Podcasts about New Covenant

The Night Is Normal: A Conversation with Dr. Alicia Britt Chole – Hebrews 11In this powerful episode of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane sit down with Dr. Alicia Britt Chole, author of The Night Is Normal, to explore the timeless truths of Hebrews 11. Together, they discuss what it means to live by faith when life feels dark or uncertain and how to wait well when God's promises seem distant. Dr. Chole shares profound insights on spiritual formation, trust, and finding God's presence in seasons of waiting and silence. This conversation will renew your hope and deepen your understanding of what real, enduring faith looks like.____________________________________Connect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliamsConnect with Dr. Alicia Britt Chole:Website: www.aliciachole.com____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

Gary points out how much disagreement and confusion exists in popular media and Christian pastors about the future of Israel. The very prophetic system that most of them hold to teaches that the next thing on the prophecy clock for Israel is a terrible holocaust where two-thirds of them will be killed.

The Rapture is often misunderstood and misrepresented in popular culture.  In this eye opening conversation, Reagan Kramer invites Lori Brazier and Jenny Mire from the Rooted Truth back to the show to delve into the complexities surrounding the concept of the Rapture, its origins in dispensationalism, and the implications for the modern church. They explore the historical context of biblical prophecies, the significance of the New Covenant, and the active role believers should take in spreading the gospel. The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding scripture in its entirety and encourages listeners to live out their faith boldly in a world filled with distractions and fear.More from the Revelations Podcast hosted by Reagan Kramer: Website | Instagram | Apple Podcast | YoutubeThe Rooted Truth Podcast hosted by Jenny MireThe Rooted Truth: Join the community | Get the app | Instagram | WebsiteSign up for the Rooted Truth Conference November 2025: https://www.therootedtruth.com/conferenceRaptureless by Dr. Jonathan WeltonRooted Truth: 148-C.I. Scofield: Scoundrel or Scholar with Jeremy Slaydenhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/148-c-i-scofield-scoundrel-or-scholar-with-jeremy-slayden/id1571051685?i=1000678512928Rooted Truth: 139- Dispensationalism and Christian Zionist Movement with Jeremy Slaydenhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/139-dispensationalism-and-the-christian-zionist/id1571051685?i=1000664706923Rooted Truth: 126- The True History of the Rapture with Jeremy Slaydenhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/126-the-true-history-of-the/id1571051685?i=1000652593626Your support fuels our mission to share transformative messages of hope and faith. Click here to learn how you can contribute and be part of this growing community!Resources This Episode is brought to you by Advanced Medicine AlternativesGet back to the active life you love through natural & regenerative musculoskeletal healing: https://www.georgekramermd.com/ Time Stamps:00:00The Rapture: Myths and Realities06:34Dispensationalism and Its Origins16:54The Role of the Church in Today's World26:18Understanding the New Covenant35:52Living Out the Great Commission The Rapture is often misunderstood and misrepresented in popular culture.Dispensationalism is a relatively new theology that emerged in the 1800s.The church has a vital role in fulfilling the Great Commission today.Understanding the New Covenant is crucial for modern believers.Fear-based teachings can lead to complacency in faith.The Ten Commandments are written on our hearts under the New Covenant.Jesus's teachings emphasize love and devotion over legalism.Historical context is essential for interpreting biblical prophecies.The church is called to be active and engaged in the world.Spiritual warfare is a real and ongoing battle for believers.

Today's episode is a replay from The Revelations Podcast with Reagan Kramer. Last April, Reagan had Jenny on to discuss eschatology, the study of end times, and its implications for believers today. Jenny explores various interpretations of the Book of Revelation, the significance of the New Covenant, and the historical context of the early church's understanding of the kingdom of God. The conversation also addresses misconceptions about the Mark of the Beast and the Antichrist, emphasizing the importance of understanding scripture through a historical lens. Check out The Revelations Podcast with Reagan Kramer here.Join us at the 2025 Rooted Conference "The Last Days According to Scripture" this November here— https://www.therootedtruth.com/conferenceCan't make it live? Check out the replays here— https://www.therootedtruth.com/conference-recordings

Ep 45 - Series: Identity Unlocked - Pt 1About This Series: This is Part 1 of our "Identity Unlocked" series. Over the next few episodes, we'll dive deep into what sonship really means, how to walk in it daily, and how to recognize when you're slipping back into orphan or slave thinking.About This Episode: Most Christians know the phrase "identity in Christ," but few actually walk in it. If you've been stuck in the same patterns of behavior despite trying everything to change, the problem isn't your effort—it's your identity.In this episode, we expose the two false identities that war against believers: the orphan mindset and the slave mindset. Using the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we reveal how these hidden operating systems drive your decisions, sabotage your blessings, and keep you from living in the freedom Christ died to give you.You'll discover: ✓ Why behavior modification never works without identity transformation ✓ The signs you're living with an orphan or slave mindset ✓ How these false identities make you forfeit your God-given inheritance ✓ What it truly means to be a son or daughter of God ✓ How to break free from religious performance and strivingThis isn't about trying harder—it's about believing who God says you are.Turn this episode into real change: The Kingdom Shift newsletter gives you one specific way to apply this week's Kingdom truth. Weekly delivery. 4-minute read. One simple action step included. Join at https://tekoaproject.com/newsletter/Episode Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction: The Identity Crisis No One Talks About1:06 - Why Identity Drives Every Decision You Make6:35 - What Is Identity? Your Internal Operating System12:17 - The Two False Identities Warring Against Believers18:02 - The Orphan Mindset: Never Feeling Worthy of Love30:47 - Signs You're Living with an Orphan Spirit42:30 - The Slave Mindset: Trying to Earn God's Love54:04 - Romans 8: You Have NOT Received a Spirit of Slavery1:00:42 - The Hidden Cost of Living in the Wrong Identity1:05:43 - The Father Will Never Validate Your Lies

Joe continues our series in Hebrews, exploring chapter 8, where we discover the transformative power of the New Covenant. Jesus, our High Priest, offers a personal and direct relationship with God, fulfilling His promises and freeing us from the old ways.

Join Karoline Lewis, Rolf Jacobson, and Matt Skinner for this episode of Sermon Brainwave as they explore the lectionary readings for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost (October 19, 2025). The conversation gets particularly rich around themes of persistence in prayer, wrestling with God and Scripture, and what discipleship really looks like in Luke's gospel. The hosts offer practical homiletical directions and insights that will help preachers prepare meaningful sermons for this Sunday. This is essential listening for pastors, preachers, and anyone interested in deep biblical interpretation and thoughtful homiletics. Commentaries for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost can be found on the Working Preacher website at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29-3/commentary-on-luke-181-8-6. *  *  * Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share to stay connected with more insightful lectionary discussions! Reminder: We have commentaries for the Revised Common Lectionary, the Narrative Lectionary, and Evangelio (Spanish-language Gospel). We're here for you, working preachers! ABOUT SERMON BRAINWAVE: Sermon Brainwave is a production of Luther Seminary's Working Preacher, which has been providing trusted biblical interpretation and preaching inspiration since 2007. Find more episodes and resources by visiting https://www.workingpreacher.org/. Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/G5dmhjNpOg0.

In this episode, Joel Settecase — apologist, teacher, and President of The Think Institute — unpacks the first distinctive of New Covenant Theology:God has one plan, revealed in many covenants, and it's all centered on Jesus Christ.Through a deep dive into Scripture, Joel explores how the biblical covenants — from Noah to Abraham, Moses, David, and the New Covenant — fit together perfectly within God's unified redemptive plan. If you've ever wondered how the Old and New Testaments connect, this episode will clarify the big picture of God's work in history and in your life.Why God has one plan of salvation, not separate plans for Israel and the Church.How every covenant — Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New — points to and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.Why salvation has always been by faith, from the Old Testament through today.The stunning continuity of Scripture and how the gospel was preached even to Abraham.How the New Covenant transforms believers, granting forgiveness, righteousness, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.Why understanding God's one plan deepens your worship, strengthens your confidence, and equips you to lead your family in the biblical worldview.Help us equip Christian men to lead their families with biblical clarity and confidence.Partner with The Think Institute today:

We are continuing our study of more differences of the Protestants and Baptists beliefs. Today we are reviewing the distinction between the Old and New Covenant.

Faith in Action: Hebrews 11:17–29In this episode of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane dive into Hebrews 11:17–29, highlighting the bold faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the Israelites. From Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac to Moses leading God's people through the Red Sea, each story demonstrates what it means to trust God against all odds. This powerful passage reminds us that faith isn't passive—it moves us to action, obedience, and courage. Be encouraged to step forward in your own journey of faith, believing God is faithful to His promises.____________________________________Connect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

In this study, we'll be picking back up in Jeremiah 31. Before moving on through the rest of the chapter, we'll pause to look again at verses 29–30. These verses directly challenge the modern theological notion of “generational curses”—a teaching that has gained traction in some circles but does not align with the message of God's Word. After walking through this important discussion, we'll continue in the chapter and focus on one of the most significant passages in the Old Testament: Jeremiah's prophetic description of the New Covenant. This is a powerful section of Scripture that points us to the heart of God's plan of redemption fulfilled in Christ. Join us as we continue our verse-by-verse journey through Jeremiah and see how these truths still speak directly into our lives today. Presentation Graphics & Study Outline: Presentation Slides (PowerPoint) Presentation Slides (PDF) Study Outline (Word) Study Outline (PDF)

Be Graceful with the Ignorant (1) (audio) David Eells - 10/1/25 Giving grace to people rather than always correction should be our norm. Grace is unmerited favor, so no one deserves it. When we speak faith into people, they get grace: “for by grace have ye been saved through faith.” There is a place for condemnation but not in the life of one who truly wants to obey and be holy. These people need grace to do the works of God, but condemnation is contrary to faith and robs them of the very power of God they need to overcome. Brethren, I was once questioned by a dear sister as to why I dealt so gently with a brother who was in an apostate so-called “Christian” religion. My answer may help you know how to deal with someone who is caught up in a false doctrine yet appears to desire truth. Anyone can judge, but love is more acceptable to others and will build them up and help the one who lacks. Dear sister, I can assure you that few know as I do how evil that false religion is. I was thought to be a member of it until I was old enough to walk away. I assume my chat with the brother bothered you. Every time I talk with him, though, he learns more about the Scriptures and gets hungrier for the Word. If I had spoken against his religion immediately, his defenses would have gone up, and I would not be speaking to him at all. This is not God's way of grace. We must be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” as Jesus said in (Mat.10:16). Even a smoldering wick we should not put out (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20). Jesus confronted the self-righteous Pharisees directly without mercy, but He had mercy on the ignorant and erring who wanted truth. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see: your sin remaineth” (Joh.9:41) and, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin” (Joh.15:22). This man was born again, but he is an infant and knows so little. He needs milk (Hebrews 5:13). Soon, I will be able to tell him clearly and he will be able to hear. Many people have made up their minds with comfortable ideas and don't change easily. If you tell them the big picture up front, they will close you out or leave you, or both. Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (Joh.16:12). (Ecc.10:10) If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. I.e., A dull axe bounces out of hardwood, but if you sharpen it so that it enters by a very narrow front, the wood will receive it and then each successive blow can go deeper and deeper. (Ecc 10:11) If the serpent bite before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer. The serpent, or flesh, bites when the charmer is not graceful. We have to enable people to overcome their own flesh so they can receive the bigger picture. We have to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Mat.10:16). Paul called it as deceivers, and [yet] true” (2Co.6:8) because we are calming and deceiving their old flesh so that we can gracefully get truth into their spirit. (Ecc 10:12)  The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. We should follow God's advice for charming the serpent in them. (1Co.9:19) For though I was free from all [men,] I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. (20) And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; (21) to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. (22) To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. (23) And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof. Self-righteousness demands that we be strong to those who are weak and impulsive, but this same Paul shaved his head, took a vow and circumcised Timothy in order to be acceptable to the Jews so he could share the Gospel with them. However, all of these were things he preached against to the knowledgeable. He would have been a lousy charmer any other way. (Jas.3:17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace. I hope you will understand, or at least not judge me in this. I wish we would permit as much difference in doctrine in our assemblies as God commands in Romans, in order that the young may grow up and that we may learn the ways of peace. (Rom.14:1) But him that is weak in faith receive ye, [yet] not for decision of scruples. In other words, not to argue with them, but to teach them with grace. (Rom.14:2) One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs. (3) Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. (4) Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. (5) One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. (I.e., let him obey his conscience until he has wisdom.) (6) He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (7) For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. (8) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. (9) For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (10) But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God. (11) For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God. (12) So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Rom.14:13) Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. (14) I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (This makes room for the conscience and grace.) (15) For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. (16) Let not then your good be evil spoken of: (17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (18) For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men. (19) So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another. (Let the peace of the Spirit reign in our words.) (20) Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. (21) It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] whereby thy brother stumbleth. (22) The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth. (23) But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (15:1) Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. (2) Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. (3) For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. The little brother or sister should be able to fellowship in peace with the elder brother or sister long enough to grow up in the knowledge of God. In these days, many who consider themselves mature in doctrine do not permit those weak in the faith into their fellowship. Give God time to reveal Himself to them. Take them under your wing and be patient with them. The self-righteous and proud do not permit differences of opinion. We need to remember that we did not get where we are, or learn what we learned, overnight. We are not talking about immorality or heresy here. That has to be dealt with as Paul taught. (1Co.5:11) But as it is, I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat. Yours in Christ, David P.S. The brother spoken of above is now delivered and Spirit-filled. Glory to God! We all need to remember to accept those whom God accepts. Our hearts should really be burdened for those people around us who just can't seem to get ahold of any faith. They want to please God, but they really can't get ahold of any faith because they have spirits of rejection and religion so anything in their heart is condemnation. They've never been accepted, so they don't feel the acceptance of God either. These people need faith in their hearts, and people around them need to put that faith in their hearts. Often they don't need correction for they know what their problems are. I come from a background of overcorrection, so I know how it tends to make a person feel rejected and hopeless about the future because it takes away every bit of faith. What we have to know and understand is that “the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom.1:16).  The Gospel is the good news. When we preach the good news that Jesus has set us free and delivered us to people who are coming from a background of rejection, that's the only thing they need. They don't need more correction or condemnation; they need acceptance. Think of all these Christians who cannot get ahold of faith to get delivered, yet faith is all they need. Nobody has any need but faith. I like what televangelist Robert W. Schambach used to say: “You don't have any problems; all you need is faith in God.” That's so true! It has all been accomplished in Jesus and “the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb.4:3). The only thing that remains is for us to enter into those works through faith and enter into His rest through faith. So people need faith and God knows this. I think one of the devil's largest armies is an army of spirits of rejection, because that's one of the most common spirits around. And maybe I think that because I came from that background and I see it a lot in others. It seems to be such an easy way for the devil to sidetrack people. I think that's why God designed the New Covenant to be the covenant of grace, the covenant of “no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1). We have to learn to accept people with all their problems and all their imperfections the same way that God accepts us in grace. One of our biggest problems is that we need to accept whom God accepts, and when we don't do that, we are judging and having unforgiveness. People who have received rejection have only one need in their life – faith – but what they have instead is condemnation, and you can't have them both at the same time. You have to drop condemnation to grasp faith. You can put that faith in a person by pumping the Word of God into their heart and changing their direction from looking inward to looking outward and upward. Everyone with that problem is always looking inward at what their failure has been and always will be, in their mind. All they can see is their failure and inability, even though pride will not admit it. But since it was God Who designed us and put “this treasure in earthen vessels,” He knows that we are unable and that's part of His plan. We need to be unable; otherwise it's not by grace, it's by works. Part of God's plan is that He put this great “treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2Co.4:7). We need to know that we can't do it. Those people who are under the Law, and looking inward and seeing their failure, are thinking, “I just can't do it!” Well, that's great to know that you can't do it, but if you condemn yourself because you can't do it, then that proves that you're under the Law. When you're condemning “self” because you can't do it, you are proving that you have your eyes looking inward instead of upward. We must keep our eyes on the Lord and what He's done. (Rom.8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God [is] for us, who [is] against us? (32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? There isn't anything God won't give us to supply our needs. If He would give us Jesus, the most precious, valuable, and sacrificial gift He had to give, surely He wouldn't deny us anything else. Anything else would be insignificant; it would be like the ribbon on the box. If you're giving a great and precious gift to somebody, you're not going to begrudge the ribbon or anything else. God has given us and will give us anything, but He does demand one thing: He demands faith. So instead of rejecting someone because we're looking at the problem or person, we need to learn to put faith in them. Its for whosoever will. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation (Greek: soteria) to everyone that believeth … The Gospel is the “power of God.” The Gospel is the good news, and we need to put that good news in people. They need to hear, “Listen, Jesus set you free” (Romans 6:22). He has made us free from sin; it is already passed and done (Romans 6). I know this can be a hard thing for a person to believe after hearing so much criticism and rejection, even by church and “religious” people who don't know how to put grace into others. All we need is grace, God's favor, and it's hard to receive grace without faith, and it's hard to receive faith if you have condemnation or rejection in your heart. (Rom.8:33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; (34) who is he that condemneth? Woe be unto the person who rejects the person whom God accepts! Judgment is upon those who reject people whom God accepts. God wants to put faith in people's hearts, but when we look at their problems, situations and failures, and then get them to look only at those things, rather than at the Savior and His salvation, we steal from them the faith God wants them to have. And many are so prone to do that as religious people! Most people already know where they're going wrong; they just don't know how to get free and go on. The only way for a Christian to get free is to have faith; otherwise, you wouldn't need God because you could save yourself. But He will not permit you to get free and prosper on your own; it is going to be grace through faith in the promises, or it's going to be nothing. We all need to learn how to get grace into people's hearts by speaking grace to them and pumping them full of faith. (Rom.8:33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; (34) who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. That verse reminds me of where the angels were asking, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” (Rev.5:2) Who has overcome to open up the seals? It asks, “Who?” And the answer is the Lamb has overcome to open up the seals (Revelation 5:5). They were weeping there because nobody had overcome to open up the seals of judgment and that's true. Nobody has overcome sin to the extent that they can judge without the anointing and wisdom of God. If we step out ahead of God and judge by our own sight and wisdom, we are doing something that only the Lamb has been given authority to do. He loosed the seals of judgment upon the earth; Jesus was the Lamb Who overcame. The Bible says to be ready “to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full” (2Co.10:6), but we are quick to correct. Our obedience may not be full, but we're quick to correct and point out, “Here is your problem,” to people who just can't get up off the ground and cannot find faith. We even wonder why they can't find faith and yet we don't speak that faith into them. (Rom.8:35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that's even with all of our failures and shortcomings. All of us come from different backgrounds, and we all have our own shortcomings and faults. It's very easy for us to see one another's shortcomings and to keep pointing them out, even though they've probably been pointed out to those people from birth (Luke 6:41-42). It's the good news that we need to be preaching more of: “Jesus has set you free.” He bore the curse for us (Galatians 3:13) and set us free at Calvary from everything and we need to accept that. Let me tell you about a guy I knew who had a problem with alcohol and was really condemning himself because he just didn't have the willpower to stay away from the stuff. I told him if it were up to willpower, there wouldn't be any salvation, especially for a Christian. If you could do it with your own willpower, you wouldn't need Jesus and you wouldn't be learning about grace. But he was one of those introverts who was always looking at himself, instead of looking at what Jesus had already done and rejoicing in the salvation Jesus gave him. Many people are like that, and if one can't find faith, that's generally the reason. They are not looking in the right direction; their eye is not single (Matthew 6:22). You're either looking at yourself and your ability, or you're looking at your inability. (Rom.3:28) We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. You know what that says to me? God justifies us and accepts us as righteous before we are perfect, and it has to be before we are perfect. No matter how you see that, it has to be apart from the works of the Law. (Rom.4:1) What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, hath found according to the flesh? (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God. See, when you're condemning yourself, it's because you're expecting yourself to do better, and that's not where success comes from. If you, or any of us, could do better by our own willpower, then we would be justified by our own works. We would be able to glory before the Lord, and that's not possible. (Rom.4:3) For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. That's our job, to put that belief in people to believe God and be counted as righteous. Abraham believed God before he saw the answer, and everybody needs to believe God before they see the answer. We need to believe God for deliverance before we get delivered from our faults. That's the Gospel and that's what faith is; it's calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). (Rom.4:3) For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. (4) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly (that's you and me), his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Now that's God's acceptance and we have to accept whom God accepts. If we don't accept them, then without even knowing it, we'll be speaking the wrong things to those people. We're going to be hurting them and we'll be separating them from God. (Rom.8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. That is, those who believe in His salvation. (Rom.4:5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. (6) Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, (7) [saying,] Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. (9) Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? Stop and think about what circumcision is: it's a cutting away of the flesh. It's a symbol of our deliverance from the bondage of the flesh because it is a cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh. It symbolizes putting to death the flesh that you've been sowing. When you cut off the foreskin, it is a changing of the way you sow; you are not sowing the flesh anymore. The only way that we are going to reap the blessings of God is if we change the way we sow. Notice what Paul says: “Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness” (Rom.4:9). (10) How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? When did God call Abraham righteous? It was before Abraham received the sign of the Covenant, circumcision, which is a type of our deliverance from our old carnal nature. You say, “Well, circumcision is baptism,” and that's true. Paul said in Colossians that circumcision is a type of baptism. (Col.2:11) In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; (12) having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. Baptism is putting to death the fleshly old man and the resurrection of the new man, “Christ in you.” That's what it's all about – an act of faith whereby we are being united with Christ in death, burial and resurrection. And when we come up out of that water, we say, “I'm a new man. It is Christ Who lives in me; the old man died.” So we reckon it by faith, but the baptism has to be manifested in our life as we are continually dying and letting Christ come to life in us, day by day. Paul said, “I die daily” (1Co.15:31). He brought to life his baptism daily; it was a manifestation coming to pass in his life. If baptism is not manifested in our lives, then that act of faith has no works. The washing of the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26) is putting to death our old man and the new man is coming up continuously. But even before that manifestation, when does God count you righteous? You are reckoned righteous even before circumcision is manifested in your life; in other words, before you are sanctified and holy; delivered completely unto the Lord. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision (Rom.4:10) before he had manifested this righteousness toward the Lord. God called him righteous for one reason – faith. And that's the way we have to see those who are running after the Lord, even with all their failures. A person's failures don't make any difference. (Rom.4:11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them. 2Co.5:17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ (by faith), he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (I.e. we reckon it accomplished.) 18 But all things are of God, who reconciled (Greek meaning of this word is “exchanged.” He exchanged His righteous life for our fallen life. He reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; (I.e. We preach faith that “we don't live anymore; Christ lives in us.”) 19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, (When we, or others we preach to, walk in repentance and faith, our sins and their sins are not reckoned.) and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (I.e. We preach faith that others might receive the exchange of Christ's life for their life.) 20 We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. 2Co.5:21 Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In Genesis 15, there are several signs of the Covenant that are manifested. For instance, there is the blood covenant that God made with Abraham. Another example is when God promised Abraham that his seed would be as the stars, a multitude (Genesis 15:5). So God made a covenant with Abraham. In fact, at this time he was called “Abram” and not “Abraham.” This covenant was before he had a name change. A name change symbolizes a change of nature, character and authority. The Hebrew word for “name” is shem, which means “nature, character and authority.” The same as the New Testament's Greek word for “name,” which is onoma. This is a type for us because we're getting a name change, too. Our nature, character and authority are being changed as we are reconciled and become sanctified through our walk of faith in Jesus Christ. “Ah” in Hebrew means “the brother of.” When it was added to Abram's name to make it “Abraham,” it changed his name to mean “the father of a multitude” (Genesis 17:5). So before he could become “the father of a multitude,” or before he could become somebody who would sow the seed and bring forth a multitude, he had to have a name change. And that's what we want to do. We want to sow a seed to bring people out of this world. We want to have spiritual children in this world. But before we can be the “father of a multitude,” we have to be “the brother of” the Lord; we have to come into unity with the Lord by taking His name. As a matter of fact, did you know that “ah” is also a part of the Lord's name, “YHWH”? Translators added the “ah” to make “Jehovah.” A lot of Hebrew names have “ah” in them, and originally that was the taking on of the Lord's name. At any rate, before Abraham's name change, God said to him, “Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon” (Gen.15:9). (10) And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not. The animals were cut in half, which was the way they made the blood covenant. Then the two people making the covenant would walk between the halved animals. But God showed that Abraham would not fulfill his half of the normal covenant when He put Abraham to sleep. (Gen.15:12) And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. I've thought about this, as that's your revelation of your sinful state when you come to know God; it's “a horror of great darkness.” You get a revelation, “Hey, I'm undone!” And there's not a thing you can do about it. (Gen.15:13) And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. As a type, this was the Israelites when they were in bondage to the world, to Egypt. It was before they were baptized in the Red Sea and went to the Promised Land, so it was a type of them when they were lost and in degeneration. (Gen.15:14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. (15) But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. So God put Abraham to sleep and the only thing that passed between the sacrificial halves was the smoking furnace and the flaming torch (Genesis 15:17), which represents the Lord burning up the wood, hay, and stubble of the old life. This means that Abraham could not fulfill his part of the covenant, that there were no works he could add to bring about the blood covenant of our cleansing. And here's another example, again from before Abraham was circumcised and from before he had his name changed: (Gen.17:10) This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. (11) And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. And then He calls it my covenant shall be in your flesh (13). So, before Abraham fulfilled righteousness in putting to death his flesh, in the cutting away of his flesh, God called him righteous. And the Lord calls us righteous, not because of where we have attained to in the Lord, but because of election (Romans 9). It's simply just because God has chosen us; He sees the end before the beginning (Isaiah 41:4) and He calls us righteous. And that's the way He wants us to look at other people. He wants us to say, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php.1:6). Just as Paul said, “It is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you” (7). In other words, “It is right for me to be thus minded on your behalf that He who started a good work in you will perfect it, will finish it.” It's right for us to be minded that way toward the imperfections that we see in one another. It's to look past them and not to reject or criticize but to say, “God's going to finish the work.” We just saw that before Abraham was circumcised, God had accepted him. Here's another good example: (Rom.9:9) For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. (10) And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, [even] by our father Isaac — (11) for [the children] being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, (12) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. (13) Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. So it was according to election that God accepted Jacob and rejected Esau. When we see the calling of God in a person's life, aside from all their failures and foolishness, God has accepted them. We need to accept them, too, and not be so quick to try to do what is God's work to straighten them out. First of all, we accept them, and then God's work through us is to put faith into their lives because that's the good news of the cross of Christ. It's the good news that He bore their sins on that cross, and they need to realize that. Now let me share this testimony of grace and faith called:   Ministry of Reconciliation E. D. - 04/03/2008 My wife, was infected with the Brownsville and Toronto spirits as a result of attending one of their meetings. Our relationship began to deteriorate as she lost respect for the Word. We separated for what I originally blamed solely on these manifested spirits in her. But the Lord has impressed upon me in the midst of this trial that there is a better way of reconciliation. And as a Christian, it is my duty to be a minister of reconciliation. And I not only abrogated my responsibility to minister to my wife, but I was a purveyor of the bad report by confessing to brethren my desire to leave my wife as a result of the manifesting spirits. I was so effective in speaking anti-faith to my friends that they may feel the need to argue with me concerning her and me reconciling our relationship. Since she was still my wife, I took authority over those Brownsville spirits and according to scripture, commanded those spirits to loose my wife in the name of Jesus Christ. The spirits did leave. She went back to school and got a job. She did not exhibit the signs of the Brownsville spirits, and she requested reconciliation with me on a couple of occasions. The Lord has recently revealed to me that He loves reconciliation, and we should also. Though she tried to reconcile with me, I kept her at arm's length due to mistrust and weighing her spiritual growth according to my standards, rather than the righteous standards in which our Father weighs my spiritual growth. He sees the end from the beginning. As her husband, I denied her the patience, grace and mercy my Father in heaven granted me. It is no surprise that she recently confessed to me that I make her feel she can never reach my expectations. This is when the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to repent of the way I viewed our marriage. I first had to reconcile my mind of how our Father viewed our marriage and see her from an entirely different perspective. I was not walking by faith but walking by sight. As a result, I was judging her. I was denying our Father the opportunity to work His perfect will in our relationship by putting the onus on her and not on my faith in our Father's Word. Eph.5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it. Our Father reminded me of His long suffering, quickness to forgive and forget. If He can do that for me through Jesus Christ, then who am I not to do the same regarding my wife? I failed to see my wife for what she will be by faith but saw her as she was. Heb.11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. I compared myself to how Christ deals with me and found myself lacking. 1Cor.7:10 But unto the married I give charge, yea not I, but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband 11 (but should she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband leave not his wife. She felt rejected by me, which was perfectly understandable. Instead of speaking faith I made the gulf wider, pushing her into the arms of another man. But the Lord heard my prayers concerning the other man that he should be removed immediately, and this happened in such a way that both her and I knew it was from the Lord. That is when we began talking to each other and confessing our faults. She confessed she didn't even want to be with that man but felt desperate and unloved. I confessed I was not doing right by her because I was not speaking faith. I was more intent on pointing out her past faults than in realizing the love Jesus Christ displayed for us through His victory at the cross. I didn't realize I was doing this. When I repented and changed the way I conversed with her, I began to see a great change over time in her. She not only became far more receptive to me but to the Word also. She is now like a flower blossoming in the desert. When I speak to any brethren who are going through a similar trial, I tell them, remember, we are to love our spouses as Jesus Christ loved the church. Because that is what their troubled spouse needs. They need to see the love of Christ in us. All it took on my part was to obey the Word of God and lay down myself so she could see true forgiveness and grace. Now I know reconciliation is the Lord's best way. Seeing that we are ministers of reconciliation, I now see my marriage as a part of this ministry. So remember, brethren, speak the end from the beginning for your spouse and speak of things that are not as though they are, because we have the authority in Christ to do this. And my prayer is that our Father restores the spiritual house of all my brethren in similar trials and situations. Amen.

“The New Covenant at Home” by Chatman Laxton. The post The New Covenant at Home appeared first on Christian Ministries Church.

What does obedience really mean for Christians today? Is it strict rule-keeping, striving for perfection or something far more freeing? Join Kyle as he unpacks the surprising truth about obedience under the New Covenant, and what it has to do with your relationship with God.

Send us a textPaul contrasts the fading glory of the old covenant with the eternal glory of the new. In Christ, the veil is lifted — we behold Him with unveiled faces and are transformed into His image from glory to glory. Join us as we explore the Spirit's ministry of life and righteousness, and the bold freedom we have to proclaim Christ.Support the showTo listen to my monthly church history podcast, subscribe at; https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.com For an ad-free version of my podcasts plus the opportunity to enjoy hours of exclusive content and two bonus episodes a month whilst also helping keep the Bible Project Daily Podcast free for listeners everywhere support me at;|PatreonSupport me to continue making great content for listeners everywhere.https://thebibleproject.buzzsprout.com

As Paul defends his ministry against his opponents in Corinth, he highlights how much better the New Covenant is than that from Sinai. Several contrasts are drawn, and important insight is given from a scene at Sinai in Exodus 34. What does it mean that "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6).

2 Corinthians 3:1-18 - Sermon by Aaron Markham

The Law was glorious but has been surpassed in glory. The Law couldn't change your heart; it brought death, but the New Covenant in Christ gives eternal righteousness and life. Behold Jesus!

Through a new decree that was passed, the Jews are able to defend themselves and find victory against Haman's evil plot. They then inaugurate the Feast of Purim as a celebration and remembrance of God's deliverance. Although we do not celebrate Purim, we have a greater joy, a greater victory, a greater understanding of God's deliverance under the New Covenant in the act of communion. Therefore, we can live from a place of strength and victory and know joy and celebration even in a world of despair and chaos.

HEBREWS - Hebrews 13:9-16, a look at strengthening your heart with grace-oriented, Christ-confessing, new covenant sacrifices.

The Earthly Holy Place 9Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.2For a tent[a]was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence.[b]It is called the Holy Place.3Behind the second curtain was a second section[c]called the Most Holy Place,4having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.5Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,7but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.8By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing9(which is symbolic for the present age).[d]According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,10but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. Redemption Through the Blood of Christ 11But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,[e]then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)12he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify[f]for the purification of the flesh,14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[g]conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Happy Friyay Team XYZ!

Episode 2 – Mike discusses the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and its implications. The conversation touches on the church's resistance to the message of grace.

All Temples give God's blueprint for us as His ultimate Temples. Man fell into sin & lost God's Presence, but He's restoring us to be His Temples – He'll dwell within us & shine out of us forever. All the different Temples encode different aspects of His ultimate Temple, each providing a piece of the puzzle. We get the whole picture by putting together the revelation from them all. (1) Our SPIRIT = HOLY of HOLIES, (2) our SOUL = HOLY PLACE, (3) our BODY = OUTER COURT. We're made with His THRONE in our SPIRIT to live under His authority. When we receive Christ & He's enthroned within us, we discover our true identity, ability & personality, for His Spirit of grace flows from His throne to fill & transform our souls & empower us to do His will & be fruitful. Christ is the perfect human Temple; God was enthroned in His spirit and His Spirit filled His soul & flowed out of Him. But we were born spiritually dead, so His Spirit did not indwell us. Christ came to make us into true Temples, like Him. So, He died as our SIN OFFERING to take away our sins, and as our BURNT OFFERING to give us His perfect righteousness. Mercy Seat = ‘Place of Propitiation' where God's righteous judgment is fully satisfied by the Blood. He sees the Blood & declares us forgiven, so He's now free to bless us. Once the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat & accepted by God, Israel came under mercy for another year. But she had to repeat this ritual every year signifying man's sin wasn't yet put away (Heb 10:1-4). Christ accomplished this (Heb 10:5-10). So, Tabernacle rituals pictured what Christ would accomplish in establishing the New Covenant in His Blood in the Heavenly Temple, and activating it in His redeemed human Temples (Heb 9:7-12). As the High Priest, He offered Himself as the final Sacrifice and took His Blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on God's Throne, the Mercy Seat, as full payment for our sin & every blessing of grace (Heb 4:16). His Blood in Heaven ever speaks on our behalf, and is the basis for the everlasting New Covenant (Heb 12:22-24). Having done this, He sat down to signify His finished work, and entered into His work as Mediator of the New Covenant for His people (Heb 1:3, 10:11-12, 9:23-26). The Heavenly Temple is an image of God's ultimate Temple (Man), so when we receive Christ, He also sprinkles us with His Blood & sanctifies us to Himself (1Pet 1:2, Heb 9:13-14). By His Spirit, He entered our holy of holies, and applied His Blood to our spirit, cleansing it from all sin & sanctifying it to Himself, making it a perfect new creation, and then sits enthroned there by His indwelling Spirit, to mediate the new covenant in our lives. This happened at our New Birth. He activated the New Covenant in us, so we're now under grace. We became a functioning Temple. Having sprinkled & cleansed us with His Blood (Heb 9:13-14), He now brings us into our inheritance (v15). It's a Throne of Grace, for the Lamb's Blood has been accepted by God on our behalf, and He sits at God's right hand dispensing His River of Grace to us (Rev 22:1-2). This also pictures us as Temples, with Christ enthroned as Lord in our spirit, releasing His river of grace from His throne in our spirit, flowing down into our heart & life. The trees = thoughts & emotions in our soul. As we trust in Christ who lives in us, and submit to His Lordship, we receive His river of blessing into our hearts. When God entered the Tabernacle, He sat in His glory, enthroned on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, and there He met with Moses & spoke with him (Ex 25:21-22). Likewise, He sits on the throne in our spirit, His base of operation in us. 3 items in the HOLY PLACE (Heb 9:1-4) = our SOUL: *(1) MENORAH = our MIND, illuminated by the oil of His Spirit. *(2) TABLE of SHOWBREAD (‘the Bread of the Presence') = our EMOTIONS, kept ever fresh from God's Presence, shining from the Holy of Holies. *(3) The ALTAR of INCENSE next to the Holy of Holies = our HEART or WILL, at the deepest part of our soul, called the Golden Censer (‘the Place of Incense') in Heb 9:4, where it's described as belonging to the holy of holies. Thus, our HEART is the junction & connection between our SPIRIT & SOUL, receiving God's life from the spirit, so that it flows into our soul (Heb 4:12, John 7:38). By God's design, the heart should be under the spirit's control, so a worshipping heart is necessary to receive God's grace into our souls. As we submit our hearts into God's Hand (the Holy Spirit), He can guide & empower us (Prov 21:1). To reign in life, put our heart into His Hand (His Spirit), who manifests in us as rivers of living water. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant containing 3 items, hidden under the Throne (under His control) = 3 aspects of God's grace, He wants to release into our soul by His Spirit: (1) the Tablets of the Covenant, (2) Aaron's Almond Rod that budded, and (3) the Golden Pot of Manna (Heb 9:3-5)

All Temples give God's blueprint for us as His ultimate Temples. Man fell into sin & lost God's Presence, but He's restoring us to be His Temples – He'll dwell within us & shine out of us forever. All the different Temples encode different aspects of His ultimate Temple, each providing a piece of the puzzle. We get the whole picture by putting together the revelation from them all. (1) Our SPIRIT = HOLY of HOLIES, (2) our SOUL = HOLY PLACE, (3) our BODY = OUTER COURT. We're made with His THRONE in our SPIRIT to live under His authority. When we receive Christ & He's enthroned within us, we discover our true identity, ability & personality, for His Spirit of grace flows from His throne to fill & transform our souls & empower us to do His will & be fruitful. Christ is the perfect human Temple; God was enthroned in His spirit and His Spirit filled His soul & flowed out of Him. But we were born spiritually dead, so His Spirit did not indwell us. Christ came to make us into true Temples, like Him. So, He died as our SIN OFFERING to take away our sins, and as our BURNT OFFERING to give us His perfect righteousness. Mercy Seat = ‘Place of Propitiation' where God's righteous judgment is fully satisfied by the Blood. He sees the Blood & declares us forgiven, so He's now free to bless us. Once the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat & accepted by God, Israel came under mercy for another year. But she had to repeat this ritual every year signifying man's sin wasn't yet put away (Heb 10:1-4). Christ accomplished this (Heb 10:5-10). So, Tabernacle rituals pictured what Christ would accomplish in establishing the New Covenant in His Blood in the Heavenly Temple, and activating it in His redeemed human Temples (Heb 9:7-12). As the High Priest, He offered Himself as the final Sacrifice and took His Blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on God's Throne, the Mercy Seat, as full payment for our sin & every blessing of grace (Heb 4:16). His Blood in Heaven ever speaks on our behalf, and is the basis for the everlasting New Covenant (Heb 12:22-24). Having done this, He sat down to signify His finished work, and entered into His work as Mediator of the New Covenant for His people (Heb 1:3, 10:11-12, 9:23-26). The Heavenly Temple is an image of God's ultimate Temple (Man), so when we receive Christ, He also sprinkles us with His Blood & sanctifies us to Himself (1Pet 1:2, Heb 9:13-14). By His Spirit, He entered our holy of holies, and applied His Blood to our spirit, cleansing it from all sin & sanctifying it to Himself, making it a perfect new creation, and then sits enthroned there by His indwelling Spirit, to mediate the new covenant in our lives. This happened at our New Birth. He activated the New Covenant in us, so we're now under grace. We became a functioning Temple. Having sprinkled & cleansed us with His Blood (Heb 9:13-14), He now brings us into our inheritance (v15). It's a Throne of Grace, for the Lamb's Blood has been accepted by God on our behalf, and He sits at God's right hand dispensing His River of Grace to us (Rev 22:1-2). This also pictures us as Temples, with Christ enthroned as Lord in our spirit, releasing His river of grace from His throne in our spirit, flowing down into our heart & life. The trees = thoughts & emotions in our soul. As we trust in Christ who lives in us, and submit to His Lordship, we receive His river of blessing into our hearts. When God entered the Tabernacle, He sat in His glory, enthroned on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, and there He met with Moses & spoke with him (Ex 25:21-22). Likewise, He sits on the throne in our spirit, His base of operation in us. 3 items in the HOLY PLACE (Heb 9:1-4) = our SOUL: *(1) MENORAH = our MIND, illuminated by the oil of His Spirit. *(2) TABLE of SHOWBREAD (‘the Bread of the Presence') = our EMOTIONS, kept ever fresh from God's Presence, shining from the Holy of Holies. *(3) The ALTAR of INCENSE next to the Holy of Holies = our HEART or WILL, at the deepest part of our soul, called the Golden Censer (‘the Place of Incense') in Heb 9:4, where it's described as belonging to the holy of holies. Thus, our HEART is the junction & connection between our SPIRIT & SOUL, receiving God's life from the spirit, so that it flows into our soul (Heb 4:12, John 7:38). By God's design, the heart should be under the spirit's control, so a worshipping heart is necessary to receive God's grace into our souls. As we submit our hearts into God's Hand (the Holy Spirit), He can guide & empower us (Prov 21:1). To reign in life, put our heart into His Hand (His Spirit), who manifests in us as rivers of living water. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant containing 3 items, hidden under the Throne (under His control) = 3 aspects of God's grace, He wants to release into our soul by His Spirit: (1) the Tablets of the Covenant, (2) Aaron's Almond Rod that budded, and (3) the Golden Pot of Manna (Heb 9:3-5)

Stand strong in your Covenant rights! Listen Believer's Voice of Victory as Kenneth Copeland and Professor Greg Stephens share about Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant. Learn to live and stand firm in the present truth of the new and better promises you have through Christ!

Stand strong in your Covenant rights! Watch Believer's Voice of Victory as Kenneth Copeland and Professor Greg Stephens share about Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant. Learn to live and stand firm in the present truth of the new and better promises you have through Christ!

A Better Country: Hebrews 11:8–16In this episode of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane continue through Hebrews 11 by looking at the faith of Abraham, Sarah, and the patriarchs. These verses highlight what it means to live as strangers and exiles on earth while longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Through their stories, Jamie and Jane unpack how faith calls us to trust God's promises, even when they seem far off, and to fix our eyes on the eternal home He has prepared. This conversation will inspire you to live with faith that looks forward, not just around.____________________________________Connect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

Does the God of the Old Testament seem different in the New Testament? A caller asked me about this apparent shift from violence to mercy. Is God having a personality crisis? And what about evil and disasters – is God hurling calamities our way?God's character is unchanging, but there's been a radical change in covenants. As believers today, we're living under a better deal with better promises. No more worrying about losing the Holy Spirit or offering endless sacrifices. The Gospel offers us a life of grace and freedom.Dive into this video and transform your understanding of God's goodness. Yes, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, but the New Covenant changes everything!We hope you enjoyed this episode. Since we're a nonprofit organization, episodes like these are only made possible by friends like you.You can help us continue sharing God's message of grace with the world here: https://andrewfarley.org/donate/Connect with Dr. Andrew Farley here:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrAndrewFarleyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/drandrewfarleyTwitter: https://twitter.com/DrAndrewFarleyTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drandrewfarleyWebsite: https://www.andrewfarley.org/

Daily Dose of Hope September 24, 2025   Scripture – Luke 23   Prayer:  Lord Jesus, We come before you this morning, thanking you for a new day.  Lord, you are good and we rejoice in your holy and powerful name.  As we begin our day, Lord, help us focus on you.  Help us set aside our scattered thoughts and focus on your Word and what you want us to learn today.  We get so distracted and self-consumed.  Forgive us for that, Lord.  In these next few moments of silence, help us have laser focus on your voice... In Your Powerful Name, Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional/podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently working our way through a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we are deep diving into Luke 23.    Today, we start with Jesus before Pilate and Herod.  Both Roman men believe that Jesus  is innocent.  Pilate actually tries to get the people to release Jesus, but the crowd is stirred up.  They want blood.  Jesus' innocence is not the point to them.  They are looking for a way to get rid of this trouble-maker.  And these men are not willing to stand up for what's right.    There was a man named Simon from Cyrene who was passing by and they forced him to carry the cross.  Cyrene was on the tip of Africa so this man was far from home!  And here he was, just going about his business, and he is enlisted, or more like seized, to carry the cross of the Savior of the world.  I'm guessing that Jesus' physical body was incredibly weak and bloody by this point.  And Simon walked by him, carrying the cross that would serve to execute Jesus but also save all humanity from their sin. We don't know what happened to Simon after the crucifixion.  He isn't mentioned again in Scripture.  But my guess is that his life was never the same again.  An encounter with Jesus is always life-changing.   The text in which Jesus dies on the cross is called the Good Friday scripture.  It may seem odd that we would call the day that Jesus was crucified and died “good.” Apparently, the term came into common use in the 1200s because for us, it was a truly good day, as Jesus became the final sacrifice for all sin for all people for all time. As the full expression of God's love for us, Jesus voluntarily gave his life so that we could be reconciled to holy God. It is very much good.   There is a lot to be said about the crucifixion but I wanted to highlight something in particular.  Right before Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, the curtain in the Temple was torn down the middle. This is the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (the Holiest of Holies) where the ark of the covenant was kept and the presence of God remained. When the curtain tore, it was a sign that the New Covenant was instituted. Because of Jesus' sacrifice (the final sacrifice for sin), those who believe in him can now go directly to the throne of God's grace. When holy God looks at us, he doesn't see our sinfulness but the blood of Christ. Thus, there are no more barriers that can separate us from God.   I'd like to close today with a prayer that is an adaptation of Hebrews 10:19-25: Thank you, Lord, that we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Lord, help us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Amen.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Welcome to the Grace in Focus podcast. Today, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates are once again answering one of your questions. What is the New Covenant? Is the New Covenant operative today? To whom does the New Covenant apply? Please listen – and never miss an episode of the Grace in Focus Podcast!

Looking for Revival 1 Kings 22:1-2, 10-13; 23:25   LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Revive them in our day, in our time, make them known; in wrath remember mercy. - Habakkuk 3:2, NIV   Everyone likes 2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If my people who are called by my name…” – because it promises what we deeply crave: revival. But revival isn't just emotional fire. It's not hype. It's not a nostalgia trip back to better days. Revival is when God invades the ruins of his people's sin with his mercy, his Word, and his Spirit — and makes us new again. We're walking through the lives of three kings — Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, and today, Josiah — who each experienced this kind of God-driven revival. These were moments when God turned the lights back on, not because the people earned it, but because he remembered mercy. In the generation after Solomon, the country split in half, north and south, and the northern kingdom of Israel moved into stark idolatry under their rebel King Jeroboam. He built an alternative Temple for idolatrous worship, set up an alternative priesthood, and listened to false prophets. Right in the middle of that, God sent a true but unnamed prophet to Israel to announce that centuries later, he would raise up a king who would put the finishing touches on the demolition of this idolatry and renew the covenant between God and his people. The prophet said his name would be Josiah.   That's the King we are looking at today. He was the last great reformer before Judah collapsed. His story isn't just inspiring — it's prophetic. His name was called out centuries before his birth, a rare mark of divine intention. God raised him up for this moment: to tear down false worship, to rediscover the Word, and to renew the covenant — a picture of how God revives his people. 1 Kings 13:1-2 “By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the LORD he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David…That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.” NIV   Let's look at the three movements in Josiah's story: 1. Discovering the Book 2. Repenting from Sin 3. Renewing the Covenant   2 Chronicles 7:14 is a beautiful promise from God made to Solomon when he dedicated the newly built Temple in Jerusalem. It wasn't just beautiful - it was essential. God's people would frequently stray from their faith and forsake the Lord. Yet God was also merciful, granting revival, reformation, and rescue from their enemies to his people time and time again. In the text before us today, we see the fulfillment of God's promise as King Josiah comes to the throne as an eight-year-old boy, near the end of Judah's national life, leading a country that has abandoned God, even though God never abandoned it.   I. Discovering the Book - 2 Kings 22:10-13 At age 26, Josiah's workers are cleaning out the Temple when they find something that should never have been lost — the Book of the Law. God's Word had been buried. Forgotten. Tossed aside. But once it was read aloud, everything changed. The spark of revival always starts with rediscovering God's Word. The Bible isn't magic, but when God's people stop ignoring it and start listening to it — deeply, personally, humbly — revival becomes possible. The Word cuts. It convicts. It calls. You can't have a revival without the Book. If the Word has gathered dust in your life — if it's been shoved in a drawer behind the hustle and noise — there's no revival without opening it again.   II. Repenting from Sin - 2 Kings 22:11-13 Josiah's response is immediate and raw. He tears his clothes — a public act of grief and repentance. He realizes that God's wrath is hanging over them, not because God is unjust, but because the people have rebelled. And Josiah doesn't just repent personally. He leads the entire nation in repentance. He cleanses the land of idols, smashing them to dust. He tears down altars built for false gods. He doesn't manage sin — he destroys it. Real revival always comes with repentance. That means naming our sin, turning from it, and refusing to make peace with what God has condemned. Is there something in your life that needs to be smashed, not managed? Revival isn't just singing louder — it's living differently.   III. Renewing the Covenant - 2 Kings 23:1-3, 21-22 Josiah calls the people together and publicly renews the covenant — their sacred agreement with God. He restores worship, reinstitutes the Passover, and re-centers the nation on Yahweh. This wasn't just a ceremonial act — it was national restoration. Revival isn't just about cleaning house; it's about reclaiming God's promises and re-aligning our lives under his rule. God made a covenant with his people. Even when they broke it, he didn't walk away. Josiah leads them back into it. But here's where the story takes a turn. As beautiful as Josiah's revival was, it didn't last. After his death, Judah fell back into sin. Within a few years, Babylon invaded, the Temple was destroyed, and the people were exiled. Even the best king couldn't stop judgment from coming. Josiah was a good king, a faithful king — but he wasn't the King. The King of the New Covenant Centuries later, another young man from the line of David would rise, who was also foretold by the prophets — not to repair a broken temple, but to become the Temple. Not to renew the old covenant, but to establish a new one in his blood. Jesus is the greater Josiah. Where Josiah rediscovered the Book, Jesus is the Word made flesh. Where Josiah tore his clothes in grief, Jesus was torn for us. Where Josiah renewed the covenant with sacrifice, Jesus became the sacrifice that secures the covenant forever. Josiah brought revival for a moment. Jesus brings renewal for eternity. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus offers a better covenant, sealed by his blood, written on our hearts by the Spirit, not just in a scroll or temple. He doesn't just clean the outside — he gives us new hearts, making us the temple. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Conclusion: Looking for Revival Habakkuk's prayer is ours: “Repeat your deeds in our day, Lord… in wrath remember mercy.”   We don't need to manufacture revival — we need to seek the King who brings it. Let's follow Josiah's example: ● Return to the Word. ● Repent from sin. ● Renew our covenant commitment to Jesus.   Let's NOT put our hope in a political figure, not in emotional highs, not in religious nostalgia — let's put our hope in the King of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ, who revives the dead, restores the broken, and renews all things.   Response Questions: ● Where has God's Word been lost in your life? ● What sins are you managing instead of repenting from? ● Are you living under the old way, or under the new covenant with Jesus?   Let's pray for revival — not just around us, but in us — through Christ our King.

Allan Moseley delves into 2 Corinthians chapter 3, examining the profound distinctions between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in Christ. It emphasizes the New Covenant's surpassing glory, spiritual life, and eternal righteousness, and encourages believers to daily behold Christ's glory for personal transformation and to reveal God's greatness to a world in desperate need.

Episode Synopsis:As Paul finds himself facing a serious situation with challenges to his apostolic authority and attacks upon his person and reputation, he defends himself and his apostolic office by pointing to God's saving work among the once pagan Corinthians.  Through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the believers among the Corinthians now have hearts of flesh through which they have become “letters from Christ.”  This is not only proof of the effectiveness of God's work among them through the labors of the apostle Paul, but as the apostle will go on to spell out this is a sure sign of the superiority and glories of the new covenant–something the old covenant can never match.Paul draws three important contrasts in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians.  First, he explains the glories of the new covenant which makes it vastly superior to the old which it has superceded.  Second, Paul contrasts the flesh and the Spirit, in which the distinction between the law and gospel is made explicit.  Third, Paul draws out the superiority of Christ to Moses by illustrating the fading glory of the old covenant.  In making these contrasts, Paul explains how properly understanding the course of redemptive history is one of the key features of his apostolic ministry through which hearts of stone are transformed into hearts of flesh.  None of the false teachers and opponents of Paul can make such a claim.  Their self-aggrandizing efforts to undo the work that God has done in their midst through the labors of Paul is nothing but a dead end and can do nothing to transform the sinful human heart.At the end of chapter 3, Paul discusses the glory upon Moses's face as recounted in Exodus 34.  While Moses was forced to veil his face because the Israelites were terrified after Moses had been in the presence of YHWH, Paul described how that fading glory actually reveals the shortcomings of the old covenant and that as a result the hearts of the Israelites were hardened.  But the work of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant takes away the need for veiling as required after Moses was given the law at Sinai.  Under the new covenant, our faces are unveiled as we are transformed unto glory in anticipation of being in God's presence through the work of the Spirit under the new covenant.   For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The Door of Faith Ministries Podcast is based on the teachings of the Gospel of Grace for Salvation. We teach Christ's death, burial and resurrection! • Podcasts are added weekly from our Sunday services.For a breakdown of our services, visit:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Reflections Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Living Waters Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thursday Bible Study⁠

Topics: Biblical Backsliding, You're Not a Backslider If You Don't "Fully Commit" to God, You're Not a Backslider If You're Sinning, The Word Backslide Is Not in the New Testament for a Reason, The Law Was Brought in so That Sin Would Increase (Romans 5:20), The Law is a Ministry of Death and Condemnation (2 Corinthians 3), You Are Now the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:11), You Are Now the House of God (Hebrews 3 and Hebrews 10), You Search the Scriptures because You Think that in Them You Have Life (John 5), The Law is Not of Faith (Galatians 3), Even when We are Faithless He Remains Faithful (2 Timothy 2:13), A Fearful Exception for the Unbelievers Who Insult Grace (Hebrews 10), It Is Good for Your Heart to Be Strengthened by Grace, Jesus is Grace, Jesus Is Grace, The Law Was Meant to Increase Sin, The Old Covenant is Now Obsolete (Hebrews 8), The New Covenant Is a New and Living Way, You Are Not Under the Law but Under Grace (Romans 6:14), If It's Based on Works It Cannot Be Based on Grace (Romans 11:6), If You Are Led by the Spirit You Are Not Under the Law (Galatians 5:18), God Found Fault with Israel, The New Covenant Is Based on Better Promises, The New Covenant Came through the Blood of Jesus, You Are a Beneficiary to the New Covenant, The Old Testament Uses the Word Backslide, The Context of Backsliding Was the Hebrews Sliding Away from Faith in the Old Covenant, Jesus Is the Gospel of Grace (Acts 20:24), Your Sins Are Not More Powerful than What He's Done, The Promises Made at the Cross Keeps This from Being Undone, Confession and Repentance Don't Maintain Your Salvation, You Are One Spirit with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17), Our Perfection Comes by Way of Trusting in What Jesus Has Done with His Blood, God Was Still Married to the "Backslider" in the Old TestamentSupport the showSign up for Matt's free daily devotional! https://mattmcmillen.com/newsletter

The Old Covenant offered earthly and conditional promises based on the people's ability to obey the law. The New Covenant is based on God's unconditional promise to forgive sin and grant eternal life through faith in Christ. Through the New Covenant, God's law is written on the hearts and minds of believers by the Holy Spirit, leading to an inward desire to obey God out of love.Support the showhttp://www.gwafgbc.org http://www.gwafgbc.org/storehttp://www.gwafgbc.org/givehttps://vimeo.com/manage/videos

At Jesus' Crucifixion and Death, the “Temple Veil” Was Torn; After Jesus Easter Resurrection, You Now Pray Directly with God MESSAGE SUMMARY:  Think about the magnitude of your direct and personal access to God that your prayers give you, through Jesus, if you will only pray. Before Jesus, ordinary people did not have direct access to God, through the Throne Room of God, with a direct personal relationship with God. In Old Testament times, people would come to the priests; and the priest would offer up a sacrifice on behalf of the people. The priests, and not the people, were communing directly with God. On Good Friday and at Jesus death on the cross, the “Temple Veil” was torn from top to bottom (i.e. “Temple Vail” was a large, very thick, and very heavy barrier that divided that portion of the Temple accessible by those wishing to sacrifice for prayer and the “Holy of Holies” where the only the High Priest could meet with God and pray on behalf of the people of God.). At Jesus Resurrection, no longer was an intermediary (e.g., a Priest) required for direct prayer with God by the people in Christ (i.e. Jesus Followers).  Because Jesus created a New Covenant relationship with His followers, now your prayers are in direct communion with God, the Creator of the Universe. Everyone, who is in Christ, may have access to the Throne Room of God in the name of Jesus. What a privilege this direct access to God is for those who are in Christ. The author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 4:16, tells Jesus Followers that, because of the Gospel, you have direct access to God's “throne of Grace” for your needs: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.".   TODAY'S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Philippians 4:1-13; John 15:9-10; Revelation 4:1-2; Psalms 69c:25-36. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “What Are You Aiming For” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/    DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Jesus, The King of Kings | Matthew 26:17-35

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (6) (audio) David Eells – 9/21/25 I'm going to continue with our study of faith for the coming wilderness and how to walk above the principles of this world. All of this is to help prepare people to hear the voice of our God in the wilderness, so they can be preserved and provided for as they come out from under the bondage in Egypt. God led His people out of Egypt to learn to walk by faith in Him. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. We've learned that God is about to raise up the first-fruits. They are a people who have been walking in the wilderness, walking by faith in the Lord. They are trusting in the Lord to be their Savior in all things. They are not ruled by the dictates of the world or religion. And, like Moses and Jesus, who were the first-fruits in their day, God is preparing the first-fruits of our day to bring the larger group of spiritual Israel into their wilderness. That's where we're headed soon, and you have an opportunity right now to be one of those who hears the voice of the Lord in the wilderness, one of those who learns to trust in Him. It's very exciting! So to help encourage others to walk by faith in the Lord, I have some more testimonies to share with you of my own wilderness experiences that gave me courage. And I want to tell you that these testimonies, even though they are very miraculous to me, are going to be commonplace in the days to come, but nothing like the even greater works God is about to do. Jesus told us, (Joh.14:10) Truly, truly, I say to you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father. I've seen some wonderful things which are very exciting to me, and some are the greater works. They put faith in my heart to know that God is faithful to His Word, but we have things much, much greater coming. Let me emphasize again that salvation in the wilderness doesn't come through any works of man. The “rest” from our own works is just that: it's the rest from man's works to save himself and to provide for himself. The Lord God has already done it through Jesus Christ. Let me point something out to you. (1Co.1:28) And the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, [yea] and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are: (29) that no flesh should glory before God. Have you heard that before? Yes! (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 is very careful; He doesn't want us to be able to take credit for any form of our salvation, which we have seen is very big. When you speak a word of faith or you pray and believe you have received, only God is going to get credit for that. The fulfillment comes supernaturally. This is how God is going to provide for His people in the wilderness. They're going to enter into the rest by trust in God. The “things that are not” that God chose are all of those awesome promises we shared earlier: you have been saved; you were healed; He bare your sins; He reconciled you; you have been crucified; you have been redeemed; you have been perfected; He delivered you out of the power of darkness; and so on. Those things are not seen in the physical realm, but God chose to use those things that “are not,” that He might bring to nothing the things that are. And the “things that are” is the curse we see all around us: the sickness, the demonic possession, the lack, and so on. The “things that are” are all the curses of Deuteronomy 28 upon mankind. The Lord already took care of this because He says so in His Word. We need to believe exactly what He says without adding to it and without taking away from it, which He says brings a curse. (Rev.22:18) I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: (19) and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. So God chose the things that are not, He chose these promises, to bring to nothing the things that are. For example, a doctor is not a thing that is not and medicine is not a thing that is not, and psychiatry is not a thing that is not. The things that men generally run to for salvation are “things that are,” but God chose the “things that are not” for a very good reason: He chose them so “that no flesh should glory before God.” Jesus taught us to pray, (Mat.6:10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Is there any sickness in Heaven? How about demonic possession? How about sin ruling your life? He said, (Col.3:1) If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. (3) For ye died (past tense), and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall be manifested (That is, in the physical realm.), then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. The glory of God is manifested in us while we look not at the things that are but at the things that are not. So how do we use the “things that are not” to bring to nothing the “things that are”? We do it the same way God does it. (Rom.4:7) … God … calleth the things that are not, as though they were. We just speak them as done; we just command them as done; we claim them as done. And we don't put our trust in the arm of the flesh because in (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. When you trust in the arm of the flesh, you're trusting in what man can do, the strength of man; you're trusting in man's power, but that's a heart that “departs from the Lord.” For example, by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24) “ye were healed.” He didn't say “will be,” He said, “were”! And that, of course, negates any of your own works to save yourself because He's already done it and so all we have to do is rest. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. We want to enter into all of the rest of God; we want to be at peace in all circumstances because we know our sovereign Lord is in control. We know He's taken care of us already at the cross. (Joh.10:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. We know He has healed us, we know He has delivered us, we know He has provided for us and so on. We know all these things are already done and it's just a matter of our entering into them through faith. The Good Tidings were also preached to the Jews, but they didn't believe them. (Heb.4:2) For indeed we have had good tidings (That's the Gospel, the Good News.) preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. When we believe, we're not just hearing the promise; we're mixing faith with the promise by acting on that promise. When you do that, the miracle comes. A lot of people question, “Yeah, David, we know God can handle these little things, but what about the big things?” Well, I've already shared a few testimonies that I thought would be considered “big things” to most people, but now let me share another one with you. I'm going to tell you how the Lord miraculously healed my youngest son, Justin, without the help of man. Years ago, when Justin was little more than a toddler, we lived in a Christian community outside of Baton Rouge and all of us had our own assembly there. Well, the territory over there was a lot of hard clay, and you just about couldn't get grass to grow in it, but we had plowed it all up around several of the houses there and planted some grass. So when the rain came, the water stayed on top of the ground, and it was nothing but mud. So when that happens, we put planks across the mud so that we could go back and forth to the neighbors and fellowship with them and so on. I had walked over to the neighbors with Justin and when we were coming back, he was walking ahead of me on one of the planks, and I was kind of guiding him in front of me. Suddenly, he started to trip and lunge forward down into the mud. I reached out and grabbed his wrist just as he was falling, and I actually felt his bone snap in my hand, and I could have sworn I heard it, too. You know, that's a strange thing: I didn't know you could hear something like that, but I heard the pop and I felt the snap in my hand and I knew that his arm had broken. It was because I grabbed him at kind of a right angle, and it was my fault. When I picked him up, he was crying, and I just cradled him in my arms. Now, I'd already been walking in my wilderness for quite a few years, and I was constantly seeing miracles, so I was praying to the Lord and thanking the Lord for healing him because it was common for me to be healed by the Lord. And as I was going toward the house on the planks, the thought came into my mind, “I'm not going to say anything to Mary about this because I don't want to put any trial on her. I'm just going to see what the Lord does here.” So when we came in, she asked, “What happened?” I said, “Oh, he was falling and I caught him and his arm was hurt,” which was all true, but I knew a little bit more than what I was saying. So my wife picked him up and took him over to the rocking chair, and she rocked him back and forth until he basically cried himself to sleep. Then she began feeling around on his arm while I was in the room, watching her. She said, “David, his arm's not hurt, it's broken!” I said, “Yeah, I know that, but you know the Lord and you know what He's always done for us. You know He's always healed us and He's not going to fail us now, either.” She said, “Yeah, that's right.” She agreed with me. But when she was feeling around on his arm, he woke up and started crying again, and she rocked him back to sleep. By that time, it was getting late in the evening, so when he fell asleep in her arms, she put him in his bed. The prayer I prayed, was the prayer of faith. You know what faith is: it's calling those things that be not as though they were. (Rom.4:17) ... Even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. It's believing you have received, as Jesus taught us in (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. I prayed the prayer of faith, which was the common way that I prayed. I rarely prayed the prayer that the Bible calls the “prayer of importunity,” which is to ask, seek, and knock. Here it is in (Luk.11:5) And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; (6) for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; (7) and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee? (8) I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. (9) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (10) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's one way in which we can receive from God, but I had trained myself to walk in the prayer of faith, and it suited me. It saved a lot of time because you can either pray the prayer of importunity and end up at faith, or you can pray the prayer of faith and start out with faith. And it seems to me like the prayer of faith is the more spiritual because it's the one Jesus prayed. When He ministered to people, He spoke the words of faith and He just let it go, right there. He stood upon what He spoke, and I felt that's what the Lord was training me to do. I didn't feel like I had the time to pray about all the things I had to pray for importunely, day and night, day after day. Frankly, a lot of what people call the “prayer of importunity” is not; it's just thinking they're going to be heard for their “much speaking” as Jesus said. Understand that everything has to end up in faith. (Heb.11:6) And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him;] for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. The Bible says that without faith it's impossible to be well-pleasing unto God and a man who is double-minded shouldn't think he's going to receive anything from God. (Jas.1:6) But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. (7) For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; (8) a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. So I had pretty well trained myself to be stubborn with the devil and to believe I have received. You know, my wife said afterward, “I just knew you weren't going to take him to a doctor.” After Justin went to sleep, we both went to bed, and frankly, I went to sleep, but my wife prayed diligently because she knew I wanted to stay in the wilderness. She knew I wanted to trust in God and to see the works of God. So she prayed diligently, she prayed the prayer of importunity, and I prayed the prayer of faith. And Jesus told us, (Mat.18:19) Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. So we did finally end up agreeing but it wasn't until about 4:00 in the morning because she prayed until 4:00 in the morning, and then she felt a rest and a peace come over her. The prayer of importunity always has to end up in faith. It's not just pray and pray and pray and God's going to hear you because you talk a lot. Jesus said, (Mat.6:7) But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Some people think they have to wear God down because they're trying to convince Him to do something He doesn't want to do. But the truth is, He wants to do it and He's already done it, and it's not a matter of convincing Him; it's a matter of accepting what His Word says. You're the one who has to be convinced, not God. Well, my wife became convinced around 4:00 in the morning about the same thing I was convinced of the previous evening, so around 4:00 she dozed off until we got up. Earlier, Justin had awakened in the middle of the night, and my wife had gone to get him and put him in bed with us, and he went back to sleep. So when we woke up the next morning, we very carefully got out of bed and left the room with him sleeping. We went into the kitchen, where we were drinking some coffee, and we heard a noise from the bedroom. We peeked in the door and saw Justin was awake. When he saw us, he just started grinning a big grin, so I stepped in, and as I was walking toward the bed, he started running toward me across the bed on all fours! I knew the healing had manifested. He reached his hands up and I grabbed him by his hands and picked him up. I shook him in the air a little, and he just giggled. Then I threw him up in the air and caught him. The Lord had totally healed him! My wife and I came to an agreement around 4:00 A.M. through the prayer of faith and the prayer of importunity. That's when we entered into the rest and the miracle came. Praise God! Everything that God has provided is in the rest. (Heb.4:3) … We who have believed do enter into that rest.... When you truly believe, you act upon it and you stand upon it, and what you feel is peace. You rest because you know that God has done this. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath (The Greek word there is sabbatismos.) rest for the people of God. Sabbatismos is not like the word used for “sabbath” anywhere else and it means a “continual” or a “perpetual” rest. You see, God wants us to be at peace all the time because of His promises. (Php 4:6) In nothing be anxious; (which is not resting) but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. We don't want to leave out even one promise of entering into His rest. Now He has promised that He has already healed us and we should be resting in that promise because He said it's done. (1Pe.2:24) … By whose stripes you were healed. Therefore we should be resting, we should be at peace, because God said it's already done. We shouldn't be anxious or troubled or seeking healing. We should be accepting healing as a free gift, just like we accepted salvation as a free gift. How long do you have to seek salvation? Don't you just have to accept salvation, since God has promised it? Yes, of course! And what is healing? Healing is salvation for the body; that's all it is. Many other provisions are salvation for the circumstances that you're in. All you have to do is believe God's Word and you automatically enter into the rest, which is where the provision is. The provision is in the rest. (Exo.31:5) Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Man works for six days but rests on the seventh and we've entered into that seventh day. Jesus Christ said, (Mar.2:27) … The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (28) so that the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath. That means, if you abide in Him, you abide in His rest. If you are obeying Him, you are keeping that New Testament Sabbath. If you're believing His Word, you are in that New Testament Sabbath because you are resting. Well, my wife and I joined together in rest around 4:00 A.M. and God was faithful to His Word. We resisted the devil's warnings, threats and fears, and God was faithful! I'm going to tell you about another miracle that is just so wonderful, that for years I literally would start crying when I recounted the story. And it's only been recently that I've been able to recount this story without breaking up. What happened was that when we first moved to Pensacola, there was a lady who came to our house to witness, and we talked with her for a while. She told us where she fellowshipped, and she invited us over there. Well, it was very unusual for me, but I felt led to go, and something strange happened when I walked in the back door of that church. There was a prophetess who stood up in the very front of the church as I was walking in. It was a long, old building, and she never saw me coming in, but she whirled around and she pointed her finger at me and she started prophesying. I didn't know it then but it was the first time this woman had visited the church, too. She started prophesying just a glorious prophecy of how she saw the Word of God living in me, stronger than she'd seen in any man, and so on and so forth, just some glorious things. I didn't know what the Lord was doing at the time, but I found out later that He was opening a door for me because the pastor was very impressed, so he invited me to teach. And I ended up doing most of the teaching there because the Lord just dried up the pastor. He wasn't really a man of the Word anyway, but he was impressed with the Word. One day when I was sharing, this couple came in, and the girl received salvation during that meeting. She was a quiet girl and after the meeting was over, she asked the pastor and me if we could give her some counsel. And, of course, we made sure the church secretary and my wife and several other women were there. Then she told us that she was pregnant and that three days earlier she had gone to the Public Health Unit there in Pensacola, where they had done some tests on her and discovered that her baby had died. Now she was in a church; she'd never been in a church before, but this brought her to church, so to speak. Understand, I'm using the word “church” the way the world uses the word “church.” So this had brought her to church and she got saved, I guess because of the turmoil she was going through. Well, she began to tell us what the real problem was. She said she had purposely aborted this pregnancy because she had been raped by a man of another race, and she didn't want her husband to know about it. This man was a friend of her husband, and she was afraid of what could possibly happen, either to her, or to her husband, or to this man. After she got through telling us this situation, she asked us for advice. Remember, it had been three days since they had put the heartbeat monitor on her, run the sonogram on her, and taken a sample of the amniotic fluid. At any rate, they told her they were certain that her baby was dead and that she was going to have to come back and have a D&C. That's what they had told her at the Public Health Unit, but she never went back. The Lord brought her to that church, and she heard the Word that I shared, and she came to the Lord. So now she was sitting before us, asking us what to do. The first thing that came to my mind was to ask her, Is there somebody that you haven't forgiven in your life?” She thought for a minute and she said, “Yeah, there's just one person I've never really been able to forgive.” I said, “Well, who is that? Tell us.” She answered, “It's a doctor, who I think purposely aborted one of my children when I was on welfare.” When she said that, I pointed out to her, “Do you understand that you've just done the same thing? Don't you think you'd better forgive him?” And she said, “Yeah, you're right!” I said, “Why don't you pray for him?” and so she did. She started praying for him, she asked the Lord to forgive him and she asked the Lord to save him. And when she was finished with her prayer, I asked her, “Would you like to receive the Holy Spirit?” She told me, “Yes, I want everything God has for me.” So we laid hands on her and prayed for her to receive the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to know that she was a very quiet, very reserved and introverted person, not at all an extroverted person, but when we prayed for her, she became jubilant and started actually dancing and speaking in tongues! And after she had calmed down a little bit, I said to her, “You're a new creation and I don't see any reason why the Lord can't resurrect your baby!” This is the thought that had come into my head. I can't say it was a loud voice; I wasn't greatly impressed, but I actually believe that this is part of our Commission. I have seen quite a few raised from the dead. God is going to commonly raise the dead in the days to come. (Mat.10:1) And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. (5) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: (6) but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (7) And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out to heal the sick and cast out devils and raise the dead! However, that was only part of it because, when He was leaving, He ordained them to go and make disciples, and to teach them to observe everything that He told those first disciples. (Mat.28:18) And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. (19) Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: (20) teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. That's what He said, which of course means that this was passed on to us, too. I believe that raising the dead is something we're going to see commonly in the days to come. In the days of the ministry of the Man-child and the Two Witnesses company and in the time of the latter rain, we are going to see this commonly. In fact, it's a lot more common in other countries than it is here in the United States because people are so worldly-wise here; they don't come to the Lord as a child. Jesus told the disciples, (Mar.10:15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. Back to this testimony. Well, when I got through saying that the Lord could resurrect her baby, the room mostly emptied. The pastor, the church secretary, and several other people who were there just walked out; they just left. So I invited my wife to come over and lay her hands on her tummy while I prayed, and all the time this was happening, these people were leaving the room. And I commanded the Spirit of life to come back into that baby, in the name of Jesus; it was just a simple and very quick prayer. Then I pointed out a few verses to this sister, who was a brand-new baby Christian and knew nothing about the Scriptures. One of them was (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive (The Greek word there is past tense, “received.”) them, and ye shall have them. I told her, “Now, you have to walk by faith. You have to accept this as a gift from God. We've prayed and so we believe we've received. Now we just thank God for it and don't let anybody talk you out of it. You see what it says here: “believe you received.” And she said, “Okay!” She was a very childlike person, and really, that's why she received this because she was childlike with the Lord. She knew that she had received something wonderful; she knew she'd been filled with the Holy Spirit, and I think she was full of faith. Now, like I said, during the time I was ministering to her, everybody was just leaving the room. Well, when I was finished ministering to her, my wife and I walked out and started down the hall, when a door opened and the pastor reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the room. All those people who had left my wife and me alone with the new sister were in there. And the pastor said, “David, God's not going to do that for her!” I replied, “Why do you say that?” He said, “Because she killed that baby!” Well, I told him, “I don't think you understand grace very well. That's a new creation in there; that person is not guilty. Not guilty! She is not guilty for what that other person did a few days ago.” And I said, “Besides, if I want to believe it, just let me believe it.” So I walked out of the room and left him standing there. Another thing I haven't mentioned yet is that she and her husband were actually living there because this was a church that operated a mission, and they were staying at the mission at that time. The next day she called me and she said, “David, I want to go down to the Public Health Unit, but nobody over here wants to take me.” I said, “Well, I'll take you,” and I went down and picked her up. You see, she had decided she wanted to go be checked out again, so I reminded her, “Remember, what we talked about.” And I began to go over again how faith worked, how believing you have received is how the miracle is manifested, and so on, to make sure she understood that. I told her, “Now, remember, no matter what anybody says, you've already heard what God says. Don't let anybody change your mind.” And she nodded her head and said, “Yeah.” Now, when we got down there to the Public Health Unit, she told the doctor that she wanted to be checked out again. I don't discourage that necessarily, but I knew where her faith was; I knew it was young faith. I don't recommend that people go and ask man anything about what God says He's already done. That's because some people can't stand the trial of their faith when man tells them, “No, it's not done.” But it was her decision, and I didn't get in her way. So she told them she wanted to be checked out again, and the first thing they told her was, “You should have come back before now. You can get blood poisoning like this; it's dangerous! You should have had your D&C.” They sent her into a room with a technician who put the heartbeat monitor on her again, and the technician told her again, “Ma'am, this baby is dead and you need to have a D&C now.” So when the technician said that, she replied, “Well, I don't accept that,” and when she said that, the baby came to life, right there! The baby suddenly started moving around, the heartbeat monitor recorded the heartbeat and God did a miracle. This little childlike person did not accept what men said, did not accept the diagnosis from Egypt, but accepted the diagnosis from the Lord, even though she couldn't see it. Here's a baby Christian, just a day old in the Lord. Some people think, “Well, I need to grow up in the Lord before I can see miracles.” No. As a matter of fact, a baby Christian might see miracles more than people who have been in the Lord for 40, 50 or even many years. That's because of the childlike faith that you especially have when you first come to the Lord. A lot of Christians sit in churches and become progressively more discouraged the whole time they're there because they hear so much carnal reasoning about why God can't do these kinds of things anymore today. They sit and listen to that carnal reasoning until they spiritually die. The second church I went into, after having stayed maybe only a month and a half at the first church, believed God's Word more, but I noticed that the new Christians were the ones who were receiving the signs and wonders and miracles from God. The older Christians couldn't even seem to get a healing from God. They'd go to the altar, that's the way they did it at this particular church, to be prayed for time after time. But the young Christians were getting miracles and healings. The young Christians who weren't following only the teaching they were getting in that church, but those who were studying faith were receiving miracles. Well, this little girl had no knowledge of the Word, other than just a few verses I'd shared with her; this is what amazed me. Just how much of the Word do you need to get a miracle? Not very much, but you have to hold to what you know. It's kind of like a mustard seed. You have to hold fast to what you know God has said and deny what man says. If you want a miracle, that's what you have to do. Now, we don't know what God did, but when this baby was born, it was a beautiful baby of the same race as the mom and her husband, and the problem she would have had with her husband was solved. God solved it. I don't know what she might have told him later, but God solved the problem. And I don't know what He did in the womb because you know we can't put anything beyond God, can we? God is awesome! (Eph.3:20) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (21) unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen. He can do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think but we need that childlike faith. We need to put our trust in Him and not be moved by what we see, feel or hear. Let me give you another example of how the Lord taught me not to listen to anything but what He spoke in His Covenant. This happened to me many years ago. I started feeling pain and passing a lot of blood. Now, I was walking by faith in the Lord and He'd never failed me, and, truthfully, I had entered into the rest because I had absolutely no fear. I never even questioned what I was going to do. So these symptoms had been happening for two or three days, and I had to make a trip to Louisiana to see some relatives. And there was a friend, a spiritual brother of mine over there. We were both full of faith, and we wanted to live the life of faith, so I asked him to pray with me. That's the only person I had pray for me for that particular trial and when he prayed for me, I came in agreement with his prayer. I received it by faith, right there. Actually, I'd prayed earlier, and the word that came to me was “cancer.” Now, you can't always trust that because the devil will always threaten you with just about anything, just to make you fearful or give up. Well, when I came back to Pensacola, I felt led the next day to go to a Christian bookstore. It wasn't the one I usually went to; it was twice as far away, but I felt to go to that one and I'd only been there a few times. So I went over there, and when I walked in the door, the lady who owned the store and another woman whom I recognized as her prayer partner saw me come in and walked over to me. They said, “David, we've been praying for different ministers that we know, and when we were praying for you, the Lord spoke to us and said that you were having a battle with a spirit of cancer, but that you would win.” Well, that was a confirmation to me, and I told them what had been happening. Then I thanked them for their prayers and came in agreement with them, but then on my way home, I decided that I was going to ask the Lord to give me a Word concerning this situation when I got home. Now saints, you really don't need but one Word, and it's already been spoken. (1Pe.2:24) … By whose stripes ye were healed. God's not going to change His mind. (Num.23:19) God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? Let me point out something to you. You remember that Balaam was asked by Balak to curse the children of Israel. (Num.22:6) Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. And Balaam went to God first. (12) And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed. (13) And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land; for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you. (15) And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they. (16) And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me: (17) for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. Now even though Balaam already had his answer, he told Balak's men to wait while he went to God again, hoping for a different answer because he was bribed by the possibility of rewards. (20) And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men are come to call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do. (21) And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. So God gave him the answer he wanted to hear; He told Balaam, “Yeah, go ahead,” but when Balaam went, the angel of the Lord was waiting there to kill him. (23) And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way.... (31) Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. (32) And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is perverse before me. God was saying, “If you didn't hear the first Word I told you, if you don't want that Word, I'll give you one that you'll like.” So be careful of that! If you don't like the first Word He gives you, don't go asking Him for another one because He might tell you to go ahead, as He did with Balaam, and only Balaam's ass saved him. Anyway, as I said, I was going to ask the Lord for a Word concerning this situation, so when I got home, I just prayed and then I flipped my Bible open and I stuck my finger down by random on Isaiah 38:1, not just on the verse but on this phrase, “Thou shalt die, and not live.” (Isa.38:1) In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. That was the phrase on which my finger came down. I said, “Wow!” I thought on that for a minute and I told the Lord, “Lord, this is not according to Your Covenant with me; this is not according to Your promise to me. You told me in 1 Peter 2:24 that by the stripes of Jesus I was healed. You told me in Galatians 3:13 that Jesus became a curse for me, that You put my curse on Him. You told me in Colossians 1:22 that reconciliation has been made, there was an exchange, that He has taken my curse and given me His blessing.” I said, “You've taught me never to depart from the New Covenant, Lord, so I don't accept this Word.” You're probably thinking, “Well, that's pretty arrogant.” No, it was really what God wanted from me because He was trying me. He wanted to see if I would depart from what the New Covenant clearly says. I hear people getting answers like this all the time, and they accept them, but they don't realize those answers are contrary to their first Word. God's trying them to see if they will depart from the first Word, and they do because they believe in any so called voice of the Lord that agrees with their flesh more than they believe in the Word. But listen to me here, the true voice of the Lord is what you become familiar with when you read the Word. He's not ever going to depart from the Word. (Heb.13:20) Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, (21) make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. It's called an “eternal covenant,” which means that He's not going to change it. He warns us in (Rev.22:18) I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: (19) and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. If you add to or take away from the Covenant, the curses of this book are upon you, and He'll take away your part in the tree of life and from the holy city. That's pretty dangerous. So God tells us not to depart from this Word, no matter what. Well, here I was asking the Lord for a sign, and He gave me, “Thou shalt die, and not live.” But I said, “Lord, I just don't accept this. I don't accept it because it's not according to what You've taught me, and I don't believe that's what You want me to do; I don't believe You want me to accept this. So I'm asking You for another Word that's in agreement with what You've taught me.” I don't know why I would have to get that because, frankly, God was just being merciful with me. Obviously, we don't need anything more than what God's already told us concerning the New Covenant, and I've studied it enough, and I've stood on it enough, and I've been healed every time. I've received enough miracles, signs, and wonders; why would I need a Word from the Lord? It was very immature of me. But God was merciful with me the second time because I overcame in that trial; I didn't give in to the temptation, and I didn't accept that Word that was contrary to everything He taught me. So I said, “I'm asking You for another Word, Lord. This time I'm going to believe something that's in agreement with what You've taught me.” And I flipped my Bible open again, not looking at it, and just stuck my finger down right on the phrase, “I shall not die, but live.” (Psa.118:17) I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the Lord. It's amazing how close those two phrases are but exactly opposite to one another, and they're each in only one place in the Bible. Isn't that amazing? And I told the Lord, “Thank You, Lord. I agree with that! I thank You for that and I receive it, in Jesus' name.” Well, after that, I went on for a week or so and the pain became less and less, and the blood became less and less, until I was manifestly healed. I'd like to exhort you, no matter what you hear, whether you might think it's from God, or whether it's just from people, don't accept it, if it's not according to the Word of God. Don't accept anything. Don't accept anything you see with your eyes, don't accept anything you hear with your ears and especially don't accept your emotions, if any of these things are contrary to what you read in the Word of God, according to the promises of the rest. Enter into the rest. However, that wasn't the end of the story. 15 years later, God tried me again. 15 years later, I started having severe heart pains and, on top of that, I was very cold on the left side of my body. I couldn't get warmed up at all and I knew I had a circulation or a cardiovascular problem, naturally speaking, but I don't accept those things. At the same time this was going on, although I didn't tell these people about my problem, two people in our assembly amazingly each had dreams that I died of a heart attack, and both of them had been pretty accurate in their dreams, too. Now, that would seem like a pretty good confirmation, but I had learned you need to walk by faith; it's not just hear faith, you need to walk by faith. When this started happening, I would go for a walk every once in a while, only a mile or so, because I stay busy all the time, and I just really didn't have time to do much more than that. So I would get out and start walking, and my heart would start acting up, and the devil would tell me, “You're going to be lying out on the side of the road here somewhere, if you don't stop this, with your heart problem,” and so on and so forth. You know how the devil likes to tell you things, and I knew it was the devil, but I just called his bluff. I started jogging and was really working up a sweat. I did that for a little while. Now, my wife had pointed out to me and said, “David, it's been 15 years since that last time you had the threat of death,” and immediately it clicked in my mind that Hezekiah was given 15 more years. (Isa.38:4) Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, (5) Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. Hezekiah was given those 15 years after the Lord first had told him, (Isa.38:1) … Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Just what I had received as a test. I said to the Lord, “Lord, are You saying to me that You only added 15 years to my life and that I'm Hezekiah, and that this is the time for me to go on to be with You?” And you know what I heard? The Lord said, “Yes, that's right.” So I thought on that and I said, “Well, Lord, I still don't believe that You would have me depart from the promise of the Covenant, so I don't accept that, either.” You ask me, “Does God do such a thing?” What did God do with Abraham? (Gen.22:1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. (2) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. God was trying Abraham. He wanted to see what Abraham would do and Abraham overcame. He knew that even if he did sacrifice his son, he was going to come back with his son. As a matter of fact, (Gen.22:5) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. He knew that God would have to resurrect Isaac from the dead to keep His promise because he knew that God was faithful to keep His promise, and I know that, too. God is faithful to keep His promise. So when the Lord told me that, I meditated on it and I said, “Lord, I can't see any difference in this situation from the last one 15 years ago. It still doesn't please You for me to depart from Your Word, so I just don't accept this.” Of course, I kept on calling the devil's bluff; I kept on jogging, but it had nothing to do with jogging; it had to do with walking by faith. If you're careful because you think that you're having a heart attack or a heart problem, obviously, you're acting in agreement with the curse; you're not acting in agreement with the promise! (Jas.2:17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. If you really believe the Word of God, you can walk it out. (Mat.14:28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. (29) And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. Peter believed the Word of God. He stepped out on the water. Miracles come when you act on the Word of God. As you know Peter looked at the waves, got double minded, and started to sink, but Jesus had mercy and saved him. Well, as I continued to walk by faith the heart problem disappeared; Glory to God. (Jas.2:18) Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. You can't prove faith unless you can act in agreement with it because people are sometimes very schizophrenic. They say they believe but then all their actions and all their words prove just the opposite. If we want to have completed faith, what we have to do is to act in agreement with what we believe. (Rom.10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So, truly, if you've come to believe and trust in the Word of God, start walking it out and you'll see it manifested. The Israelites are a wilderness lesson for us. They had to walk through that wilderness without murmuring, without complaining, and without speaking against the promise. The majority failed the test, but Joshua and Caleb spoke in agreement with the promise. They received the Promised Land; they entered into the land of rest because they agreed with the promise. We're being tried the same way, saints! Every day we're being tried to see whether we're going to agree with what the Bible says. Do you know that you don't have a problem with demons? Do you know that you don't have a problem with sin? Do you know that you don't have a problem with sickness? Do you know that you don't have a problem with provision? We need to remember that the Lord Jesus solved all of those problems for us already when He made reconciliation for us at the cross. What we do have a problem with is walking in agreement with what He said. We're like the children of Israel when they were dying of the fiery serpents in the wilderness. (Num.21:8) And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. (7) And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. (8) And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. (9) And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. They cried unto Moses and Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord told Moses to raise them up a serpent on a pole. Of course, the medical profession uses that today to represent them, but really, the serpent on the pole (the caduceus) was a symbol of God's healing power, totally outside that of man. In order to be healed, all the Israelites had to do was get their eyes off the snake bite and on the serpent on the pole. They had to accept what the Bible says about Jesus: (2Co.5:21) Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. (Col.2:13) And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, [I say,] did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; (14) having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Jesus became accursed for us; He became sin. God put on Him our sin and our curse, and we don't have it anymore. Accept the truth! It's very simple: you are healed, you are delivered from sin, you are blessed. That's the Gospel, that's the very, very Good News of what the Lord has accomplished for us! You don't have to live under the curse anymore. When the Israelites got their eyes off the snake bite and on Jesus, they were miraculously cured. Today, men go to the medical profession because of the very opposite: they don't believe that they were cured at the cross. They believe they have to get cured, and so they run back to Egypt because they don't understand the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus has already solved this problem for them. It is already accomplished. If you believe that God has already done all this for you and all you have to do is accept it, then you can rest from your own works. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. (2) For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4) For he hath said somewhere of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; (5) and in this [place] again, They shall not enter into my rest. (6) Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they to whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, (7) he again defineth a certain day, To-day, saying in David so long a time afterward (even as hath been said before), To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts. (8) For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. (9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. (11) Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. (12) For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. (13) And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (14) Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like [as we are,] yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need. When we enter into the rest, we're no longer fearful; we don't dwell on the need, we dwell on the provision. And when we enter into the rest from our works, we're at peace with God. However, we must not leave out that willful rebellion against the known will of God will leave you no sacrifice. (Heb 10:26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. Now I must add that some are not willfully sinning but are against their sin and haven't found faith to be delivered. If so study this teaching again.

Pastor Matt Horsfall

Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:14–23God promises a new covenant that transforms the heart and ends the cycle of repeated sacrifices. In Christ's blood, the covenant is sealed—and God remembers our sins no more. This sermon traces Jeremiah's promise to the upper room and calls us to assurance, repentance, and a life shaped by covenant grace.

Living by Faith: Hebrews 11:1–7In this episode of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane begin their journey through Hebrews 11, the great “Hall of Faith.” They unpack the definition of faith as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Looking at the examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah, they explore what it means to live a life that pleases God through trust and obedience. This conversation will encourage you to step out in faith, even when the path ahead isn't clear, knowing that God always honors those who seek Him.____________________________________Connect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

Send us a textIn part 3 of this compelling series from Biblical Roots Ministries, we step into the New Testament and the New Covenant and examine the many incredible ways that Jesus fulfills all that had been whispered, prophesied, and promised about him in the Old Testament. Discover how God's grand story connects directly to your life and faith today.This is more than just ancient history—it's your story. Join host Prof. R. L. Solberg as he reveals our spiritual family history, showing how the Old and New Testaments form one cohesive narrative of redemption.This teaching was recorded live on August 12, 2025, at Granite United Church in Salem, NH.The Biblical Roots MinistriesOur websiteOur YouTube ChannelProf. Solberg's BlogSupport our Ministry (Thank you!)

Join the Three of Seven Project team for the Monday Meeting segment discussing Matthew 26.  https://www.3of7project.com Apply for Rite of Passage at: https://www.3of7project.com/train Thank you for supporting Three of Seven Podcast on Patreon at: www.patreon.com/threeofseven Three of Seven Project Store https://3of7project.myshopify.com/pages/shop Apply for The Basic Course at: https://www.3of7project.com/train Check out the Three of Seven Project Youtube channel at: Three of Seven Project Youtube Nuff Said

Fr. Mike takes us through the last chapter of Daniel and explains how Daniel models for us on how to live in exile and still be faithful to the Lord. We also see in Jeremiah the Lord promise a new covenant that will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Today's readings are Jeremiah 31, Daniel 14, and Proverbs 16:21-24. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.