Podcasts about Old Testament

Today we're studying Article of Faith 5 in just one minute! Grab your scriptures and let's dive into them together!And grab study guides for the whole family here: - Kristen's daily scripture study help is available for kids/teens/adults in digital and physical form here :https://kristenwalkersmith.com/starthere/And for weekly help understanding the storyline of Come Follow Me check out her YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/- To get Cali's scripture study guide for adults click here: https://comefollowmestudy.com/shop/ Discount code: OMSSOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0pKf8XtGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book in Costco stores in Utah, Idaho, ArizonaOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's Bible Answer Man broadcast (12/08/25), Hank comments on the fact that there are many stars, but only one Superstar. He spoke, and the universe leapt into existence. The morning stars together proclaimed His holy birth. He is the root and offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star. It's no wonder that the prophecies concerning Him outnumber all the others. Only Jesus of Nazareth—the unique Superstar—could emerge through the doorway of Old Testament prophecy.Hank also answers the following questions:Can a pastor be divorced according to 1 Timothy 3:2? David - MO (3:31)Were there incestuous relations between Adam and Eve's children? Annette - St. Louis, MO (5:58)What arguments would you give to prove that Jesus knew He was God? Josh - Nashville, TN (8:05)Does Isaiah 9:6 teach modalism? Is Jesus the Father as well as the Son? Vick - MO (15:59)How should we respond to people who mock us for believing in God? Dan - Bentonville, AR (19:18)Since Jesus knew what would happen before it happened, how do we reconcile this with Him saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Tiffany - Windsor, IL (23:10)

Transcription [Roenz Balangue] Welcome to Bridgeway Christian Church’s Daily Advent Prayer. My name is Roenz Balangue, and I have been part of the Bridgeway community for four months. Today is Monday, December 8th, and today and every Monday during Advent, we will reflect on the anticipation of the Messiah in the Old Testament. Today […]

The Old Testament is full of imagery of God's holiness. The consecration of the priests and vessels for the temple powerfully illustrate how we must reflect that holiness ourselves. But a lot of Christians today seem to think holy and consecrated lifestyles are just for those who lived during the "first big section of the Bible."   But the truth is, they really do apply to our lives today, and are deeply connected to victory over sexual sin.   Pure Life Ministries 26th Annual Conference   Resources we mentioned: #359 - What Role Does Consecration Play in Freedom from Porn? (Podcast Episode) By Pure Life Ministries #513 - A Holy Home | Key Lessons on the Road to Freedom (Podcast Episode) By Pure Life Ministries Download Our Smartphone App

This is a revised and even more in depth look at the groundbreaking theory that came out in 2022 by Joel Thomas. This journey will start at the origins of the Nephilim, move into Evil Enoch and the first secret society and culminate with the question, what is a Nephilim Portal Baby? Joel begins by exploring the beginning of the Nephilim by looking at the Bible at Genesis 6 and Numbers 13. He then uses hermeneutics to evaluate who the “Sons of God” are in the Old Testament and compares them to what they are in the New Testament. He explores the ancient cities of Jericho and Beit Jibrin to see who were the inhabitants that occupied those places. Lastly, Joel looks at the Book of Jubilees, Book of Jasher and Book of Enoch to see I these apocryphal texts add any credence to the idea that the Nephilim are the children of Fallen Angels. The Meadow Project Film: https://merkelfilms.com Free The Rabbits Merch: https://freetherabbits.myshopify.com Buy Me A Coffee: Donate Website: https://linktr.ee/joelthomasmedia Follow: Instagram | X | Facebook Watch: YouTube | Rumble Music: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music Films: merkelfilms.com Email: freetherabbitspodcast@gmail.com Distributed by: merkel.media Produced by: @jack_theproducer INTRO MUSIC Joel Thomas - Free The Rabbits YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify OUTRO MUSIC Joel Thomas - Imposter YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

When King Ahaz faced the terrifying prospect of war, his heart shook "as the trees of the forest shake before the wind." Desperate for security, he sought political alliances rather than divine promises. But God's answer to national crisis wasn't a military strategy; it was a child, born of a Virgin—Immanuel. In part 1 of a special 12-part series connecting Old Testament prophecy to New Testament fulfillment, listen in as the historical drama of the Syro-Ephraimitic War, Ahaz's false piety, and messianic promise collide.  The Rev. Greyson Grenz, associate pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Monroe, MI, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, to study Isaiah 7:1-17.  To learn more about Trinity Lutheran, visit tlcmonroe.org. This Advent series begins by covering the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, and then spends twelve episodes alternating between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment, tracing God's promises from Isaiah to the birth of Christ. The series explores Emmanuel's promise, the Davidic King, John the Baptist as forerunner, and reaches its climax with the Nativity. The final episodes examine the Suffering Servant, the shadow of the cross in Christ's infancy, Isaiah's Messianic mission statement, and John's declaration that "the Word became flesh."  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

On the third Sunday of Advent (Dec 14), we anticipate celebrating the incarnation with Joy. This year, we're looking at Advent through the lens of the Abrahamic Covenant of Promise. We remember this covenant with an acorn, because it's a big seed. The lid of the acorn represents three key blessings promised to Abraham — a seed (offspring), land, and relationship with God.The point of the acorn represents the point of the covenant, a blessing through Abraham that "all nations will be blessed through you"(Gen 22:18; Gal 3:8, etc.). This is the promise of Christ, the 'reason for the season.' As we dwell on 'Joy,' we reflect on the seed promised to Abraham. Isaac's name literally means "he laughs." God had plans for Abraham's household as a family unit and as a legacy that would usher in THE seed, Jesus Christ, who has us singing Joy to the World to this day and forevermore.Joy is a relational experience that connects us to God and others. The Abrahamic Covenant symbolizes God's promise of this belonging. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the recurring theme of belonging in such refrains as "I will be your God, and you will be My people" (Gen 17:7; Exo 6:7; Deu 29:13; Jer 30:22, etc.).How does this sense of belonging inform our sense of joy? Is there a difference between relational and spiritual joy? How can we meditate on and cultivate more joy during this Advent season?God not only desires a people for Himself but even invites us into a joyful relationship with Him and with each other. May you experience the JOY of belonging to our God this season. Thank you for joining us - father-daughter duo Marcus Warner and Stephanie Warner - on the trail to a deeper walk with God!

Thanks for listening to todays episode. Bro. Dean has been addressing the Old Testament and the The Law. Todays episode he is showing the difference between Law & Grace.We pray this episode is a blessing to you and you are elevated in the word!

Pastor Lance continues Pathway to Praise, showing how Scripture illustrates God's character through His names given in the Old Testament, including Yahweh Rohi: the Lord my Shepherd. For more messages and resources, visit us at www.ccc-online.org.

We're diving deep into the breathtaking doctrine of God's PROVIDENCE. What is it? It's not just that God knows the future—He plans it, He provides for it, He rules every detail of it. Sovereignty is who God IS… Providence is what God DOES. From the tiniest sparrow to the rise and fall of empires, nothing escapes His caring, sovereign hand—even evil itself bows to His purposes. We'll walk through five big questions:What exactly is God's providence?How minutely detailed is it?How can a good God be in control when evil rages?How does providence shine in the post-exilic books of the Old Testament?And where does it reach its stunning climax? In the gospel itself.Then we'll be applying: What difference does this truth make for your anxiety, your suffering, your everyday life right now?You don't want to miss this one. Listen to learn more!

What is the season of advent? The season of advent is a season of waiting on the Lord. We're waiting. We recognize not everything is right, we're waiting for it to be reordered. And we find the people of God in Isaiah chapter 40 in a season of waiting. And what is it that they're having to wait for? Well, Isaiah tells us they're waiting for mishpat, a Hebrew word that means "judgment," or "law. They're waiting for justice, and they're waiting for the fulfillment of these promises that come in Isaiah 40:28-31Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. >>Watch on YouTubeDr. Mark Gignilliat is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew. Mark also serves as theologian in residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.

Scripture: Hebrews 11:32-40Series: "Don't Shrink Back" 

Some early Christians were shrinking back from following Jesus amidst persecution. So, the author of Hebrews encouraged them to endure and remain faithful to Christ by offering a collection of Old Testament witnesses. If God did amazing things through their faith, why would we ever shrink back from our own? Focus: We need to live as faithful witnesses, just as the many witnesses (even the unlikely ones) in the Old Testament did. Speaker: Doug Burch, Associate Pastor Date: December 7, 2025

. . . and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. — Matthew 1:16 Christmas often brings families together for celebrations. In many ways this can be a wonderful time of celebration and encouragement. But families can be complicated, so at times our holidays can come with baggage we can't escape.The book of Matthew introduces the story of Jesus by sharing his family tree. Some names in this list can be found in the Old Testament; others are lost to history. The Christmas story bears the imprint of kings and commoners, some who wanted to live for God and some who did not.Most notable are the people whose stories include pain or even great sins but who came to experience God's grace and healing. Jacob was a schemer who wrestled with God (Genesis 32:22-32). Tamar (Genesis 38) and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12) were victims of abuse. Rahab (Joshua 2-6) and Ruth (Ruth 1-4) were foreigners who would have been looked down on in Israel. Manasseh was a wicked king who only repented late in life (2 Chronicles 33). Jesus' human lineage was anything but pure and holy. Yet the Son of God chose to enter the human race through this collection of imperfect ancestors.If your Christmas celebrations include imperfect people, or you feel wounds from your own imperfect past, give thanks that Jesus the Messiah chose the same kind of family through which to bring salvation to the human race. Jesus, thank you for coming into our imperfect lives to bring your perfect love to us. Amen.

In this week's message, Pastor Tim leads us deep into one of the most pivotal moments in the entire Old Testament—2 Samuel 6–7—and uncovers why the Davidic Covenant stands at the center of God's unfolding story of redemption. From the triumphant return of the Ark to Jerusalem to David's desire to build God a house, we witness a stunning reversal: God doesn't need David to build Him a home—God Himself promises to build a house for David. Not a structure of stone and cedar, but a dynasty, a forever-kingdom, fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ. With humor, clarity, and pastoral weight, this sermon invites us to marvel at a God whose plans outrun our imagination and whose promises hold firm forever. As we enter the Advent season, we're reminded that the baby in the manger is the long-expected Son of David, the fulfillment of ancient hope, and the guarantee that God is with us—now and always. Listen in and be encouraged as the story of Scripture lifts your eyes to the King who reigns on David's throne forever.

How do we know that the Old Testament prophecies really pointed to Jesus of Nazareth who was born in Bethlehem? Check out the video version of this sermon.  If you've missed any of the other message in our Advent series called Jesus Is…, you can find them all here.  Check out my blog, my other podcasts, my books, and so much more at http://linktr.ee/craigtowens  ►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

There’s more to the Christmas story than you may realize. There’s a prequel... In this message, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us to the story of a godly, elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist. Notes: Luke 1 Luke gives us the prequel, the story before the story. Luke opens by saying, “In the days of Herod.”That’s like saying, “In Germany, in the days of Hitler.” Heaven’s light was about to break. Read Luke 1:5–17 Luke’s narrative finds Israel in the midst of a long night of spiritual darkness. Israel was now under the control of mighty and cruel Rome.But there was something in the air that things were about to change. A promise to Israel of better days to come – Malachi 4:2 NIVBut for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Malachi 3:1 NIV“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. John the Baptist was the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. God was now going to answer the prayer and heart cry of Israel. God sent the mighty angel Gabriel. The last appearance of an angel had been to the prophet Zechariah nearly five centuries earlier. Whenever angels appeared, they would say, “Do not be afraid!” Gabriel came to an elderly couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth. The name Zacharias means, “God remembers.”Elizabeth means, “My God is an oath.” God remembers His promises and always keeps His word. God was making up for lost time, and He gave them a baby like no other,John the Baptist. #1 Zacharias was a humble man. James 4:6 ESV“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The obsession with ourselves is at the root of our problems. The humble Zacharias was a country priest. There were many priests in Israel at this time.To be a priest meant you represented the people to God. The priest also represented God to the people.The priest would interpret scripture, counsel, and provide wise judgment for the people. I understand that I, too, am a representative of God to people. You, too, are a priest.And you, too, represent God to people. You are the only bible some people will ever read. #2 Zacharias was a faithful man. God called:Moses, when he was tending sheep.David, while he was watching sheep,Elijah, when he was plowingPeter and John, when they were mending nets.God calls busy people. It’s hard to steer a parked car. If you are faithful in small things, God will give you greater opportunities. God has given to every believer spiritual gifts. Romans 12:6 NLTGod has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. Romans 12:7 NLTIf your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. Romans 12:8 NLTIf your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. Paul told Timothy to “not neglect the gift that is in you.” Zacharias was faithful to do what God had set before him. #3 Zacharias and Elizabeth were godly and blameless people. Luke 1:6 NKJVAnd they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. To be blameless does not mean they were sinless. They lived lives of integrity, not perfection. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Not to have any children was thought to be a curse from God. Little did they know that God would answer their prayers and give them a prophet. Their son, John, would be the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. Perhaps you are going through a time of difficulty right now. God was preparing Zacharias and Elizabeth for this day, and now the reward for faithfulness has come. Luke 1:13 NKJVBut the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. God hears our prayers as well. God promises us that if we call out to Him, He will hear and answer.Psalm 34:15 Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Just because our prayers are not answered does not mean God does not hear them. There is an amazing story in Daniel 10 where a mighty angel appeared before the prophet.The angel told Daniel that the prophet’s prayer had been heard in heaven 21 days earlier. God’s delays are not necessarily his denials. The devil and his fallen angels are very active right now. Revelation 12:12b NIVThe devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short. The bible tells us that in the last days there would be “satanically energized times” and that things would go from bad to worse. So, what should we do in light of this?We need to use our two secret weapons, preaching and prayer. We have no idea of what is going on in the invisible world of angels and demons.Revelation 8:3–4 God hears and stores our prayers; not one is wasted. Every prayer is answered with either yes, no, or wait. God is aware of each and every request made for His glory and in His will. God heard and recorded the prayer of this godly couple. Zacharias prayed for 30 years for a son.The reason he was surprised when Gabriel came was because he had prayed for so long. In the same way, your prayers are in God’s to-do box.Even if you have forgotten about them, God has not. Don’t give up on your prayers. This happened with the believers praying for the deliverance of Simon Peter.When the answer to their prayer arrived, they did not believe it. #4 Zacharias was human and flawed just like us! Luke 1:18 NKJVAnd Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” Luke 1:19 NKJVAnd the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. Luke 1:20 NKJV“But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words.” Zacharias could have rejoiced, but instead he questioned. We can choose to worship God, or we can choose to question God. It’s not a bad thing for a Christian to struggle or even ask God, “Why?” Some people have experienced tragedy and disappointment and have questions for God. But there comes a point when we choose to trust. Even John the Baptist had a momentary doubt.He misunderstood the mission of the Messiah like so many others. John, the greatest Old Testament prophet, sitting in a dungeon, sent word to Jesus, “Are You the One, or should we look for another?” Jesus reassured John and sent him back to the scriptures. Zacharias couldn’t speak, so he tried to explain what happened through hand gestures.Luke 1:21 Lessons from the lives of Zacharias and Elizabeth:To be humble and wait on the Lord and serve HimTo keep praying and not give up because our prayers are heard and rememberedTo believe what God tells you and act in faith, not by feeling The biblical characters were quite ordinary.They were hopelessly human, remarkably unremarkable. They were also available and obedient to the Master’s call. A 1964 Aston Martin sold for $4.6 million. The value is not in the car, but in the one who drove it. The same is true of us. The value isn’t in the vessel; it’s in the One who fills it. For centuries, the world waited. For decades, a faithful couple prayed.And at just the right time, God said, “Now!” Maybe you’ve been praying for something. Your “now” can begin today. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to Big Picture to get the quick context for this week's reading, The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2!And grab study guides for the whole family here: - To get Cali's scripture study guide for adults click here: https://comefollowmestudy.com/shop/ Discount code: OMSSOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0pKf8Xt- Kristen's daily scripture study help is available for kids/teens/adults in digital and physical form here :https://kristenwalkersmith.com/starthere/And for weekly help understanding the storyline of Come Follow Me check out her YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/Grab copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/Get our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book in Costco stores in Utah, Idaho, ArizonaOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Advent reflection, Msgr. John Esseff turns to the figure of John the Baptist and the call to repentance that prepares the way for the Lord. He explains that John stands at the culmination of Old Testament prophecy, announcing the arrival of the Messiah and calling all people to conversion. Yet Jesus teaches that the least in the kingdom is greater than John, because Christians carry Christ within them. This means the true tragedy is not simply breaking commandments but failing to live as Christ in the world. The post The 2nd Sunday of Advent – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

There’s more to the Christmas story than you may realize. There’s a prequel... In this message, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us to the story of a godly, elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist. Notes: Luke 1 Luke gives us the prequel, the story before the story. Luke opens by saying, “In the days of Herod.”That’s like saying, “In Germany, in the days of Hitler.” Heaven’s light was about to break. Read Luke 1:5–17 Luke’s narrative finds Israel in the midst of a long night of spiritual darkness. Israel was now under the control of mighty and cruel Rome.But there was something in the air that things were about to change. A promise to Israel of better days to come – Malachi 4:2 NIVBut for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Malachi 3:1 NIV“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. John the Baptist was the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. God was now going to answer the prayer and heart cry of Israel. God sent the mighty angel Gabriel. The last appearance of an angel had been to the prophet Zechariah nearly five centuries earlier. Whenever angels appeared, they would say, “Do not be afraid!” Gabriel came to an elderly couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth. The name Zacharias means, “God remembers.”Elizabeth means, “My God is an oath.” God remembers His promises and always keeps His word. God was making up for lost time, and He gave them a baby like no other,John the Baptist. #1 Zacharias was a humble man. James 4:6 ESV“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The obsession with ourselves is at the root of our problems. The humble Zacharias was a country priest. There were many priests in Israel at this time.To be a priest meant you represented the people to God. The priest also represented God to the people.The priest would interpret scripture, counsel, and provide wise judgment for the people. I understand that I, too, am a representative of God to people. You, too, are a priest.And you, too, represent God to people. You are the only bible some people will ever read. #2 Zacharias was a faithful man. God called:Moses, when he was tending sheep.David, while he was watching sheep,Elijah, when he was plowingPeter and John, when they were mending nets.God calls busy people. It’s hard to steer a parked car. If you are faithful in small things, God will give you greater opportunities. God has given to every believer spiritual gifts. Romans 12:6 NLTGod has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. Romans 12:7 NLTIf your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. Romans 12:8 NLTIf your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. Paul told Timothy to “not neglect the gift that is in you.” Zacharias was faithful to do what God had set before him. #3 Zacharias and Elizabeth were godly and blameless people. Luke 1:6 NKJVAnd they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. To be blameless does not mean they were sinless. They lived lives of integrity, not perfection. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Not to have any children was thought to be a curse from God. Little did they know that God would answer their prayers and give them a prophet. Their son, John, would be the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. Perhaps you are going through a time of difficulty right now. God was preparing Zacharias and Elizabeth for this day, and now the reward for faithfulness has come. Luke 1:13 NKJVBut the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. God hears our prayers as well. God promises us that if we call out to Him, He will hear and answer.Psalm 34:15 Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Just because our prayers are not answered does not mean God does not hear them. There is an amazing story in Daniel 10 where a mighty angel appeared before the prophet.The angel told Daniel that the prophet’s prayer had been heard in heaven 21 days earlier. God’s delays are not necessarily his denials. The devil and his fallen angels are very active right now. Revelation 12:12b NIVThe devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short. The bible tells us that in the last days there would be “satanically energized times” and that things would go from bad to worse. So, what should we do in light of this?We need to use our two secret weapons, preaching and prayer. We have no idea of what is going on in the invisible world of angels and demons.Revelation 8:3–4 God hears and stores our prayers; not one is wasted. Every prayer is answered with either yes, no, or wait. God is aware of each and every request made for His glory and in His will. God heard and recorded the prayer of this godly couple. Zacharias prayed for 30 years for a son.The reason he was surprised when Gabriel came was because he had prayed for so long. In the same way, your prayers are in God’s to-do box.Even if you have forgotten about them, God has not. Don’t give up on your prayers. This happened with the believers praying for the deliverance of Simon Peter.When the answer to their prayer arrived, they did not believe it. #4 Zacharias was human and flawed just like us! Luke 1:18 NKJVAnd Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” Luke 1:19 NKJVAnd the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. Luke 1:20 NKJV“But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words.” Zacharias could have rejoiced, but instead he questioned. We can choose to worship God, or we can choose to question God. It’s not a bad thing for a Christian to struggle or even ask God, “Why?” Some people have experienced tragedy and disappointment and have questions for God. But there comes a point when we choose to trust. Even John the Baptist had a momentary doubt.He misunderstood the mission of the Messiah like so many others. John, the greatest Old Testament prophet, sitting in a dungeon, sent word to Jesus, “Are You the One, or should we look for another?” Jesus reassured John and sent him back to the scriptures. Zacharias couldn’t speak, so he tried to explain what happened through hand gestures.Luke 1:21 Lessons from the lives of Zacharias and Elizabeth:To be humble and wait on the Lord and serve HimTo keep praying and not give up because our prayers are heard and rememberedTo believe what God tells you and act in faith, not by feeling The biblical characters were quite ordinary.They were hopelessly human, remarkably unremarkable. They were also available and obedient to the Master’s call. A 1964 Aston Martin sold for $4.6 million. The value is not in the car, but in the one who drove it. The same is true of us. The value isn’t in the vessel; it’s in the One who fills it. For centuries, the world waited. For decades, a faithful couple prayed.And at just the right time, God said, “Now!” Maybe you’ve been praying for something. Your “now” can begin today. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The central theme of the Book of Hebrews is the supremacy of Jesus Christ over all Old Testament figures and systems. He is greater than angels, prophets, Moses, and even the Old Covenant itself. Jesus offers a superior rest, assurance, faith, and life. Ultimately, He is revealed as the founder and perfecter of our faith, the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament pointed toward. Speaker: Brad Bell

Join hosts Michael, Wayne, and Jonathan as they discuss the final episode of the season, discussing Old Testament miracles. Be on the lookout in January for our first discussion of "Scattered Apostles." Visit our linktree: https://linktr.ee/scatteredabroadnetwork Visit our website, www.scatteredabroad.org, and subscribe to our email list. "Like" and "share" our Facebook page: https:// www.facebook.com/sapodcastnetwork Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ the_scattered_abroad_network/ Subscribe to our Substack: https://scatteredabroad.substack.com/Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Scattered Abroad Network Contact us through email at san@msop.org. If you would like to consider supporting us in any way, don't hesitate to contact us through this email.

For the Second Sunday of Advent, we turn to the image of shepherds, some of the first to worship Jesus, and who recall rich imagery in the Old Testament from Psalm 23 to Ezekiel 34. Read Luke 2:8-20 and thanks for listening.

This sermon was preached by our Lead Pastor Paul Smith on Joshua 5:13–15 and is part of our series Glimpses of Grace: Jesus in the Old Testament.

The central theme of the Book of Hebrews is the supremacy of Jesus Christ over all Old Testament figures and systems. He is greater than angels, prophets, Moses, and even the Old Covenant itself. Jesus offers a superior rest, assurance, faith, and life. Ultimately, He is revealed as the founder and perfecter of our faith, the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament pointed toward. Speaker: Brad Bell

Join hosts Michael, Wayne, and Jonathan as they discuss the final episode of the season, discussing Old Testament miracles. Be on the lookout in January for our first discussion of "Scattered Apostles." Visit our linktree: https://linktr.ee/scatteredabroadnetwork Visit our website, www.scatteredabroad.org, and subscribe to our email list. "Like" and "share" our Facebook page: https:// www.facebook.com/sapodcastnetwork Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ the_scattered_abroad_network/ Subscribe to our Substack: https://scatteredabroad.substack.com/Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Scattered Abroad Network Contact us through email at san@msop.org. If you would like to consider supporting us in any way, don't hesitate to contact us through this email.

Have you ever made a promise to God—and wondered if you could actually keep it? In Nehemiah 10:28-39, God's people make bold promises to honor Him, follow His commands, and support His temple after returning from exile. Yet, decades later, many of those promises were broken.In this message, we explore the lessons from Nehemiah's leadership and discover how to live faithfully today: • Discipleship over discipline — letting the Holy Spirit guide us, not just willpower • Steady, not spectacular — building faithfulness in small, daily steps • Dig, don't drift — seeking a deeper, personal relationship with God • Accountability over assumption — surrounding ourselves with support to honor our promisesScriptures Referenced:Nehemiah 10:28–39, Nehemiah 13:10–12, Deuteronomy 28–29, 2 Kings 17:5–23, Jeremiah 29:1–14This sermon challenges you to reflect: What have you promised God with your time, money, and faith? How will your promises look in 2035?Keywords:Keeping promises to God, Nehemiah sermon, faithfulness, discipleship, Bible teaching, spiritual growth, accountability, steady faith, honoring God, Old Testament lessons, Christian livingTake action today: Start keeping your promises to God through prayer, reading Scripture, and committing your life fully to Him.Like, Subscribe, and share this message with someone who needs encouragement to live faithfully and honor God's promises.

In Romans 12, Paul instructs Christians to be completely dedicated to serving God, fellow Christians, and their neighbors in the world. In this sermon, Evangelist Gavin Williams examines how worship as a way of life extends beyond the songs of ascent and the Old Testament.

We begin by looking at John the Baptist. Matthew 3:1-2 and 5-6 tells us.  "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." Pastor shares a personal visit to the Jordan River with pics of the area. As our story continues we see John calling out to the Pharisees and Sadducees who had come to the Jordan River to see what he was doing. He tells them that they need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. What John is saying is that when they truly turn to the Living God, it will change them, that their attitude, behavior and thought patterns will be radically transformed.  John goes on in verse 11 of chapter 3 to say, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John's message was repent. His message was that the Messiah they had been waiting for was coming. He says that the Messiah will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire, the fire of judgement.  People were drawn to John the Baptist because he spoke the truth in love. He wasn't the only one that talked about repentance. The Call to Repentance     ⁃    John the Baptist - Matthew 3:2     ⁃    Jesus Christ the Messiah - Matthew 4:17     ⁃    Apostle Peter - Acts 2:38     ⁃    Apostle Paul - Acts 17:30     ⁃    Holy Bible - 2 Peter 3:9 Repent means to: Change your mind Change your attitude Change your thoughts Change your direction Turn around - do a 180 Repentance IS important. Who needs Repentance?     ⁃    Isn't this the punchline to a joke? - No. Jesus says in Luke 13:3 that unless we repent, we will all perish. Jesus considers repentance to be absolutely essential.     ⁃    Isn't repentance just for bad people? - this depends on how you translate the word bad. The point of comparison is not against people, it is against a holy God. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Matthew 21:31 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you."     ⁃    This isn't for religious people, is it?  Jesus continues in Matthew 21:32 "For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him." Repentance is for ALL people especially the religious. This teaching brings anger and bitterness from the religious because it exposes them for what they really are not and for what they show to others.     ⁃    Isn't this Old Testament teaching? Yes, but it is also New Testament teaching as seen earlier in this message.      ⁃    Surely Christians don't need to repent? From Jesus we read a series of seven epistles in Revelation. In Revelation chapters 2 & 3 Jesus says the word "repent" 7 times. Martin Luther said in Thesis 1: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance". If you find yourself rebelling against what you are hearing today - we encourage you to hear the rest of the story. What is True Repentance     1.    I am a Sinner - when I recognize this then I understand that     2.    I need a Savior - turning to the only one who can save us. We are all sinners and we need a Savior. Without Him we are lost forever and it calls us to say     3.    I trust in Christ alone - because the Living God stepped into this world, living a life of perfect obedience and willing went to the cross to pay for rebellion and sin and the one who rose victorious of death. Jesus is that Savior. We are called by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, to trust in the redemption found only in Jesus and then to say     4.    I will live for Him - repentance changes the way we think, the way we look at God and look others and the world, it changes the way we turn to the Living God and hang onto the Lord Jesus who is our Savior and Deliverer and seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit to live a life of faith, obedience, joy and peace, power in Him. This true repentance. Although the call to repent may sound scary, the gift of God through repentance is the greatest joy any one can know in this world and the life of the world to come. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/whats-the-answer Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

Christmas Stories: The Three Responses Matthew 2:1-12 Message SlidesFor the bulletin in PDF form, click here. Opposition & HostilityIndifference & ApathyWorship & SacrificeHOME CHURCH QUESTIONS1. What are some of your family's Christmas traditions? What are your favorite Christmas stories or movies?2. What are some ways we see Herod's opposition and hostility toward Jesus in Matthew 2:1-12 & 16? Why do you think Herod is furious about the birth of Jesus? What are some modern examples of opposition and hostility toward Jesus?3. While we might not be opposed to Jesus the same way Herod was, we can still have “the spirit of Herod” in our lives. What are some characteristics of a life that is marked by the spirit of Herod? How would this contrast with the spirit of Jesus? What is an area of your life that could look more like the spirit of Jesus and less like the spirit of Herod?4. What are some examples from Matthew 2 that demonstrate how the Old Testament was anticipating the coming of Jesus? Why do you think the religious leaders are not more excited about the idea of Christ being born? 5. Have you ever talked with someone who was indifferent or apathetic toward Jesus? How would you respond to someone who said they are neutral or indifferent toward Him?6. According to Matthew 2:10-11, how do the wise men respond to Jesus? What are some ways we should follow their example? 7. What area of your life are you most hesitant to have Jesus “rearrange?” What would it look like for you to live like He is the King over that area of your life?Mission Highlight - The Adi Dravida in IndiaThe Adi Dravida in South India, have long faced social discrimination and poverty. Many work as farmers, laborers, or leather workers, though some are gaining access to education and professional jobs. Most follow Hinduism, with only a tiny Christian presence despite having Scripture available in Tamil. Pray that God would open doors for the gospel among the Adi Dravida, raise up Indian believers to build genuine friendships, and strengthen the few existing Christians to boldly share Christ within their communities.FinancesWeekly Budget 34,615Giving For 11/23 29,630Giving For 11/30 25,532YTD Budget 761,538Giving 698,433 OVER/(UNDER) (63,105) Fellowship 101New to Fellowship? We invite you to join us on Sunday, January 11th, at 9 AM in the conference room (first floor) to hear about our mission, values, and ministries. During this time, you will meet some of our ministry leaders and get to ask questions. Register at fellowshipconway.org/register. This is an important step in getting connected at Fellowship. New to Fellowship?We are so glad that you chose to worship with our Fellowship Family this morning. If you are joining us for the first time or have been checking us out for a few weeks, we are excited you are here and would love to meet you. Please fill out the “Connect Card” and bring it to the Connection Center in the Atrium, we would love to say “hi” and give you a gift. Christmas OfferingThis December, we are taking up a special offering for the Operation Christmas Child Special Pack (held in October 2026). The gifts received will determine the number of boxes we can send. To send each gospel opportunity (box), it costs $20 for items, transportation, and the tools needed to share the hope found in Christ with a child. Please consider giving above and beyond your regular giving to the worthy cause of getting the gospel to sensitive areas that are difficult to reach. You can give online by going to fellowshipconway.org/give and selecting “Christmas Offering” from the options. To give an idea of what we are trying to raise, we packed 2,800 boxes last year, which is equal to $56,000. We would love to do even more next year!Fellowship Women's Hebrews Bible StudyThis February, join us for Jesus Is Greater—an eight-week Bible study through the book of Hebrews created to deepen your faith, renew your hope, and connect you with other women pursuing Jesus. Led by Rebecca Carter and Heather Harrison, we'll meet on Tuesday nights at 6:30 p.m., beginning February 3rd at Fellowship. Free childcare by texting Shanna at 501-336-0332 by January 28th. Register at fellowshipconway.org/women.Men's Fellowship BreakfastJoin us on Wednesday, December 10, at 6:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Atrium for a great morning of food, fellowship, and encouragement. No sign-up is required—just bring your Bible and come ready to enjoy breakfast, connect with other men, and start your day with prayer and Biblical insight. Questions? Contact Michael at mharrison@fellowshipconway.org.OCC Celebration | December 14Join us next Sunday as we put a bow on National Collection Week and celebrate what God has done! We'll reveal the total number of shoeboxes packed at Fellowship and across the entire River Valley Area. You won't want to miss this moment of gratitude and praise — and please keep praying for every child who will receive a shoebox!Join a Home ChurchHome Church small groups are about building a deep community where we are transformed into the image of Christ and serve a broken world for the sake of the gospel. If you are not in a Home Church, we encourage you go to fellowshipconway.org/homechurch or stop by the Connection table in the Atrium.

The Gospel | Romans 2:12-24

This week: “Jesus Bots” & AI Spirituality: Sean and Scott discuss a New York Times piece on religious chatbots, raising concerns about me-centered faith, shallow “AI Jesus” advice, and how tech may distort spiritual formation.UC San Diego's Education Crisis: A Wall Street Journal editorial reveals that 1 in 12 UCSD freshmen can't perform middle-school math, prompting a conversation about grade inflation, DEI pressures, COVID learning loss, and the need for academic accountability.AI & the Decline of Critical Thinking: An Atlantic article sparks discussion on how people increasingly outsource decision-making to AI, rewiring their brains, avoiding discomfort, and creating new forms of dependency.The New Singlehood Dilemma: The hosts unpack cultural mixed messages—society simultaneously pushes people to find a partner and to celebrate being single—leading to confusion, shame, and loneliness.Listener Question – Tattoos & Piercings: Sean and Scott explain that Old Testament prohibitions were tied to pagan rituals, meaning tattoos today are largely a wisdom issue rather than a moral one.Listener Question – Guns in Church Security: They discuss self-defense biblically and practically, concluding that armed security can be appropriate when trained and focused on protecting the congregation.Listener Question – Devotionals for Teens: Recommendations include reading Scripture together or using teen-friendly devotionals, with Sean mentioning his book A Rebel's Manifesto as a helpful cultural guide.==========Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California. Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically. Watch video episodes at: https://bit.ly/think-biblically-video. To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.

Former porn star Jenna Jameson finds Jesus, citing her religious lesbian girlfriend, providing the church with a high-profile win they desperately need. We dissect the hypocrisy of evangelical Christianity embracing her celebrity while conveniently ignoring her sexual orientation and adult film past. Her public shift contrasts her "old sinful ways" against her former sex-worker peers, exposing "prototypical Christian snobbery" and questioning if this faith is sincere or a cynical grab for attention.News Source:Jenna Jameson's Partner Lir Ocampo Inspired Her to Find JesusBy Unknown for US Magazine

Father Richard Hendrick, OFM, a Capuchin Franciscan from Dublin, Ireland joins Trending with Timmerie. Episode Guide Capuchin customs for Advent (1:50) Finding Christ and Holy Spirit in the prophecies of the Old Testament (20:37) How St. Nicholas became Santa Claus (35:54) Resources mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/BroRichard/ x @brorichard https://x.com/brorichard?s=21

Josh Monday Christian and Conspiracy Podcast Ep. 326How to Support the ministry: $5.99 a monthpatreon.com/JoshMondayChristianandConspiracyPodcastJoin the Patreon here: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Joshmonday_podcastIf you want to donate to the Ministry CashAPP:https://cash.app/$JoshmondaymusicNew affiliate: https://wsteif.com/ Paul and Crystals links: https://thetinfoilhatfactory.com/Flat Earth Books by Sakal Publishing Affiliate Link: https://booksonline.club/booksonlinecYoutube: ⁠@joshmondaymusicandpodcast ⁠ Tips for the show to Support our Ministry: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joshmondayCoffee Mug Is Available email me your mailing address Joshmonday⁠@rocketmail.com ⁠ Please subscribe to our Spotify and You Tube Channel Joshmondaymusic and Podcast and help us grow so we can keep on spreading the good news. To all of our current and future subscribers thank you for your time, we appreciate you. Please do us a favor subscribe to our You Tube Channel, hit that bell, share, like and comment below on our You tube. Please leave us a 5-Star review on Apple and Spotify.Check out my new show Sunday Service and Wednesday Brought to you by Cult of Conspiracy Podcast. On Cult of Conspiracy Spotify, Patreon and Apple Podcast Channel.Join the study as I go deep into the Bible. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17.#podcast  #biblestudy #bible #religiouseducationBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/josh-monday-christian-and-conspiracy-podcast--6611118/support.

Send us a textWe trace the Immaculate Conception from Scripture's hints and Old Testament types through the Fathers, medieval debate, and the 1854 definition, showing how Mary's grace magnifies Christ's redemption. Along the way, we clear up the Virgin Birth confusion and answer common objections with clarity and charity.• biblical foundations in Luke 1:28 and Genesis 3:15• Mary as new Eve and Ark typology• patristic testimony to Mary's unique holiness• medieval debates and Duns Scotus' preservative redemption• Trent's caution and space for development• Ineffabilis Deus as definitive articulation• difference between Immaculate Conception and Virgin Birth• responses to biblical and historical objections• Mary's role in salvation history and hope for believersBe sure to click the link in the description for special news itemAnd since there is more to this article, finish reading and check out the special offerVisit Journeysoffaith.com website todayThe Immaculate Conception CollectionOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

This episode examines John 8:51–59 and connects Jesus' bold declaration “Before Abraham was, I am” to the Christmas truth that Jesus is not merely a newborn but the eternal I AM who came to redeem. The lesson explains the Old Testament background of God's name, Jesus' authority over sin, spirits, Satan, and death, and why His claim demanded a response. Listeners are invited to consider how this revelation of Emmanuel — God with us — shapes our worship and response this Christmas season. (Remastered).

Today we're studying D&C 138:30 in just one minute! Grab your scriptures and let's dive into them together!And grab study guides for the whole family here: - Kristen's daily scripture study help is available for kids/teens/adults in digital and physical form here :https://kristenwalkersmith.com/starthere/And for weekly help understanding the storyline of Come Follow Me check out her YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/- To get Cali's scripture study guide for adults click here: https://comefollowmestudy.com/shop/ Discount code: OMSSOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0pKf8XtGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book in Costco stores in Utah, Idaho, ArizonaOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audio taken from the live recording "The Most Mysterious Man in the Bible! Melchizedek - Priest, King or Christ?" - https://youtu.be/l90Pw7X0CsAThroughout church history, there has always been dialogue concerning the true identity of a mystery man identified both in the Old Testament and New Testament. In our time together today, I would like to discuss this biblical character, by the name of Melchizedek, that I refer to as, “the most mysterious man in the Bible.”This man of ambiguity, appears only briefly in Scripture.Is he merely a human type, a literary-theological figure, or is he a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son?1 - Where do we find Melchizedek in the Bible?2 - What are the common views on the mystery of Melchizedek?3 - Was Melchizedek actually Christ?Key Scriptures used in today's teaching: Genesis 14:17-20Other Scriptures referenced: Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5-7; Hebrews 13:2Unless otherwise noted, most Scripture will be read from the New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.If you prayed with Tiff, click here https://lostlamb.org/ and let him know!  Be sure to check out the playlist “New Beginnings” - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsX8E19Azl58_FjxELPxjnsL8CAtmama4Thank you for listening, and subscribe for new content each week. 
Connect with Tiff Shuttlesworth:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LostLambAssociation/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffshuttlesworth/ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/tiffshuttleswor Learn more about my ministry: https://lostlamb.org/ Learn more about my ministry in Canada: https://www.lostlamb.ca

In this theologically rich episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Jesse and Tony delve into the Parable of the Lost Coin from Luke 15:8-10. They explore how this parable reveals God's passionate pursuit of His elect and the divine joy that erupts when they are found. Building on their previous discussion of the Lost Sheep, the brothers examine how Jesus uses this second parable to further emphasize God's sovereign grace in salvation. The conversation highlights the theological implications of God's ownership of His people even before their redemption, the diligent efforts He undertakes to find them, and the heavenly celebration that follows. This episode offers profound insights into God's relentless love and the true nature of divine joy in redemption. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Lost Coin emphasizes that God actively and diligently searches for those who belong to Him, sparing no effort to recover what is rightfully His. Jesus uses three sequential parables in Luke 15 to progressively reveal different aspects of God's heart toward sinners, with escalating emphasis on divine joy. The coin represents something of significant value that already belonged to the woman, illustrating that God's elect belong to Him even before their redemption. Unlike finding something new, the joy depicted is specifically about recovering something that was already yours but had been lost, highlighting God's eternal claim on His people. The spiritual inability of the sinner is represented by the coin's passivity - it cannot find its own way back and must be sought out by its owner. Angels rejoice over salvation not independently but because they share in God's delight at the effectiveness of His saving power. The parable challenges believers to recover their joy in salvation and to share it with others, much like the woman who called her neighbors to celebrate with her. Expanded Insights God's Determined Pursuit of What Already Belongs to Him The Parable of the Lost Coin reveals a profound theological truth about God's relationship to His elect. As Tony and Jesse discuss, this isn't a story about finding something new, but recovering something that already belongs to the owner. The woman in the parable doesn't rejoice because she discovered unexpected treasure; she rejoices because she recovered what was already hers. This illustrates the Reformed understanding that God's people have eternally belonged to Him. While justification occurs in time, there's a real sense in which God has been considering us as His people in eternity past. The parable therefore supports the doctrines of election and particular redemption - God is not creating conditions people can move into or out of, but is zealously reclaiming a specific people who are already His in His eternal decree. The searching, sweeping, and diligent pursuit represent not a general call, but an effectual calling that accomplishes its purpose. The Divine Joy in Recovering Sinners One of the most striking aspects of this parable is the overwhelming joy that accompanies finding the lost coin. The brothers highlight that this joy isn't reluctant or begrudging, but enthusiastic and overflowing. The woman calls her friends and neighbors to celebrate with her - a seemingly excessive response to finding a coin, unless we understand the theological significance. This reveals that God takes genuine delight in the redemption of sinners, to the extent that Jesus describes it as causing joy "in the presence of the angels of God." As Jesse and Tony note, this challenges our perception that God might save us begrudgingly. Instead, the parable teaches us that God's "alien work" is wrath, while His delight is in mercy. This should profoundly impact how believers view their own salvation and should inspire a contagious joy that spreads to others - a joy that many Christians, by Tony's own admission, need to recover in their daily walk. Memorable Quotes "Christ love is an act of love and it's always being acted upon the sinner, the one who has to be redeemed, his child whom he goes after. So in the same way, we have Christ showing the self-denying love." - Jesse Schwamb "The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace... The reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased, is because God has this real pleasure to pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire." - Jesse Schwamb "These parables are calling us to rejoice, right? Christ is using these parables to shame the Pharisees and the scribes who refuse to rejoice over the salvation of sinners. How often do we not rejoice over our own salvation sufficiently?" - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: There still is like the sovereign grace of God who's initiating the salvation and there is a kind of effect of calling that God doesn't merely invite, he finds, he goes after he affects the very thing. Yeah, and I think we're seeing that here. The sinner, spiritual inability. There's an utter passivity until found. The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace. It's all there for us. And the reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased is because God has this real pleasure. To pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire. Welcome to episode 472 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. [00:00:57] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother. [00:01:01] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. [00:01:02] Jesus and the Parable of the Lost Coin [00:01:02] Jesse Schwamb: So there was this time, maybe actually more than one time, but at least this one time that we've been looking at where Jesus is hanging out and the religious incumbents, the Pharisees, they come to him and they say, you are a friend of sinners, and. Instead of taking offense to this, Jesus turns this all around. Uses this as a label, appropriates it for himself and his glorious character. And we know this because he gives us this thrice repeated sense of what it means to see his heart, his volition, his passion, his love, his going after his people, and he does it. Three little parables and we looked at one last time and we're coming up to round two of the same and similar, but also different and interesting. And so today we're looking at the parable of the lost coin or the Lost dma, or I suppose, whatever kind of currency you wanna insert in there. But once again, something's lost and we're gonna see how our savior comes to find it by way of explaining it. In metaphor. So there's more things that are lost and more things to be found on this episode. That's how we do it. It's true. It's true. So that's how Jesus does it. So [00:02:12] Tony Arsenal: yeah. So it should be how we do it. [00:02:14] Jesse Schwamb: Yes. Yeah, exactly. I cut to like Montel Jordan now is the only thing going through my head. Tell Jordan. Yeah. Isn't he the one that's like, this is how we do it, that song, this is [00:02:28] Tony Arsenal: how we do it. I, I don't know who sings it. Apparently it's me right now. That was actually really good. That was fantastic. [00:02:36] Jesse Schwamb: Hopefully never auto tuned. Not even once. I'm sure that'll make an appearance now and the rest, somebody [00:02:42] Tony Arsenal: should take that and auto tune it for me. [00:02:44] Jesse Schwamb: That would be fantastic. Listen, it doesn't need it. That was perfect. That was right off the cuff, right off the top. It was beautiful. It was ous. [00:02:50] Tony Arsenal: Yes. Yes. [00:02:51] Affirmations and Denials [00:02:51] Jesse Schwamb: I'm hoping that appearance, [00:02:53] Tony Arsenal: before we jump into our, our favorite segment here in affirmations of Denials, I just wanted to take a second to, uh, thank all of our listeners. Uh, we have the best listeners in the world. That's true, and we've also got a really great place to get together and chat about things. That's also true. Uh, we have a little telegram chat, which is just a little chat, um, program that run on your phone or in a browser. Really any device you have, you can go to t Me slash Reform Brotherhood and join that, uh, little chat group. And there's lots of stuff going on there. We don't need to get into all the details, but it's a friendly little place. Lots of good people, lots of good conversation. And just lots of good digital fellowship, if that's even a thing. I think it is. So please do join us there. It's a great place to discuss, uh, the episodes or what you're learning or what you'd like to learn. There's all sorts of, uh, little nooks and crannies and things to do in there. [00:03:43] Jesse Schwamb: So if you're looking for a little df and you know that you are coming out, we won't get into details, but you definitely should. Take Tony's advice, please. You, you will not be disappointed. It, it's a fun, fun time together. True. Just like you're about to have with us chatting it up and going through a little affirmations and denials. So, as usual, Tony, what are you, are you affirming with something or are you denying again, something? I'm, I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm ready. [00:04:06] Tony Arsenal: Okay. Uh, it is, I thought that was going somewhere else. Uh, I'm, I'm affirming something. [00:04:13] AI and Problem Solving [00:04:13] Tony Arsenal: People are gonna get so sick of me doing like AI affirmations, but I, it's like I learned a new thing to do with AI every couple of weeks. I ran across an article the other day, uh, that I don't remember where the article was. I didn't save it, but I did read it. And one of the things that pointed out is that a lot of times you're not getting the most out of AI because you don't really know how to ask the questions. True. One of the things it was was getting through is a lot of people will ask, they'll have a problem that they're encountering and they'll just ask AI like, how do I fix this problem? And a lot of times what that yields is like very superficial, basic, uh, generic advice or generic kind of, uh, directions for resolving a problem. And the, I don't remember the exact phrasing, 'cause it was a little while ago since I read it, but it basically said something like, I'm encountering X problem. And despite all efforts to the contrary, I have not been able to resolve it. And by using sort of these extra phrases. What it does is it sort of like pushes the AI to ask you questions about what you've already tried to do, and so it's gonna tailor its advice or its directions to your specific situation a little bit more. So, for example, I was doing this today. We, um, we just had the time change, right? Stupidest thing in the world doesn't make any sense and my kids don't understand that the time has changed and we're now like three or four weeks past the, the time change and their, their schedule still have not adjusted. So my son Augie, who is uh, like three and three quarters, uh, I don't know how many months it is. When do you stop? I don't even know. When you stop counting in months. He's three and a quarter, three quarters. And he will regularly wake up between four 30 and five 30. And when we really, what we really want is for him to be sleeping, uh, from uh, until like six or six 30 at the latest. So he's like a full hour, sometimes two hours ahead of time, which then he wakes up, it's a small house. He's noisy 'cause he's a three and a half year old. So he wakes up the baby. The baby wakes up. My wife, and then we're all awake and then we're cranky and it's miserable. So I, I put that little prompt into, um, into Google Gemini, which is right now is my, um, AI of choice, but works very similar. If you use something like chat, GPT or CLO or whatever, you know, grok, whatever AI tool you have access to, put that little prompt in. You know, something like since the time change, my son has been waking up at four 30 in the morning, despite all efforts to the contrary, I have not been able to, uh, adjust his schedule. And so it started asking me questions like, how much light is in the room? What time does he go to bed? How much does he nap? And it, so it's, it's pulling from the internet. This is why I like Google Geminis. It's actually pulling from the internet to identify like common, common. Related issues. And so it starts to probe and ask questions. And by the time it was done, what it came out with was like a step-by-step two week plan. Basically like, do this tonight, do this tomorrow morning. Um, and it was able to identify what it believes is the problem. We'll see if it actually is, but the beauty now is now that I've got a plan that I've got in this ai, I can start, you know, tomorrow morning I'm gonna try to do what it said and I can tell. The ai, how things went, and it can now adjust the plan based on whether or not, you know, this worked or didn't work. So it's a good way to sort of, um, push an ai, uh, chat bot to probe your situation a little bit more. So you could do this really for anything, right. You could do something like I'm having, I'm having trouble losing weight despite all efforts to the contrary. Um, can you help me identify what the, you know, root problem is? So think about different ways that you can use this. It's a pretty cool way to sort of like, push the, the AI to get a little deeper into the specifics without like a lot of extra heavy lifting. I'm sure there's probably other ways you could drive it to do this, but this was just one clever way that I, that this article pointed out to accomplish this. [00:08:07] Jesse Schwamb: It's a great exercise to have AI optimize itself. Yeah. By you turning your prompts around and asking it to ask you a number of questions, sufficient number, until it can provide an optimize answer for you. So lots, almost every bot has some kind of, you can have it analyze your prompts essentially, but some like copilot actually have a prompt agent, which will help you construct the prompt in an optimal way. Yeah, and that again, is kind of question and answer. So I'm with you. I will often turn it around and say. Here's my goal. Ask me sufficient number of questions so that you can provide the right insight to accomplish said goal. Or like you're saying, if you can create this like, massive conversation that keeps all this history. So I, I've heard of people using this for their exercise or running plans. Famously, somebody a, a, um, journalist, the Wall Street Journal, use it, train for a marathon. You can almost have it do anything for you. Of course, you want to test all of that and interact with it reasonably and ably, right? At the same time, what it does best is respond to like natural language interaction. And so by turning it around and basically saying, help me help you do the best job possible, providing the information, it's like the weirdest way of querying stuff because we're so used to providing explicit direction ourselves, right? So to turn it around, it's kind of a new experience, but it's super fun, really interesting, really effective. [00:09:22] Tony Arsenal: And it because you are allowing, in a certain sense, you're sort of asking the AI to drive the conversation. This, this particular prompt, I know the article I read went into details about why this prompt is powerful and the reason this prompt is powerful is not because of anything the AI's doing necessarily, right. It's because you're basically telling the AI. To find what you've missed. And so it's asking you questions. Like if I was to sit down and go like, all right, what are all the things that's wrong, that's causing my son to be awake? Like obviously I didn't figure it out on my own, so it's asking me what I've already tried and what it found out. And then of course when it tells me what it is, it's like the most obvious thing when it figures out what it is. It's identifying something that I already haven't identified because I've told it. I've already tried everything I can think of, and so it's prompting me to try to figure out what it is that I haven't thought of. So those are, like I said, there's lots of ways to sort of get the ais to do that exercise. Um, it's not, it's not just about prompt engineering, although that there's a lot of science now and a lot of like. Specifics on how you do prompt engineering, um, you know, like building a persona for the ai. Like there's all sorts of things you can do and you can add that, like, I could have said something like, um. Uh, you are a pediatric sleep expert, right? And when you tell it that what it's gonna do is it's gonna start to use more technical language, it's gonna, it's gonna speak to you back as though it's a, and this, this is where AI can get a little bit dangerous and really downright scary in some instances. But with that particular prompt, it's gonna start to speak back to you as though it was a clinician of some sort, diagnosing a medical situation, which again. That is definitely not something I would ever endorse. Like, don't let an AI be your doctor. That's just not, like WebMD was already scary enough when you were just telling you what your symptoms were and it was just cross checking it. Um, but you could do something like, and I use these kinds of prompts for our show notes where I'm like, you're an expert at SEO, like at um, podcast show notes. Utilizing SEO search terms, like that's part of the prompt that I use when I use, um, in, in this case, I use notion to generate most of our show notes. Um, it, it starts to change the way that it looks at things and the way that it, I, it responds to you based on different prompts. So I think it, it's a little bit scary, uh, AI. Can be a strange, strange place. And there's some, they're doing some research that is a little bit frightening. They did a study and actually, like, they, they basically like unlocked an AI and gave it access to a pretend company with emails and stuff and said that a particular employee was gonna shut out, was gonna delete the ai. And the first thing it did was try to like blackmail the employee with like a risk, like a scandalous email. It had. Then after that they, they engineered a scenario where the AI actually had the ability to kill the employee. And despite like explicit instructions not to do anything illegal, it still tried to kill the employee. So there's some scary things that are coming up if we're not, you know, if, if the science is not able to get that under control. But right now it's just a lot of fun. Like it's, we're, we're probably not at the point where it's dangerous yet and hopefully. Hopefully it won't get to that point, but we'll see. We'll see. That got dark real fast, fast, fast. Jesse, you gotta get this. And that was an affirmation. I guess I'm affirming killer murder ais that are gonna kill us all, but uh, we're gonna have fun with it until they do at least. [00:12:52] Jesse Schwamb: Thanks for not making that deny against. 'cause I can only imagine the direction that one to taken. [00:12:57] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. At least when the AI hears this, it's gonna know that I'm on its side, so, oh, for sure. I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords. So as do Iye. [00:13:05] Christmas Hymns and Music Recommendations [00:13:05] Tony Arsenal: But Jesse, what are you affirming or denying today to get me out of this pit here? [00:13:09] Jesse Schwamb: So, lemme start with a question. Do you have a favorite Christmas hymn? And if so, what is it? [00:13:16] Tony Arsenal: Ooh, that's a tough one. Um, I think I've always been really partial to Oh, holy Night. But, uh, there's, there's not anything that really jumps to mind my, as I've become older and crankier and more Scottish in spirit, I just, Christmas hymns just aren't as. If they're not as prominent in my mind, but oh, holy night or come coming, Emanuel is probably a really good one too. [00:13:38] Jesse Schwamb: Wow. Those are the, those are like the top in the top three for me. Yeah. So I think [00:13:42] Tony Arsenal: I know where you're going based on the question. [00:13:44] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, we're very much the same. So, well maybe, so I am affirming with, but it's that time of year and people you, you know and love and maybe yourself, you're gonna listen to Christian music and. That's okay. I put no shade on that, especially because we're talking about the incarnation, celebrate the incarnation. But of course, I think the best version of that is some of these really lovely hymns because they could be sung and worshiped through all year round. We just choose them because they fit in with the calendar particularly well here, and sometimes they're included, their lyrics included in Hallmark cards and, and your local. Cool. Coles. So while that's happening, why not embrace it? But here's my information is why not go with some different versions. I love the hymn as you just said. Oh, come will come Emmanuel. And so I'm gonna give people three versions of it to listen to Now to make my list of this kind of repertoire. The song's gotta maintain that traditional melody. I think to a strong degree, it's gotta be rich and deep and dark, especially Ko Emmanuel. But it's gotta have something in it that's a little bit nuanced. Different creative arrangements, musicality. So let me give two brand new ones that you may not have heard versions and one old one. So the old one is by, these are all Ko Emanuel. So if at some point during this you're like, what song is he talking about? It's Ko. Emmanuel. It's just three times. Th we're keeping it th Rice tonight. So the first is by band called for today. That's gonna be a, a little bit harder if you want something that, uh, gets you kind of pumped up in the midst of this redemption. That's gonna be the version. And then there are two brand new ones. One is by skillet, which is just been making music forever, but the piano melody they bring into this and they do a little something nuanced with the chorus that doesn't pull away too much. From the original, but just gives it a little extra like Tastiness. Yeah. Skill. Great version. And then another one that just came out yesterday. My yesterday, not your yesterday. So actually it doesn't even matter at this point. It's already out is by descriptor. And this would be like the most chill version that is a hardcore band by, I would say tradition, but in this case, their version is very chill. All of them I find are just deeply worshipful. Yeah. And these, the music is very full of impact, but of course the lyrics are glorious. I really love this, this crying out to God for the Savior. This. You know, just, it's really the, the plea that we should have now, which is, you know, maranatha like Lord Jesus, come. And so in some ways we're, we're celebrating that initial plea and cry for redemption as it has been applied onto us by the Holy Spirit. And we're also saying, you know, come and fulfill your kingdom, Lord, come and bring the full promise, which is here, but not yet. So I like all three of these. So for today. Skillet descriptor, which sounds like we're playing like a weird word game when you put those all together. It does, but they're all great bands and their versions I think are, are worthy. So the larger affirmation, I suppose, is like, go out this season and find different versions, like mix it up a little bit. Because it's good to hear this music somewhat afresh, and so I think by coming to it with different versions of it, you'll get a little bit of that sense. It'll make maybe what is, maybe if it's felt rote or mundane or just trivial, like you're saying, kind of revive some of these pieces in our hearts so we can, we, we can really worship through them. We're redeeming them even as they're meant to be expressions of the ultimate redemption. [00:16:55] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I, um, I heard the skillet version and, uh, you know, you know me like I'm not a huge fan of harder music. Yeah. But that, that song Slaps man, it's, yes, [00:17:07] Jesse Schwamb: it does. It's [00:17:07] Tony Arsenal: good. And Al I mean, it, it also ignited this weird firestorm of craziness online. I don't know if you heard anything about this, but Yes, it was, it was, there was like the people who absolutely love it and will. Fight you if you don't. Yes. And then there was like the people who think it's straight from the devil because of somehow demonic rhythms, whatever that means. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm not a big fan of the heavier music, but there is something about that sort of, uh. I don't know. Is skill, would that be considered like metal at all? [00:17:38] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, that's a loaded question. Probably. [00:17:39] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So like I found, uh, this is, we're gonna go down to Rabbit Trail here. Let's do it. Here we go. I found a version of Africa by Toto that was labeled as metal on YouTube. So I don't know whether it actually is, and this, this version of skill, it strikes me as very similar, where it's, ah, uh, it, it's like, um. The harmonies are slightly different in terms of like how they resonate than Okay. Other harmonies. Like I get [00:18:05] Jesse Schwamb: that [00:18:06] Tony Arsenal: there's a certain, you know, like when you think about like Western music, there's certain right, there's certain harmonies when, you know, think about like piano chords are framed and my understanding at least this could be way off, and I'm sure you're gonna correct me if I'm wrong, is that um, metal music, heavy metal music uses slightly different. Chord formations that it almost leaves you feeling a little unresolved. Yes, but not quite unresolved. Like it's just, it's, it's more the harmonics are different, so that's fair. Skillet. This skillet song is so good, and I think you're right. It, it retains the sort of like. The same basic melody, the same, the same basic harmonies, actually. Right. And it's, it's almost like the harmonies are just close enough to being put into a different key with the harmonies. Yes, [00:18:52] Jesse Schwamb: that's true [00:18:53] Tony Arsenal: than then. Uh, but not quite actually going into another key. So like, sometimes you'll see online, you'll find YouTube videos where they play like pop songs, but they've changed the, the. Chords a little bit. So now it's in a minor key. It's almost like it's there. It's like one more little note shift and it would be there. Um, and then there's some interesting, uh, like repetition and almost some like anal singing going on, that it's very good. Even if you don't like heavier music. Like, like I don't, um, go listen to it and I think you'll find yourself like hitting repeat a couple times. It was very, very good. [00:19:25] Jesse Schwamb: That's a good way of saying it. A lot of times that style is a little bit dissonant, if that's what you mean in the court. Yeah. Formation. So it gives you this unsettledness, this almost unresolvedness, and that's in there. Yeah. And just so everybody knows, actually, if you listen to that version from Skillet, you'll probably listen to most of it. You'll get about two thirds of the way through it and probably be saying, what are those guys talking about? It's the breakdown. Where it amps up. But before that, I think anybody could listen to it and just enjoy it. It's a really beautiful, almost haunting piano melody. They bring into the intro in that, in the interlude. It's very lovely. So it gives you that sense. Again, I love this kind of music because there's almost something, there is something in this song that's longing for something that is wanting and yet left, unresolved and unfulfilled until the savior comes. There's almost a lament in it, so to speak, especially with like the way it's orchestrated. So I love that this hymn is like deep and rich in that way. It's, that's fine. Like if you want to sing deck the Holes, that's totally fine. This is just, I think, better and rich and deeper and more interesting because it does speak to this life of looking for and waiting for anticipating the advent of the savior. So to get me get put back in that place by music, I think is like a net gain this time of year. It's good to have that perspective. I'm, I'm glad you've heard it. We should just open that debate up whether or not we come hang out in the telegram chat. We'll put it in that debate. Is skillet hardcore or metal? We'll just leave it there 'cause I have my opinions, but I'm, well, I'm sure everybody else does. [00:20:48] Tony Arsenal: I don't even know what those words mean, Jesse. Everything is hardcore in metal compared to what I normally listen to. I don't even listen to music anymore usually, so I, I mean, I'm like mostly all podcasts all the time. Anytime I have time, I don't have a ton of time to listen to. Um, audio stuff, but [00:21:06] Jesse Schwamb: that's totally fair. Well now everybody now join us though. [00:21:08] Tony Arsenal: Educate me [00:21:09] Jesse Schwamb: now. Everybody can properly use, IM prompt whatever AI of their choice, and they can listen to at least three different versions of al comical manual. And then they can tell us which one do you like the best? Or maybe you have your own version. That's what she was saying. What's your favorite Christmas in? [00:21:23] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And [00:21:24] Jesse Schwamb: what version of it do you like? I mean, it'll be like. [00:21:28] Tony Arsenal: It'll be like, despite my best efforts, I've been un unable to understand what hardcore and medical is. Please help me understand. [00:21:37] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, we're gonna have some, some fun with this at some point. We'll have to get into the whole debate, though. I know you and I have talked about it before. We'll put it before the brothers and sisters about a Christmas Carol and what version everybody else likes. That's also seems like, aside from the, the whole eternal debate, which I'm not sure is really serious about whether or not diehard is a Christmas movie, this idea of like, which version of the Christmas Carol do you subscribe to? Yeah. Which one would you watch if you can only watch one? Which one will you watch? That's, we'll have to save that for another time. [00:22:06] Tony Arsenal: We'll save it for another time. And we get a little closer to midwinter. No reason we just can't [00:22:10] Jesse Schwamb: do it right now because we gotta get to Luke 15. [00:22:12] Discussion on the Parable of the Lost Coin [00:22:12] Tony Arsenal: We do. [00:22:13] Jesse Schwamb: We, we've already been in this place of looking at Jesus' response to the Pharisees when they say to him, listen, this man receives sinners and eats with them. And Jesus is basically like, yeah, that's right. And let me tell you three times what the heart of God is like and what my mission in serving him is like, and what I desire to come to do for my children. And so we spoke in the last conversation about the parable lost sheep. Go check that out. Some are saying, I mean, I'm not saying this, but some are saying in the internet, it's the definitive. Congratulation of that parable. I'm, I'm happy to take that if that's true. Um, but we wanna go on to this parable of the lost coin. So let me read, it's just a couple of verses and you're gonna hear in the text that you're going to understand right away. This is being linked because it starts with or, so this is Jesus speaking and this is Luke 15, chapter 15, starting in verse eight. Jesus says, or a what woman? She has 10 D drachmas and loses. One drachma does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls together her friend and her neighbors saying, rejoice with me for I found the D Drachma, which I lost in the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. [00:23:27] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. On one level, this is, uh, again, it's not all that complicated of a scenario, right? And we have to kind of go back and relo through some of the stuff we talked about last week because this is a continuation of, you know, when we first talked about the Matthew 13 parables, we commented on like. Christ was coming back to the same themes, right? And in some ways, repeating the parable. This is even stronger than that. It's not just that Christ is teaching the same thing across multiple parables. The sense here, at least the sense I get when I read this parable, the lost sheep, and then the prodigal, um, sun parable or, or the next parable here, um, is actually that Christ is just sort of like hammering home the one point he's making to the tax collectors and or to the tax collectors or to the scribes who are complaining about the fact that Christ was eating with sinners. He's just hammering this point home, right? So it's not, it's not to try to add. A lot of nuance to the point. It's not to try to add a, a shade of meaning. Um. You know, we talked a lot about how parables, um, Christ tells parables in part to condemn the listeners who will not receive him, right? That's right. This is one of those situations where it's not, it's not hiding the meaning of the parable from them. The meaning is so obvious that you couldn't miss it, and he, he appeals, we talked about in the first, in the first part of this, he actually appeals to like what the ordinary response would be. Right? What man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one, does not. Go and leave the 99. Like it's a scenario that anyone who goes, well, like, I wouldn't do that is, looks like an idiot. Like, that's, that's the point of the why. He phrases it. And so then you're right when he, when he begins with this, he says, or what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until he, till she finds it. And of course, the, the, the emphasis again is like no one in their right mind would not do this. And I think like we think about a coin and like that's the smallest denomination of money that we have. Like, I wouldn't, like if I lost a, if I had 10 silver coin, 10 coins and I lost one of them, the most that that could be is what? 50 cents? Like the, like if I had a 50 cent piece or a silver dollar, I guess, like I could lose a dollar. We're not really talking about coins the way we think of coins, right? We're talking about, um. Um, you know, like denominations of money that are substantial in that timeframe. Like it, there was, there were small coins, but a silver coin would be a substantial amount of money to lose. So we are not talking about a situation where this is, uh, a trivial kind of thing. She's not looking for, you know, I've, I've heard this parable sort of like unpacked where like, it's almost like a miserly seeking for like this lost coin. Interesting. It's not about, it's not about like. Penny pinching here, right? She's not trying to find a tiny penny that isn't worth anything that's built into the parable, right? It's a silver coin. It's not just any coin. It's a silver coin. So she's, she's looking for this coin, um, because it is a significant amount of money and because she's lost it, she's lost something of her, of her overall wealth. Like there's a real loss. Two, this that needs to be felt before he can really move on with the parable. It's not just like some small piece of property, like there's a [00:26:57] Jesse Schwamb: right. I [00:26:57] Tony Arsenal: don't know if you've ever lost a large amount of money, but I remember one time I was in, um, a. I was like, almost outta high school, and I had taken some money out of, um, out of the bank, some cash to make a purchase. I think I was purchasing a laptop and I don't know why I, I don't, maybe I didn't have a credit card or I didn't have a debit card, but I was purchasing a laptop with cash. Right. And back then, like laptops, like this was not a super expensive laptop, but. It was a substantial amount of cash and I misplaced it and it was like, oh no, like, where is it? And like, I went crazy trying to find it. This is the situation. She's lost a substantial amount of money. Um, this parable, unlike the last one, doesn't give you a relative amount of how many she has. Otherwise. She's just lost a significant amount of money. So she takes all these different steps to try to find it. [00:27:44] Understanding the Parable's Context [00:27:44] Tony Arsenal: We have to feel that loss before we really can grasp what the parable is trying to teach us. [00:27:49] Jesse Schwamb: I like that, so I'm glad you brought that up because I ended up going down a rabbit hole with this whole coined situation. [00:27:56] Tony Arsenal: Well, we're about to, Matt Whitman some of this, aren't we? [00:27:58] Jesse Schwamb: Yes, I think so. But mainly because, and this is not really my own ideas here, there's, there's a lot I was able to kind of just read and kind. Throw, throw something around this because I think you're absolutely right that Jesus is bringing an ES escalation here and it's almost like a little bit easier for us to understand the whole sheep thing. I think the context of the lost coin, like you're already saying, is a little bit less familiar to us, and so I got into this. Rabbit hole over the question, why would this woman have 10 silver coins? I really got stuck on like, so why does she have these? And Jesus specific about that he's giving a particular context. Presumably those within his hearing in earshot understood this context far better than I did. So what I was surprised to see is that a lot of commentators you probably run into this, have stated or I guess promulgated this idea that the woman is young and unmarried and the 10 silver coins could. Could represent a dowry. So in some way here too, like it's not just a lot of money, it's possible that this was her saving up and it was a witness to her availability for marriage. [00:28:57] The Significance of the Lost Coin [00:28:57] Jesse Schwamb: So e either way, if that's true or not, Jesus is really emphasizing to us there's significant and severe loss here. And so just like you said, it would be a fool who would just like say, oh, well that's too bad. The coin is probably in here somewhere, but eh, I'm just gonna go about my normal business. Yeah. And forsake it. Like, let's, let's not worry about it. So. The emphasis then on this one is not so much like the leaving behind presumably can keep the remaining nine coins somewhere safe if you had them. But this effort and this diligence to, to go after and find this lost one. So again, we know it's all about finding what was lost, but this kind of momentum that Jesus is bringing to this, like the severity of this by saying there was this woman, and of course like here we find that part of this parable isn't just in the, the kingdom of God's like this, like we were talking about before. It's more than that because there's this expression of, again, the situation combined with these active verbs. I think we talked about last time that Christ love is an act of love and it's always being acted upon the sinner, the one who has to be redeemed, his child whom he goes after. So in the same way, we have Christ showing the self-denying love. Like in the first case, the shepherd brought his sheep home on his shoulders rather than leave it in the wilderness. And then here. The woman does like everything. She lights the candle, she sweeps the house. She basically turns the thing, the place upside down, searching diligently and spared no pains with this until she found her lost money. And before we get into the whole rejoicing thing, it just strikes me that, you know, in the same way, I think what we have here is Christ affirming that he didn't spare himself. He's not gonna spare himself. When he undertakes to save sinners, he does all the things. He endures the cross scor in shame. He lays down his life for his friends. There's no greater love than that. It cannot be shown, and so Christ's love is deep and mighty. It's like this woman doing all the things, tearing the place apart to ensure that that which she knew she had misplaced comes back to her. That the full value of everything that she knows is hers. Is safe and secure in her possession and so does the Lord Jesus rejoice the safe sinners in the same way. And that's where this is incredibly powerful. It's not just, Hey, let me just say it to you one more time. There is a reemphasis here, but I like where you're going, this re-escalation. I think the first question is, why do the woman have this money? What purpose is it serving? And I think if we can at least try to appreciate some of that, then we see again how Jesus is going after that, which is that he, he wants to save the sinner. He wants to save the soul. And all of the pleasure, then all of the rejoicing comes because, and, and as a result of that context. [00:31:22] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:23] Theological Implications of God's People [00:31:23] Tony Arsenal: The other thing, um, maybe, and, and I hope I'm not overreading again, we've, we've talked about the dangers of overreading, the parables, but I think there's a, and we'll, we'll come to this too when we get into the, um, prodigal son. Um, there is this sense, I think in some theological traditions that. God is sort of like claiming a people who were not his own. Right. And one of the things that I love about the reform tradition, and, and I love it because this is the picture the Bible teaches, is the emphasis on the fact that God's people have been God's people. As long as God has been pondering and con like contemplating them. So like we deny eternal justification, right? Justification happens in time and there's a real change in our status, in in time when, when the spirit applies, the benefits that Christ has purchased for us in redemption, right? But there's also a very real sense that God has been looking and considering us as his people in eternity past. Like that's always. That's the nature of the Pactum salutes, the, you know, covenant of redemption election. The idea that like God is not saving a nameless, faceless people. He's not creating conditions that people can either move themselves into or take themselves out of. He has a concrete people. Who he is saving, who he has chosen. He, he, you know, prior to our birth, he will redeem us. He now, he has redeemed us and he will preserve us in all of these parables, whether it's the sheep, the coin, or as we'll get to the prodigal sun next week or, or whenever. Um. It's not that God is discovering something new that he didn't have, or it's not that the woman is discovering a coin, right? There's nothing more, uh, I think nothing more like sort of, uh, spontaneously delightful than like when you like buy a, like a jacket at the thrift store. Like you go to Salvation Army and you buy a jacket, you get home, you reach in the pocket and there's like a $10 bill and you're like, oh man, that's so, so great. Or like, you find a, you find a. A $10 bill on the ground, or you find a quarter on the ground, right? Yeah. Or you find your own money. Well, and that that's, there's a different kind of joy, right? That's the point, is like, there's a delight that comes with finding something. And again, like we have to be careful about like, like not stealing, right? But there's a different kind of joy that comes with like finding something that was not yours that now becomes yours. We talked about that with parables a couple weeks ago, right? There's a guy who finds it, he's, he's searching for pearls. He finds a pearl, and so he goes after he sells everything he has and he claims that pearl, but that wasn't his before the delight was in sort of finding something new. These parables. The delight is in reclaiming and refining something that was yours that was once lost. Right? That's a different thing. And it paints a picture, a different picture of God than the other parables where, you know, the man kind of stumbles on treasure in a field or he finds a pearl that he was searching for, but it wasn't his pearl. This is different. This is teaching us that God is, is zealous and jealous to reclaim that which was his, which was lost. Yes. Right. So, you know, we can get, we can, maybe we will next week, maybe we will dig into like super laps area versus infra laps. AIRism probably not, I don't necessarily wanna have that conversation. But there is a reality in the Bible where God has a chosen people and they are his people, even before he redeems them. [00:34:52] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly. [00:34:53] God's Relentless Pursuit of Sinners [00:34:53] Tony Arsenal: These parables all emphasize that in a different way and part of what he's, part of what he's ribbing at with the Pharisees and the, and the scribes, and this is common across all of Christ's teaching in his interactions and we get into true Israel with, with Paul, I mean this is the consistent testimony of the New Testament, is that the people who thought they were God's people. The, the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the, the sort of elites of, uh, first century Jewish believers, they really were convinced that they were God's people. And those dirty gentiles out there, they, they're not, and even in certain sense, like even the Jewish people out in the country who don't even, you know, they don't know the scriptures that like, even those people were maybe barely God's people. Christ is coming in here and he is going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like you're asking me. You're surprised that I receive sinners and e with them. Well, I'm coming to claim that which is mine, which was lost, and the right response to that is not to turn your nose up at it. The right response is to rejoice with me that I have found my sheep that was lost, that I have reclaimed my coin that was lost. And as we'll see later on, like he really needles them at the end of the, the, uh, parable of the prodigal son. This is something I, I have to be like intentional in my own life because I think sometimes we hear conversion stories and we have this sort of, I, I guess like, we'll call it like the, the Jonah I heresy, I dunno, we won't call it heresy, but like the, the, the like Jonah impulse that we all have to be really thankful for God's mercy in our life. But sort of question whether God is. Merciful or even be a little bit upset when it seems that God is being merciful to those sinners over there. We have to really like, use these parables in our own lives to pound that out of our system because it's, it's ungodly and it's not what God is, is calling us. And these parables really speak against that [00:36:52] Jesse Schwamb: and all of us speak in. In that lost state, but that doesn't, I think like you're saying, mean that we are not God's already. That if he has established that from a trinity past, then we'd expect what others have said about God as the hound of heaven to be true. And that is he comes and he chases down his own. What's interesting to me is exactly what you've said. We often recognize when we do this in reverse and we look at the parable of the lost son, all of these elements, how the father comes after him, how there's a cha singer coming to himself. There's this grand act of repentance. I would argue all of that is in all of these parables. Not, not to a lesser extent, just to a different extent, but it's all there. So in terms of like couching this, and I think what we might use is like traditionally reformed language. And I, I don't want to say I'm overeating this, I hope I'm not at that same risk, but we see some of this like toll depravity and like the sinner is lost, unable to move forward, right? There still is like the sovereign grace of God who's initiating the salvation and there is a kind of effect of calling that God doesn't merely invite, he finds, he goes after he affects the very thing. Yeah, and I think we're seeing that here. There is. The sinner, spiritual inability. There's an utter passivity until found. The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace. It's all there for us. Yeah, it's in a slightly different way, but I think that's what we're meant to like take away from this. We're meant to lean into that a bit. [00:38:12] Rejoicing in Salvation [00:38:12] Jesse Schwamb: And the reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased is because God has this real pleasure. Jesus has this real pleasure. The Holy Spirit has this real pleasure. To pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire. You know, it was Jesus, literally his food and drink like not to be too trite, but like his jam went upon the earth to finish the work, which he came to do. And there are many times when he says he ammi of being constrained in the spirit until this was accomplished. And it's still his delight to show mercy like you're saying He is. And even Jonah recognizes that, right. He said like, I knew you were going to be a merciful God. And so he's far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved. But that is the gospel level voice, isn't it? Because we can come kicking and screaming, but in God's great mercy, not because of works and unrighteousness, but because of his great mercy, he comes and he tears everything apart to rescue and to save those whom he's called to himself. [00:39:06] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I love that old, um, Puritan phrase that wrath is God's alien work. And we, you know, like you gotta be careful when you start to talk that way. And the Puritans were definitely careful about everything. I mean, they were very specific when they spoke, but. When we talk about God's alien work and wrath being God's alien work, what we're saying is not, not that like somehow wrath is external to God. Like that's not what we're getting at of Right. But when you look at scripture and, and here's something that I think, um. I, I don't know how I wanna say this. Like, I think we read that the road is narrow and the the, um, you know, few are those who find it. I think we read that and we somehow think like, yeah, God, God, like, really loves that. Not a lot of people are saved. And I, I actually think that like, when we look at it, um, and, and again, like we have to be careful 'cause God, God. God decreed that which he is delighted by, and also that which glorifies him the most. Right? Right. But the picture that we get in scripture, and we have to take this seriously with all of the caveats that it's accommodated, it's anthropopathism that, you know, all of, all of the stuff we've talked about. We did a whole series on systematic theology. We did like six episodes on Divine Simplicity and immutability. Like we we're, we're right in line with the historic tradition on that. All of those caveats, uh, all of those caveats in place, the Bible pic paints a picture of God such that he grieves over. Those who are lost. Right? Right. He takes no delight in the death of the wicked. That's right. He, he, he seeks after the lost and he rejoices when he finds them. Right. He's, his, his Holy Spirit is grieved when we disobey him, his, his anger is kindled even towards his people in a paternal sense. Right. He disciplines us the way an angry father who loves us, would discipline us when we disobey him. That is a real, that's a real thing. What exactly that means, how we can apply that to God is a very complicated conversation. And maybe sometimes it's more complicated than we, like, we make it more complicated than it needs to be for sure. Um, we wanna be careful to preserve God's changeness, his immutability, his simplicity, all of those things. But at the end of the day, at. God grieves over lost sinners, and he rejoices when they come back. He rejoices when they return to him. Just as the shepherd who finds his lost sheep puts that sheep on his shoulders, right? That's not just because that's an easy way to carry a sheep, right? It's also like this picture of this loving. Intimate situation where God pulls us onto himself and he, he wraps literally like wraps us around himself. Like there are times when, um. You know, I have a toddler and there are times where I have to carry that toddler, and it's, it's a fight, right? And I don't really enjoy doing it. He's squirming, he's fighting. Then there are times where he needs me to hold him tight, and he, he snuggles in. When he falls down and hurts his leg, the first thing he does is he runs and he jumps on me, and he wants to be held tight, and there's a f there's a fatherly embrace there that not only brings comfort to my son. But it brings great joy to me to be able to comfort him that that dynamic in a, uh, a infinitely greater sense is at play here in the lost sheep. And then there's this rejoicing. It's not just rejoicing that God is rejoicing, it's the angels that are rejoicing. [00:42:43] The Joy of Redemption [00:42:43] Tony Arsenal: It's the, it's other Christians. It's the great cloud of witnesses that are rejoicing when Aah sinner is returned to God. All of God's kingdom and everything that that includes, all of that is involved in this rejoicing. That's why I think like in the first parable, in the parable of the lost sheep, it's joy in heaven. Right? It's sort of general joy in heaven. It's not specific. Then this one is even more specific. It's not just general joy in heaven. It's the angels of God. That's right. That are rejoicing. And then I think what we're gonna find, and we'll we'll tease this out when we get to the next par, well the figure in the prodigal son that is rejoicing. The one that is leading the rejoicing, the chief rejoice is the one who's the standin for God in that parable. [00:43:26] Jesse Schwamb: Right, exactly right. So, [00:43:27] Tony Arsenal: so we have to, we have to both recognize that there's a true grief. A true sorrow that is appropriate to speak of God, um, as having when a sinner is lost. And there's also an equally appropriate way to speak about God rejoicing and being pleased and delighted when a sinner returns to him. [00:43:53] Jesse Schwamb: That's the real payoff of this whole parable. I think, uh, maybe all three of them altogether, is that it is shocking how good the gospel is, which we're always saying, yeah, but I'm really always being moved, especially these last couple weeks with what Jesus is saying about how good, how truly unbelievable the gospel is. And again, it draws us to the. Old Testament scriptures when even the Israel saying, who is like this? Who is like our God? So what's remarkable about this is that there's an infinite willingness on God's part to receive sinners. [00:44:23] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:44:23] Jesse Schwamb: And however wicked a man may have been, and the day that he really turns from his wickedness and comes to God by Christ, God is well pleased and all of heaven with him, and God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, like you said, but God has pleasure and true repentance. If all of that's true, then like day to day, here's what I, I think this means for us. [00:44:41] Applying the Parable to Our Lives [00:44:41] Jesse Schwamb: Is when we come to Christ for mercy and love and help and whatever anguish and perplexity and simpleness that we all have, and we all have it, we are going with the flow. If his own deepest wishes, we're not going against them. And so this means that God has for us when we partake in the toning work of Christ, coming to Christ for forgiveness, communing with him despite our sinfulness, that we are laying hold of Christ's own deepest longing and joy. [00:45:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And [00:45:10] Jesse Schwamb: Jesus is comforted when we draw near the riches of his atoning work because as his body, even his own body in a way is being healed in this process. And so we, along with it, that I think is the payoff here. That's what's just so remarkable is that not only, like you're saying, is all heaven kind of paying attention to this. Like they're cognizant of it. It's something worthy of their attention and their energies and their rejoicing. But again, it's showing that God is doing all of this work and so he keeps calling us and calling us and calling us over and over again and just like you said, the elect sinner, those estr belongs to God and his eternal purpose. Even that by itself, we could just say full stop. Shut it down end the podcast. Yeah. That's just worthy to, to rejoice and, and ponder. But this is how strong I think we see like per election in particular, redemption in these passages. Christ died for his chief specifically crisis going after the lost coin, which already belongs to him. So like you were saying, Tony, when you know, or maybe you don't know, but you've misplaced some kind of money and you put your hand in that pocket of that winter coat for the first time that season and out comes the piece of paper, that's whatever, 20 or whatever, you rejoice in that, right. Right. It's like this was mine. I knew it was somewhere, it belonged to me, except that what's even better here is this woman tears her whole place apart to go after this one coin that she knows is hers and yet has been lost. I don't know what more it is to be said. I just cannot under emphasize. Or overemphasize how great God's love is in this like amazing condescension, so that when Jesus describes himself as being gentle and lowly or gentle and humble or gentle and humiliated, that I, I think as we understand the biblical text, it's not necessarily just that he's saying, well, I'm, I'm displaying. Meekness power under control. When he says he's humble, he means put in this incredibly lowly state. Yeah. That the rescue mission, like you're saying, involves not just like, Hey, she lemme call you back. Hey, come over here, says uh. He goes and he picks it up. It's the ultimate rescue, picks it up and takes it back by his own volition, sacrificing everything or to do that and so does this woman in this particular instance, and it should lead us. I think back to there's this virtuous cycle of seeing this, experiencing this. Being compelled by the law of Christ, as Paul says, by the power of the Holy Spirit and being regenerated and then worshiping, and then repenting, and then worshiping, and then repenting, and then worshiping. Because in the midst of that repentance and that beautifulness recognizing, as Isaiah says, all of these idols that we set up, that we run to, the one thing they cannot do for us is they cannot deal with sin. They cannot bring cleanliness and righteousness through confession of sin. They cannot do that. So Christ is saying, come to the one you who are needy, you who have no money. To use another metaphor in the Bible, come and buy. And in doing so, we're saying, Christ, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. And when he says, come, come, I, I've, I have already run. After you come and be restored, come and be renewed. That which was lost my child. You have been found and I have rescued you. [00:48:04] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And these, these are so, um, these two parables are so. Comfortable. Like, right, like they are there, there are certain passages of scripture that you can just like put on like a big fuzzy warm bathrobe on like sn a cold morning, a snuggy. Yeah. I don't know if I want to go that far, but spirits are snuggy and, and these two are like that, right? Like, I know there are times where I feel like Christ redeemed me sort of begrudgingly, right? Mm-hmm. I think we have, we have this, um, concept in our mind of. Sort of the suffering servant, you know, like he's kind of like, ah, if I have to do it, I will. Right, right. And, and like, I think we, we would, if, if we were the ones who were, were being tasked to redeem something, we might do it. You know, we might do it and we. We might feel a certain sense of satisfaction about it, but I can tell you that if I had a hundred sheep and I had lost one, I would not lay it on my shoulder rejoicing. I would lay it on my shoulder. Frustrated and glad that I finally found it, but like. Right. Right. That's not what Christ did. That's right. Christ lays us on his shoulders rejoicing. Right. I know. Like when you lose something, it's frustrating and it's not just the loss of it that's frustrating. It's the time you have to take to find it. And sometimes like, yeah, you're happy that you found it, but you're like, man, it would've just been nice if I hadn't lost this in [00:49:36] Jesse Schwamb: the That's right. [00:49:37] Tony Arsenal: This woman, there's none of that. There's no, um, there's no regret. There's no. Uh, there's no begrudging this to it. There's nothing. It's just rejoicing. She's so happy. And it's funny, I can imagine, uh, maybe, maybe this is my own, uh, lack of sanctification here. I can imagine being that friend that's like, I gotta come over 'cause you found your coin, right? Like, I can be, I could imagine me that person, but Right. But honestly, like. This is a, this is a situation where she's so overcome with joy. She just has to tell people about it. Yeah. She has to share it with people. It, it reminds me, and I've seen this, I've seen this, um, connection made in the past certainly isn't new to me. I don't, I don't have any specific sorts to say, but like the woman at the well, right. She gets this amazing redemption. She gets this, this Messiah right in front of her. She leaves her buckets at the well, and she goes into a town of people who probably hate her, who think she's just the worst scum of society and she doesn't care. She goes into town to tell everybody about the fact that the Messiah has come, right? And they're so like stunned by the fact that she's doing it. Like they come to see what it is like that's what we need to be like. So there's. There's an element here of not only the rejoicing of God, and again, like, I guess I'm surprised because I've, I've, I've never sort of really read this. Part, I've never read this into it too much or I've never like really pulled this out, but it, now that I'm gonna say it, it just seems logical, like not only is God rejoicing in this, but again, it should be calling us to rejoice, right? Christ is. Christ is using these parables to shame the Pharisees and the scribes who refuse to rejoice over the salvation of sinners. How often do we not rejoice over our own salvation sufficiently? Like when's the last time? And I, I don't want to, this is, this can be a lot of loss. So again, like. God is not calling every single person to stand up on their lunch table at work, or, I don't know if God's calling anybody to stand up on the lunch table at work. Right. To like, like scream about how happy they are that they're sick, happy, happy. But like, when's the last time you were so overcome with joy that in the right opportunity, it just over, like it just overcame you and you had to share it. I don't rem. Putting myself bare here, like I don't remember the last time that happened. I share my faith with people, like my coworkers know that I'm a Christian and, um, my, they know that like, there are gonna be times where like I will bring biblical ethics and biblical concepts into my work. Like I regularly use bible examples to illustrate a principle I'm trying to teach my employees or, or I will regularly sort of. In a meeting where there's some question about what the right, not just like the correct thing to do, but the right thing to do. I will regularly bring biblical morality into those conversations. Nobody is surprised by that. Nobody's really offended by it. 'cause I just do it regularly. But I don't remember the last time where I was so overcome with joy because of my salvation that I just had to tell somebody. Right. And that's a, that's a, that's an indictment on me. That's not an indictment on God. That's not an indictment on anyone else. That's an indictment on me. This parable is calling me to be more joyful about. My salvation. [00:52:52] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. One of the, I think the best and easiest verses from Psalms to memorize is let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Yes. Like, say something, speak up. There's, there's a great truth in what you're saying. Of course. And I think we mentioned this last time. There's a communal delight of redemption. And here we see that played out maybe a little bit more explicitly because the text says that the joy is before the angels, meaning that still God is the source of the joy. In other words, the angels share in God's delight night, vice versa, and not even just in salvation itself, but the fact that God is delighted in this great salvation, that it shows the effectiveness of his saving power. All that he has designed will come to pass because he super intends his will over all things that all things, again are subservient to our salvation. And here, why would that not bring him great joy? Because that's exactly what he intends and is able to do. And the angels rejoice along with him because his glory is revealed in his mighty power. So I'm, I'm with you. I mean, this reminds me. Of what the author of Hebrew says. This is chapter 12, just the first couple of verses. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses in this communal kind of redemption of joy surrounding us. Laying aside every weight and the sin,

In the December 4 episode of The Interpreter Foundation Podcast, our host Martin Tanner discusses finding the Messiah in the Old Testament. The post Interpreter Podcast — December 4, 2025 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people.  Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah.  Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf.  In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives.  Each name describes the nature of the One True God!  Each is Jehovah!  Together, they are the J-Team!To protect Baby Jesus by keeping his location a secret from King Herod, Jehovah Rohi, The Lord God Almighty Our Shepherd, leads the wise men to return home on a different route.#kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahrohi, #thelordgodalmightyourshepherd, #protection, #guidance, #jesusourgoodshepherd, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebbImage by Freepik

This month on Theonomoney, Jeremy begins looking at the Fourth Commandment, the Commandment on the Sabbath. He goes into various types of Sabbaths in the Old Testament and describes a focus on the Sabbath we should have to combat legalism concerning it. Subscribe on your favorite podcast catcher, tell your friends about Theonomoney, and follow Theonomoney on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Check out great theonomic shirts and hoodies here: bonfire.com/store/theonomoney/ Catechism link: www.reformedreader.org/ccc/keachcat.htm

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/timschmoyerComment on the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/training-for-authority-i-dont-haveI've really appreciated the feedback I've received lately from people who are following along as I explore this “eldership” role in more detail, especially the critical comments that point out the gaps I'm missing in all this.I want to address one of the most common critiques because it was helpful for me to wrestle through, so hopefully it is for you, too.The critique is best theologically summarized by my friend, Sonny Silverton, who commented on an earlier post:Do you delineate between πρεσβύτερος and ἐπίσκοπος or ποιμήν? Have you considered that Paul might be talking about ordained overseers vs older dudes who are merely wise and righteous?The heart of the question is this: “Tim, you're talking about eldership as if it's something for every God-fearing man out there, but the Bible doesn't seem to treat it that way. The Bible talks about elders as men who are specifically selected and ordained by the laying-on of hands.”The honest answer? I hadn't worked through the details of it yet, so I'm glad he pushed me in that direction. I've been writing about city elders and elder qualifications more generally because I still believe they are noble qualifications and roles that every man can aspire to live by (1 Timothy 3:1).But Sonny's question forced me to dig a bit deeper into what Scripture actually means when it uses these three terms for elders. What I discovered brings a lot of clarity to what we're aspiring towards as God-fearing men.Three Words, But One TrajectoryVery briefly, scripture uses three primary Greek words that English translations render as elder, overseer, or shepherd.* Presbyteros refers to an older man, someone with age, maturity, and experience. The guy has authority simply because of accumulated years and demonstrated character. These are the men at the city gates in Proverbs 31:23, the respected voices in community decisions, the ones younger men seek out for counsel.* Episkopos means overseer or guardian. It's someone who watches over others with authority. Paul uses this term interchangeably with presbyteros in passages like Titus 1, suggesting these aren't separate offices but overlapping roles. The overseer holds responsibility for the welfare of those under his care.* Poimen is shepherd, the one who feeds, protects, and guides the flock. Peter uses this image when he tells elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1 Peter 5:2). The shepherd doesn't just manage — he knows his sheep, understands their needs, leads them to good pasture.Scripture often blends these terms together. The ordained elder (presbyteros) serves as an overseer (episkopos) who shepherds (poimen) God's people. An elder carries all three dimensions: maturity, authority, and care.Subscribe to join me and other Christian men in pursuing the noble task of eldership (1 Tim 3:1).The Office vs The CharacterYet scripture does create a distinction between the office and the qualifications of eldership. The office of elder (presbyteros) in the church requires ordination, the laying on of hands by apostles or those they appointed. Timothy himself was charged to appoint elders in every town (Titus 1:5), establishing them with authority to teach, correct, and shepherd the congregation.Not every mature man holds this office. Paul is clear: these men must be appointed, recognized, set apart for this specific work.But the qualifications? Those belong to every God-fearing man who want to engage in this noble pursuit. Mature in the faith. Self-controlled. Hospitable. Able to teach. Managing his household well. Not a drunkard, not violent, not quarrelsome. Respected by outsiders.These aren't requirements set aside solely for church government. They're the portrait of biblical manhood at its fullest expression. They describe the kind of man who fathers well, works with integrity, speaks wisdom into difficult situations, and earns the trust of his community whether or not he ever holds an official church position.This is why Paul writes that aspiring to the office of overseer “is a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). The nobility isn't in the title. It's in the character formation required to serve that way. It's in becoming the kind of man whose life qualifies him for such responsibility.What this means practically: not every mature man will be ordained to church leadership. But every mature God-fearing man should be growing toward elder-level character. The qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 aren't just for those who might someday serve as church elders. They're the target for masculine development for all of us.City Eldership in the Old Testament (and us today)So where does this leave city eldership, the idea of men serving as fathers to their communities, not just their congregations and homes?As far as we know, the city elders at the gate in Scripture weren't ordained religious leaders. They were respected men whose character gave them natural authority in community decisions. When Boaz needed witnesses for his transaction with Ruth's kinsman-redeemer, he gathered ten elders from the city gate (Ruth 4:2).The Hebrew word used in Ruth 4 (and throughout the Old Testament) is zaqen (זָקֵן), which primarily means “old man,” “aged,” or “bearded one.” The meaning is consistently about age and the natural authority and wisdom that comes with it.This is closer to what I mean by city eldership. Not running for city council (though some men will be called there too), but becoming the kind of man the community knows they can trust. The father who helps other fathers navigate raising teenagers in a digital age. The business owner who mentors younger men building their own companies. The grandfather whose home becomes a gathering place where wisdom flows freely.These aren't ordained shepherds of God's flock in the appointed sense, but they're men living out elder-level character in their spheres of influence.What Eldership Looks Like in the KingdomFor me, this all connects directly to Jesus' principle that faithful stewardship today is the training ground for authority in the Kingdom in the age to come.I know I use this passage a lot, but in the parable of the minas (Luke 19), Jesus rewards the faithful servants not with retirement or rest, but with responsibility. The servant who proved faithful in managing one mina receives exousia (authority) over ten cities.Some dismiss this as “just a parable,” and we shouldn't read too much into it, but Jesus isn't the only one teaching this principle. Paul states it as settled fact in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3:“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... Do you not know that we will judge angels?”And in Revelation 2:26-27, Jesus promises directly:“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.”I don't think Jesus' parable in Luke 19 is just a metaphor. Scripture repeatedly affirms that faithful believers will exercise actual governing authority in the age to come. The only question is how much authority, which seems to depend on how we steward what God entrusts to us now.The Progression Scripture Describes for MenNotice the progression Scripture lays out:* The zaqen at the city gate earned natural authority through decades of faithful living. And some of those men are appointed to a be the presbyteros in the church.* The faithful steward in Luke 19 receives Kingdom exousia, the ruling authority over cities, as a reward from Jesus himself based on how they managed what He entrusted to them.* The overcomer in Revelation 2 who perseveres in faithfulness receives exousia over entire nations, ruling alongside Christ with the authority to govern.* The saints in 1 Corinthians 6 will judge not only the world but even angels, exercising authority that extends beyond human affairs into the spiritual realm itself.It's the trajectory that starts in Genesis 1 to “rule and reign, to be fruitful and multiply.” And all of it rooted in one principle: present management determines future authority.Subscribe to join me and other Christian men in pursuing the noble task of eldership (1 Tim 3:1).Why This MattersThis is why elder qualifications matter for every man, not just those pursuing church office. You're in training for rulership.* The father managing his household well today is being prepared to govern cities and nations in the Kingdom.* The business owner treating employees with justice and mercy is learning how to exercise authority righteously.* The man navigating conflict with wisdom and patience is developing the character required for judging between people—and eventually, even judging angels.Peter connects these dots when he reminds elders that “when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4). Crowns are worn by rulers. Present faithfulness as an elder—whether ordained in office or living out elder character in your sphere—is rewarded with future glory.God is looking for men He can trust with nations because they first proved faithful with minas. Men who learned to serve before they're given authority to rule. Men who became zaqen-level leaders in their communities before receiving exousia-level authority in the Kingdom.Answering Sonny's QuestionSo where does this leave Sonny's original critique? He's right. There absolutely is a distinction between ordained church elders and “older dudes who are merely wise and righteous.” The office requires ordination. Not every mature man will hold it, and that's ok.But I don't think that distinction minimizes what I'm after here. The elder qualifications are a character blueprint for every man headed toward Kingdom rulership, whether you're ever ordained or not.Paul assumes the Corinthians already know this. “Do you not know?” he asks, almost incredulously. God-fearing believers will rule. The only variables are scope and timing, and those seem to depend entirely on present faithfulness.The question is: am I becoming the kind of man whose character qualifies me for Kingdom responsibility? Am I managing my household in a way that proves I'm ready for tomorrow's city?My family isn't the finish line. Neither is a church office. They're training ground for authority that stretches into eternity—over cities, over nations, over the world, even over angels. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit read.timschmoyer.com

Yesterdaywe talked about what it means to be apostle. Those were the 12 that Jesusoriginally chose (Matthew 10:1-4). Specifically, these Apostles had to be a witnessof Jesus life and ministry since His baptism and also His resurrection (Acts1:21-22). These were specially chosen men we read about in the Book of Actsthat laid the foundation of the church. But also other special group thatassisted in laying the foundation of the church in the first century were menwho were called the prophets. Nowwe usually think of a prophet in the Old Testament of someone that predicts thefuture. God gave these men special revelation and insight to talk about thingsto come. But in the New Testament, the prophet was someone who forthtold theword of God. Remember in the first century New Testament church in the book ofActs, they did not have a New Testament. Most of the believers did not havecopies of the Old Testament. Those were on scrolls and these were in thesynagogues. Therefore, they needed the office of a prophet who also laid thefoundation of the church along with the apostles.  Thesepeople were gifted by the Holy Spirit with special knowledge and wisdom. Weread in 1 Corinthians 13:2, "Though I have the gift of prophecy andunderstand all mysteries and all knowledge…." This gift and officegave them special insight to God's truths. They could proclaim to the localchurch a direct revelation from God that would help the early believers to knowand understand the truth and will of God concerning the mystery and ministry ofthe church along with specific application of God's Word concerning theirlives. At the same time many of these gifted men, like Paul, also gave revelationabout future events concerning the future of the church in the last days asthey were inspired to write letters to the churches. Inthe book of Romans 12:4-8 we find that there are seven spiritual gifts that arementioned. The first one that is mentioned in Romans 12:6 is prophesy alongwith instruction on how to exercise the gift. I believe that as important andnecessary as it was for all the spiritual gifts to be exercised in the localchurch that it also appears that these gifts are listed in order of theirimportance as far as their use in the church. Here in Ephesians 4:11 the giftand office of Apostleship is of course the first one. And as far as this giftand office is concerned, it was for very a specific purpose and for a veryspecific time period at the beginning and foundation of the church. Nextin importance would be the gift of prophecy.  In 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul writes: “Pursuelove, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy”. Thenhe goes on to explain what the purpose of prophecy is in verses 2-5: “But he who prophesies speaksedification and exhortation and comfort to men. Sothis spiritual gift of prophecy was given to the men to come alongside the menwho had the gift of Apostleship to specially lay the foundation. You see thisin Ephesians 2:20: “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles andprophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone”. So they preached JesusChrist. They taught that Jesus was the head of the body, the chief cornerstone. Ibelieve that today it is possible the gift of prophecy is still able to beexercised, but it has to do with a person who is able to lead the church insuch a way that he understands and has special discernment of what is right andwrong in a specific way and is able to call out evil. Still, other Biblescholars believe the gift of prophecy expired with the early church when the NewTestament was completed. What matters today is that we still have love andunity and make the name and salvation of Jesus known to everyone we can! Godbless!

Moses is one of the most important figures in the Old Testament. But it was Moses' father-in-law who kept him from burning out while governing two million people. Today, Derek Thomas considers Jethro's godly counsel for leadership. For your donation of any amount, receive lifetime digital access to Derek Thomas' new teaching series, Who Are They?, and the companion study guide. We'll also send you a special Renewing Your Mind journal: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4459/offer   Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Get the digital teaching series and study guide with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global    Meet Today's Teacher:   Derek Thomas is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and Chancellor's Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.   Meet the Host:   Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

And if you don't believe it, let's learn this cool doctrine! Open up to D&C 138:17. And grab study guides for the whole family here: - To get Cali's scripture study guide for adults click here: https://comefollowmestudy.com/shop/ Discount code: OMSSOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0pKf8Xt- Kristen's daily scripture study help is available for kids/teens/adults in digital and physical form here :https://kristenwalkersmith.com/starthere/And for weekly help understanding the storyline of Come Follow Me check out her YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/Grab copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/Get our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book in Costco stores in Utah, Idaho, ArizonaOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicki Minaj took her celebrity platform to the UN to cry persecution over Nigerian Christian killings, conveniently ignoring that Muslims and non-Christians are also victims of the ongoing violence there. We dissect this self-aggrandizing move, questioning the motivation behind using "God-given" influence to prioritize Christian suffering for social or political gain. Her speech hypocritically ignored the lack of religious freedom faced by minorities in her own country while promoting a massive persecution complex. Why can't she "just be in entertainment"?News Source:Nicki Minaj Addresses United Nations About Alleged Christian Persecution in NigeriaBy Unknown for KTLADecember 3rd, 2025 https://ktla.com/entertainment/nicki-minaj-addresses-united-nations-about-alleged-christian-persecution-in-nigeria/amp/The Non-Prophets, Episode 24.48.2 featuring Rob, Flabbergasted, & Stephen HarderNicki Minaj Cries Persecution at the UN Christian Nationalism Goes Global The Hypocrisy of US Religious Freedom Claims Stop Ignoring Muslim Deaths in Nigeria Nicki Minaj's Self-Aggrandizing Speech Exposed Celebrity Christianity: Influence by God? War Threats Over Christian Killings? Nicki Minaj: Christian or Christian Nationalist? Christian Persecution Complex Goes Pop Star When Celebs Weaponize Their Faith Are Christians the Only Victims in Nigeria? Why Celebrity Pundits Shouldn't Talk Politics Unpacking Nicki Minaj's Moral Authority Claim Nigeria: Farmers vs. Faith? The Cost of Christian Tokenism Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-non-prophets--3254964/support.

J-Team 7: Jehovah Rohi 12/4/25 Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people.  Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah.  Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf.  In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives.  Each name describes the nature of the One True God!  Each is Jehovah!  Together, they are the J-Team! To protect Baby Jesus by keeping his location a secret from King Herod, Jehovah Rohi, The Lord God Almighty Our Shepherd, leads the wise men to return home on a different route. #kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahrohi, #thelordgodalmightyourshepherd, #protection, #guidance, #jesusourgoodshepherd, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

In the last part of chapter 21, John sees a vision of a city -- the New Jerusalem -- coming out of heaven. The city is called the Lamb's wife, and it is presented as a symbolic portrait of the church. The city's architecture is described carefully, the details of which point back to key texts from the Old Testament. How do these scriptural allusions and echoes advance hope for the first-century churches and, for that matter, 21st century believers? Listen to find out!+++Support The Bible (Unmuted) via Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/TheBibleUnmuted⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matthew's blog: matthewhalsted.substack.comDon't forget to subscribe to The Bible (Unmuted)!

Prosperity preachers twist the prayer of Jabez as a template for getting whatever we desire from God. Yet the true lesson of this Old Testament prayer is far more profound. Today, Derek Thomas speaks on God's providence and faithful care for His people. For your donation of any amount, receive lifetime digital access to Derek Thomas' new teaching series, Who Are They?, and the companion study guide. We'll also send you a special Renewing Your Mind journal: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4459/offer   Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Get the digital teaching series and study guide with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global    Meet Today's Teacher:   Derek Thomas is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and Chancellor's Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.   Meet the Host:   Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts