Podcasts about of god

June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart symbolizes Jesus' divine and human love for humanity. The prayer's central message is simple: Jesus' heart is a sign of God's unfailing love, and June is a special time to contemplate and respond to that love.'Like the Rosary, the litany is a repetitive prayer, and the repetition of “Havemercy on us” after each line is, in fact, like our regularly repeating heartbeat, verycalming: once we meditate on the references, it gives us insight into the love ofGod for us in Jesus, and it gives us serenity through the heartbeat of its repetitivepattern. In our frazzled world these days, we especially need both that insight andthat serenity.' Cardinal Thomas Collins

Delivered by Gabriela Natani from the Parish of Good Shepherd in the Diocese of Surabaya, Indonesia. Jude 17: 20b-25; Rs psalm 63: 2.3-4.5-6; Mark 11: 27-33.PRESERVE YOURSELF IN GOD'S LOVE Our meditation today has the theme: Preserve YourselfIn God's Love. A person can only give or share from himself if he hassomething. He cannot give a plate of rice or a twenty-thousand bill to aneighbor if he has neither rice nor money. In order to support the Christianspirit in sharing God's grace, followers of Christ must have God's grace in abundance. Grace and divine mercy will not run out because theycome from the Lord. To ensure that the richness of God's grace are alwayspresent in a person, he should always maintain himself in connection with thegrace of God's love. But perhaps here is the irony as many of us for the sakeof doing service for others and for an insincere interest, they choose to payattention or help nurturing the faith of others.  In other words, some people have tendency to take carefor the spiritual growth of others. They follow constantly in how other peoplelive a good life, have great and pure love in helping one's neighbors, andbuild unity. Usually those who consider themselves mature and have some advanceknowledge in faith have this tendency. As a result, they do not have enoughopportunity and will to take care of themselves in enriching themselves withGod's love and mercy. Those in this group follow the style of activism. Caring and growing oneself in God's love departs fromthe truth about God who has the power to keep us from stumbling and not beingcompletely overpowered by the forces of evil. The Epistle of the Apostle Judein the first reading emphasizes that every believer should base himself on aholy faith and always keep himself in the love of God. By gaining God's wisdom,we will be blessed with the grace of joy to await His glory that will be fullyrevealed. Furthermore, we should be the ones who maintain thegrace that has been bestowed upon us. The most fundamental way is the need forthe power of God's grace to fill us, like a soul that thirsts for God and longsto be satisfied by God at all times. If our way is only passively waiting, ourreadiness for the coming of God's grace may be very little. But when there is aneed and urgency, we will be joyful and ready for the graces God generouslygive us. We must hope and ask with high pleasure. We can nourish ourselves in God's love through moreand more acts of love. Every act of love we do must still be based on the nameand power of Jesus Christ who presents the almighty God. Without the power ofGod, every act of our love will lose its legitimacy and spiritual influence onothers. Letus pray. In the name of the Father... O Almighty God, may we diligently nourishourselves in Your love and always share that love with those around us. HailMary, full of grace... In the name of the Father ...

Delivered by Chendani from the Parish of Our Lady of Assumption Mamajang, Maria Delie and Kezia from the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-11; Rs psalm 104: 1ab.24ac.29c-30.31.34; 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7.12-13; John 20: 19-23.BLOWING OF THE DIVINE BREATH The theme for our meditation on this Pentecost Sundayis: Blowing of the Divine Breath. There is a husband and his wife who are over60 years old. Their children and grandchildren live in their respective homesleaving this couple enjoying their happy retirement. The wife suffers fromcataracts in both eyes which makes her not being able to see at all. Thehusband must accompany and help her in all times. Children and grandchildrenoften take turns serving as well. The woman can recognize and mention exactly the nameof the person at her side who helps her. She smells the person who helps andshe knows that the smell of every helper is different. The husband gives her adifferent smell from the children, children-in-laws, and grandchildren. Eventhough the person who is serving not speaking any words to her, she canascertain who exactly that person is by recognizing the odor that comes from thatperson's presence. According to her, this ability is not a sign of her extraordinaryquality as human person, but it is really the fruit of a habit she has beenpracticing all the times since the beginning of her blindness. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit is like that ofa blind mother with the family members who serve her. We cannot and will notsee what the Holy Spirit looks like. In the Early Church of Jerusalem it wastruly occurred that the believers witnessed with their own eyes the risen Jesusstanding in their midst, He was talking with them, sending them to the wholeworld, and breathing His Spirit upon them. Our situation today is verydifferent. We can only know the Holy Spirit by feeling its presence, which isHis wonderful smell that attracts all of us to God.                                                                                                                                        The smell of the Holy Spirit is actually the smell ofGod's love. The Holy Spirit gives us the breath of God's love so that we arefilled with a new spirit and have an ability to speak the language of lovewhich is understood by many people, especially when we are in the moments oftrouble and hardship. We, therefore, carry out the duty to breathe into thisworld, that every one can find for one's life a wonderful fragrance of God'slove and mercy. In this world there is a mixed smells of love andhatred, diligence and laziness, courage and fear, intelligence and foolishness,humility and pride, kindness and stubbourness. This is found in differentsituations from one person to another, from one place to another or from oneoccasion to another. But the breath of God's love is only one, which is theblowing of the Holy Spirit to unite and animate all. The blowing of humanhatred is overcome by the blowing of God's love. The blowing of laziness andhopelessness are overcome by the divine love that pours out a new spirit forrenewal and a new life. And there are still much more. So, the divine breath isthe Holy Spirit who blows on us the love of God that all of us really need. Let'spray. In the name of the Father... Almighty and ever living God, we are gratefulfor this Pentecost Sunday, which brings us right in the presence of Your HolySpirit, and grant that we may continue to commit ourselves under His guidancenow and forever. Our Father who art in heaven ... In the name of the Father ...

Today we've been looking at Philippians chapter 2, where theApostle Paul is encouraging the church at Philippi to live in unity, to haveunity of spirit as they fellowship with one another. The only way they can dothat is, as he says in verse 4, to “let each of you look out not only forhis own interests, but also for the interests of others.” In the previousverse, he talked about having “lowliness of mind and letting each esteemothers better than themselves” (v. 3). Aswe were thinking about that, our minds went to Psalm chapter 15, a great psalmthat teaches us the character of a man who walks with God, who enjoysfellowship with God, who enjoys fellowship with other believers, and who livesa life of peace in his relationships with others. Today,we are looking at Psalm 15:3b, where the psalmist writes, “Nor does evil tohis neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his neighbor.” Remember,the first part of verse 3a, that we talked about yesterday, “He that doesnot backbite with his tongue”—in other words, he is not a gossip or aslanderer.  Herethe psalmist is speaking about the fact of loving others and refusing to joinin spreading accusations. “He does no evil to his neighbor”. He doesn'tthink about how he can hurt his neighbor or cause harm to come to his neighbor.Who is a neighbor? A neighbor could be somebody you work with. It could besomebody who lives across the street from you, somebody who sits on the samepew with you at church, or someone you encounter during the day as you goshopping or go out for entertainment. A neighbor is anybody around you who hasa need in his life, and that need is always Jesus and a relationship with God. So,we do no evil to our neighbors. For example, when someone becomes a source ofirritation to us by the way they're driving, we don't respond and then drive ina way that causes evil to them. “We do no evil to our neighbor”. Thenhe goes on to say: “Nor does he take up a reproach against his neighbor.”We don't listen to criticism and then repeat it. When we hear something bad aboutsomeone else, we don't carry it on to another person so they will also thinkbadly of that individual. Usually, when we spread criticism, we are trying toput somebody else down so that we look a little better ourselves. The motive inour own hearts, of course, is pride, and that is the opposite of the lowlinessof mind that Paul talks about in Philippians 2. Godcalls us to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. This verse is basically teachingus what we read in Romans 12:18: “If it be possible, as much as lies in you,live peaceably with all men.” Remember, Jesus Himself said in the Sermon onthe Mount, found in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for theyshall be called the children of God.” Whencertain people come into a room, immediately it seems like there aredistractions, division, strife, discord, and bad feelings. You know what I'mtalking about. But there are other people who come in with the glow of God uponthem, walking in fellowship with the Lord—people who love anyone and everyone,and it radiates in their eyes, in their speech, in their attitude, and in theirconversation. They come into the room, and they are peacemakers. Oh,how blessed are the peacemakers! Jesus said they shall be called children ofGod. You know what that means? It means they are recognized as having anintimate, close relationship with God Himself as their Father. One Bible translationcalls them the sons of God. People see them and say, “This person must live ina different family than I came from. I need to find out about that family.” Howinteresting is that? Ipray that as we think about these things, we will live lives of integrity andtruly become people who lift others up rather than tear them down. Godbless and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day!

“Only let your conductbe worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or amabsent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with onemind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we are continuing to look at verse 27 of Philippians 1.In the first part of the verse, the Apostle Paul talked about our conduct, ourconversation—our citizenship in heaven. We have citizenship on earth, but weshould live on earth as though we are citizens of heaven. We are different. Welive differently. You read this throughout all Paul's epistles. It is soimportant. Todaywe are going to continue with the last part of the verse, where the ApostlePaul writes: “So that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear ofyour affairs.” Here it is: “that you stand fast in one spirit, with onemind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Today we are talkingabout standing and striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now,the word “faith” here is not referring to our personal faith—like my faith inJesus Christ for salvation. The word “faith” here refers to the truth—the truthof Scripture, the truth of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God untosalvation to everyone who believes. The gospel is the death, burial, andresurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news for every person whowill trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life. TheApostle Paul now shifts from what we might call citizenship to teamwork. Andthe first thing he writes is, “Stand fast.” That phrase means tohold your ground, like a soldier in battle. First Corinthians 16:13 says, “Standfast in the faith. Be strong. Be brave.” Ephesians 6:11 reminds us to“put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wilesof the devil.” To stand—to stand fast—is to hold your ground. We are in aspiritual battle, but my friend, we are not standing alone. Thenthe Apostle Paul writes, “with one spirit and with one mind strivingtogether.” That phrase “striving together” gives us our wordathletics. It paints a picture of a team working together toward one goal. TheChristian life is not a solo race—it is a team effort. Buthere is the reality: our enemy, the enemy of the church, the enemy ofChristianity, loves division. “Divide and conquer” is still his strategy. Evenin Philippi, there were tensions. We will see that when we get to Philippians4:2. That is why Paul emphasizes one spirit, one mind, one purpose. InPhilippians 2:2, he writes, “Be like-minded, having the same love, being ofone accord, of one mind.” No doubt that is why Jesus said in John 13:35, “Bythis all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for oneanother.” Unity is not optional—it is essential. A divided church isa defeated church, but a united church is a powerful church for the glory ofGod. Ilove the quote we have used for years in the churches I pastored: “Inessentials, we have unity. In non-essentials, we have liberty. But in allthings, we have charity.” The Bible reminds us in Romans 12:5, “We, beingmany, are one body in Christ.” So we are to stand fast in the truth. We areto work together in love. We are to strive together for the sake of the gospel. Whyis that? Because the main thing we are to be about as a church—and asindividuals—is sharing Jesus Christ with people who are lost, who are in theirsins, and who are headed for a devil's hell. We are their only hope. The churchis the institution God has placed on earth to share and carry forth His greatgood news. Matthew 28:19–20. Myfriend, let us make sure we stand fast. Let us hold our ground. Let us worktogether with other believers in unity for the sake of the gospel. We will beblessed as individuals. We will be a blessed church. And we will be excitedabout what God is doing as we join Him on His mission—telling the good news ofChrist to a lost world around us.

NEGLECT OF CHRIST, THE KILLING SIN.NOTE:GEORGE WHITEFIELD IS A LITTLE UNCLEAR IN THIS MESSAGE WHAT HAPPENS TO INFANTS IN WOMB OR OUTSIDE, BUT IT IS VERY CLEAR TO US AS JOHN Q. PUNLIC OF AMERICA: ALL PARENTS CAN HAVE HOPE THAT THEIR BABY WENT TO HEAVEN SINCE NONE OF US KNOW WHETHER OUR BABY IS ONE OF THE ELECT, BUT WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT EVERY BABY THAT IS OF THE ELECT WILL INDEED BE SAVED FOR JESUS' FATHER ‘S WILL IS , THAT JESUS IS TO LOSE NONE THAT WERE GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS FATHER BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD FROM CONCEPTION TO WHATEVER AGE THEY MIGHT LIVE TO BE, EVEN A DEATHBED CONVERSION LIKE THE THIEF ON THE CROSS AN IN THE WOMB CONVERSION LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST. IT IS THAT SIMPLE!!!EXCERPTS FROM GEORGE WHITEFIELDS'S SERMON. “And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.”John v. 40.“THE great apostle of the Gentiles, after he had set before the Hebrews thegreat cloud of witnesses of Old Testament believers, exhorts them to lookhigher, even to Jesus, the common Saviour, and that not transiently, butearnestly and constantly, in his mediatorial character of humiliation, asenduring unheard-of, unparalleled contradiction of sinners against himself;“Lest (says he) ye be weary, and faint in your minds.” If we had not suchan example set before us, and brought to us by the Holy Ghost in a suffering hour, we should never hold out to the end. This was not the contradictionof the openly profane and scandalous, those that were without, so much asfrom those that were within the pale of the church, even those to whomwere committed the lively oracles of God, who had not only the very Biblein their own hands, but were set apart to explain it to others. That the wordsof our text were spoken to them, appears from the preceding verse, in whichhe bids them“Search the scriptures;” as a person digs for a mine, orsearches from some hidden treasure. The word Bible, or book, which I havein my hand, is well applied to the holy scriptures, because it is the book ofGod, written by him, that is, by his order, and by those who were inspiredby him for that end; and yet, of all writings in the world, these are mostneglected! God has condescended to become an author, and yet people willnot read his writings. There are very few that ever gave this book of God,the grand charter of salvation, one fair reading through: though we professto have assented to the truth of scripture, as our Lord said, “In them wethink we have eternal life,” yet most read them as they would aproclamation, a romance, a play, or novels, that help only to bring them tothe devil, but choose not to read God's book, which is to be our guide toglory; “they are they (says Christ) which testify of me.” Lord God, convertand change our heartsWhen I talk of lovingthe world, I mean an inordinate love. I may live in the world, and not liveupon it. My heart may be towards God: the love of the world is to berenounced, and therefore they will not come to Jesus Christ, they think, tillthey are going out of the world. If you are one of those who hate Christ, why,you are the man that will not come to him. Why, say you, does anybody hateChrist? Pray hold your tongue, for fear of discovering your ignorance. O, sayyou, God forbid I should hate him. But, my dear soul, learn from this timeforward, that every one of us by nature hates Jesus Christ: we sent thismessage to him; we will not have this man to reign over us; we hate himbecause he is despised, we hate him because of the appearance of the peoplethat are his followers, we hate him because of the narrowness of the way weare to pass in to him, because we must part with our lusts; we hate him becausewe must be nonconformists. I hate that rag of the whore of Babylon, O thatform of prayer, O all that stuff, I thank God I was born a Dissenter. 1 love tobe a Puritan. I do not love rites and ceremonies, no, not in the church; and yet…

Have you ever truly encountered the fear of the Lord? Not being afraid OF God, but being in AWE of Him. The problem is we've made God comfortable. He's dangerous in the most beautiful way. Let Him restore the fear of the Lord to your life, because it's the beginning of wisdom.

Delivered by Everine from the Parish of Saint Theresia in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 7: 51 - 8: 1a; Rs psalm 31: 3cd-4.6ab.7b.8a.17.21ab; John 6: 30-35.WHO ARE WE IN THE LORD Our meditation today has the theme: Who Are We in theLord. This sentence is not a question to be answered, but a statement about ouridentity as followers of Christ and the people of God. This theme continues ourreflection of yesterday on the first work of God, namely to believe in theFather who sent our Lord Jesus Christ into the world. When we do this work in God's presence and in Hisname, we don't find in the first place the Lord is working or doing something.Instead, we find in the first place who the Lord is. What sort of identity ofGod and His real divine being explain who He is to us and we to Him. It is nota work or a duty to do as the first thing that preoccupies our dealing with theLord, but our participation in His existence and our knowledge about Him thatsignify our relationship with Him. This way of understanding brings us to the context ofthe Jews confronting Jesus, when they questioned Him: "What sign can youdo, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?" This obviouslyshowed that they preferred more on the work the Lord must do, because they wereonly after material gains for their own benefit. They jumped to the work andits outcome that could satisfy the stomach. When they could obtain this, theirgoal of life achieved. Meanwhile knowledge, spiritual wealth, intimate relationshipand mutual trust had not been in the list of their preoccupation, yet actuallythese all were what the Lord Jesus first of all wanted from them. Jesus confronted their foolishness and enlightened theirminds by showing His true identity, "I am the bread of life." This isJesus Christ whom the Jews were really looking for. This is the same Jesus whomwe desire and search in our daily prayers. We leave out other preoccupationsbecause we choose to follow Him, believe in Him, live with Him and united inHim. An example for us today is Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Churchafter the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was one of the elected deacons ofthe Early Church and his witness of faith was strongly rooted on the risenChrist. He was united in with Jesus Christ and ready to accept persecution thatended his life. When we come to knowing and understanding Jesus as theBread of Life, the source life, we also know ourselves participating in Hisdivine providence that sustains us. We personally or in community meet the Lordin any given situation, and that's the moment when we create little by littlethe profile of "other Christ" in each one of us. The face of Christand His work will be seen in each one of us. There is no need to find out or toask what Christ should do to us like what the Jews did to Jesus. Saint Stephenis showing us a true example, namely his life was the same with the life ofJesus Christ. We must do the same. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord our God, to know and to live in Youis our purpose of life that Your Son Jesus Christ teaches us to do. Help usalways to choose and follow His way and make us able to reject anything that iscontrary to Your will. Our Father who art in heaven ... In the name of theFather ...

Delivered by Lukita Nanda and Svara Nirmala from the Parish of Our Lady of Assumption Mamajang in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 6: 8-15; Rs psalm 119: 23-24.26-27.29-30; John 6: 22-29.THE FIRST WORK OF GOD The theme for our meditation today is: The First Workof God. This sentence does not mean to show the work that God is doing up therein heaven. What is meant by it, is the divine command or the will of God thatwe humans must do in the first place. When thousands of people who had beensatisfied with the food after the miracle of the multiplication of bread andkept looking for Jesus only to fulfill their bodily needs, they were thenreprimanded by Jesus because of their foolishness. According to the Lord, they should come to Him andchoose the first thing from Him, which was His work, and not the food. This isthe divine wisdom that teaches us to do the work in the first place if we wantto earn food for a living. The first work in this sense is to believe in Godand to entrust our entire lives in the hands of the Father who sent JesusChrist into the world to be our Redeemer. Through this filial act to theFather, the first food we obtain is His own Word that already became human likeus, namely Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This first work was already performed by all thosepeople shown in the scriptures. It starts with Jesus Christ Himself whotestified that He came to do the will of the Father who sent Him. The VirginMary and St. Joseph had focused their lives to fulfill the plan of salvation.The apostles who in the beginning seemed at a lost about their following ofJesus, yet they finally proved themselves to be the genuine messengers of theGospel. Abraham is known as the father of the believers. Moses is famous forthe law instituted for the people of God and the prophets had the high qualityof their faith to lead and renew the people's hearts. Our today's profile of faithful and genuine servant ofGod is Stephen, a disciple of the Lord and a witness of Christ's resurrection.He was filled with the grace and power of the Almighty God as a sign of thequality of his faith. He dared to face the challenges of the Jews who opposedhim. Through this work, the first food consumed by Stephen was to drink the cupof suffering just like what Jesus Christ experienced. Following Christ is our basic vocation, which must befulfilled with the first work of faith and filial devotion to God. The reasonfor our baptism and inclusion in the Church is faith, and not things, goods,position, world enjoyment or good name. It is only after baptism that othersacraments received or performed. Prayers, devotion and various services in theChurch are strongly supported by this foundation of faith. The virtue of faithand obedience are the first criteria for the official process of making abeliever saint by the Holy Church. So our first work from God is of thespiritual, and not the physical one. You will be happy or not as the followerof Christ, the measure that can qualify you is your faith in God, lived out orpracticed daily with good will. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Jesus Christ, our good and wise Teacher.Teach us and show us how to be perfect through the faith and devotion that wepractice everyday. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit... In the name of the Father ...

www.theinvisibleeverywhere.com In an era of high anxiety about artificialintelligence, one former Harvard physicist is using it to exploreGod. Dr. Michael Guillén's groundbreaking 80-minute documentary,The Invisible Everywhere: Believing Is Seeing, was createdentirely with consumer-grade AI tools by Guillén alone on a home computer — noHollywood studio, no Hollywoodcrew. Premiering April 8 at www.theinvisibleeverywhere.com, the film uses stunning visuals to tellthe story of how modern science dismantled Guillén's atheism. Please refer to the press release belowfor additional information, and let me know if you would like toschedule an interview with Dr. Michael Guillén. View the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/1168838844?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci [1]. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Groundbreaking AI-Generated Documentaryon Science and Faith Premieres April 8 DALLAS, Texas, March 6, 2026 — At a timewhen artificial intelligence is raising urgent questionsabout authenticity and truth, The Invisible Everywhere: Believing IsSeeing demonstrates how emerging AI tools can be used to exploreenduring spiritual questions. The 80-minute documentary might verywell be the first feature-length motion picture created entirely by asingle filmmaker using consumer-grade artificial intelligencetools on a standard home desktop computer. The film chronicles former Harvardphysics instructor and Emmy Award-winning ABC News Science EditorDr. Michael Guillén's adventurous and surprising journey fromatheism to Christianity — and his conclusion that modern sciencepoints beyond materialism. “While AI raises many legitimateconcerns about authenticity and truth, The Invisible Everywhereillustrates how AI is enabling ‘the power of one' — liberating talentedfilmmakers from traditional Hollywoodgatekeepers by democratizing the cinematic arts and sciences,” Guillén said. As a scientist and committed atheist,Guillén used to believe that reality is limited to what can beobserved and measured. His guiding principle was “seeing is believing.” That conviction began to unravel when helooked to empirical science for answers to life's biggest questions: How did the cosmos begin? Where is themind located? How did life on Earth begin? Is there life after death? Are we alone? Does God exist? Through physics, cosmology and rigorousinquiry, Guillén reached a conclusion that stunned him: Modernscience does not eliminate God; it clearly points to Him. “Modern science now believes that mostof reality is not visible, not logical and not even imaginable,”Guillén said. This unexpected revelation shattered hisatheism and turned his lifelong motto on its head — from“seeing is believing” to “believing is seeing.” Many documentaries explore the visibleuniverse. The Invisible Everywhere explores what cannot be seen. “If I still lived by the motto ‘seeingis believing,' I'd be blind to most of what's real,” Guillénsaid. “Today, because of what I've learned on my long, windingjourney, I now can see the invisible creator — everywhere. It's ajourney that changed my life forever.” The Invisible Everywhere premieresworldwide April 8 exclusively at www.theinvisibleeverywhere.com [2]. “Modern science is not the enemy ofGod,” Guillén added. “It might very well be His strongest ally.” EARLY PRAISE FOR The InvisibleEverywhere “Amazing film.” — Glen Reynolds, founder, Circus RoadFilms “Literally breathtaking!!!Transcendent.” — Kathy Ross, co-founder, Reasons toBelieve “Eye-opening! Magnificent.” — Dr. Rice Broocks, author, God's NotDead TIP SHEET The press release above may be publishedin part or entirely by any print, broadcast or internet/digitalmedia outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing. Additional reviews, photos, links toprevious interviews and Q&As are available upon request.

For decades, we've been told that "male and female He created them" means two rigid, separate biological blueprints. But what if the science of our brains actually shows a beautiful, diverse mosaic?In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking research of Dr. Dafna Joel at Tel Aviv University. By analyzing Thousands of MRI scans, Dr. Joel found that the human brain isn't a "pink or blue" binary—it's A beautiful mosaic. For the LGBTQIA+ community, this research is incredibly liberating. It suggests that our unique identities aren't "errors" in a binary system, but a natural expression of human neurobiology. Of God's creation. Inside the episode:• The Mosaic Brain: Why almost no one has a purely "male" or "female" brain structure.• Physical Plasticity: How our environment and experiences physically sculpt our neurobiology.• Reframing Identity: If our brains are unique mosaics, how does that change the way we view "gendered" expectations in the church?Join us as we explore how science is finally catching up to the beautiful complexity of how we are truly made.

Neil McClendon, Lead PastorGrand Parkway Baptist ChurchThe Clarity and Priority of Following JesusMatthew 8:18-221. Jesus wants disciples not a crowd, v. 18• Matthew 8:14-17Two things that drew a crowd...a)spiritual authorityb)physical dominion• Luke 14:25-272. To follow means to experience, v. 19-20• John 15:18-213. Following interrupts timing, v. 21-22“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to seeher no more in this world ? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, andher subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent toher exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India;to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violentdeath? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died forher and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory ofGod? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory,with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall resound toher Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”-Adoniram JudsonMental worship...1. Do you ever think of yourself in terms of having spiritual authority and physical dominion?2. Can you remember a negative Christlike experience that you had and how did you respond?3. How would your mental health be affected if you saw your negative experiences as aChristlike experience?4. Do you ever wonder if God's plan for your kids is different than yours?5. Is there anything you've told God you would do when ____________ happens?

Todaywe're looking at Philippians 1:9–11. These verses teach us how to pray. Paulprayed these words for the believers at Philippi. This is a powerful prayer—aprayer that we can pray for each other. But I think it is also a prayer that weneed to understand can be applied even to ourselves.  Todaywe want to look at this phrase: “that you may be sincere and withoutoffense till the day of Christ”. Till the day of Christ—sincere andwithout offense. Of course, sincere carries the idea of being pure and genuine,without hidden motives. Did you realize that one day, when we are standing atthe judgment seat of Christ as believers, we will be judged? There we will bejudged for our works—not so much for what we did, but why we did what we did.What was the motive behind our work? (Read 1 Corinthians 3:9-15). Didwe go to church? Oh yes, we went to church. But why did we go to church? Did wego so people would see us and think, “Oh, you're a good Christian,” and we wantpeople to notice that we're trying to be a good Christian? No. The motive isnot to go to church to show others what kind of Christian we are. The motivemust be to glorify the Lord. Why did we tithe? Why did we teach Sunday School?Why did we go on the mission trip? We will be judged and rewarded not for whatwe did or didn't do, but for our motive behind the act of service or giving. That'swhy Paul ends this prayer by saying that “we are being filled with thefruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise ofGod”. Whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God through JesusChrist. Remember, it is not so much what you do—it is who you are. That's whatJesus said in His first recorded message in the Gospels, in Matthew chapter 5.We call it the Beatitudes. I often say these are the attitudes that humanbeings ought to have—the attitude of Jesus Christ. Rememberwhat they were in Matthew chapter 5. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of God.” It is the spirit of humility, not of pride.That's the first thing that must be going on in our hearts. We are totally,absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ. “Blessedare those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” We are broken over our sin.The first words we have recorded that Jesus preached in the Gospel of Matthew4:17. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We have anattitude of turning from our way to God's way. That's what it means to repent.Then we become sincere, and we are without offense in our motives—genuine, withno hidden motives. “Withoutoffense”means living in a way that does not cause others to stumble. We can say toothers, “Follow me as I follow Christ,” and we say it in humility. “Blessedare the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The word meek means thatwe are totally, absolutely yielded to the Lord in every aspect of our lives.We've given up ownership of our lives. We've given up the right to ourselves toJesus Christ. He is Lord of our lives. Whenwe live in sincerity and without offense, it is “until the day of Christ”.Remember in verse 6, Paul used this same thought: “Now, being confident ofthis very thing that He who began a good work in you will perform it until theday of Christ.” One day, we're going to give an account for our works—notjust what we did, but what we were. Did we do them in the name of Jesus Christ?Remember John 15—Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Asyou think about these things today, ask yourself, are you living a life that issincere and without offense till the day of Christ—that is honest,transparent, and consistent? And why? Is it all to the glory of God?Godbless and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day!

Todaywe are continuing to look at Philippians 1:9–11. This is a prayer that theApostle Paul prayed for the church at Philippi—for the believers there. He waspraying that God would help them be the best they could be for the glory ofGod. Oftentimes we ask the question: How do I pray for my family? How do I prayfor my friends? How do I pray for my pastor? My friend, there are severalprayers in the New Testament where the Apostle Paul prayed for believers indifferent churches. Take time to look those prayers up. Make them your prayers.Write them out. Maybe memorize them, and pray those very scriptural, biblicalprayers for those you want to see the Lord work in. In doing so, you are askingthe Lord to fill them with His Holy Spirit and to give them what they need tobe all that they should be for the glory of God. Asa matter of fact, that is exactly what Paul says in this prayer. Read itagain—Philippians 1:9–11:  Now,as we look at this prayer, we have already talked about how he first prayedthat their love would abound more and more. He prayed that they would have alife of knowledge—living in the understanding of who God is and dedicatingtheir lives to His glory. Then he prayed that they would have discernment. Howimportant it is to have spiritual discernment—to know what is right and what iswrong, what path you should go down, and which path you should avoid. Myfriend, that kind of discernment only comes from being in the Word of God andallowing the Word of God to be in you, guiding your life.  Nowtoday, we come to this next phrase: “that you may approve the things that areexcellent.” This takes discernment one step further. It is not just knowingwhat is right and wrong—it is choosing what is best. You see, there are manythings in life that are not necessarily wrong, but they are not the best use ofour time, our energy, our focus, or our resources. So Paul is praying thatthese believers would prioritize what truly matters in life. Some have calledthis living a life of significance. Too many of us today live on the level ofsuccess—we are always looking for something more or something better for ourselves,our families, and even our grandchildren. When instead, we should be asking,“What does God want for our lives?” Rememberwhat Jesus said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, andall these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). My friend, we areliving in a day of what could be called “weapons of mass distractions.” Ourtelephones, our emails, our text messages, our iPhones—all of these things canpull us away from what truly matters. Let me encourage you: do not think oflife as a list of priorities—God first, family second, church third, and so on.Instead, think of it as a circle. In the very center of that circle is God—theHoly Spirit, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. ReadRomans chapter 14, where it speaks of Christ being Lord of all. Is Jesus trulythe Lord of your life? Is He at the center of everything you do? This does notmean you simply rank one thing above another. It means that whatever you do,you do it for the glory of God, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and withHis blessing upon your life. That is what Paul is talking about here—“thatyou may approve the things that are excellent.” Choose carefully the thingsthat are best for your life. Youmight consider reading Charles Hummel's The Tyranny of the Urgent, which speaksabout how urgent things often crowd out what is truly important. They demandimmediate attention, and as a result, we neglect the important things thatmatter most. So I encourage you, my friend: read the Scriptures. The Bibletells us that these things are given to help us become men and women ofGod—complete and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Let the HolySpirit of God take the Word of God and help you not only to do what is right,but to choose what is best. “Approvethe things that are excellent.”

Ihave good news. They have finally scheduled the surgery for May 7th. On top ofthat, it will be an in-and-out procedure. It is not highly invasive. They willperform the surgery, and when I wake up and begin to feel a little better, Iwill be able to get in the car and come home. Please continue to pray that everything goes well. Now,we are looking at Philippians 1:7. In the previous verses the Apostle Paul hastold the church at Philippi and how thankful he is for them, how he prays forthem with joy, and is confident that God will complete the good work He hasbegun in them. Now Paul says in verse 7, “Just as it is right for me tothink this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in mychains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakerswith me of grace.” Today,I want to talk about what Paul means when he says, “in the defense andconfirmation of the gospel.” The Apostle Paul saw his mission in life asproclaiming Jesus Christ and Christ alone. That meant he defended and confirmedthe gospel. What does that mean for you and me today? He says, “You arepartakers with me in this mission of defending and confirming the gospel.”  Todefend, of course, means to stand up for the truth. The Apostle Peter, in 1Peter 3:13-17 addresses this same subject: “And who is he who will harm youif you become followers of what is good?” He is talking about suffering. “Buteven if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do notbe afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in yourhearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reasonfor the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience,that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct inChrist may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to sufferfor doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for our sins.” Basically,what he is saying is that suffering gives us the opportunity to stand up andproclaim the gospel. It confirms the gospel. And we need to always be ready togive a defense of the gospel because they will be amazed at the hope that youhave and they will ask, “How do you still have joy and peace when you aresuffering wrong?” Ialso like what Jude wrote in the book of Jude, verse 3: “Beloved, while Iwas very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found itnecessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faithwhich was once for all delivered to the saints.” Why? Because certain ungodlymen had come in and were trying to undermine the deity of Jesus Christ (v. 4).  Now,my friend, in this world today that mocks and derides the Christian faith, youand I have the opportunity to defend and confirm the truth of the gospel. In 2Corinthians 5:17 we are told if we are in Christ Jesus, everything has changed.We are new creations. In 2 Corinthians 4 our conduct should reflect the “lifeof Christ in our mortal flesh” in the midst of our suffering. We have thistreasure in earthen vessels. It is often through suffering that the goodness ofGod, the grace of God, and the mercy of God are most clearly seen—and thatgives us an opportunity to contend for the faith. Not to be contentious for thefaith, but to contend—to speak up for it, to defend it, and to live it out soothers can see Christ in us. Thisis so important. People are watching. What do they want to know? They want toknow if what you have is real. It is real when you have Jesus, and He is livingHis life through you in the midst of difficult times. That is what Paul isspeaking of in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. “You arepartakers with me.” Let us be partakers with Christ and with the ApostlePaul, even today, in a world that desperately needs the reality of JesusChrist.

“Grace to you and peace from God ourFather and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul uses this same greeting in all 13of his epistles in some form or another, mentioning both God's grace and God'speace that we can experience when we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Itis interesting that all of Paul's epistles also end with at least the mentionof grace, because everything in the Christian life begins with God's grace andends with God's grace. We need God's grace. When Paul first mentions “grace toyou” in all his epistles, he is reminding us of what we read in Ephesians2:8–9: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not ofyourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Salvationcomes because of God's grace being given to us. We do not deserve God'sunmerited favor—His mercy—but He gives it to us when we humble ourselves andrecognize that we are sinners and cannot save ourselves. We are bound one dayto face a holy God in judgment. If we do not experience His grace andsalvation, we are in terrible trouble. Myfriend, the grace of God comes first in our life. But we must also understandthat we can only live the Christians life by the grace of God. I like what theapostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God, I amwhat I am. His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantlythan they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Paulattributes everything that he accomplished in his Christian life and ministryto the grace of God. And in 2 Corinthians 9:8, he reminds all of us, “God isable to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having allsufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” Myfriend, how we need the grace of God. But it only comes when we submitourselves to God. James 4:6–7 tells us that when we humble ourselves, God givesgrace to the humble, but He resists the proud. When we try to do things in ourown strength, in our own way, without taking time to make sure we are in aright relationship and fellowship with the Lord, we are going to struggle. Paulthen adds, “grace to you and peace.” Peace is one of the greatestblessings of salvation. Before we knew Christ, the Bible teaches that we wereenemies of God. But through Jesus Christ, we have been reconciled to God.Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace withGod through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I will never forget February 21, 1971,after I invited Christ to come into my heart—the peace of God and theforgiveness of sins that followed, and the assurance of knowing that I had aright standing before a holy God, filled my soul. There is no peace like thepeace that comes into our life when we are reconciled to God through His bloodon the cross (Colossians 1:20, 22). Myfriend, this peace is not only peace with God; it is the peace of God. It isthe peace of God that comes in the middle of our uncertainty. It is the peacethat quiets us in the midst of trouble. Grace and peace always come from Godour Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, this grace and peace arenot found in circumstances. They are not found in success. They are not foundin possessions. Grace and peace flow from a relationship with God through ourLord Jesus Christ. Whenwe receive His grace, His peace settles in our hearts. We must be careful notto reject or “fail” the grace of God that He gives us for every circumstance inlife (Hebrews 12:14-17). Grace is available to us every day. By the grace ofGod, Paul said, “I am what I am.” His grace is sufficient. His grace isavailable. God will give you today what you need if you will, by faith, humbleyourself before Him and trust Him. WhereHis grace flows, my friend, His peace always follows. That is why Paul beginsevery epistle with “grace to you and peace.” And where does it comefrom? It comes “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those thingswhich are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling ofGod in Christ Jesus.” Today,we conclude our introduction to the book of Philippians by looking at one ofthe most powerful statements that Paul makes in this letter. In Philippians3:13–14, he writes: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; butthis one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reachingforth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prizeof the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” These words reveal the focusand the passion of the Apostle Paul's life. I'dlike for us to take a few moments to remember what Paul was doing as Saulbefore his conversion. We first meet Saul back in Acts 7:58. He was standingthere when Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to death. He held the clothesof those who cast the stones at Stephen. In Acts 8:1-3, in the opening verses,we find that Saul was making havoc of the church—persecuting Christians,dragging them from their homes, throwing them into prison, and even puttingthem to death. Then, in Acts 9, Saul meets the Lord Jesus Christ on the road toDamascus. When he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Jesus answered from heaven,“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Saul was persecuting JesusChrist as he was imprisoning and killing believers. Later,when Paul gave his testimony in Acts 26:9-11 before King Agrippa, he said: “ThisI also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, havingreceived authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, Icast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue andcompelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, Ipersecuted them even to foreign cities.” Can you imagine that? He said hewas “exceedingly enraged” against them. He hated the followers of Jesus Christ.But then he met Jesus—and everything changed. Sowhen Paul says, “forgetting those things which are behind,” can youimagine the burden he carried after becoming a follower of Christ? He had toface families of those who had suffered because of him. He had to seekforgiveness from people whose loved ones he had persecuted. He must have carrieda tremendous weight from his past. But, my friend, Paul did not live in thepast. He did not dwell on past failures—or even past successes. Instead, hepressed forward toward the mark that God had set before him. Inthis same letter, Paul makes another well-known statement in Philippians 1:21: “Forto me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This verse captures the veryheart of Paul's life. Living meant serving Christ. Dying meant being withChrist. Either way, Jesus Christ was everything to him. That is the centralmessage of the book of Philippians. Joy is found in Christ. Strength is foundin Christ. Purpose is found in Christ. Aswe begin our verse-by-verse study of this letter in the days ahead, we will seeagain and again how Paul points believers back to the Lord Jesus Christ. InPhilippians 3:10–11, he writes: “That I may know Him and the power of Hisresurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Hisdeath, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Myfriend, the more we know Christ, the more our hearts are filled with joy. Themore we trust Christ, the more we experience peace. The more we follow Christ,the more our lives begin to reflect His love and His humility. Iam convinced that as we study through this book together, God will use it todeepen our faith, strengthen our walk, and fill our hearts with a joy that onlyJesus Christ can give. Maythe Lord bless you in the days ahead as we explore this wonderful and excitingbook together.

Todaywe come to Ephesians 6:23, where the Apostle Paul finishes this letter with abeautiful blessing: “Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from Godthe Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” First,Paul speaks about “peace to the brethren”. Earlier in the letter,remember in Ephesians 2:13-17, the Apostle Paul wrote about this: “But nowin Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the bloodof Christ. For He Himself is our peace... And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off andto those who were near.” Jesus Christ Himself is our peace. Remember,this peace comes in two ways as far as the believer is concerned. First, wehave “peace with God”. Romans 5:1 says: “Therefore being justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Also inEphesians 2:8-9 we read: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and thatnot of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man shouldboast.” We are justified. We are made right before a holy God. We have aright standing before Him. We are without guilt, without shame, and without theburden of sin when we stand before God. Why? Because we have peace with God byfaith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Thenthere is another kind of peace. As believers we can experience the “peace ofGod”. Philippians 4:6 says: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything byprayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known toGod; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guardyour hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” This is the peace of God thatcomes when we commit and yield everything we are facing—our circumstances, oursituations, and our lives—to the Lord Jesus Christ. We give it over to Him. Thenin Philippians 4:9, Paul says: “And the God of peace will be with you.” Whenwe do the things Paul instructed the believers in Philippi to do—when wemeditate on the right things and live according to the truth—then we can havethe confidence and assurance that the God of peace is with us. Myfriend, peace comes first. After that, notice Paul mentions “love with faith”.Three powerful words: peace, love, and faith. Faith and love belongtogether. Love is the source, and faith is the strength that sustains theChristian life. Love reaches down from God to us. Faith reaches up from us toGod. Love provides everything we need. Faith takes hold of what God hasprovided. Throughout this book, the Apostle Paul repeatedly emphasizes thesetruths. We are saved by faith, and then we are called by faith to walk in love,just as Christ loved us. Noticealso something very important: these blessings come from God the Father and theLord Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing originates with God. Peace does notcome from circumstances. Love does not come from human effort alone. Faith isnot something we produce in our own strength. These gifts flow from ourrelationship with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is thesource. Jesus is the source of every spiritual blessing. Itis remarkable that the Apostle Paul was writing these words while sitting in aRoman prison. From a worldly perspective, his circumstances looked verydiscouraging. Yet Paul spoke about peace, love, and faith. Why? Because hisconfidence and his joy were not rooted in his surroundings. They were rooted inthe unchanging character of God. Ohmy friend, that is the same way it should be for us today. No matter what weface in life, our peace, our love, and our faith come from the Lord Himself andfrom our daily relationship with Him. As we dive into His Word, as we take timeto meditate on who He is and what He is doing for us right now—“ever living tomake intercession for us”—we can experience that peace.  Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful, peaceful day.

“And for me, that utterance may be given to me,that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,  for which I am an ambassador in chains;that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” As we look at thesetwo verses, Paul is now asking for prayer for himself. What's striking is whathe does not ask for. He does not ask for release from prison. He does not askfor comfort, healing, or even safety. Instead, he asks the church at Ephesus topray that God would grant him boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wemust remember that Ephesians is one of the four Prison Epistles. The others arePhilippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Paul is in prison in Rome when he writesthese letters. To be a prisoner in Rome was no small matter. It was not apleasant place. No doubt he was suffering greatly—experiencing hardship, pain,and difficulties we can scarcely imagine. Yet Paul does not say, “Oh, pray thatI get out.” He says, “Pray that I have boldness. Pray that I have the grace ofGod to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ.” Inanother Prison Epistle, Philippians 1:12–14, Paul writes: “But I want you to know,brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for thefurtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palaceguard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of thebrethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more boldto speak the word without fear.”  Paul issaying that his testimony in chains has encouraged others. The guards know heis imprisoned for Christ. Fellow believers have grown more confident. They arespeaking the Word without fear because they see his faithfulness. Afew years ago, Iread the book, “The Insanity of God” by Nik Ripken. In it, he recountsinterviews with persecuted believers in places like China and Russia. Thosesuffering saints did not ask him to pray for relief from persecution, torture,or hardship. They asked him, “Pray that we will be faithful.” On oneoccasion, they even said, “Persecution is good for us. It purifies the church.”We are called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ wherever we are. Today,I am asking for special prayer for a dear friend of mine. Just this week, hewas forcibly taken from his refugee work in a war-torn country and placed onthe front lines of conflict. He is 55 years old—a precious friend, someone withwhom I have shared mission trips and many meaningful times of ministry. Thiswas not something he was prepared to face. Yet he is not asking for prayer forrelease. We have not heard from his family that he is saying, “Pray that I getout.” Instead, they are asking us to pray for grace and for wisdom. He wouldwant us to, like Paul, to pray for boldness—to be a faithful witness whereverhe finds himself right now. Please,I'm asking you to pray for him. I cannot share his name or more details at thistime, but please pray for my friend. He is in a special place of need, and heis asking for boldness to be a witness where he is. Of course, we can also praythat he will be brought home safely to his family who are here in America.Please do pray for him. Aswe reflect on these passages of Scripture, we are reminded that prayer producesboldness. I thank God for the prayers that have been offered for me as apastor, as a believer, and during mission trips. I can sense those prayers.They make a tremendous difference. Prayer overcomes distance. Prayer dispelsfear. Prayer strengthens boldness. Myfriend, we must also remember that our spiritual leaders are special targets ofSatan. That is why we must pray for our missionaries, pray for our pastors, andpray for spiritual leaders across America. May God grant them grace to befaithful to the Lord for all they must face. Maythe Lord bless you as you think on these things. And as Paul says—"prayfor me”. Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.

Wehave already spoken about the soldier on his knees, breathing out prayers. Thespiritual breath of the believer is prayer. In contrast, the breath of thewicked person in Proverbs is lies. This does not mean that we are alwaystalking in prayer. Jesus even warned about vain repetitions in prayers in Matthew6:7. No, He is speaking of constantly having communion with the Lord—living inthe awareness of His presence. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.I believe the fear of the Lord is a constant, continual awareness of the Lord'spresence. It means you never have to say, “Lord, we come into Your presence,”because you are already in His presence. Topray always means that we take His hand in the light as we read His Word in themorning. We open our hearts in prayer, asking Him for grace, help, mercy, andstrength for the day. As we do that, we keep hold of His hand. I have told youbefore about a dear older lady in our church. She did not have the mostbeautiful voice, but she was a godly woman who could share the good news ofChrist in a powerful way through her songs. I will never forget what she saidone time: “If you take the hand of the Lord in the light, when it gets dark youdon't have to look for it.” That is continuing instant in prayer. That ispraying always. Topray always means that when you are tempted, you ask for help. I wouldencourage you to study James 1 very carefully, especially if you are dealingwith temptations and trials. If you do not know which way to go, if you needwisdom, then pray for wisdom. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask ofGod, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall begiven him” (James 1:5). God gives generously and does not hold back. Whenyou are blessed, you give thanks. You open your heart and acknowledge that “everygood gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Fatherof lights” (James 1:17). When you see evil, you pray for righteousness. Youflee from evil and pray that you will continue to walk in the righteousness ofJesus Christ. When you meet someone who is lost, you pray for their salvationand for wisdom to be a witness to them.Ithink about the disciples. They observed the Lord praying. They saw Himwithdraw to solitary places to pray. On one occasion they said, “Lord, teachus to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” That request is recorded inLuke 11. The Lord then began to teach them how to pray. My friend, I never readwhere the disciples said, “Lord, teach us how to preach. Teach us how towitness. Teach us how to heal. Teach us how to perform miracles. Teach us howto speak in tongues.” They never asked for those things. But they did say, “Lord,teach us to pray.” In essence, they were asking, “Teach us how to have thekind of constant awareness and communion with the Father that You have.” Thatshould be our prayer today: Lord, teach us to pray. Prayeris continual God-consciousness. In Acts 2:42, we read that the early church “continuedsteadfastly… in prayers.” David said in Psalm 55:17, “Evening, andmorning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” Myfriend, we are always subject to attack. Therefore, we must always be inprayer.Jesustold His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Watch and pray.” Butthey slept. Jesus prayed. When the temptation came, Peter failed. But Jesusstood strong in the midst of the greatest temptation ever faced—on the cross. Myfriend, we too can stand strong when we continue instant in prayer. Jesussaid in Luke 18:1 that men “ought always to pray, and not to faint.”Either we are praying, or we are quitting. We are praying or we are fainting. Oh, my friend, prayer is the breath of the Christian—that constant awareness of the breath of God. So what is the frequency of prayer? Itis this: praying always—in every situation, every day, at all times—keepingyour mind set on Him and continually asking for His grace and

Now we are not only holding up the shield of faith, but we arealso taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We have alreadysaid many things about this but today is especially important as we talk aboutthe Word of God and prayer—the Word of God and prayer. Youcannot separate the Word of God from prayer. If you are praying as you should,you will be reading the Word of God as you should. You will be in the Word, andthe Word will be living in you. If you are not in the Word, you will not bepraying as you should. There is another very important truth: you must pray infaith. So we have faith, the Word, and prayer. These three are interdependentupon each other. You will not continue to do what you ought to do in any one ofthem without the others. Ilove what Mark 11:22–24 says: “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Havefaith in God. For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Beremoved and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, butbelieves that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that youreceive them, and you will have them.'” They go together. If you want powerin prayer, pray the Word. If you want boldness in prayer, pray the promises ofGod. Iwant to encourage you—if you have never read it before—you can find it onAmazon: Faith's Checkbook by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It is available as adaily one-minute devotional book. I encourage you to get it. I used it foryears, and I continue to use it. It contains 365 promises that you “cash in.”It is like a checkbook—you take that promise, make it yours, and pray it backto God. When you pray the promises of God, it gives you boldness. God has mademany promises. Pray those promises. Ifyou want clarity in prayer, pray the Scriptures. One of the best books I stilluse every day—and I have given it to hundreds of people—is The Power of Prayer,a little one-minute devotional by E. M. Bounds. It is like a catalyst. It islike priming the pump. You read it, and you are motivated and encouraged topray. Justyesterday's February 24th reading was based on Romans 12:12: “Rejoicing inhope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” Prayer andGod's promises are interdependent. The promises inspire and energize prayer,but prayer isolates and locates the promise, giving it realization andapplication. I love this illustration: The promise is like blessed rain fallingin full showers, but prayer is like the pipes that direct the rain—focusingthese promises until they become direct and personal, until they bless,refresh, and fertilize.Prayertakes hold of the promise and guides it to its marvelous end. It removes theobstacles and makes a highway for the promise to reach its gloriousfulfillment. Thereis always a little prayer at the end: “Dear Lord God, thank You for Yourpromises. Thank You that our earnest prayers can put Your promises to bless andrefresh in action. I praise Your name. Amen.” SoI want to encourage you today and understand that when you pray God's Word backto Him, you are praying according to His will. Because 1 John 5:14 says: “Andthis is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything accordingto His will, He hears us.” Oh, the precious promises, the Word of God, andprayer—this is the sword of the Spirit. My friend, it energizes. It carriesprayers to the place where they are needed in the lives of people. Menlike Andrew Murray wrote books such as, “With Christ in the School of Prayer”.Get hold of those books. Read them—but more importantly, pray as you read them.Listen to what God is saying to you. Be encouraged today to take up the shieldof faith, to hold up the sword of the Spirit, and to pray always. Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.

TheChristian life, as we said, is a battlefield. Satan is warring against us. Hewants to defeat us. He has come to steal, to kill, and destroy. But God, ourGod has given us an armor. The armor of God. Did you hear that? The armor ofGod. Not the armor of some man, some person in the past, or the armor that wehave made up for ourselves. No, it's the armor of God Almighty Himself that'sbeen made available to us. Remember how Saul gave David his armor to put on tofight Goliath. But after David put it on, he realized that he couldn't wearsome other person's armor, and he didn't need it when he by faith knew he hadthe armor of God on already! So the last thing we are told to dois to take and put on is the helmet of salvation. We've talked about that inthe past number of chats. Right now, we're talking about the sword of theSpirit. We're talking about what that is. It's the word of God. It's the Spiritof the living God through the word of God. Then we find out why we should usethis sword because it's our offensive weapon against the enemy, the devil. Wealso learn how to use this sword. We look at an example of even Jesus ChristHimself.Jesusused the sword of the Spirit against Satan. The clearest example in the Bibleis when Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan came and tempted Him. What didJesus do when Satan tempted Him three times? Each time Jesus answered, "Itis written." He was quoting Scripture from the Old Testament. Myfriend, Jesus did not argue with Satan. He did not negotiate with Satan. He didnot reason with Satan like Eve did when she was tempted and failed. No, Heanswered the temptations with Scripture. Every time Satan came with a lie,Jesus came back with the truth. Now, that tells us something. And that is, ifthe Son of God, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, chose to resist the devilwith scriptures, then you and I better learn to do the same.Inthe Scriptures, the Christian life is picture or describe as a battle, but theChristian life is also pictured as a walk. We are to walk in purity, walk inthe light, and walk in love. We've talked about that here in the book ofEphesians. The Christian life is also described as a run in Hebrews 12:1. Itsays, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud ofwitnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  How do we do it? We do this by “looking untoJesus” (v. 2).TheChristian life is also a fight. But it's not a fight with Satan, my friend.It's a fight to stand strong in the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul said, "Ihave fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”The fight is to keep the faith, to be armored with a faith in the Scripture, inthe Word of God, which is a life of obedience. Then it is also “taking a stand”.We've read that here in Ephesians 6. “And having done all, to stand”.  We stand but Paul also said we “wrestle”. I'llnever forget when I went out for wrestling in high school. I found out it's anexercise of resistance and endurance. You're resisting the strength of the personthat you're wrestling with. That's what we are told to do with the devil. James4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil." Howdo you do it? You do it with the Word of God! Then we are promised that, “hewill flee from you”. Todaywe should be encouraged with the last verses in Isaiah 40:28-31, “Have younot known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator ofthe ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding isunsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might Heincreases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young menshall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength;They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary,They shall walk and not faint.”  

Paul opens this entire section with a keyprinciple in verse 21: “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear ofGod.” That word submission is foundational. Submission does notcancel authority or reverse roles. Children are not placed over parents, andservants are not placed over masters. Rather, submission governs howauthority is exercised and how it is received. JesusHimself taught this principle repeatedly. He warned His disciples not to seekgreatness by throwing their weight around or promoting themselves. Sadly, theystruggled to learn that lesson—even at the Last Supper, they argued over whowas the greatest. When Jesus washed their feet, He demonstrated that truegreatness uses authority to serve others, not to exalt oneself. Scripturereminds us to esteem others as more important than ourselves. By nature, wewant to promote ourselves, but the Holy Spirit enables us to submit ourselves. Paulthen applies this principle first to marriage, and it is important to rememberthat he is writing to believers. He is not teaching that women areinferior to men, nor that all women must submit to all men in every situation.By using Christ and the church as his illustration, Paul makes it clear that heis describing the Christian home.Hebegins with wives. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as untothe Lord.” Paul gives two reasons: the lordship of Christ and the headshipof the husband in Christ. When a Christian wife is submitted to Christ as Lord,she will not find it difficult to submit to her husband. This submission is notslavery, because the husband himself is also submitted to Christ. When bothhusband and wife live under Christ's lordship, harmony becomes possible. Headshipdoes not mean dictatorship. It means loving leadership. A Christian husband andwife should pray together and spend time in God's Word, seeking His will fortheir lives and for their home. Many marital conflicts arise when one or bothpartners fail to submit to Christ, neglect God's Word, and stop seeking Hiswill daily. Thisis why Scripture warns believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Amarriage where only one partner is submitted to Christ begins with built-inconflict. But even Christian couples must be careful to submit to Christ beforemarriage. Couples who pray together, seek God's will, and obey His Word lay astrong foundation.  Paulthen turns his attention to husbands, and he says much more to them. “Husbands,love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.” This is anincredibly high standard. Paul lifts marriage to its highest level by showingit as a living illustration of Christ's relationship with His church. Marriageserves many purposes—emotional companionship, family, and physicalfulfillment—but Paul emphasizes its spiritual purpose.  Ahusband's love is to be sacrificial. Christ gave Himself for the church,and the husband is called to give himself for his wife. True Christian love isnot selfish. It willingly pays a price so that the other may grow and glorifyGod. Thislove is also sanctifying. Christ cleanses His church through the Word,and a husband's love should help his wife grow spiritually. Marriage is meantto be a setting where both husband and wife are becoming more like Christ. Eventhe physical relationship, when governed by God, becomes a means of spiritualenrichment, not selfish use. Love that sanctifies always builds up—it neverdegrades. Finally,a husband's love is to be satisfying. Because husband and wife are oneflesh, loving one's spouse is loving oneself. Love nourishes, strengthens, andfulfills. There should be no starvation for love in a Christian home. When bothhusband and wife are submitted to Christ and to one another, their physical,emotional, and spiritual needs are met, and the temptation to seek fulfillmentelsewhere loses its power. 

“Foryou were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children oflight” (v.7). Thatstatement is very important. Paul does not say we were merely in darkness—hesays “we were darkness” (v. 8). Before salvation, darkness defined us.It shaped our thinking, our desires, and our behavior. But when we trustedChrist, everything changed. We didn't just step into the light—we became lightin the Lord. Because of that, Paul asks a searching question, echoed elsewherein Scripture: “What communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians6:14) Light and darkness are opposites. They do not blend. They do notcooperate. And it is impossible to live in both at the same time. Paulthen describes what the light produces. In verse 9 he writes, “For the fruitof the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” Darknessproduces unfruitful works, but light always bears fruit. Goodness is love inaction—it is a heart that reflects the kindness and compassion of Christ. Righteousnessspeaks of right character before God and right conduct before others. Truthmeans our lives are shaped and governed by God's Word and God's will.When we walk in the light, we livehonestly, transparently, and humbly before God, with nothing we are unwillingto bring into His presence. But walking in the light is not only about personalholiness—it is also about public testimony. Jesus said, “You are the lightof the world.” And He added, “Let your light so shine before men, thatthey may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew5:16). Asbelievers, we carry God's light into a dark world by the way we live, speak,and love. The unsaved person is blinded by sin and by Satan, as Scripture tellsus. Only as we share Christ and live out the gospel can the light of God breakthrough that darkness. Just as a healthy person can help the sick, a child ofGod can help lead the lost out of darkness into God's marvelous light. Paulalso reminds us that light exposes what is wrong. Light reveals reality. Nosurgeon would operate in the dark, and no artist could paint truthfully withoutlight. In the same way, God's light reveals the true character of sin. That'sone reason people often avoid the Bible or the church—light exposes whatdarkness would rather keep hidden. AsChristians, Paul tells us not to fellowship with the unfruitful works ofdarkness, but instead to expose them. Sometimes that exposure happens simply byliving godly lives. When Christ walked on this earth, His perfect life exposedthe sin around Him, and that is one reason He was rejected. A believer livingfaithfully for Christ will often do the same, not intentionally, but naturally.However, Paul gives us an important caution in verse 12. He says it is shamefuleven to speak of certain things done in secret. There is a danger in exposingsin in the wrong way—by sensationalizing it or advertising it. We are notcalled to dwell on evil, but to shine the light. As Scripture reminds us, “Iwould have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil” (Romans16:19). We do not need to study darkness in detail to expose it. All we need todo is turn on the light. Paulthen closes this section with a beautiful image in verse 14: “Awake, you whosleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Salvation ispictured as waking up to a brand-new day. When Christ rose from the dead, thedawn of a new day broke for the world. And when we trusted Him, we were raisedfrom spiritual death into the light of life. We are no longer sleeping indarkness—we are alive in Christ. That means the believer has no business livingin the shadows. We are saints, partakers of the inheritance of the saints inlight. We have been delivered from the power of darkness and transferred intothe kingdom of God's dear Son. As Paul reminds us again, we are “light inthe Lord.”

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Doug Groothuis about his article, “Resurrecting the Dead with AI? Digital Necromancy and the Christian“. https://www.equip.org/articles/resurrecting-the-dead-with-ai-digital-necromancy-and-the-christian/This is also part of Doug's ongoing Cultural Critique column.One way you can support our online articles and podcasts is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10, which is the cost of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here. Additional Related podcasts and articles by this author:Blaise Pascal: Three Misconceptions and the TruthEpisode 460: The Death of Credentials: How Social Media Influencers Dumbed Us Down & Made Everything Worse“The Death of Credentials: How Social Media Influencers Dumbed us Down and Made Everything Worse.”Episode 436: Why Read Books?Why Read Books?Episode 424 Of God and Dogs, With Constant Reference to Sunny“Of God and Dogs, With Constant Reference to Sunny“Episode 416: The Art of Bracketing in Apologetics: Switching Ground Without Losing GroundThe Art of Bracketing in Apologetics: Switching Ground Without Losing GroundEpisode 401 How Truth WorksHow Truth WorksDon't miss an episode; please subscribe to the Postmodern Realities podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Please help spread the word about Postmodern Realities by giving us a rating and review when you subscribe to the podcast. The more ratings and reviews we have, the more new listeners can discover our content.

Paulgives us a sober warning in Ephesians 5:6: “Let no one deceive you withempty words.” That tells us two things right away. First, deception isreal—even among believers in the church at Ephesus. And second, deception oftencomes wrapped in words that sound appealing, reasonable, or comforting, but areultimately empty—void of truth, power, and life. The enemy has always workedthis way. From the very beginning, Satan has used empty words to deceive God'speople.Thinkback to Genesis 3. Satan did not come to Eve with obvious lies or threats. Hecame with words that sounded harmless, even enlightened. He said, “You willnot surely die… you will be like God.” Those were empty words. They werelies without substance, promises without truth. Eve believed them, and theresult was sin, separation, and death entering the world. Paul is warning usthat the same tactic is still at work today. Empty words promise freedom butlead to bondage. They promise pleasure but deliver destruction. They promiselife, but they produce death.Thatis why Paul says, “Let no one deceive you.” This is a call fordiscernment. It is a call to measure every message—whether it comes from theworld, culture, false teachers, or even our own hearts—against the truth ofGod's Word. The book of Proverbs gives us many warnings about deceptive words. Proverbs14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end isthe way of death.” That verse perfectly captures the danger of empty words.They seem right. They feel right. They appeal to our desires. But they lead usaway from God.Anotherpowerful warning is found in Proverbs 7, where Solomon describes a manseduced by flattering speech. Proverbs 7:21 says, “With her enticingspeech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him.”Words were the weapon. The result was ruin. King David also fell victim todeception—this time not from Satan directly, but from his own uncheckeddesires. When David saw Bathsheba, he allowed himself to believe empty words inhis heart: “I deserve this.” “I can get away with this.” “This won't costme.” Those lies led to adultery, deceit, and murder. The pleasure wasbrief, but the consequences were long-lasting. Sin always overpromises andunderdelivers.Thatis why the writer of Hebrews tells us about Moses in Hebrews 11:24–26. Mosesfaced the same temptation—the allure of empty promises. Egypt offered pleasure,power, and prestige. But Hebrews says Moses “chose rather to sufferaffliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for aseason.” Why? Because Moses saw through the emptiness. He understood thatsin's pleasures are temporary, but God's reward is eternal.Emptywords always minimize sin and ignore judgment. That's exactly what Paulconnects in Ephesians 5:6: “For because of these things the wrath of Godcomes upon the sons of disobedience.” The world says, “God doesn't care.”“God won't judge.” “Everyone lives this way.” Those are empty words. God's Wordsays otherwise. Jesus warned about this as well. In Matthew 7:15, He said, “Bewareof false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they areravenous wolves.” Their danger is not obvious because their words soundspiritual, compassionate, and inclusive—but they lack truth.Paullater warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3–4 that people would gather teachers whotell them what they want to hear, turning away from the truth. That isdeception fueled by empty words. So how do we guard ourselves? First, we staygrounded in God's Word. Truth exposes emptiness. Jesus said, “You shall knowthe truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Second, we walk in thelight, as Paul has already taught us earlier in Ephesians 5. Light reveals whatdarkness tries to hide. Third, we listen to the Holy Spirit, who guides us intoall truth and convicts us when something is not right.

Ephesians 5:1-21Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, asChrist also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrificeto God for a sweet-smelling aroma.Today we are looking at Ephesians 5:1-2, where the Apostle Paul gives us theclear admonition to walk in love. Also in in these two verses, Paul also givesus several reasons why we should walk in love. First, he tells us in verse 1 to“be imitators of God as dear children.” As the children of God, we areto be reflectors of who He is. God is love, and therefore we should reflectthat love—the love God has for us and for the world around us. Themost quoted verse in the Bible, one we all know so well, tells us: “For Godso loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God is a lovingGod, and because He is love, He is also a God who gives. As His children, weare called to love and to give of ourselves sacrificially for His glory. Ilove the phrase Paul uses here, “as dear children.” Sometranslations say, “as beloved children.” Remember, at least twicein the Gospel of Matthew, the Father speaks from heaven and declares His lovefor His Son. At the baptism of Jesus in Matthew chapter 3, and again on theMount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17, God says, “This is Mybeloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Nowthink about this—we too are His beloved children. 1 John 3:1–3, tells us, “Beholdwhat manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be calledchildren of God.” In Romans chapter 8, we are told that we cry out, “Abba,Father.” We have an intimate, personal relationship with our Father inheaven. Because of that relationship, and as proof of it, we should desire toshow forth His love to the world around us as imitators of God and as Hisbeloved children. Ialso think about what Jesus prayed in John 17:23. He said, “I in them, andYou in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may knowthat You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”Jesus prayed and said, “Father, just as You have loved Me, You love them.”Can you imagine that? Jesus is the beloved Son of God, and He tells us that theFather loves us in the same way He loves Him. How much does God love you? Heloves you with the same love He has for His beloved Son—whom He gave as asacrifice for the sins of the world. So,we see several reasons here for walking in love. We are children of God. Weshare in His nature, and His nature is love. We are beloved children who desireto please our Father in heaven. We cry out, “Abba, Father.” And then we see athird reason in verse 2: “Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Thisphrase, “a sweet-smelling aroma,” is very meaningful. Our reflection ofChrist's love is pleasing to God—it rises as a sweet fragrance before Him. Inthe book of Leviticus, chapters 1 through 3 describe the three sweet savorofferings: the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. Theburnt offering pictures Christ's complete devotion to God. The meal offeringreflects His perfect character. The peace offering shows Christ making peacebetween sinful man and a holy God. Thesin offering and the trespass offering, found in Leviticus chapters 4 and 5,are not sweet savor offerings. Why? Because sin is not sweet or beautiful. Sinis what put Christ on the cross. Sin is what condemned us and would send us toa devil's hell apart from Christ.  Oh,my friend, today let us remember who we are. We are dear children ofGod—beloved children—loved with an unimaginable, unconditional, selfless love.Therefore, let us walk in love as “His beloved children” Godbless you and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.

Today,as we continue in Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul is dealing with sinsthat can destroy our testimony. The fourth one is: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, butwhat is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to thehearers.” Here,Paul warns us against corrupt speech. We must understand that the mouth and theheart are directly connected. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heartthe mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34). Jesus also said in Mark 7:21: “Forfrom within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, anevil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” Jesus concluded by saying thatall these things come from within and defile a person. They destroy thetestimony of an individual believer and can also destroy the testimony andwitness of a church when these things are allowed to take root. Jesusfurther warned us in Matthew 12:36–37: “But I say to you that for every idleword men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For byyour words you will be justified, and by your words you will becondemned." The apostle Paul certainly understood the power of words.In Romans 3:14, he connects the mouth with cursing and bitterness. But when wetrust Christ, something changes. In Romans 10:9-10, we confess Him with ourmouths and we openly profess that Jesus Christ is Lord. As condemned sinners,our mouths were once stopped before the throne of God (Romans 3:19). But asbelievers, our mouths are opened to praise Him (Romans 15:6). When God changesthe heart, He changes the speech. Thattruth became very real to me personally. I hate to admit it, but before I cameto Christ, I was a cursing, foul-mouthed sinner. I couldn't stop the words thatcame out of my mouth, even when I didn't want to use them. They flowednaturally because I had a dirty, sinful heart. But on February 21, 1971, around4:00 in the afternoon, when Jesus Christ came into my heart and gave me a newheart, the cursing stopped immediately. It stopped. Why? Because I now had aheart that belonged to God, and out of that heart He began to produce goodthings and good words. Paul'sadmonition is clear: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth.”The word corrupt means something that is worthless, rotten, or decaying. Thatkind of speech often shows up as gossip, idle talk, words that tear othersdown, or speech designed to make ourselves look better at someone else'sexpense. Remember what Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us: “These six things the Lordhates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him.” After listing six sins, theseventh is “one who sows discord among brethren.” That is often donewith words. Sowhat is the remedy for corrupt speech? The remedy is a heart that has beencleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ—a heart filled with the love of Christ,the truth of Christ, and the grace of God. When God's Holy Spirit controls theheart, He controls the mouth. This is how God wants us to minister to others.Our words should not tear down or destroy the unity of the church, nor damageour testimony before a watching world. Instead, our words should be a testimonyof God's grace, His love, His forgiveness, His kindness, and His goodness. Jesussaid of false teachers, “By their fruit you shall know them.” (Matthew7:16-20). But the same can be said of true believers. And one of the biggestfruits of the Christian life is the fruit of our speech—the words that come outof our mouths. So today, we should take heed to this admonition: “Let nocorrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessaryedification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”  Today,may the words out of our mouths always build up others and reflect the grace ofGod. Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.

Part 2 of an exposition of Psalm 110.Psalm 110shows that the one “at the right hand” of God not only has been given the authority to rule as YHVH's designated King Messiah, but is also appointed by YHVH as Priest Messiah. The high priest mediates between humans and God. The author of Hebrews emphasizes the mediatorial role of Yeshua the Messiah who as our high priest has gone into the presence of God, being at the righthand of God, as our mediator (Heb. 1:3, 1:13, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2). The author of Hebrews hardly mentions that Jesus is the designated King Messiah, but emphasizes that Jesus is the Priest Messiah who mediates for us in the presence ofGod. Paul agrees. The one mediator between God and man is the man Christ Jesus, not a God or a god-man (1 Tim. 2:4-6).  In this way,Jesus is David's Lord not only because Jesus is David's king, but also becauseJesus is David's mediating priest who enables David, eventually, to come beforeGod (cf. John 14:6).Psalm 110:1 (Part 1) https://youtu.be/GLEEV9emNT0

Sermon handout Acts14:21–23  When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom ofGod. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

15 But the free gift isnot like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much morethe grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, JesusChrist, abounded to many. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reignedthrough the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and ofthe gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) But wheresin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned indeath, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal lifethrough Jesus Christ our Lord.Wehave been talking about the spiritual disciplines and how they put us in thepath of God's grace. Notice in the above verses in Romans 5: 15-21 how manytimes the word grace is used. I trust that today's Pastor's Chat will encourageyou to make the choice every day to put yourself in the way of God's graceinstead of putting yourselves in the path of sin. Take a minute to read Psalm 1:1-3.The book of Psalms begins by telling us we should not be walking as the ungodlywalk, sitting and standing with them, but we should be delighting in God'sword. The discipline of walking in truth will put you in the path of God'sgrace.  InRomans 5:15–21, we find one of the great assurances of the Christian life: thegrace of God within the believer is far more powerful than the power of sinthat once ruled us. Grace is not merely God's favor shown to us in the past. Itis God's life-power actively at work in us every day through Jesus Christ. TheApostle Paul makes this unmistakably clear in Romans 5 as he contrasts thedevastating effects of Adam's sin with the overwhelming triumph of Christ'sgrace. Sin brought death, condemnation, and bondage. Grace bringsjustification, righteousness, and life. Paulrepeatedly emphasizes the word grace in these verses. As you look atthem again, you'll notice that Paul says we do not merely survive. My friend, hesays we reign in life. The believer who receives the abundance of grace is notdominated by sin but empowered to live victoriously through Jesus Christ. Sinmay still be present, but it is no longer supreme. Grace is greater. Pauldrives this point home again in Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, graceabounded much more.” Myfriend, no failure, no weakness, and no struggle ever outpaces the supply ofGod's grace. Grace always outdistances sin when we are walking in the path ofGod's grace. How do we put ourselves in the path of God's grace? We do thisthrough the spiritual disciplines God has lovingly given us:Readingand studying God's Word, where grace instructs, corrects, and renews our mindsPrayer,as we come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help. (Hebrews4:16)Worship,where grace lifts our hearts to adore the Giver.Fellowshipwith other believers, where grace is shared, strengthened, and encouraged.Givingunselfishly to God's work, where grace flows through us to othersObedientservice, where grace empowers us to walk in good works prepared by GodThesepractices do not create grace—but they place us where grace freely flows. Ilove what we read in 2 Corinthians 9:6–8: “He who sows sparingly will alsoreap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So leteach one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; forGod loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towardyou, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have anabundance for every good work.” Didyou notice that language? All grace. All sufficiency. All things. Every goodwork. That'show it happens. As you practice these disciplines daily, you make a deliberatechoice—starting when you get out of bed in the morning—to spend time with Godin His Word and in prayer.  Godbless you and may you have a truly blessed and wonderful, wonderful day!

Introduction: Hebrews 10:24-25 Acts 10:42, 1 Tim 4:1-2 1 Tim 4:13 1 Tim 2:1,8 , Col 4:2 Eph 5:19, Col 3:16 John 4:23-24 All In On Truth (1 Chronicles 13:3-14) Good intentions and enthusiasm != TRUE WORSHIP. It is PERILOUS to worship God CARELESSLY . We worship God WHO IS WITH US. John 14:16–18 1 Cor 3:16 1 Cor 6:19-20 Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Chronicles 13:3-14What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What is at stake in God's command to worship Him in truth? See, for example, another account of careless and irreverent worship in Leviticus 10:1-3.Why are good intentions and enthusiasm insufficient for worshiping God in truth? Are they better, about the same, or worse than dead, emotionless, and unresponsive “worship?”Before this message, what was your understanding of verses describing Christabiding in you? (John 14:16-18, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20)How should the fact that Christ abides in us inspire or change the way weworship?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Good morning, Harvest, and Happy New Year. Open your Bibles, please, to 1 Chronicles,chapter 13. It will be in the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles, chapter 13. If you want, youcan put a little bookmark at chapter 15, because we're going to be looking there briefly aswell. This morning, we're beginning a three-week series on worship. Of course, there are manyways that we worship, prayer, preaching, proclaiming the gospel. I think it's fair to say thatfor everyone who is a believer in Christ, whatever we do is worship. Everything we do shouldbe for the glory of God. There are right ways, and there are wrong ways to worship God. AtHarvest, we follow something known as the regulative principle. That simply means thatif a type of worship is not permitted in Scripture, we don't do it. We don't get to worship Godhowever we want to. We must worship Him in the way that He commands. You may wonder,"Why do we do the things we do here in worship every Sunday? Who makes that up?" Well, it'snot made up. We do what God's word says to. You'll notice that every Sunday, we meettogether. We preach God's word. We read God's word. We pray and we sing. Now, while thoseare ways in which we are commanded to worship, this three-week series is going to focus particularlyon worshiping through music and singing. Our starting point for all three of these messagesis John 4 verses 23 and 24. "But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshiperswill worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worshipHim. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Sowe see that from these verses, the right way to worship God is spirit and truth. In twoweeks, Pastor Taylor is going to cover why worshiping in spirit and truth through musicand song is so important. Next week, Pastor Jeff will take us through what it means toworship in spirit. And then this morning's message is about worshiping God in truth.So here's the point of this week's sermon. "The Lord God Almighty delights to be withus, but we must have regard for His holiness and worship Him according to His commands."You see, when we worship God that way, when we worship God in truth, it means the wordswe sing to and about Him are true. By singing true words about God, we're able to rememberlater what is true. And we learn sound doctrine. If you've ever memorized Scripture throughsinging or you've sung the old hymns that are just chock full of biblical truth, youknow what I mean. When we worship God in truth, the truth fills us with awe. We aremoved emotionally. We're moved physically by the truth that we sing. Now at Harvest,we don't use, you know, strobe lights, flashing lights, fog machines, loud music, and othertactics to manipulate you into thinking that you're worshiping just because you're experiencingone sensory overload after another. But if what we sing is true, then truth will fillus and flow out of us. When we worship God in truth, we recognize that singing His praisesis of the utmost importance to Him. He's worthy of our praises. He's worthy of all our songsabout Him. He commands our praises. He expects it. The Book of Psalms is proof of that. Andwe should therefore make every effort to worship Him the right way because that pleases andglorifies Him. Let's pray. Oh, most gracious God, sovereign of the universe, God most high,you are awesome and mighty, and you are worthy of all praise. You are worthy of all of ourattention. You are worthy of every thought. You are worthy of every song we can sing.Because Lord, you are holy and you dwell in the praises of your people. I pray this morningthat we would overflow in worshipful song because we know the truth. We know the tritetruth of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us and that He is in us. And it'sin His great name. We ask it. Amen.Now this morning's passage recounts when David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant,the Ark of God, to Jerusalem to be near him. The passage contrasts the wrong way to worshipGod with the right expression of awe and reverence for God Almighty. Before we dive into thismessage, I need to give you some background. We need to do a brief history lesson. So youprobably all know God chose and called the people of Israel out of Egypt so that he couldbe with them. And the primary way that he demonstrated his presence with the peopleof Israel was through a movable tabernacle. That's simply a large tent and it was surroundedby a big fabric courtyard and poles. But inside the tent there were two separate places. Therewas the holy place and that was furnished with the Ark of Incense and a table in which breadwas placed every week and a lamp, a gold lamp to give light. And then on the eastern sideof this tent was basically a cube-shaped area. It was about 15 by 15 by 15. It was a perfectcube and that was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. And it contained the Arkof the Covenant. In other places in Scripture it's called the Ark of God or the Ark ofTestimony. Now in Exodus 25 God gave some very specific directions for the Ark's constructionand its significance. It was a wooden box. It was about 45 inches long, 27 inches high,27 inches wide. Not that big. And then the wood was overlaid with gold and then on topwas a solid gold lid. It was all hammered out of one piece of gold and there were twocherubim on the top. So this is just a very simple example of what it might look like.We can't really speak in detail now about what the Ark looked like but we have the descriptionin Scripture. Now this lid with the cherubim was also called the Mercy Seat and it wassignificant for several reasons. One, the Lord was said to be enthroned above the cherubim.And two, the Lord spoke to Moses from between the cherubim. And then a third reason is onthe annual day of atonement the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and he wouldsprinkle blood on the lid to atone for the people's sins. And it's in this way that theLord tabernacled or dwelled between the two cherubim on the lid of the Ark. In this waythe Lord was present with his people and the people knew God was with them because in thedaytime there was a pillar of cloud over the tabernacle and at night it became a pillarof fire and whenever that pillar moved up and forward it was safe for the Levites, thepriests to go in, pack up the Ark, pack up the tabernacle and move it to wherever Godwas leading them. He took them wherever he wanted them to go. Now God also gave veryspecific instructions about how the Ark was to be moved and by whom. Only the Levitesand of the Levites a clan called the Coethites were allowed to carry the holy things includingthe Ark. Now this Ark was meant to be portable. It was carried on poles, passed through goldrings that those rings were attached to the feet of the Ark and in that way the Ark waslifted up over the priests heads when they carried it so all the people could see theArk was with them. Now these poles were never supposed to be removed from the Ark and beforethe Ark was moved it was supposed to be hidden. They put a big goat skin over it and thenthey covered it with a blue cloth and then that's they would pick it up and they wouldmove it. Now let's move ahead in time about 400 years to the end of the period of thejudges in 1 Samuel. At that time there was a man named Eli. He was the high priest andduring this time the Israelites fought a battle against their arch enemies the Philistinesand they were defeated. The Philistines walloped the Israelites and they were like, "Oh whatare we going to do? What are we going to do? Wait no, let's go bring the Ark of the testimonyto us. Let's bring it into the camp with us thinking this will bring us victory." Andthey were instead defeated in a very great slaughter. And Eli's two sons they were killedand the Ark was captured by the Philistines and taken away. When Eli heard his sons weredead and the Ark was captured he fell backwards over on his chair and broke his neck and hedied. This had to be a terribly bleak time for Israel. Their God, their God was captured.They had no priests, they had no prophets and as yet they had no king. Their whole identityas a people has been overthrown in a day. Now the Philistines they took the Ark to thecity of Ashtad and they put it in the temple of their God named Dagon. And the statue ofDagon fell face down in front of the Ark. So they picked him back up and set him upagain. They come in the next day and this time the God Dagon has fallen over again but thistime his head is busted off and his hands are broken off. And something else happens.The Lord begins terrifying the people of Ashtad with plague and tumors and death. So the Philistinesand Ashtad they take the Ark to Gath, another Philistine city. And the people there alsosuffered from plague and tumors and death. So they pick it up and they move it againto the city of Ekron and guess what happens? The people there experience plague, sickness,death. And they go, "Okay, enough of this. Enough of this." They decide to return theArk to Israel after seven months of being afflicted by God. So the Philistines, theysay, "What do we do with this?" They put the Ark on a brand new cart and they hitch it totwo milking cows. And the cows, instead of trying to go back to be with their calves,their babies, they instead they go straight up to a place in Israel called Beth Shemesh.The Israelites at Beth Shemesh, they rejoiced to see the Ark returned. But when some ofthe men of Beth Shemesh apparently looked into the Ark, the Lord struck down 70 of them.So the people of Beth Shemesh asked the people in another town called Keryth Jerem,"Come and get the Ark from us." Which they did. So the men of Keryth Jerem brought the Ark to thehouse of a man named Abinadab. They consecrated his son Eliezer to oversee it. And the Arkremained there, the Bible says, for some 20 years. Now after David becomes king, you know,this is a period of time Saul was king, he is dead, Jonathan is dead, David has become king,he is now established in Jerusalem as his capital. And David's got this idea, he wants to bring theArk of God from Keryth Jerem to Jerusalem. So David gets all the commanders, all the priests,and the Levites together to get their concurrence with his idea. And now we pick up at our accountin Chronicles chapter 13. "Then let us bring again the Ark of our God to us," David says."For we did not seek it in the days of Saul. All the people agreed to do so, for the thing wasright in the eyes of all the people." So David assembled all Israel from the Nile of Egypt toLebohamed to bring the Ark of God from Keryth Jerem. And David and all Israel went up to Bala,that is Keryth Jerem, that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, which iscalled by the name of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim. And they carried the Ark ofGod on a new cart from the house of Abinadab. And Uzzah and Ohio were driving the cart. And Davidand all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and liars and harpsand tambourines and symbols and trumpets. So this is quite a procession, quite a big celebration.It brings us to our first point. Good intentions and enthusiasm don't equal true worship.There are some huge red flags in this account. As king, actually David's a prince really,because the Lord is still the true king. You know the Bible calls David King David?He's really a prince of the true king. But as King David wants God's presence near him.The Lord has established David and Jerusalem over Israel and to have the Ark of the Covenantnearby would really cement the relationship between God and the house of David.It was a shrewd religious and political move on David's part.But notice in this account David doesn't seek God's counsel about moving the Ark.David knew what he wanted. And he apparently expected God to bless this plan. It's a goodthing, right? Bring the Ark up to Jerusalem. I mean, after all God had blessed David up to this point.So David just gathers counselors around him to agree with him and they go off and they do justwhatever it is they want to do. And you notice the phrase, "The thing was right in the eyes of allthe people." If you're familiar with the book of Judges, you know there's flashing red lights andwarning sirens going off all over the place. The leaders of Israel may have all agreed,but if something is wrong, widespread agreement doesn't make it right.Not one of the priests, Sir Levite, seemed to have suggested consulting the Lordor the Law of Moses before doing this thing. And then to move the Ark, what do they do?They put it on a cart. "Oh, but it was a new cart," you say. "Well, let's should please the Lord,right? Look, Lord, Lord, Lord, look at this fancy set of wheels we got for you. Aren't you impressed?Finest Cedar from Lebanon. The problem is they're copying the Philistinesrather than consulting God or the Law of Moses." So they got the Ark all loaded up.They got a big procession, almost 30,000 people. Can you imagine? 30,000 people. That's 12,000 morepeople than fit in PPG Paints Arena, just for perspective. 30,000 people with David,and they're celebrating with all their might, and they're singing and praising with lots ofinstruments, the liars, the harps, castanets, cymbals, trumpets. They have every intentionof worshiping the Lord, and they're super enthused. And this is just all quite a spectacle. It looksimpressive. It sounds good, but they're more interested in putting it on a show than worshipingGod. It was more about their worship experience. It was more about what David wanted than worshipingthe Lord. It was more about what they perceived God would approve without confirming than it wasabout worshiping God as he commanded. And that's the core problem here. They're not worshiping theLord the way he commanded. They're not worshiping in truth. They don't even seem to have the slightestinterest in truth. Where? Where was the counsel of the high priest in the Levites? Where was prayerin the simple request, Lord, what do you want? Where are the coethites and the poles to carry theark above the heads of the people? Where is the reverence and the awe due to the Lord?Now, you can manufacture enthusiasm while singing. You know, that's why so many churches, they usethe lights and the fog and the beautiful moving images and the sonic walls of ear-popping soundsand drums and squealing singers gesturing wildly. It looks worshipy. It sounds worshipy. It probablyeven feels worshipy. Therefore, I must be worshiping God. Have you ever heard people say, "Oh, worshiptoday was great." I had a great worship experience. Have you ever said that? Who was it that made itthe worship great? The sonic boom or the truth of God? Did you sing songs about yourself or songsthat praise God's character, mercy, grace, and love? Were you pleased with yourself or did youplease your God by worshiping Him in truth? Now, some of you hearing this are probably congratulatingyourself right now. That's right, Sprunk. That's right. I agree with everything you've said.All that exuberance, it's all fake. It's all performance. I just don't see what all the fussis about. Why? That's why when they're singing going on, I just keep my cool. I keep my reserve.Well, good. If you're thinking along those lines, that's good because this next point is just for youbecause just as good intentions and enthusiasm don't equal true worship, it is perilous to worshipGod carelessly. Look at verse 9. "And when they came to the threshing floor of Chaitan, Azza put outhis hand to take hold of the ark for the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindledagainst Azza, and he struck him down because he put his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Azza, and that place is called ParisAzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, 'How can I bring the ark of Godhome to me?' So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to thehouse of Obed Edom the Getite. And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed Edom in hishouse three months, and the Lord blessed the household of Obed Edom and all that he had.And we may be shocked that God struck down Azza for touching the ark.I mean, can you imagine this procession of 30,000 people and boom, Azza's dead?Well, that would take the wind out of the celebration, wouldn't it?Try to think what that might have looked like. Well, if you were in Butler on July 18, 2024,and there was an assassination attempt, you probably know what it felt like.If you saw Charlie Kirk murdered, that's what it was like.But God struck Azza down, and you may think, 'Well, what's the big deal? Why did he do that?They were worshiping.' Well, we've seen there were multiple things wrong with the way Davidand the Israelites treated the ark of God. Number one, they copied the Philistines.They're worshiping like pagans, and pagans don't know the truth. They treated the Holy Lord, GodMost High, the Holy Lord of Israel, shabbily. They treated God like baggage in a wooden cart.They were careless and unconcerned whether their worship obeyed the truth or expressed the truth.And we know Israel had a history of careless, half-hearted worship.We saw that in the Book of Judges, the people after they were settled in the land,they became idolatrous and careless in their worship. They served other gods, and they treated the arkas if it was some sort of good luck charm, a lucky rabbit's foot.They had no qualms about taking the ark from the Holy of Holies and carrying it around whereverthey liked. 'Take it down to the battle,' they said. 'God will fight for us,' they said.'You've got another thing coming,' God said. And everything was lost because of their insolence.The Philistines, they thought they had completely defeated the Israelites.'We've captured Israel's God,' they said.'We'll put him in the temple of our God, Dagon, and he'll worship our God,' they said.'You've got another thing coming,' God said. For their insolence, God busted up Dagon andafflicted the Philistines with sickness and death until they sent the ark back to Israelite territory.And after the ark returned to Israel's territory, the people of Beth Shemeshwanted to get a look at the most holy thing in the nation.They treated the ark like a curiosity, as something that they were consecrated and qualifiedto look at. 'Oh, God has returned to us,' they said. 'Let's sacrifice the cows and worship,' they said.'Let's look inside,' they said. 'You've got another thing coming,' God said.And seventy men of Beth Shemesh were struck down for their insolence.And then twenty years after the ark was moved to Curious Gerum, David proposes to bring the arkto Jerusalem. 'God's established me as king over Israel,' he said. 'It's right in our own eyes tobring the ark to Jerusalem,' they said. 'Let's put it on a new cart,' like the Philistines did,they said. 'Let's worship and celebrate with all our might and loud instruments,' they said.'You've got another thing coming,' God said. And as it was struck down for the people's insolence,you see, David and the priests and the Israelites treated God with contempt, and God said, 'Enough.'And David was rightly afraid of God, but no, he was also angry. But it was a self-pityinganger. David was angry because he didn't get his way. He was angry like Cain when God rejectedCain's act of self-centered worship. Angry like someone who knows he hasn't done his best,he hasn't done something right, but he wants approval anyway. But God is not mocked. God wasnot going to allow David and the priests to disobey his commands and still claim that they wereworshiping him properly. We should see that it is perilous to worship God carelessly.David had to learn, and although the text doesn't say, perhaps he repented of his irreverent worship.He was, after all, a man after God's own heart. And when he heard that Obed Edom was blessedby God, he realized it was possible to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But he had to do it the right way.So turn your head to 1 Chronicles 15. We're going to look at verses 11 through 15.Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abayathar and the Levites, Uriel, Asiah, Joel,Shamiah, Eliel and Abinadab, and said to them, "You are the heads of the Father's houses of the Levites.Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord,the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. Because you did not carry it the first timethe Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule."So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord,the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles,as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.This time David does it the right way. The priests consecrate themselves. They preparethrough sacrifice and washing and abstaining from anything that would make them ritually unclean.Each one got himself ready for worship. They follow the Lord's command when they carry the ark.They lift up the ark and they revere the Lord as holy in the sight of all the people.In short, they now worship according to the word of the Lord. And the Lord showed he was pleasedwith their reverence by allowing David to finally bring the ark to Jerusalem.Likewise, when we worship the Lord in truth and according to his command, he is pleased.All right, so you've been listening intently to all of this. You've been maybe taking some notesand you understand good intentions and enthusiasm don't necessarily equal true worship.You recognize it's perilous to worship God carelessly. You may even be persuaded that you needto worship the Lord in truth. But how? How do we do this? And what does that even look like?Well, we worship in truth when we worship God who is with us.When I was preparing this sermon, I recall seeing a series of memes a few years ago thatcontrasted an event or thing that was brutal with another thing or event that was epic.So I asked some folks familiar with cutting edge technology, cutting edge social media,you know, like MySpace and Vine and Friendster. Did you guys remember those memes?And they're like, no, we I don't remember that at all. And I'm like, well, aren't you people onparlor? Well, anyway, anyway, I know, I know I did not imagine those memes that juxtapose brutaland epic themes. Now, have you have you ever encountered a brutal or brute factthat has set or altered your plans, perhaps altered the trajectory of your life?You know, brute facts are hard, unalterable truths and incurable illness being laid offand debilitating injury. Now, not all brute facts are so dramatic, but we have to reckonwith them. We must adapt and come to terms with them.When I was in 10th grade, I had the ambition to row in college. And one day, the University ofWashington's head coach visited our school. The University of Washington has one of the premierrowing programs, collegiate programs in the country. And their head coach came to our school afterour men's heavyweight four won the American Schoolboy Championship. Now, I wasn't in that boat,but I was pretty excited about this coach's visit. And I was standing in the hallway and he shook myhand and they nice to meet you. And the brute fact was brought home to me that his interest was inOrsman, who were five foot 10 and taller. I had to face the brute fact that I was too short to rowfor any college program. I still am. Now, now that might seem like a silly example, but our livesare filled with inalterable facts. They are the truths we must face. Our intellectual and physicalcharacteristics can only be changed so much. Some of our earlier poor choices in life may have hadconsequences for the rest of our life. Choices or decisions made by others may affect our careers,our health, our relationships. All of us must face a variety of inconsequential to life alteringbrutal facts. But there is one glorious fact so enormous in its scope, so epic in its immeasurableproportions that all the brute facts of our lives pale in comparison. There is an epic truth thatought to completely transform how we think, how we live, and yes, how we worship. It is quite simplythis. If you have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, he abides in you. Christ in you is your hope ofglory. It is very simple. I repent, I believe in Jesus, and now I possess Jesus. Now, recall fromthe introduction of this message that when God wanted to dwell with his chosen people, he did sothrough the Ark of the Covenant. That simple box containing two tablets of the law and placed inthe most holy place was how God chose to tabernacle with and dwell with and be with his people.John chapter one verse 14 tells us the word became flesh and dwelt among us.The word translated dwelt there is literally tabernacle. Jesus tabernacled among us. Jesuswas the most holy place, the holy of holies in the flesh walking among his people.The world's religious systems have nothing like this. We understand God is absolute power,but yet he's personal. Islam has an absolute God in Allah, but he is in no way personal to his people.Zeus and the variety of Greek and Roman gods, they were personal. They looked very human,but not a single one of them had absolute power.Christianity is unique in the fact that the absolute sovereign of the universehumbly dwells with us in a personal way. There is no other religion, no other systemthat compares with, comes close to the way of Christ.Now you might say, well, he's not tabernacling or dwelling with us now, is he?I mean, even the most ardent followers of Christ can get a bit muddled in their thinking aboutJesus' present location. I mean, I thought he ascended to heaven. He's at the right hand ofGod the Father. Well, he did. He is there. But if you stop there, you may tend to think that Jesusis far away from us. You might think he's like a regional supervisor in a big corporation.He's given us a list of commands to follow. We got to check off our list to make sure we're good.And, you know, he checks in occasionally to see how we're doing. And, you know, he approves orcritiques our performance. We have weekly meetings, right? Every Sunday we have weekly meetings.We get a message from headquarters. We have a musical pep rally. And then we get on with our week.Well, if you think in any way like that about Jesus, you are mistaken. Jesus is not limitedby time or space or location. When you think that way about worshiping Jesus, you neglect this greattruth from John chapter 14 verses 16 through 18. Jesus told his disciples, "I will ask the Father,and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the worldcannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with youand will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you."So, where is Jesus? Yes, at the right hand of the Father and present in everyone who believes inhim through the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians reinforces this truth. Look at verse 16 inchapter 3. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?"And then chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spiritwithin you whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price,so glorify God in your body." The Greek word translated as temple in these verses is naos,and AOS, naos. And it refers to the most holy place, the holy of holies, where the ark was kept.You see, beloved, we are living, breathing portable tabernacles, holy places in whom Christabides. And the law is now written on our hearts instead of stone tablets. We must embrace thistruth and worship in it and out of it and through it. The Spirit of Christ in youought to be calling out to the Father and worshiping him in truth. This awesome, glorious,almighty, inipotent Creator and Master of the heavens and earth humbly dwells with youand makes you his friend. Jesus promises to abide in us and he calls us to come and abide in him.What is your response? Maybe you're hearing this truth for the first time and you're overjoyedby this jaw-dropping reality and you're ready to praise him in song right now.Or maybe you've just considered this in passing, but you think that holy spirit stuff,isn't that for the charismatic? And I don't feel, I don't feel the Spirit of God dwelling in me.It's not about feeling. The Spirit of God in dwelling all believers is presented as a statementof fact. It is true of all believers. Look again at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 19 and 20.Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, not outside of you?We don't have to ask him to come and visit us in this place. We don't have to ask him to fall onus or anything like that. He is always with us in us. You're not your own. You were bought with a price.So glorify God in your body. This is not some charismatic mumbo jumbo. You don't need a secondbaptism. You don't need an infilling of the Holy Spirit because when you heard the word of truth,the gospel of your salvation and you believed in Jesus, you were sealed with the promised HolySpirit. You have all the fullness of Christ in you right now. You have all of him that you couldever need. All of us together being built up into a holy temple have all the fullness of Christ in us.Everything that is his, his ours already, you don't need more of him. He simply wants more of you.Every day he calls you to abide more deeply in him. Here's the problem.Some, maybe many of you don't live in this truth and you don't worship out of it.Maybe it's because you're just learning about it. Maybe it's because you don't understand the scopeof this epic truth yet. But it would be really, really bad if you understood this truth.And up to this point in time, you've been careless about it.You know, it's okay if I'm habitually late to worship. I don't feel like singing anyway, you say.You hang out in the kitchen area and you chit chat with friends because fellowship is more importantthan singing, you say. When you are present, your hands are in your pockets, your arms are crossed,you won't open your mouth to sing. God knows I can't sing. He doesn't expect it, you say.It's my choice whether I sing, even if the Lord commands it, you say.You, you may have another thing coming. You treat God shabbily and carelessly. You don'tvalue or appreciate the truth that he dwells in you. Instead, you act like he's remote anddisinterested. Instead of deep calling out to deep, you quench the spirit and you instantlybehave in a way that's right in your own eyes with such worship. God is not pleased and you aretesting his patience. Repent, repent right now and every day this week for treating the Lord JesusChrist with contempt, repent and earnestly seek his face. Here is your assignment this week. Readand reread John 14 verses 15 through 23 and then get flat on your face and ask him to reveal bothin your heart and your mind the truth that he dwells with you. Ask him to help you to liveand praise out of the truth that you are his tabernacle. He delights to dwell with youand he delights to hear you sing his praises. Now the worship team is going to come back upand help us to worship the Lord in truth. Singing his praise is of the utmost importance to him.Right now, you have the opportunity to praise the Lord in truth. Right now, make every effort toget yourself to the throne of grace with your brothers and sisters and glorify your father andyour savior in truth. Because if you didn't know it before today, you do now. You were redeemedto worship and glorify him. It is your purpose and privilege to worship God who is with us.Our closing prayer this morning is from Psalm 98. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song for he has donemarvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has madeknown his salvation. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has rememberedhis steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seenthe salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Break forth into joya song and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody,with trumpets and the sound of the horn. Make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. Amen.

ADVENT WEEK FOUR: LOVEDecember 24 Rev. Allie Utley, PhDYou Are FamilyTitus 3:4-7This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, sothat, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according tothe hope of eternal life. Titus 3:6-7We are a people born of water and the Spirit. In our baptism we are claimedby God and grafted into a family of faith. One of my favorite songs for worshipis Mark Miller's “Child of God.”In the last verse, he writes, “No matter what the world says… you are a child,you are a child of God… There is nothing and no one that can separate youfrom the truth that you're someone—you are family; you are meant to be achild of God.”Baptism is historically associated with the seasons of Lent/Easter/Pentecostrather than Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. But I love that the daily lectionaryincludes this passage about being heirs of God, being part of the family ofGod, because in Advent, we do think a lot about genealogies and generations.I think the inclusion of this passage invites us to think about the communitiesthat hold us—our chosen families.How might we draw closer to one another in this season of waiting? Whatrelationships need tending, mending, or nurturing? How does belonging toGod's family help us prepare to receive Christ's love? And how might this fam-ily work toward the fulfillment of God's kin-dom of love and justice?In this season and the next, may your belonging be deep, your connectionstender, and your waiting full of love.That's a Christmas celebration comprising proclamation of God's jus-tice-working actions and a celebration of what God is doing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todaywe're continuing our study in Ephesians 4:20–24. These powerful verses remindus that we are no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk, or as the lost worldwalks. Paulsays in verse 20, “But ye have not so learned Christ.” Then he goes onto say, “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, asthe truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). My friend, everything changes whentruth is being absorbed into your mind and into your heart. For many years—overfifty years of counseling and talking with people as a pastor—I have observedthat the core problem in most lives is this: people have listened to the liesof the devil. They have listened to the lies and philosophies of the worldwhile trying to figure out what to do about life, about problems, and aboutdifficult decisions. As a result, they make choices based on deception,thinking they are making good decisions when in reality they are being ledastray by a lie. My role as a pastor is to bring people back to the truth ofGod's Word so they can make decisions based on truth. Whatis the truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John14:6). The truth is found in God's Word. Jesus also prayed, “Sanctify themthrough thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). The Word of God is thetruth of God revealed to us—in the person of Jesus Christ and in the Scripturesof the Bible. That is why Paul says, “If indeed ye have heard him, and havebeen taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.” Have you heard Him? WhenJesus speaks, He calls us by name. In John 10, we are told that the Shepherdknows His sheep and calls them by name. And what is the evidence of thatrelationship? We hear His voice. When He calls us, we follow Him. We are notforced to follow Him—we desire to follow Him. Why? Because we are His sheep,and we belong to His fold. Jesus cares for His sheep. That's why we can trulysay, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). He leadsus in paths of righteousness—that is, paths that are right, paths that pleaseGod, paths that align with the principles and truths of God's Word. Those pathslead to life, and to life more abundantly (John 10:10), a life that isdistinctly different from the world around us. Iget excited when I think about this truth—that we have been taught by Him. Notonly does He speak to us and call us, but He also teaches us. And the truth Heteaches is found in Himself. Then in Ephesians 4:22–24, Paul tells us what thattruth looks like in daily living: “That ye put off concerning the formerconversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Andbe renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, whichafter God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”  Throughoutthe New Testament, Paul explains this process in his letters to the churches atEphesus, Colosse, and Rome. In Romans 5 through 8, he teaches us that, becauseof our salvation in Jesus Christ, we now have a new identity. We can livedifferently—because we are different. We have been made new creatures.We have put off the old man. Like Lazarus, we have been raised from the dead.The spiritual death that once consumed us, condemned us, and weighed us downwith guilt no longer has power over us. We were once condemned to eternity in aplace called hell, but now we have been set free. Weare alive in Christ. Because He lives, we live. And because of that, we canlive a different life. Oh, I encourage you today—study these verses carefully.We will come back to this truth of putting off the old man and putting on thenew man in the days ahead. But I trust you will be encouraged today to knowthat you have life in Christ. You learn the truth in Him and from Him. Hespeaks to you. He walks with you. He is your friend, and He desires to walkwith you every day. Today,will you let Him walk with you? That choice is up to you. Godbless!

The giftsand offices to the early church in order that the people of the church, thebelievers, would grow to spiritual maturity and display to the world what itreally means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Acts11:26 tells us that the believers, the disciples, were “first calledChristians at Antioch” of Syria. Remember that this was a church made up believersfrom various nationalities and backgrounds. There were Gentile believers. Therewere Jewish believers. And no doubt, some were there from other nationalities. Itwas a mixed group of believers but we find that these people worked together insuch a way they were called Christians, which means they were Christlike. Thespiritual life is not a destination that we finally arrive at, and we are now spirituallymature. No, my friend, the real spiritual mature believer's life is a journey,it is a daily walk in the right direction. Yesterday we talked about the wascalled “a perfect man” in these verses. What it means to be “perfect”.Christ tells us that we should be perfect even as our Father in heaven isperfect. That means we are like Christ. Which means that we are in a placewhere we are being obedient to the Lord and the Holy Spirit's leading and doingand living out the will of God moment by moment in our daily lives.  Ilike what Oswald Chambers says about this. When we really have grown to a placeof spiritual maturity, on our journey, “we are walking by faith, not by sight”.He said, that it is not a matter of trying to figure out and doing the will ofGod, but “we are the will of God”.  Wesee that in these verses. We're not like children any longer, walking accordingto the lust of the flesh, walking according to the desires of our heart, doingwhat we want to do. No, we're living in the Holy Spirit, walking by faith, inthe Word of God. Again notice, that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastorsand teachers were given for the equipping of the saints for the work of theministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Paul,as awesome as he was as an Apostle and disciple and follower of Christ andchurch planter, he said, "I've not yet arrived. I still reach forth."(Philippians 3:12-14).  We're alwaysreaching forth. We are still every day coming to the knowledge that I have somuch more to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It's a growthevery day. It is a daily going in the right direction!The“work of the ministry” also includes the edifying of the body of Christ. Thisproduces unity in the church. That's why they were called Christians first atAntioch. There was that unity of believers despite their background, despitetheir culture, despite where they came from, rich and poor, etc. They worktogether in love displaying the characteristics of Christlikeness in theiractions and attitudes. Paulgoes on to say that we have come to the “unity of the faith”. Which is based onthat body of truth concerning the person of Jesus. What do you believe aboutJesus. That's why he goes on to say and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Whois Jesus? If someone doesn't believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, Godin the flesh, He is deity, and that He is divine, the apostle John and otherwriters of the New Testament make it very clear, they are antichrist. They are nota true follower of Christ. (Read 1 and 2 John). TheChristian life is a walk of faith. “We walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians5:7). And “We are no longer children tossed to and fro” (v. 14).Children are selfish. Children live on their emotions. They feel good and theyshow in their attitude and actions that they feel good. But then when they feelbad, in their actions and attitude they act bad and they treat others wrong. Theylive by their feelings. There are too many people in the church like that. Godwants us to always be growing spiritually where we're displaying thecharacteristics of Jesus Christ in our attitude and in everything we say and do. 

Wesee the gifts of the Spirit are given so that the whole body of Christ mightprofit as we read in 1 Corinthians 12:7. Now we notice that Paul is keying inon four specific offices that are vitally necessary for the leading, theoversight, and the feeding of the church. He mentions those here in verse 11.He gave some Apostles. Those were the initial twelve men that Jesus Himselfcalled. Then alongside these Apostles, with the next gift and office were the prophets.Together these two callings, gifting and offices, laid the foundation of the church(Ephesians 2:20).  Thenwe notice the next office and gifting was, “some evangelists”. Of course, theseare the ones who spread the word of God with a special gifting as they traveledand as they ministered in different locations. They most likely were the churchplanters. Like Peter, when they would preach people would respond to the gospelunder conviction of sin and come to know Christ as their Savior. This officeand gifting is especially exercised for the growth and expansion of the church. ThenPaul gives the last office, and He uses two names that indicates two specificgiftings. “Some pastors and teachers”. The fact that the word"some" is not repeated indicates that we have here one office withtwo ministries. The word pastor means shepherd. A shepherd is someone who caresfor the sheep. Two other words are used for the same office in the NewTestament, which are elder and bishop. We see them in 1 Timothy 3 and also in 1Peter 5.  In1 Peter 5:1-4, Peter had a specific message for the elders as leaders in thechurch.  “The elders who are among youI exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ,and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock ofGod which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly,not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted toyou, but being examples to the flock; Notice he toldthem to fulfill the role of shepherds as pastors.  Ibelieve one of the special callings that God revealed to me as a young believer,along with a special gift that goes along with, was to be a pastor shepherd to theflock of God, and to care for His sheep. To be a shepherd means you love thesheep. Remember Psalm 23 where David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd, Ishall not want”. What example do we have from the Lord Jesus Christ? Hecared for the sheep. He leads the sheep. He leads them by example and He gaveHis life for the sheep.  No doubt Peter isthinking of this in 1 Peter 5. Again the “good shepherd, cares for the sheep, feedsthe sheep the Word of God, leads the sheep, and protects the sheep from falseteachers and doctrines (Acts 20:28-30). That'swhy the companion gift of teaching has to be in the life of a pastor. When Paulgave the instructions for the elders in the early church, they had to be ableto teach God's word, understand God's word, have the knowledge of what God's Wordrepresented, stood for, and how it should be proclaimed. This is all verycrucial for the church, the flock of God, to be healthy and productive. So,pastors and teachers, these are gifted people who help care for the flock,protect the flock, lead the flock, and they take time to visit the orphans andthe widows, as we read in James 1:27. “Pure religion and undefiled beforeGod and the father is this. To visit the fatherless, the orphans and the widowsin their affliction and to keep themselves unspotted from the world”.  Apastor does this by example as he cares, protects, teaches, feeds, and leadsthe flock of God. Pray for your pastor today as he fulfills this wonderfulministry to the church! And pastors, we would do well to take heed to Paul'sparting words to young pastor Timothy, “But you be watchful in all things,endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2Timothy 4:5). Godbless!

QUOTES FOR REFLECTIONParagraph One: The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. Paragraph Two: God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and He hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleases; in His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain; He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He is further pleased to require of them. Paragraph Three: In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him.~“Of God and the Holy Trinity” in the 1689 Second London ConfessionSERMON PASSAGEDeuteronomy 6 (ESV) 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jeremiah 32 (ESV) 17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.' John 1 (NIV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 14 (ESV) 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”John 17 (ESV) 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. John 20 (ESV) 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

"For by Grace you have been saved by faith! And this not you own doing, but a gift Of God., not a result of work, so that no one may boast."Ephesians 2:8-9

Welcome back to the Disciple Hinson Podcast! We are walking through our statement of faith meditating on what we believe as a church family. You will be helped by following along with this handout. In this episode, we dive into Article 9: Of God's Purpose of Grace to marvel at God's sovereign, free grace that saves sinners like us, gives us hope in evangelism, and provides wells of assurance that we will make it to the end.

Todaywe're continuing to look at the prayer, the petition that the Apostle Paul madefor the church at Ephesus here in Ephesians 3:14-19. It's very important thatwe remember that as Paul prayed this prayer, these four petitions have to dowith Christian growth, Christian maturity. Paul was concerned that every mancould be made perfect, mature in Jesus Christ. That was his goal. Not just towin people to Christ and say, "Oh, another one's going to heaven."But that he could present these dear believers before Christ as mature peoplewho have learned to live for the Lord, love the Lord, and let the Lord live Hislife through their lives. (Colossians 1:27-29). Myfriend, this is what Paul toiled, struggled, and prayed for. This is what weneed, to “be filled with all the fullness of God”. This is whatwe need to pray for other believers. In verse 14, Paul said, "For thisreason I bow my knees." He had a purpose when he prayed. I mean, when Ipray, I want something to happen. I want God to make a difference in the livesof people. I pray for a reason, not just to say some words with my head bowedand my eyes closed, but praying with purpose.  It'sso important we understand that when we are obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ, andwe are obedient to the Holy Spirit when He speaks to us and gives us an assignment,that there is an energy that begins at that moment of obedience. It's anemotional energy. It's a physical energy. It's a mental energy. Most of all,it's a spiritual energy that energizes us to do the will of God. So, with ourmind, we say, "I want to do the will of God. I will do the will ofGod." But then when we're obedient to put our foot forward, to raise ourhand to say, "Here I am, Lord, send me." Or then we go forward in theservice, go to Bible college, or volunteer to take that Sunday school class, orwhatever it is, at that moment of obedience, we have a new energy and power todo God's will.  Toget out of bed in obedience and spend another 10 minutes before we leave forwork, reading our Bibles, and spending some time in prayer with the Lord,asking for grace for the day, dealing with the issues of the day in prayerbefore we begin the day. That energy that comes when we're obedient to read HisWord, obedient to pray, obedient to go to church, obedient to share our faithwith others around us. That's when we experience the energizing strength andpower of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paulsays, "That's what I'm praying for, that Christ may dwell in your heartsthrough faith." It's by faith we live. We do not walk by sight. We do notlook at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, the thingsthat are eternal. We see God at work around us. We join Him in that work. Webecome a part of what He's doing. We're co-laborers with God and with others asthe Gospel is being shared. We then experience God in a new and a fresh wayevery day. ThenPaul prays that, "you may be able tocomprehend with all the saints ... and be filled with all the fullness of God”. We both comprehend and apprehend.Comprehend means that we mentally know this is what God's truth is. Toapprehend means that we make it our own. We grab hold of it. We lay hold on GodHimself and know it's God, Christ, the Holy Spirit working in us to do the willof God.  Oh,my friend, what a wonderful life this is. It is then that we experience the “widthand length and depth and height of God's love. It is immeasurable. It's allabout the love of Christ that's found in the redemptive work of Christ on thecross of Calvary. We experience that love and we are filled with thefullness of God. We express God's life through our life. People see God in us. Because you'refilled with the fullness of God, which is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Godbless you as you meditate on these truths today for the glory of God.

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we're looking at Ephesians 3:14-19. These are powerfulverses reminding us of the Apostle Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus. Inthis prayer, there are four request, but they're not to be looked at asinsulated individual petitions because these four requests are like four partsto a telescope. One request leads into the next one and so on. He prays thatthe inner man might have spiritual strength, which will, in turn, lead to adeeper experience with Christ. This deeper experience will enable him to “apprehend”(to get a hold) of God's great love, which will result in being “filled untothe fullness of God”. So, then, Paul is praying for strength, for depth inour spiritual life, for apprehension, and for fullness.  That'swhat we'll be talking about these next couple days because this prayer, thispetition is so vitally important to our spiritual growth and our spiritualwell-being and our spiritual standing as we fight and stand against the wilesof the evil one (Ephesians 6). Please read the petition in these six versescarefully. Oh my friend, it's almost unimaginable that we have a prayer herethat tells us that on earth we can be filled with the fullness of God. JesusChrist himself was the exact image of God (Hebrews 1:3). He was the fullness ofGod manifest on earth (Colossians 1:19). Now we as His believers, as His light,as His witnesses, can be filled with the same fullness of God to make a bigdifference in the world in which we live.  Oh,if only we as believers would learn this truth and pray for this greatanointing, this great strengthening of the Holy Spirit to make us all that weshould be for the glory of God. The lack of power and weakness of the churchestoday is that we have no idea as far as most believers are concerned what wehave in Christ Jesus and the fullness of God and the riches of His glory that'savailable to us. And that through this prayer that we read about here we can experiencethis power and strength in our lives Thefirst thing Paul prays for is “to be strengthened with might throughHis Spirit in the inner man”. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lifeis evidence of our salvation. Romans 8:9 says: “But you are not in the fleshbut in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyonedoes not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His”. Scripture is very clearthat at the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us. But thepower of the Holy Spirit is enablement for Christian living. It's this powerthat Paul desires for these believers here at Ephesus.  InActs 1:8, Jesus had said to the disciples, you shall receive power after thatthe Holy Spirit is come upon you. We are told in Luke 4:1, 14, that Jesusperformed His ministry on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit. This power ofthe Holy Spirit is the only resource that we have for Christian living today.When you read through the book of Acts, over and again you see the importanceof the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. There are at least some fifty-ninereferences to the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. This is one fourth of allthe references found in the New Testament on the Holy Spirit. Someonesaid, that if God took the Holy Spirit out of the church today, He wouldn'teven be missed because we would just go on working as usual. How sad that thisis so true. We can't imagine the wisdom that we would have, the strength thatwe would, the witness that we would in the world, if we would receive this greattruth and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us. living and working in us, andthrough us.  Today,how real is the Holy Spirit to you? Are you praying to “be strengthened withmight through His Spirit” to face the challenges of living theChristian life in today's godless culture? Are you praying this for others too? Godbless!

Whenyou read the Old Testament, it mainly is about the covenant promises and thework of God amongst the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation was called of God, setapart for Him and by Him for a specific purpose. That purpose was to make knownto the world that you can know God, the true and the living God, the creatorGod, the only God. And the only way you can know and experience Him is byfaith. That's what the life of Abraham teaches us as you study both the Old andthe New Testament. He not only is the father of the Jewish nation he is thefather of the faithful. This includes both Jew and Gentile who come toexperience God by faith. (Read Romans 4 and Galatians 3).   Theonly way we can learn about God, that we can know God, that we can begin tounderstand and comprehend God, is by faith. The writer of Hebrews made thisclear in Hebrews 11.TheJewish nation was chosen to be an example, to be an illustration, to be atestimony to the world that there is a creator God that wants us to know Him.God revealed Himself to Abraham and the Jews in various ways. As the people ofGod they gave us His written revelation, the Word of God, the Bible, God's holyinspired word and they also give us the Savior, Jesus Christ the Messiah. Godhad this specific purpose for them. But as you know, as you study both the Old  and New Testament and Jewish history, they failmiserably and rejected Jesus. But God already in eternity past had anotherplan. That plan was the church, the called out assembly, the body of JesusChrist. Inthe Old Testament, the church was a mystery, a sacred mystery. It was not knownbefore. That's why Paul was writing here in these verses. In verse 5 he writes:"Which in other ages, was not made known to the sons of men, as it has nowbeen revealed by the spirit to His holy apostles and prophets." Now, myfriend, we've got to understand something. You know, it's been 2,000 yearssince the Apostle Paul was writing to this church at Ephesus and explaining tothem how as Gentiles, they are now in the body of Christ. They now can bereconciled to the Jewish people and be partaker of the promises with them. Thatwas a new thing, a brand new thing. Nowtoday, after 2,000 years of history, we have churches on every corner inAmerica, churches all over the world, a church everywhere. And I'm afraid thatwe take the church for granted. You can go down any Sunday morning in Americaand walk into a church building and become a member of that church by goingforward professing Christ as your Savior, following the Lord in believer'sbaptism and you're part of that church. We take it for granted that we can be apart of the body of Christ.  NowPaul is telling the folks there at Ephesus, this is a mystery. It's now beingrevealed. So it was important to Paul because he knew he was a steward of thismystery. That was the dispensationgiven to him, the stewardship given to him to make sure that the body ofbelievers, the Gentiles and the Jews alike knew that anyone could be a part ofthe body of Jesus Christ by faith through the cross, by faith in Hisresurrection, by faith. Todayyou and I become a part of the body of Christ, and we can now exercisestewardship and ministry and have the hope and the peace and the joy that comesfrom belonging to the body of Christ and being a part of that fellowship ofbelievers. How wonderful is that? I'm telling you, it's awesome. It is importantthat you also understand that the church, the body of Christ is so very special,just like His body was special on earth physically when He was here. Jesus wentto heaven in that body, but today He gave us the opportunity to be a member ofHis body the church. He is the head we're the members, and we're members one ofanother. We have different functions and activities and gifts in the church,but we belong to His church.  Myfriend, what a great privilege! Don't take it for granted!!!!

Todaywe will begin our study in Ephesians 3 and learn more about who Jesus is, whatJesus has done for us, the mystery of the church, and how we serve Him out oflove. We minister to a lost world, to people around us that maybe hate us, thatmistreat us, but we can love them anyway because Jesus loves us. Aswe've looked at this book so far, chapter 1 has taught us that we need toknow Jesus. Paul wrote in In Ephesians 1:18, “The eyes of yourunderstanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope ofHis calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in thesaints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believeaccording to the working of His mighty power.” Because we know who Jesusis, our position in Christ, we have an understanding of the exceeding greatnessof His power that works in us. Inchapter 2, it's about living Jesus. We've been saved by faith throughgrace (vv 8-9). But then in verse 10, remember: “We are His workmanshipcreated in Christ Jesus to good works which God prepared beforehand that weshould walk in them.” We see now we are to live Jesus because we know Him.We know our position in Christ. We know our calling through Him, from Him andfor Him. Now we live for Him. In a real sense it's not us living for Him, it'sChrist living in us. Paul said, "I'm crucified with Christ.Nevertheless, I live yet not I but Christ lives in me. The life that I now livein the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gaveHimself for me" (Galatians 2:20).  Whenwe realize that we know who we are in Christ, and we know our position inChrist. And we know our calling in Christ. Then we can live out the life ofChrist. He lives His life in us and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit. Now,in chapter 3, we're going to be talking about loving Christ. In verses17-19 we read, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; thatyou, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all thesaints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love ofChrist which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness ofGod.” Then we can experience verse 20: “Now to Him who is able to doexceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power thatworks in us.”  SoPaul is now wanting us to know here verse 17 that we are grounded in His love.Christ loves us and we love Christ. When we truly know this then we can serveand minister and work out of love for Christ. Remember what Jesus said in Johnchapter 15? “If you love Me you will keep My commandments. We will not belike servants but we'll be like friends.” Why? Because out of love, we serveand minister because of His love for us. We have experienced His great love andnow we live for Him. Alsoin chapter 3, Paul begins to explain a great mystery. That mystery is thechurch. We're going to be talking about that over the next couple days. Today Iwant us to understand and have this desire to know Christ, to live for Christ, andto love Christ in that order. To love and be rooted and grounded in His love. Thismust be the foundation of our life in serving and ministering for Christ in awicked and evil world. Paul begins this chapter talking about being a prisoner.He's a prisoner in bonds in Rome. The church at Ephesus must be thinking, whyis Paul a prisoner? He's never committed any crimes.  ButPaul's saying, "No, I'm a prisoner and a bondservant of Jesus Christ foryour sake, for the sake of the gospel. Because I love Christ, it's not like I'min prison. Even here I have greater opportunities to serve and live forHim." When we love Christ, everything becomes an opportunity and aprivilege to share His love with the world around us that desperately needs toknow the love of God through Christ Jesus. Today,are you experiencing the love of Christ in your life and service for Him? I prayand trust that you are!

Sunday School Teaching: Origin Sunday Teacher: Bill Palmer Sunday Message: Role of Men and Women of God Sunday School Teacher: Apostle Leslie Johnson

Sunday School Teaching: Origin Sunday Teacher: Bill Palmer Sunday Message: Role of Men and Women of God Sunday School Teacher: Apostle Leslie Johnson

Sunday School Teaching: Origin Sunday Teacher: Bill Palmer Sunday Message: Role of Men and Women of God Sunday School Teacher: Apostle Leslie Johnson

Ep 44 - Special EpisodeIs the current movement sweeping America a true spiritual revival—or something else entirely?In the wake of recent events, churches are packed, leaders are speaking Jesus' name, and talk of revival is everywhere. In this episode, we urge believers to pause and ask critical questions: Which Jesus are people proclaiming? Is this the gospel of the kingdom—or a gospel mixed with nationalism and politics?In this timely episode, they explore: ✅ Why "Jesus plus anything" equals nothing ✅ The difference between revival FOR God vs. OF God ✅ How to test the spirits in this cultural moment ✅ Why God is not American (and why that matters) ✅ The danger of confusing political movements with spiritual awakening ✅ What true repentance and revival actually look likeThis isn't about being cynical—it's about being discerning. We want to see genuine revival, but we must ensure people are meeting the real Jesus Christ, not a political figurehead or cultural Christianity.⚠️ Key Warning: Paul said if anyone preaches another gospel, let them be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). When the gospel gets mixed with politics, nationalism, or any other agenda, it loses its power to save.

Father shows us how to share the word Of God

Over and over again, I've witnessed the power of a single conversation. Sometimes it happens over the course of an hour or more. Other times, it happens in less than twelve minutes. That's what you'll hear in this episode. Recently, I joined my friend Ray Edwards during one of his live streams. We had no plan for what we would talk about. He invited me into the conversation, and within moments he asked me a simple but profound question: “Cliff, how do you discover limiting beliefs?” That question opened the door to a live demonstration of the exact process I use with my clients when we're dismantling the lies that hold them back. In this episode, you'll hear me walk Ray through the four steps required to completely destroy limiting beliefs: Become consciously aware of the limiting belief that's holding you back. Determine the source of that belief so you can see it was never really yours. Create an empowering alternative belief that aligns with who you truly are. Condition that new belief until it becomes your default way of seeing and experiencing the world. With Ray, we didn't just talk theory. We discovered four limiting beliefs in real time. Beliefs that were keeping him from stepping back into his calling of speaking and traveling. Together, we exposed them, reframed them, and replaced them with empowering alternatives. By the end of the conversation, Ray went from: “I'm embarrassed and afraid I'll be too weak to speak.” to “I want to go. I want to speak. Let me at 'em!” And all of that happened in under twelve minutes. This is the power of awareness, truth, and presence. But we didn't stop there. After the conversation, I took the transcript and turned it into a song. It's what I call a Soul Song. Instead of using affirmations in a document that are easy to set aside, I now condition my empowering beliefs through music. Songs created directly from the conversations where the shift took place. You'll hear that song in this episode as well. It's a living reminder that even in trembling, even in weakness, there is profound strength. Here's my hope for you as you listen: You'll see yourself in Ray's story. You'll recognize the limiting beliefs that may be silently dictating your choices. You'll realize that you don't have to keep agreeing with them. I'll also share with you the exact five journal questions you can use right now to uncover your own limiting beliefs and begin dismantling them. Because sometimes, one powerful conversation is all it takes to change everything. If this resonates with you and you'd like to experience a conversation like this for yourself, send me an email at Cliff@CliffRavenscraft.com with the subject line: A Single Conversation. I look forward to hearing from you. Cliff The Five Questions What is it that you want to experience in life that you are not currently experiencing? What is one or two things that you already know that you could do to get you closer to living that experience? Why have you not already done this/these things? (Each answer is an excuse (aka Limiting Belief) What is one or two things that you know you already need to stop doing that would get you closer to living that experience? Why have you not already stopped doing this/these things? (Each answer is an excuse (aka Limiting Belief) Lyrics To The Song: The Miracle Breaking Through [Verse 1]I thought the stage required perfection,A flawless voice, a steady hand.But even trembling holds a message,A deeper truth than I had planned. [Chorus]This is strength: to rise while shaking.This is power: to speak through pain.Like David Ring, like Nick before me,My brokenness becomes the flame.Even if my body falters,Even if my words are few,The bedsheet screen, the slides keep shining,And my presence still breaks through. [Verse 2]The old belief said, You're not able,Cancel now, you can't be strong.But every stutter is an anthem,Every tremor shines with song. [Chorus]This is strength: to rise while shaking.This is power: to speak through pain.Like David Ring, like Nick before me,My brokenness becomes the flame.Even if my body falters,Even if my words are few,The bedsheet screen, the slides keep shining,And my presence still breaks through. [Bridge]It's not perfection that brings the freedom,It's the courage just to be.Every tremor tells the story,Of God alive inside of me. [Final Chorus]This is strength: to rise while shaking.This is power: to speak through pain.I am not weak, I am unbroken,Every struggle speaks His name.Even if my body falters,Even if my words are few,My voice, my life, my very being Is the miracle breaking through.

Scripture: Psalm 1 Key Takeaways: Matthew 7:13-14 Psalm 1 + 2 Paths, 2 Products, 2 Prospects + Blessings FROM God are secondary to the blessing OF God himself John 5:39-40 Ecclesiastes 8:14 Psalm 92:5-9