the Israelites in that position so their salvation had to come from God. Back where we left off, Pharaoh wanted them to serve God in Egypt and God told Moses what to say to Pharaoh. (Exo.7:16) And thou shalt say unto him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened. And then later, when Pharaoh was starting to give in a little bit, he called for Moses and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land (Exo.8:25); in other words, in Egypt. You know, that's right where a lot of Christians are. They're sacrificing to God in Egypt. That is, they think they're doing it God's way, but they're doing it in Egypt. (Exo.8:26) And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. See, we can't serve God in Egypt. We can't do it the Egyptians' way. If you're copying the world in any way in your salvation, then you're missing God because that's not the way God does it. Pharaoh's going to tell you, “It's okay. You can serve your god but just do it in Egypt, don't do it in the wilderness.” In Egypt they trusted in the strength that they received from Egypt and lived off the flesh-pots (Exodus 16:3); in other words, they lived off the flesh. But God wanted them in the wilderness where they couldn't have any help from anything else but Him. The power came from God, His ability. And the devil's going to tempt you the same way. He does it all the time. “It's okay, serve God, but do it this way. Just do it the way the Egyptians do it.” But God is doing it in such a way that we'll never be able to put our trust in the arm of the flesh again. It'll be a total victory over the flesh.  So God brought the Israelites out there into that wilderness, and He put them in this neat little trap between Migdol and the Red Sea to see what they would do. They didn't handle it well. They cried out, “Whoa! We wish you would have left us in Egypt to serve the Egyptians!” (Exodus 14:10-12) But God brought them there to part the Red Sea and do the greatest miracle of deliverance for them. He brought them to that situation, and we ought to see our situations that way too. We are in a wilderness experience going through this world. God is bringing us to all these impossible situations so that He can prove how big a God He is. His whole purpose is to prove how big a God He is. And the more impossible the situation, the bigger He becomes, in our mind anyway. That's what He wants. He wants us to glorify Him for what a great salvation He brings us to. And so God brought the Israelites from this trap to other traps. He brought them to the bitter waters (Exodus 15:23) and He had Moses throw in a tree that made the bitter waters sweet (Exodus 15:25). And I personally believe that the “bitter waters” symbolize our tongue because James talks about the sweet and the bitter waters that come from the same well, and he says it shouldn't be this way (James 3:10,11). (For a deeper understanding of this, read our book titled “The Tongue Conquers the Curse.”) God delivered us at the cross. That was the tree that was cast in that made the bitter waters sweet. God delivered us from the bitter waters of our own tongue because “death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Pro.18:21). “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We have the ability to change things in this wilderness that we're in with our tongue. God gave us that ability at the cross. He made the bitter waters sweet at the cross. The very next thing God did was make an ordinance. (Exo.15:26) If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee (Hebrew: Jehovah-Rophe). And God brought them to the place in the wilderness where there was no food (Exodus 16:3) and He gave them the food. He met their need for food. And He brought them to the place where there was no water (Exodus 17:1) and He brought water out of the rock (Exodus 17:6). God brought the Israelites to impossible situations, one after another, and He brought them against enemies who were much bigger than them. It was one impossible situation after another and, in every case, God planned a great deliverance for them, if they would just put their trust in Him. We see over and over in the Scriptures that God did this. Look at what God did with Gideon's army. The Lord whittled them down from 32,000 men to 10,000 and then from 10,000 down to 300 (Judges 7:7) to come against an army that was as many as the sands of the sea (Judges 7:12), so that Gideon's army couldn't say, “mine own hand hath saved me” (Jdg.7:2). There were too many Israelites for God to give the Midianites and Amalekites and children of the east into their hand, and He would have to whittle them down so that they would know that this was a mighty miracle from God. And how did He do it? He sent those 300 men out there with pitchers and torches, and when they broke the pitchers, the torches shone forth (Judges 7:20) and put the enemy in a fright (Judges 7:21). I believe those torches are likened to our spirit and that those pitchers are likened to our carnal vessel, our earthly vessel. The torch is like the spirit-man, so that when we're broken, the spirit-man is able to shine forth and the enemy is put to flight. What a simple thing! No swords, no cannons, no nothing! God made it ridiculous. He put a fright in those Midianites and Amalekites so that they feared and they ran, and they killed each other because of 300 torches. God's plan will work when reason just never will. You wouldn't think that would reasonably work. Nobody would make a plan like that except God, Who has the ability to put fear- total, devastating fear- in your enemy. I've seen Him do that. It's so wondrous how He can do that, make them turn and run. Praise God!

Manasseh was one of the most wicked kings in the history of Judah. He reigned 55 years. He sacrificed his own children. He filled the temple with idols. Scripture says he made things worse than the nations God had driven out before Israel ever arrived.And God forgave him.In this message from 2 Chronicles 33, Pastor David Chauncey unpacks why Chronicles tells the part of Manasseh's story that Kings leaves out and why that missing piece is one of the most hopeful passages in all of Scripture for anyone who feels too far gone. Whether you're the Manasseh, the Hezekiah, or the parent of a prodigal, it's not too late.SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 33 • 2 Chronicles 7:14 • Luke 15 (Prodigal Son) • Romans 3:23Westside Baptist Church is located in Gainesville, FL. New messages every Sunday.

What if the difficult circumstances in your life are not evidence that God is against you, but evidence that He is trying to lead you back to Himself? Manasseh repeatedly rebelled against God, ignored His warnings, and eventually experienced the painful consequences of his choices. Yet in his affliction, he humbled himself, called on God, and discovered that God was still willing to hear and restore him. Sometimes God's goodness looks like grace and mercy. Other times, His goodness allows us to experience the consequences of our choices so that we will recognize our need for Him. Affliction does not have to destroy us. In God's hands, it can lead us to repentance, restoration, and a return to His ways. If you or someone you know is struggling with the consequences of past decisions, this message is a reminder that it is never too late to humble yourself, turn to God, and follow His way.

Zephaniah is one of the shortest, most intense, and ultimately magnificent voices in the prophetic corpus. Only three chapters long, the book delivers a concentrated theology of judgment, grace, and redemption, spannning the seventh century BC to the end of history. The Prophet and His Lineage Zephaniah opens with a genealogy unlike any other prophet in Scripture. He traces his ancestry back four generations: the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah. This lineage identifies him as of royal blood, a great-great-grandson of the good king Hezekiah and thus cousin to King Josiah, in whose reign he prophesied. His name, צפניה, means "The LORD has hidden" or "Yahweh has treasured." It is a name full of prophetic irony and hope, pointing to the remnant whom God will shelter in the day of His wrath. The Historical Horizon and the Day of the LORD Zephaniah ministered in Judah during the (likely early) reign of King Josiah, when the nation was spiritually sick, hollowed out by decades of idolatry under Manasseh and Amon. His prophecy proclaims "the Day of the LORD," a cosmic intervention carrying a dual horizon: The Near: The impending devastation of Judah and Jerusalem - destruction and exile under Babylon. The Far: Ultimate, universal reckoning at the end of the age, when all wickedness is swept away. Zephaniah cuts straight to the root of Judah's sin in chapter 1:12. The LORD declares that He will search Jerusalem with lamps to expose the complacent, those settling into practical atheism who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill." It is the sin of spiritual apathy, living as if God is silent, passive, or absent. But judgment is not God's final word. In 3:9, He promises a reversal of fortune: "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord." The book culminates in one of the most breathtaking passages in all of scripture. The judgments are cast out, the enemy cleared away, and the true King of Israel is declared to be in Zion's midst: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." The Hebrew word for "who will save" is yoshi'a (יֹושִׁ֑יעַ), sharing the direct root and meaning of the name Jesus (Yeshua), the One who saves His people from their sins. Here, in the shadows of the Old Covenant, we see King Jesus Himself: the warrior who rescues, the shepherd who quiets fear with His love; God Himself breaking into joyful song over His redeemed.

Send us Fan MailWhen Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria's father was murdered by his brothers, he became a highly paranoid individual and had everyone swear loyalty and risk terrible cruses if they disobeyed. His demand for total loyalty and worship put Manasseh, king of Judah, in a bind. What happened next shaped Judah for a generation and also inspired the writing of the Book of Deuteronomy. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issuesmosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Habakkuk 2 answers the prophet's wrestling: God sees evil, calls the righteous to live by faith, and promises justice in God's appointed time. The chapter contrasts proud, idolatrous power with humble trust and urges patient faith in God's word. The sermon explores five prophetic woes against Babylon, then gives hopeful biblical examples (Nebuchadnezzar and Manasseh) to show God's power to humble, forgive, and restore—ultimately pointing to the cross and the freedom of repentance and trust in Christ.

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Zephaniah is one of the shortest, most intense, and ultimately magnificent voices in the prophetic corpus. Only three chapters long, the book delivers a concentrated theology of judgment, grace, and redemption, spannning the seventh century BC to the end of history. The Prophet and His Lineage Zephaniah opens with a genealogy unlike any other prophet in Scripture. He traces his ancestry back four generations: the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah. This lineage identifies him as of royal blood, a great-great-grandson of the good king Hezekiah and thus cousin to King Josiah, in whose reign he prophesied. His name, צפניה, means "The LORD has hidden" or "Yahweh has treasured." It is a name full of prophetic irony and hope, pointing to the remnant whom God will shelter in the day of His wrath. The Historical Horizon and the Day of the LORD Zephaniah ministered in Judah during the (likely early) reign of King Josiah, when the nation was spiritually sick, hollowed out by decades of idolatry under Manasseh and Amon. His prophecy proclaims "the Day of the LORD," a cosmic intervention carrying a dual horizon: The Near: The impending devastation of Judah and Jerusalem - destruction and exile under Babylon. The Far: Ultimate, universal reckoning at the end of the age, when all wickedness is swept away. Zephaniah cuts straight to the root of Judah's sin in chapter 1:12. The LORD declares that He will search Jerusalem with lamps to expose the complacent, those settling into practical atheism who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill." It is the sin of spiritual apathy, living as if God is silent, passive, or absent. But judgment is not God's final word. In 3:9, He promises a reversal of fortune: "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord." The book culminates in one of the most breathtaking passages in all of scripture. The judgments are cast out, the enemy cleared away, and the true King of Israel is declared to be in Zion's midst: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." The Hebrew word for "who will save" is yoshi'a (יֹושִׁ֑יעַ), sharing the direct root and meaning of the name Jesus (Yeshua), the One who saves His people from their sins. Here, in the shadows of the Old Covenant, we see King Jesus Himself: the warrior who rescues, the shepherd who quiets fear with His love; God Himself breaking into joyful song over His redeemed.

Preached at Watered Garden Church

Zephaniah is one of the shortest, most intense, and ultimately magnificent voices in the prophetic corpus. Only three chapters long, the book delivers a concentrated theology of judgment, grace, and redemption, spannning the seventh century BC to the end of history. The Prophet and His Lineage Zephaniah opens with a genealogy unlike any other prophet in Scripture. He traces his ancestry back four generations: the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah. This lineage identifies him as of royal blood, a great-great-grandson of the good king Hezekiah and thus cousin to King Josiah, in whose reign he prophesied. His name, צפניה, means "The LORD has hidden" or "Yahweh has treasured." It is a name full of prophetic irony and hope, pointing to the remnant whom God will shelter in the day of His wrath. The Historical Horizon and the Day of the LORD Zephaniah ministered in Judah during the (likely early) reign of King Josiah, when the nation was spiritually sick, hollowed out by decades of idolatry under Manasseh and Amon. His prophecy proclaims "the Day of the LORD," a cosmic intervention carrying a dual horizon: The Near: The impending devastation of Judah and Jerusalem - destruction and exile under Babylon. The Far: Ultimate, universal reckoning at the end of the age, when all wickedness is swept away. Zephaniah cuts straight to the root of Judah's sin in chapter 1:12. The LORD declares that He will search Jerusalem with lamps to expose the complacent, those settling into practical atheism who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill." It is the sin of spiritual apathy, living as if God is silent, passive, or absent. But judgment is not God's final word. In 3:9, He promises a reversal of fortune: "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord." The book culminates in one of the most breathtaking passages in all of scripture. The judgments are cast out, the enemy cleared away, and the true King of Israel is declared to be in Zion's midst: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." The Hebrew word for "who will save" is yoshi'a (יֹושִׁ֑יעַ), sharing the direct root and meaning of the name Jesus (Yeshua), the One who saves His people from their sins. Here, in the shadows of the Old Covenant, we see King Jesus Himself: the warrior who rescues, the shepherd who quiets fear with His love; God Himself breaking into joyful song over His redeemed.

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

Preached at the Watered Garden Church

Today, we're going to look at the moment of truth in Gideon's life:Judges 6:12-16 NLTThe angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you! “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” The Lord said to him, “I will be with you.”Gideon had the opposite mindset of David, our Bible story from yesterday. But while two different men had two different perspectives of what they could accomplish, one factor was same: God had called them.Gideon even named himself the least man, in the weakest clan, of all the people. In today's language, he would say: “Lord, I'm the last guy you want to pick for this job.” But the Lord said, “I will be with you.” That truth is exactly what gave David and Gideon the courage and the confidence they needed to face their enemies.Do you feel like David today, ready for your big moment, or more like Gideon, “I'm the last person you want to pick, God.”Listen again to what the Lord said to Gideon this time from the Message Bible: ““God is with you, O mighty warrior!” … “God faced him directly: “Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven't I just sent you?” … God said to him, “I'll be with you. Believe me, you'll defeat Midian as one man.” (Judges 6:12, 14, 16 ).What if God appeared to you right now and called you a hero? How do you know He isn't? Maybe he looks upon you and what you are pushing through right now in your life and sees your courage? Regardless of how you may feel or see your life, this much is true: He is telling you to go at your life with the strength you have because He is with you. And He is most definitely saying today: “I will be with you.”Declare this after me: “Lord, I know You are with me.”Let's pray: “Dear Lord, thank You for examples like David but also those like Gideon, so we can see that the Source of our courage and victories are You. Help me live today knowing, believing, that You are with me. As above, so below.” - Amen

Now that Hezekiah has reestablished worship at the Lord's temple, he wants to provide for the Levites who have gathered together to serve the Lord in the work of the temple. Thankfully, the people of Judah show kindness and faithfulness by giving a tenth of all that they harvested and produced. Later, King Sennacherib threatens Hezekiah and all Judah by laying siege to their fortified cities and denouncing the Lord God of Israel. Hezekiah maintains faithfulness, putting his trust in the Lord, and is delivered from the hands of his enemies. After Hezekiah's death, two kings arise from his lineage named Manasseh and Amon, but sadly they excel in evil like King Ahaz before them. 2 Chronicles 31 - 1:17 .  2 Chronicles 32 - 6:17 .  2 Chronicles 33 - 14:51 .  Isaiah 10:1-19 - 20:25 . :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

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In this episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah, Dennis delves into the complexities of the Torah and its depiction of God. In this thought-provoking discussion, he explores the idea that God is often portrayed as masculine, and examines the reasons behind this representation. He also touches on the importance of the land in Judaism, discussing how it is a physical and tangible aspect of the faith. The episode covers a range of topics, from the biblical account of Jacob's blessing of his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to the significance of the tribe of Judah. Dennis shares his insights on the Torah's teachings and how they relate to modern society, offering a unique perspective on the importance of tradition and the role of the individual in shaping their own destiny. He also discusses the concept of anger and its place in Jewish tradition, highlighting the dangers of extremism and the importance of moderation. Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timeless-wisdom-with-dennis-prager/id1517302239 Follow us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4SZEYeH4tuLr2FvG4ok1rl Learn more about Dennis Prager: https://pragertopia.com/ Follow Dennis on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DennisPrager Follow Dennis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedennisprager/ Follow Dennis on X: https://x.com/DennisPrager Learn more about the Salem Podcast Network: https://salempodcastnetwork.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.