Podcasts about Maranatha

We are like sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. Pastor Ray Bentley explains why every single one of us was like a string lost sheep. And yet Jesus left the beauty and the perfection and the glories of Paradise and of heaven came into the wilderness. And he found us, and the idea with the shepherd would grab you and pick you up and lift you upon his shoulders, and literally carry you back to the fold.

Thoughts on the fellowship of suffering from pastor Ray Bentley. There is no such thing as private pain. All pain is communal. We are to share it with one another, and we're to bear it with one another and have compassion for one another. Someone has said that suffering is like love. It can only be shared. And if we truly share our suffering with one another, then we can also share our joys spread.

Pastor Ray Bentley has insight on inner and outer beauty. Any one of my sisters who will now spend time and attention and focus upon adorning that inner beauty of the gentle and quiet spirit will be beautiful, regardless of what your frame may seem to appear, it will compliment. It will draw people in. You'll all be beauties. Spread. You see all of these people coming down before the King.

Pastor Ray Bentley comments on Peter's admonition about the believer's outward appearance. Peter is not saying that any outward adornment is bad, but it is okay for a man to look and address. Well, it is good and all right for a woman to dress and want to be attractive and take care of her hair and you know where there is a line where the only object is only totally to focus on the outward spread?

For the text to this week's passage, please click Job 38-39; For more information about Maranatha, please visit www.mbccolumbus.org

Pastor Ray Bentley talks about proper Christian conduct in the workplace. We live in a culture that basically, you know, man, if they do something wrong or whatever, what you do is you go get the biggest, baddest lawyer you can and you sue their pants off. But what if I am a Christian? What am I supposed to do as a Christian employee?

Dear Body of Christ, A YouTube version of this podcast is here. As we prayed and read Acts chapter 21 this morning, like Paul in Acts chapter 17 v 16, we were provoked by the immaturity of the behaviour of the men involved. Paul walked bow-legged because of the extreme suffering that he endured (the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, no less — Galatians 6:17) and yet he was wrongly accused of being false by immature Christians who would essentially have no clue whatsoever as to what Paul was called to walk through. To make matters worse, the senior leaders of the Jerusalem church did not sufficiently support him, nor honour him, but rather made him jump through hoops made up of the traditions of men. We are now being very honest about the path to which we have been called. In the natural, were an oxen muzzled as it worked hard under its burden, it would eventually grow faint and collapse. The Lord often used analogies from nature like this, (falling birds of the sky, fading flowers of the field, fish, eggs given to little children), precisely in order to highlight the INFINITE difference in value between an animal and a covenant child of God. This is exactly the case in the passages I highlight in tonight's video and regarding which, once again, Mairi and I offer very robust and honest thoughts, including from our personal  life, submitted to the Body of Christ at large.In this video, Nick walks us through the further false accusations levelled at Paul, (of apparent hypocrisy,) and shows how it was far from being hypocrisy that led Paul to join the other four Jewish Christians in having his head shaved.  Mairi also shares very openly as to where a road of multi-faceted suffering has led us. MAIRI'S TESTIMONY about our struggle with fertility here. Yours in Christ, Nick FranksPSOur main giving page is here.You can read a full chapter and learn what this means in this here. If you would like to help us to begin a new house church, please see here.

***Bonus hymn at the end of the homily from the 10AM Mass***In rural Vacaville, we are familiar with the cry of the rooster crows, as the stars have already blinked out of the sky and a new day is at hand and yet, we are always surprised by morning. So it shall be with the coming of the Son of Man. There is a great paradox in this age, a thing so blindingly obvious that only a modern man could miss it. We prepare for every uncertain thing—storms, exams, pensions, and the possibility of rain on a picnic—but we are scandalously unprepared for the one certain thing: that Christ shall come again in glory, and His kingdom shall have no end.Now, if you tell a man on the street that Jesus might return this afternoon, he will smile in pity or smirk in cynicism. But tell him his phone battery might die before lunch, and he will run for a charger. We are a race that believes more fervently in the failure of lithium than in the triumph of the Lamb. And yet, the trumpet shall sound.Our Lord warns in the Gospel this Sunday, “Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” He did not say this to make us nervous, like students awaiting an unannounced quiz. He said it because Heaven is not a theory—it is a wedding. And no one should be caught unwashed and half-dressed when the Bridegroom knocks. I tell you, the world is not a waiting room; it is a battleground, a vineyard, and a bridal chamber all at once. It is not that we have too little time to prepare, but too much noise to remember that time runs out. We are not meant to guess the hour. We are meant to be ready in every hour.It is a curious thing that when the early Christians spoke of the Second Coming, they did not wring their hands, but lifted their heads. “Maranatha,” they cried—not with fear, but with fire. Come, Lord Jesus! The Church was not built by those who played at religion in peacetime, but by saints who stood watch in the dark, their lamps burning, like loyal soldiers awaiting the return of their general.And what if He does not return today? Then we live today as if He might—for that is what it means to live in hope. Hope is not wishing upon stars; it is keeping your boots laced and your heart clean because you know the King will ride through the mist. Do not be lulled by the delay. The world will lull you with distractions, with duties, with deadlines, with dopamine. It will whisper, “He delays His coming.” But Christ's return is not late. It is sudden. When He comes, the masquerade of modernity will be torn like a stage curtain, and the souls of men will be revealed—naked in shame or clothed in glory. Therefore, I say to you: keep your soul in a state of readiness. Not with anxiety, but with awe. Not with fear, but with fervor.Feed the hungry. Forgive your enemies. Light your lamp. Love your Lord. For when the trumpet sounds, there will be no time to put oil in the lamp. And yet—oh, glorious paradox!—it is today that He knocks. In the beggar. In the Word. In the still small voice. The Second Coming may be closer than we think. Are you ready? --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian's homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps us continue recording and sharing the hope of Jesus—one homily at a time. Give Here: https://frbriansoliven.org/give

The Lord changes us for an example. Pastor Ray Bentley says, look to the Apostle Peter. I love Peter because here's this big, rough Galilean fisherman who was now because of his time spent with Jesus Christ, loving, affectionate. Two little letters that Peter wrote to the believers 2000 years ago. Eight times in those two letters he says, dearly beloved.

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God loves you so much. He chose you. Pastor Ray Bentley explains. What does it mean to be chosen? Very simply, it comes by the grace of God. You are chosen by God's amazing grace. And this is one of the amazing mysteries. We are chosen. And when did he choose us? The scriptures reveal that before the foundations of the earth were even laid.

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Some treat prayer as a shopping list. Give me this, Lord. Give me that, God. Like we're pulling up to a drive thru window today, pastor Ray Bentley cautions us. We must be very careful and humble and let God bring His Word to pass, and let him live it out in our lives and answer our prayers according to his will.

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Life can be hard. But pastor Ray Bentley says the Son of God wants to help us. Jesus desires to bear our burdens. You know why? Because it is what he said. His own words. It's easy for me, he said. Your burdens are easy for me, and my yoke is easy. My burden is light. If we will only let him and come to him.

Guest Ian Ferguson returns for his second visit to the podcast, accompanied this time by business partner Glenn Aldridge of CoSurge CPAs, a firm that provides audit leadership for other CPA businesses nationwide. Host Dr. Matt Davis steers their discussion through narration of their firm's merger and determination of core values (succinctly stated in an acronym for Surge), posing such questions as what could undermine the ethics of leadership, how they ethically balance client interests, and what makes their work worthwhile. Both men affirm that “stewardship is about more than resources.” They explain their superior model of work-life balance which sets them apart and how collaboration is possible despite 100% remote interaction through a virtual central office. Most importantly, they stress that they aren't focused on being the biggest CPA firm, but on taking care of their families. “We want to equip our people to do what God has called them to do whether it's accounting or something else,” says Mr. Aldridge, a perspective which Dr. Davis asserts is “exactly what Maranatha is all about.”

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It's been said the Bible is God's love letter to man. Pastor Ray Bentley comments on the scriptures. Love for God's Word is a mark of those who are truly saved. If you have been saved, if the Holy Spirit is inside of you, the Holy Spirit will draw you to the Word of God. You will have this insatiable appetite to let his living word become now a living word in us and through us spread.

Open-mic testimony night about all God did at camp this summer!

For the text to this week's passage, please click Job 32-37; For more information about Maranatha, please visit www.mbccolumbus.org

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Today on Maranatha Radio. Pastor Ray Bentley has a strong forewarning. There is coming a day for anybody and everybody, whether they believe in God, they don't believe in God, they love God. They don't love God. There is coming a day where all of creation will stand before our creator, and we will be either judged or rewarded based on what we do with the choices we make and how we live.

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Times are tough. How does God want us to live? Pastor Ray Bentley has the answer. He knows your worries. He knows your anxieties. And he is calling us now, in this time, to holiness. We have to be to the best of our ability. With every ounce of strength that we have. Focused on hearing the call of the Lord to walk in holiness.

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Faith and fear are mutually exclusive. And pastor Ray Bentley says we can choose which prevails. Fear tells you there is no hope. I have lost everything. I've lost my job. I've lost my career. I've lost my retirement. And what the devil pounds on your head is? You've lost your reason to live. Because the devil hates us. God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life.

For the text to this week's passage, please click Job 21; For more information about Maranatha, please visit www.mbccolumbus.org

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Many have wondered when Jesus will return. Entire books have been written on the subject. Pastor Ray Bentley brings clarity. I am saying this directly and emphatically. We are living in the last days. But let me also tell you this. Do you know when the last days actually began? When Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago. But would you agree with me that we're a lot closer to the end of the last days than they were 2000 years ago?

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Having a hard time trusting God completely. Well, today, pastor Ray Bentley says read God's word frequently. The more you know of the Bible, the more you learn about God. You can believe more and you can believe more about him. Get to know him better. Trust him in a bigger way. And as your faith grows, your belief grows. Your ability and capacity to receive the glory of God also spread.

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Dear All,Thank you for taking the time to listen to Into the Pray. You can find all content, including seminal books to flesh-out what we're saying, below! A YouTube version of this podcast is here. Our main giving page is here.This week on Into the Pray, I am joined by a former Baptist pastor from England, Mark Lindsell, who kindly shares his radical testimony from the only appropriate position for the Body of Christ to be adopting — one of sitting appalled.You can read a full chapter and learn what this means in this here. You can also get a BUNDLE version here. *FREE* to those in need.Thoughts?If you would like to help us to begin a new house church, please see here.

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Pastor Ray Bentley on fear versus faith. Sin brought fear into our lives. All of us. Battle. Fear. Fear is the enemy of faith. And God's will for your life is to remove more and more and more fear to be replaced by more and more and more faith. Until ultimately, there is no fear at all in your life. Spread disease.

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There's so much uncertainty in our world. But pastor Ray Bentley reminds us of something that is certain now and for the future. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are the chosen of God. It has nothing to do with you, per se. It's all the glory goes to him. You are the chosen of God. He loves you.

Pastor Ray Bentley talks today about the right kind of hope. There's a difference between biblical hope and worldly hope. Worldly hope. It may happen. It may not. But we hope. Some biblical hope. There's no way it cannot happen. Why? Because our hope is actually predicated on something that happened in the past. Jesus resurrection from the dead. This is history.

Sometimes we think God can't handle our honesty. Today, pastor Ray Bentley says he can. There come times in your life where you can't fold your hands and say nice little spiritual prayers. And in fact, if you're really going to get honest with God, you don't want people to hear. God loves that kind of prayer. God gives you literal, tangible evidence that I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Talking to God is a privilege. Pastor Ray Bentley says Scripture puts it high on our priority list. The Bible says pray without ceasing. I say, well, yeah, okay, that's got to be a metaphor, right? Well maybe not. We almost incessantly spend time worrying and being anxious if there's something that bothers you. It's important. While Almighty God, if it affects you, he wants to hear about spreading you.

For the text to this week's passage, please click Job 12-14; For more information about Maranatha, please visit www.mbccolumbus.org

Pastor Ray Bentley says, we all eventually learned the benefits of being in God's will. Experience will teach you that the best place on planet Earth you can be. No matter what the circumstances are. Is in the middle of the will of God. I would rather be in the wilderness, in the center of God's will, than in the midst of luxury and lavishness, out of the will of God.

Pastor Ray Bentley says the first step in getting the help we need is realizing we need help. Maybe the very first time we were really honest in our lives that we will never forget is when we heard the gospel and we finally admitted that I am lost and I need to be found, that I am a sinner and that I am broken, and that I need to be forgiven and heal.

Life comes with suffering. It's often not optional. But pastor Ray Bentley helps us see suffering through spiritual eyes. The very fact that your life has been full of trials and tribulations and trouble is a sign that you are suffering because you've hung in there and hung on to the Lord and your faith to this very day and hour.

Pastor Ray Bentley on patience. We're not a very patient culture. Would you agree with that? I have so many times come to my 11th hour where, Lord, you've got now we've run out of time. Lord, you got to deliver now. It's got to happen now. If it doesn't happen now, it's all over. And guess what I've learned from personal experience.

We've been bought with a price. We know that from Scripture. But pastor Ray Bentley says it's not only that we belong to the Lord. It's all we have. And all we are. Everything that we have is from the Lord. It's given from the Lord. Sometimes we forget. We thought it was ours. But in fact, it's the Lord's. Whatever we have been given is a gift.

Life is filled with many, many decisions. Any piece of life lived outside the will of our father in heaven. All of a sudden, life becomes a confusing mystery. And that's why we need to learn to trust in his will. Pastor Ray Bentley urges us to keep our eyes on God and His desire for our lives. Let us choose to follow and obey the law.

Today, pastor Ray Bentley warns us about speaking evil of someone, no matter how it's packaged. Most people think that it's okay to pass on information or gossip or demeaning talk. As long as well. I didn't want to say anything. But after all, it is true. As if. Because what we are saying is true, it now gives us license to be able to bring other people down.

Pastor Ray Bentley on Harmony in the home. If within your own home, there is conflict and there is battles, and there is tension, and there is just pressure, and it's like a war that's going on. Recognize this is spiritual in nature. There is a spiritual battle taking place. You as a believer have to claim that territory for the Lord Jesus Christ.