Podcasts about Old Testament

Dr. Katie McCoy discusses Old Testament laws that cover what she terms “coerced disgrace,” and shows us the tender love of God in those laws.

Today we're studying Genesis 19:15 in just one minute! Grab your scriptures and let's dive into them together!And grab study guides for the whole family here: -Grab Kristen's copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/ Check out her monthly Come Follow Me 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/4qocgeUGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Romans 11:18-22 — Now that Christ has come, what is the relationship between Jews and Gentiles? This is the question Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones seeks to answer in this sermon on Romans 11:18–22 titled “None Should Boast.” Christ Jesus has come and instituted the new covenant – the fulfilment of all of God's Old Testament covenants. In the new covenant, there is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile, for all are made one by believing in Christ and in His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul makes it clear that the Jews have not been rejected in total, but only those Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ. Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that it is a mistake to think that the Gentiles are part of the new covenant because of anything they have done. Paul goes on to make it perfectly clear that salvation is always by grace and grace alone. Nothing either Jews or Gentiles can do can ever make them part of the people of God. It is by the grace of God given in His Son Jesus Christ that anyone can know God and love Him. Gentiles have no ground for boasting because it is all the grace of God and not human works or merit. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29?v=20251111

A controversial topic in the discussion on predestination is that God predestined the wicked in history. These are the reprobate — people who could care less about God and were never going to be saved. This is very offensive to modern culture, so today we will see what the bible has to say on this very important topic. * 00:00 - Introduction * 06:45 - Eternal Conscious Torment* 14:39 - God's Fairness* 21:57 - Reprobation in the Old Testament* 41:07 - Reprobation in the New Testament* 1:07:55 - The Importance of Boundaries This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danceoflife.com/subscribe

Welcome to “Finding Christ in the Old Testament.” To view the resources connected with this episode, visit https://johnhiltoniii.com/findingchrist. Please like and comment on this episode and subscribe @scripturecentralofficial so you can more easily see the rest of the videos and resources in this course. Whether you're using this course for personal enrichment or to help with "Come, Follow Me," we hope it will be valuable in your studies.

Do we have trust that God will provide for us? Let's study Genesis 22:8!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/4qocgeU-Grab Kristen's copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/ Check out her monthly Come Follow Me YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/Get our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rise of Replacement Theology and Anti-Jewish Propaganda | KWR-0057 Kingdom War Room Episode Description In this Kingdom War Room roundtable, Dr. Michael Lake is joined by Dr. Mike Spaulding, Dr. Corby Shuey, and Dr. Justin Elwell for a sober, Scripture-centered discussion on replacement theology (supersessionism)—its historical roots, its modern resurgence, and why it fuels dangerous anti-Israel rhetoric in our day. We address: how supersessionism was codified historically and how it continues to shape today's conversations why God's covenants (especially the Abrahamic) are foundational to understanding the entire Bible the warning of Romans 11 and the inconsistency of claiming "Israel is replaced" while still appealing to Israel in end-times frameworks why "unhitching" from the Old Testament throws away the very definitions that make the New Testament intelligible the difference between critiquing a government's policies and condemning an entire people why the remnant must return to the Word of God—with God's definitions—if we're going to stand faithfully in the days ahead

Is it okay to have boundaries with those who've emotionally or physically abused you? Why does Jesus tell His disciples they shouldn't "look back" in Luke 9:52? How do we interpret the incest we see in the Old Testament? Which verses show we can have assurance of salvation? After we're saved, can we lose it?

In this syndicated episode, The Biblical Mind features the inaugural release of The Bible Bar, a new podcast from Bar-Ilan University hosted by Dr. Joshua Berman. The first episode dives into one of the most debated chapters in Scripture: Genesis 1. Dr. Berman welcomes eminent Assyriologist and Old Testament scholar Lawson Younger to explore how the biblical creation account relates to ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies and theogonies. What makes Genesis similar to Egyptian and Mesopotamian creation stories—and what makes it radically different? Younger explains how ancient Near Eastern cultures viewed creation and divinity as intertwined, where sun, moon, rivers, and mountains were themselves gods. In contrast, Genesis 1 insists on a Creator wholly distinct from creation. The world is not divine—it is spoken into being. The conversation explores Tiamat and tehom, the image of God, the Memphite Theology, and the striking emphasis on divine speech. Rather than offering a scientific account, Genesis answers a different question altogether: Who is the Creator, and what does that mean for humanity? Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to The Bible Bar as it works chapter-by-chapter through the Torah. You can find the podcast on their webpage or Spotify channel here: https://sites.biu.ac.il/en/bible-bar/page/10098 https://open.spotify.com/show/3kHJ6MrxrEDobNRDsOPKn4 We are listener supported. Give to the cause here: https://hebraicthought.org/give For more articles: https://thebiblicalmind.org/ Social Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HebraicThought Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hebraicthought Threads: https://www.threads.net/hebraicthought X: https://www.twitter.com/HebraicThought Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hebraicthought.org Chapter: 00:00 Introduction to the Bible Bar 03:17 What Do We Have In Genesis 1? 06:52 Who, Or What, Is God? 13:30 What Does Genesis 1 Have to Say About Humanity? 17:43 Does the Bible Borrow from Other Cosmogenies? 21:26 What Does the "Image of God" Really Mean? 25:03 What Is Memphite Theology? 30:46 The Shared World of the Author and Audience

"We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." Twelve spies enter the Promised Land and return with stunning evidence of its abundance. But ten see only giants and fortified cities, and their faithless report spreads like wildfire through the camp. Only Joshua and Caleb trust God's promise. In this chapter, we encounter the pivotal moment that condemned a generation to die in the wilderness. The question it poses remains: Will we trust God's Word or our own fearful assessment?  The Rev. Brandon Metcalf, associate pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Bethalto, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Numbers 13.  To learn more about Zion Lutheran, visit zionbethalto.org. The Book of Numbers is far more than an ancient census report. It is the story of a people learning to trust God in the wilderness, and failing, and finding grace anyway.  In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk through the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter by chapter. We follow Israel from Sinai toward the Promised Land, through grumbling and rebellion, fiery serpents and a talking donkey, faithless spies and faithful priests. The journey is hard, the failures are many, and God remains faithful to a faithless people.  These ancient accounts point us to Christ. The bronze serpent lifted on a pole points to the cross. The rock struck for water points to the one struck for us. The high priest whose death frees the manslayer points to the Great High Priest whose death sets us free forever. Join us as we discover that the wilderness has more to teach us than we ever expected.  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.

Presented by Julie Busteed Does this sound familiar? “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” While cleanliness is certainly a good thing, this well-known saying isn't actually in the Bible. But Jesus does speak very clearly about what true cleanliness really is. What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them (Matthew 15:11). To defile means to make unclean or impure. In the Old Testament, there were many dietary laws about what was permissible to eat. By the time of the New Testament, the Pharisees had added even more regulations, creating an elaborate and often burdensome system of external rules. In this passage, the Pharisees question Jesus because his disciples are not ceremonially washing their hands before eating. But as he so often does, Jesus goes straight to the heart of the issue. It's not about external rituals. It's about the condition of the heart. What you eat does not make you spiritually unclean. What flows out of your mouth—your words—reveal what is already inside. Words flow from the heart. Jesus explains it this way: Out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them (Matthew 15:19–20). That's sobering. There are many proverbs in Scripture warning us about the power of the tongue. James tells us we must learn to tame it, comparing it to the small rudder of a ship—tiny, yet able to steer the entire vessel. In the same way, our words set the direction of our lives. But the tongue is only the messenger. The source is the heart. Ask yourself: What are you feeding your heart? What are you allowing into your mind and soul? Because whatever fills the heart will eventually overflow into your words and actions. True cleanliness begins on the inside. And that's where Jesus longs to do his transforming work.

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Lou Pizzichillo, Lead Pastor of Community Church on Long Island. Community Church launched in January 2020—just ten weeks before the world shut down—then relaunched after 52 weeks online. Now averaging around 1,200 people across Thursday and Sunday services, Community is known as “a church for people who don't go to church.” In a region where skepticism toward organized religion runs deep, Lou and his team are building trust by creating space for honest questions, lived-out faith, and tangible community impact. Is your church serving in a skeptical environment? Are you trying to reach people who already think they know—and don't like—what church is about? Lou shares practical wisdom on posture, transparency, and earning trust one decision at a time. Starting where people really are. // On Long Island, while some residents may identify culturally with faith traditions, most see church as judgmental, hypocritical, or irrelevant to everyday life. Lou quickly realized that the biggest obstacle wasn't apathy—it was reputation. Rather than fighting skepticism, Community Church chose to acknowledge it. The church repeatedly communicates three cultural values: You can belong before you believe. You have permission to be in progress. And there's no pretending. These aren't slogans—they shape how the church operates. Permission to be in progress. // One of the most resonant phrases at Community is “permission to be in progress.” Many people assume that following Jesus requires instant agreement with every doctrine and behavior expectation. Instead, Community encourages people to wrestle honestly with the claims of Christ first. Secondary issues and sanctification come later. This posture doesn't mean watering down truth—it means sequencing it wisely. By focusing on who Jesus says he is, rather than debating every peripheral topic, the church keeps the main thing central. No pretending—and real transparency. // Transparency builds credibility in skeptical contexts. Stories of real life—parenting mistakes, marriage tensions, leadership missteps—often resonate more than polished success stories. At the same time, Lou draws a boundary between “scars and wounds.” He shares what he has processed, not what he is still unraveling. This authenticity signals that faith isn't about perfection but transformation. For many in the congregation, seeing a pastor admit imperfection dismantles years of distrust toward church leaders. Becoming an asset to the community. // Community Church doesn't just talk about loving Babylon—it demonstrates it. Early on, Lou realized trust would not come through marketing but through partnership. Before launch, the church created “12 Days of Christmas,” giving away gifts purchased from local businesses. In year one, stores hesitated to participate; by year seven, businesses were reaching out to collaborate. What began as skepticism has shifted to partnership because trust was earned gradually. Serving instead of competing. // A defining moment came during the annual Argyle Fair, a 30,000-person event held across the street from the church—on a Sunday. Rather than fight the inconvenience, Community canceled services and mobilized volunteers to serve the fair, providing parking and manpower. When the event was rescheduled due to rain, the church canceled services a second week to honor its commitment. Lou describes this as a defining cultural moment: demonstrating that service isn't convenient—it's convictional. Earning trust through inconvenience. // Lou recounts being called to the mayor's office days after launch to address parking concerns. Instead of pushing back, the church chose to rent additional parking space—even when legally unnecessary—to honor neighbors' concerns. In another instance, Community canceled a planned Christmas light show after Village neighbors expressed concern about traffic. Though disappointing internally, the decision earned significant community goodwill. Lou believes canceling the event built more trust than hosting it would have. Posture over persecution. // Lou cautions leaders against defaulting to a persecution narrative when facing resistance. Most pushback, he says, comes from practical concerns—not hostility toward Jesus. By listening humbly and responding thoughtfully, churches can win trust among the large percentage of community members who are neither strongly for nor against them. To learn more about Community Church, visit communitychurch.net or follow @communitychurch.li on social media. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, thanks so much for listening in, tuning in into today’s episode. I’m really looking forward to today’s conversation. We’re talking with a leader leading a prevailing church in frankly a part of the country that is not known for tons of prevailing churches. And so it’s an opportunity for all of us to lean in and to learn.Rich Birch — Super excited to have Lou Pizzichillo with us from Community Church. They’re in Babylon, New York on Long Island. They’re known as a church for people who don’t go to church. They’re big on being real, bringing real questions, struggles, hangups, doubts, disappointments, and failures. Lou, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here today.Lou Pizzichillo — Thanks so much. Yeah, it’s a privilege to be here.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s an honor that you would take some time to be with us today. Why don’t you kind of tell us a bit of the Community story, kind of give us a flavor of the church, help us kind of imagine if we were to arrive this weekend, what what would we experience?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So we have an interesting history. We launched in January of 2020. And so we were open for 10 weeks.Rich Birch — Great time.Lou Pizzichillo — I know it was perfect. And then we closed down for 52 weeks, and we relaunched. But because of that, what’s been really cool is, you know, when you’re launching a church, the launch team is a big deal. And to launch twice, we’ve had really like two two launch teams. And so team culture has always been a real big part of our church.Lou Pizzichillo — But yeah, we like to say that we’re a church for people who don’t go to church. and So we try to keep things pretty casual. We try not to assume that there’s any interest or experience with the people who are showing up on a Sunday. And yeah.Rich Birch — Nice. Give us a sense of, so like size and like your, you know, the ministry style, that sort of thing. Like what would you help us kind of place what the, what the church is like if I was to arrive, arrive on a weekend?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, we’re a pretty contemporary attractional church. We’ve got services on Thursday night and on Sunday morning. So we say the weekend starts on Thursday. Rich Birch — Love it. Lou Pizzichillo — We call Thursday night thurch, which is… Rich Birch — Oh, that’s funny. Thurch. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, it was a joke at first, but then it kind of like, I don’t know, just kind of gained a life of its own.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — So yeah, so the church over the course of the weekend, right now we’re at about 1,200. And it’s exciting. There are a lot of new people. And things are constantly change changing. Change is that really the only constant for us.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, you’re on Long Island, and I can say as somebody who I ministered for years in New Jersey, I’m from Canada, I I get that people don’t wake up on Long Island on Sunday morning and think, hey, I should go to church today. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, yeah.Rich Birch — You’re serving a community that is is more unchurched than other parts of the country, which is a challenge for planting. So help us understand, you know, help us just kind of get into the mindset or the um perspective of people who are outside of the church. What do they view on, you know, Christianity? Tell us, give us a sense of of kind of what you’ve learned, you know, planting in that kind of context.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So one thing that was really helpful right off the bat was somebody mentioned to me, they were like, you know, I’m not a gym person. And so when a new gym opens up in town, I don’t even really notice it.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And they’re like, I think it’s the same thing for church people.Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — It’s like, if you’re not a church person, then you don’t really notice when churches are doing things. And so that’s like, really, it’s a big reason why we’re so vocal about saying it we’re a church for people who don’t go to church, you know?Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — Um, and yeah, from there, honestly, we found that the biggest obstacle with people here is the existing reputation of church, of what church is like and what church people are like.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — This church is seen as very judgmental, hypocritical, fake, exclusive, impractical, you know, it’s something you just do to kind of check the boxes and then you go on with your life. I’ve spoken to even a lot of, um, like devout Catholics here who have, have said like, they don’t, they do their church thing because, because it’s what they think that they’re supposed to do, but they’re, what they are doing in church does not translate to everyday life.Lou Pizzichillo — And so church is seen as kind of an impractical thing. And, that’s kind of the starting point for a lot of people who we’re trying to connect with.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’ve heard it said in other contexts, it’s like, not that people don’t know the church. It’s like, it’s what they know that they don’t like.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, yeah.Rich Birch — It’s like, they have a sense of, you know, that that reputation. Are there any, maybe even stories or engagement you know conversations or engagements you’ve had with folks that have kind of brought that reputation to the fore. That obviously has led you to say, hey, we’re going position ourselves as a church where people don’t go into churches. Was there something that kind of influenced that as you were having, you know, even in these early years as you’ve been kind of get the ball rolling?Lou Pizzichillo — A big part of it honestly is a lot of my extended family. Like they’re, most of them are not church people. You know, they have a lot of respect for God. Like most people on Long Island, uh, especially, you know, most kind of nominal Catholics, like they would say they’re Italian or Irish. They say, oh, of course, Jesus is my savior. You know, like they, they know the right things to say, but in terms of what it actually means on a regular basis, it’s like kind of a totally different thing. So, so yeah, I mean, that’s kind of, kind of where we’re starting.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, people have criticisms about the church and they have criticisms of of their experience with the church. How do you discern between criticisms that maybe you either need to be challenged, like, hey, that’s actually just not true, or like, oh, that’s a critique that is actually fair, and we’re going to try to steer in a different direction, ah you know, than that. Help us think about those, you know, when we think about skepticism towards the church.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, I think, honestly, the best thing for us has just been to have a posture of listening.Rich Birch — That’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Because even even if their claims aren’t valid, a lot of their experiences are. And so, you know, they’re like, there’s somebody who’s been going to the church for a while now, and somebody that was very close to them has like a pretty intense story of church hurt, like real damage. And so to know that he’s walking in with all of this baggage and that there are a lot of other people walking in with that baggage that don’t let you know that they have that baggage… Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — …just kind of giving them the space to, to be hurt and for it to be real. That’s been huge for us just having that kind of posture of humility. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. So that obviously has led to the way you’ve developed either the way you talk about ministry or the values that are underlining, you know, the ministry.Rich Birch — What has been important for helping communicate or articulate to people like, hey, this is a place that you can show up, you know, before you, you know, you’ve kind of bought it all. It’s like, Hey, you there’s a place to explore that sort of thing. Help us think through how do you communicate and then how do those, whether they’re phrases or yeah that sort of thing, how does that translate then into the values of how you actually operate?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So big thing is for us, it’s training the team, like getting those values into the team and helping them to understand what that looks like in a concrete way. So we say, like a lot of churches say, you can belong before you believe. And the the illustration I give almost every single time, I’m like, if somebody walks in with a church, with a shirt that says, I hate God, we are glad that person is here, right? Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — Like we’re not assuming that they are walking in with interest or experience. And they might have a story that’s a lot more complicated than we know. So um so yes, we try to celebrate that.Lou Pizzichillo — When somebody walks in and they’re very open about their beliefs and their views not lining up with us, that’s something that we celebrate, right? Like because these are the people that we want here.Lou Pizzichillo — The other value that’s been really helpful for us is to say that people have permission to be in progress. And that has to do with their actions, the choices that they make, but also the things that they believe. And so you can be on board with some of our beliefs and not be on board with all of our beliefs. And we’re okay with that, right?Lou Pizzichillo — Like rather than just saying, okay, I accept all of it at one time. And now I completely agree that everything in the Bible is true. And, you know, I endorse it. Like we just kind of give people space to say, okay, like let’s maybe let’s start with the claims of Jesus, like right to this guy really rise from the dead. And now let’s look at what he says about things like the Old Testament, you know?Lou Pizzichillo — And so that’s that’s been a huge thing. We go back to that over and over and over again. It started as kind of like a main point in a sermon where I was like, you’ve got permission to be in progress. And so many people repeated it back to me that I was like, okay, this needs to be woven into our culture because it needs to be articulated…Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — …or people just assume, okay, if I’m going to say I believe, I got to say I believe it all. And there’s no room for disagreement.Lou Pizzichillo — And then from there, we say like, you got you can belong before you believe, you got permission to be in progress. And if both of those things are actually true for us as a church, then we can also say like our third value is no pretending.Lou Pizzichillo — Like you don’t have to pretend to be on board with certain things if you’re not there yet. And I think if we create an environment where people can be real and dialogue and be open about the things that they’re, you know, that they disagree with, I think that’s where there’s real hope for ultimately ending in a place of alignment.Rich Birch — Yeah, permission to be in progress to me feels very like a very Jesus value It feels like, oh, that to me, that’s like when I read the New Testament, that feels like the way he oriented himself to the people around him, right? There were clearly people that were like the rich young ruler came to him and was like, you know, asked a pointed question. Jesus gave a clear answer, and he didn’t, you know, Jesus didn’t, even though he said harsh words to or clear words, I would say, all was it always done in an environment of trying to say, hey, we I want you to be a part of this conversation. I’m really trying to be on the same side of the table. How do I bring you along?Rich Birch — Can you, like, let’s double click on permission to be in progress. Talk us through what that looks like. Because I think, I think so many churches draw very strong lines on like, you got to believe these 15 things to be a part here. Even if we wouldn’t explicitly set that say that, it’s like implicit in our cultures.Rich Birch — How does your culture look different when you say, hey, you’ve got permission to be in progress? What would be some of the things that might stand out to us as like, that’s a little bit different than how maybe some other churches handle this?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So we have like we have values, but then we also just have sayings, right? Like it it is too hard for me to define what the most important values are. Like I get too obsessed with the wording and how we’re going to phrase things. And so in our our conference room, we have a big whiteboard and we write down little sayings. We actually write them in permanent marker on the whiteboard, which is wasteful, but at least we have something to reference.Lou Pizzichillo — So when somebody says something and we’re like, hey, that’s a culture thing, it gets written on the board. One of the things that came up that’s really helped us with this idea of permission to be in progress is that the goal is to get people to Jesus and everything else is secondary. Everything else comes after that.Rich Birch — That's good. Yep, that’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I’m not going to like get into it with someone over a secondary issue or really something that’s an issue of sanctification, when we believe sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, right? Maybe your view on that will change after you understand who Jesus is and begin to follow him.Lou Pizzichillo — And so in a lot of ways, I feel like when we when we get too into the issues, we’re putting the cart before the horse, right? Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — And so we’re trying to bring people to Jesus and show him show them what he’s like. And ah that that has been clarifying when it comes to permission to be in progress.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. And I think in heavily church context, when we kind of assume, oh, basically everyone here has some level of faith, those secondary issues can become like a really big deal. It’s like we spend a lot of time talking about those things.Rich Birch — But when the majority of people we’re interacting with you know, they haven’t, they haven’t really, really wrestled with what they think about Jesus and the difference he can make in this life. And we got to keep that, that really clear. Rich Birch — So no pretending is an interesting value as a communicator. How do you live that out in the way you show transparency? There’s this interesting thing years ago, I had one of the ah preacher that I love or communicator. I just think the world of, you know, he talked about how there’s this tension when we’re, communicating that, you know, we’re we’re trying to be transparent, but up into a point and how, where is that point? And how do we do that in a way that’s not, that brings people along? So ah what what does that look like for you even as a as ah as a leader to say, hey, it’s not my job to pretend. I’m going to just be honest and transparent, authentic to where we are? Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Well, I mean, I can definitely say that every time I tell a story that has me screwing up, it is it is the thing that people come to tell me about. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — Like, oh, thank you so much for telling me about you know the way you spoke to your kids… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …or the thing that you said to your wife. Or it is just by far the thing that people love to hear. And that’s been encouraging. Now, I have had people like throw it back at me and that that comes with the territory. But I think that the stories of how that’s been helpful for people um like dramatically outweigh the people that are going to you know weaponize that stuff against you.Lou Pizzichillo — Something else I heard, um I think Brene Brown said this in one of her books. She said she doesn’t share things she hasn’t processed through yet.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And that for me is a really helpful thing. Like If I’m in the middle of something and just in the thick of it, it’s not the time for me to like bring that to the congregation. I think that could be really unhealthy for a lot of reasons.Lou Pizzichillo — So that’s, that’s kind of something that, and it doesn’t mean I can’t share something that just happened. You know sometimes I’ll explain an issue that just happened with my kids. That’s different than something I’m still processing and haven’t resolved yet.Rich Birch — Right. I think she said it’s the difference between scars and wounds, right? You can talk about your scars. That’s like, that’s an area that has, has had some level of healing to it versus an open wound, right? Like this is a part that’s, that’s still gaping.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — And, uh, you know, we don’t necessarily want to to share that. And that, you know, uh, that is a change. So I’m, you know, I’m of a certain age, been in this game a long time. And I remember when we first started, when I first started, that generation that came before me, people wanted like the superhuman religious leader. They wanted the like pastor to be, to have their stuff a hundred percent sewed up. Like, don’t tell me that you’re a real human. They didn’t want that.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — You know, and that has completely reversed.Rich Birch — People are like, no no, like you said, we, we need to be transparent, open, authentic. People know that we’re not perfect. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Rich Birch — They know that we don’t have it all together. Lou Pizzichillo — Right.Rich Birch — And when we try to hide that, when we try to, in your language, pretend that actually is repulsive, it pushes them away. Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah.Rich Birch — One of the things that stood out to me just by reputation, kind of seeing your church is it appears that you guys have a conviction around getting out and serving the community, actually making a difference in the community. You know, it strikes me as very ah a very James-approach, faith in action – it’s it should make a difference in our community. What how do talk to me about what that looks like for Community. How does that, even your name, Community, you know, Church, reflects that. Talk talk to talk to me about what that looks like.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, so we’re pretty clear. Like we we tell people we want to be an asset to the community. We want people to be glad we’re here, whether they attend our church or not. And so that started really early. Actually, before we launched, we did this thing called the 12 Days of Christmas where, so our church is in a village, right? So there are a lot of local businesses around us. What we did is during the 12 days leading up to Christmas, we went to shops and we gave away gifts from those shops. There was a different shop every day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. So we planned this out ahead of time. But we would post on social media and be like, Hey, today the, you know, the shop is Bunger surf shop. The first 25 people there are going to get beanies from Bunger surf shop.Lou Pizzichillo — And we paid for them. We sent the, Bunger agreed to hand them out. And people went to go get them. And what was, so it was a win, win, win, really. Like the people who participated got free beanies, the surf shop are like all the different shops in the village. They got people to go, they got traffic to their business, right?Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — Because people went in then bought other stuff. And it helped us communicate that we we say we want something for you, not from you, right? We want to be an asset to the community. And so it helped us communicate that message. And the response to that has been great.Lou Pizzichillo — Now, what’s interesting, if this doesn’t tell you something about the church’s reputation, on year one, before we launched, it was very hard to get 12 shops to agree to do this with us. Like they were like, you’re a church? I’m sorry. No, we’re not doing it.Rich Birch — Forget it. Yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — Now it’s year seven. Right now we’re in the middle of our our seventh year and there are shops lining up to do it. There are shops reaching out to us, asking us to collaborate.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — They’re helping to pay for the stuff. So it’s actually in some ways getting a little bit cheaper.Rich Birch — Huh.Lou Pizzichillo — And it’s just cool. It’s shown like this posture of partnership with what’s going on… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …rather than, okay, there are the shops and then there’s the church. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — And yeah, we actually have a someone on staff now who first heard about the church on year one during the 12 days of Christmas. She started coming to the church. she eventually got baptized and now she’s on staff. And it’s just like, it has been so, so cool.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. That’s what a cool, you know, even just a cool tactic, kind of an expression of that. Is there other ways, other kind of activities like that, that you’re engaged with throughout the year that would could illustrate this idea of being for the community, being an asset to the community? What would be another example of that that that’s happened?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. So there is this fair that happens right across the street from the church. It’s called the Argyle Fair. It’s it’s around a lake. There are about 30,000 people that come to this fair. And the fair is on a Sunday during church.Lou Pizzichillo — The first year that we were here and had services during that Sunday, it was a mess. There were people you know like parking all over the place. It was hard to have services. Traffic was crazy. And we left church and my wife and I walked to the fair and just felt like something didn’t feel right. Like there’s some, here’s something everybody’s doing and we’re fighting against it.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — So we went to the people who ran the fair and we were like, is there any way we can help? Like, is there, what do you guys need? And right away she was like, we need volunteers and we need parking. And as a church, we are uniquely equipped with volunteers and parking. Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo —And so really it was there, like that almost right away, we were like, okay, next year, ah we’re going to be on board with what you’re doing.Rich Birch — Wow. Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And so we decided to cancel services. And in the weeks leading up to that, we teach about the importance of serving the community. It’s kind of like the grand finale to whatever, you know…Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — …outreach series or message is being given.Rich Birch — Yeah.Lou Pizzichillo — And um yeah, so we teach on that. And then we’re like, hey, you know, two weeks from now, we’re not going to have services. Instead, we’re going to go out instead of staying in here talking about serving, we’re going to go out there and serve. And, you know, we’ve said like… Rich Birch — Love that. Lou Pizzichillo — …yeah, what’s what’s happening out there is not more spiritual than what’s happening in here. It’s a different way to express and grow in our faith. So we did that. And the response has just been unbelievable. Like the community has loved it. The the fair has had the help that they need. The people in our church have loved it. But this year we actually it got rained out on the first week. And so they postponed it to the next week.Rich Birch — Oh, wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And that made it tough for us because now we were like, okay, are we going to cancel church two weeks in a row? Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — And we had a meeting about it and like looked at our values, looked at what we were talking about. We were like, you know what, this is actually an opportunity for us to really double down and say, we’re not doing this out of convenience. We’re doing this because it’s a value. And so I called up the guy who was running the fair and he was like, I get it. If you can’t do it, I get it. And it felt, it was, it was amazing to be able to say on the phone, like, Hey, we’re with you, uh, no matter what. So, uh, so we did and it was, it was awesome.Rich Birch — That’s incredible. Like ah that, again, that what a vivid example, because I think there’s a lot of church leaders, if we’re honest, we’ve been engaged in the conversation that’s literally on the opposite side of that, where we’re like, man, how do we, these people, they’re, you know, they’re cramping our style or whatever. It’s like we naturally default towards that rather than to serve. Rich Birch — Take us back early in the discussions because I think a lot of us have not done a good job in building trust bridges in our communities. And you know trust isn’t built with just you know, one conversation. It takes time, right? It takes, like you said, those those first 12 days of Christmas, you couldn’t get anybody. And now here’s seven years later. We want we want to get to the seven years later part really quickly.Rich Birch — But ah those early conversations, how are you handling yourself, interacting with the like other people, you know, approaching them, having those conversations. What did you learn in the early dialogue that could help us if we’re trying to build, you know, deeper community trust in a place that just is so skeptical of that we’re coming with, just looking to take from our people.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. I mean, you have to be willing to be inconvenienced. I think that’s been a big part of it.Lou Pizzichillo — On week one, so we we launched literally on the first day and launch day was bigger than we thought it was going to be. And on that Monday, I was called to the mayor’s office, the mayor of the village.Lou Pizzichillo — And I was like, okay, thought I was going to go have a conversation. And when I got there, it was the it was him, it was the head of code enforcement and the fire chief all in a room waiting for me Rich Birch — Oh, gosh. Lou Pizzichillo — And they had pictures of cars parked all over the street. And I I realized there, like, there was a real concern about what this church was going to be in the community.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so from there, we’ve just been looking for opportunities to earn trust. The neighbors have made it very clear that they don’t like cars parking on the street. And so we, we began paying for a lot so that we could take the cars off of the street. We don’t have to, they can legally park in the street, but we rent the lot. We told the owner of the property why we’re doing it. And he got on board with what we’re doing. We’re now in a place, kind of a long story, but we now don’t have to pay for that lot.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — We also, like the trust has been earned one decision at a time. We were going to do this big thing in the parking lot. We did a parking lot renovation that took the whole summer. After the summer, we were like, hey, in our new parking lot, let’s put on a Christmas show. We’ll run it throughout two weeks in December.Lou Pizzichillo — We had an animator who goes to the church. He like had this great idea for a show. He’s like, we’ll project it on the building. People will drive in. We’ll run it multiple times a night, do it for a few weeks throughout December. We were calling it Christmas in Lights.Lou Pizzichillo — So we put this whole plan together. He’s making the thing. We start advertising it and the village comes to us and they’re like, you’re in violation of the code. You can’t do this. And and they’re giving us all these reasons that I felt like didn’t really hold that much weight, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — But in thinking about it, I do understand the inconvenience it would have been. We just had a major parking lot renovation. There were huge trucks making tons of noise for months. Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And now that’s finally over. And we’re going to ask the village to deal with the traffic of a show happening every single night, you know, for a few weeks in December.Rich Birch — Right Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I went to the mayor and I was like, hey, ah it’s a new mayor at this point. But I just sat down with her and I was like, hey, listen, if you have concerns about this, I want you to feel the freedom to just come to me and say, this is a lot for the neighbors. Like, what do you think about pulling this in?Lou Pizzichillo —And it was cool. It was an opportunity for the two of us to kind of bond, like there was some trust earned there and we canceled the show. We decided not to do it. And I released a video explaining why we weren’t doing it.Rich Birch — Wow.Lou Pizzichillo — And the amazing thing is that I think canceling the show accomplished more than we would have accomplished if we actually did the show.Rich Birch — Interesting.Lou Pizzichillo — Like it earned, it was so well received when people found out that we weren’t going to do it. They were like, and even the people that attend the church, they were like, I want to be part of a church that supports their community like this.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so it went really well, and it was a lot less work, and so it was it was kind of a win all around. Rich Birch — What did the animators say? I feel but feel bad for that person who started doing that work. Did they understand. Obviously, they’re bummed or concerned.Lou Pizzichillo — He was bummed out, but he’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and so he he totally got it. And he’s on board with what we’re trying to do, and when he knew the reason why, he was totally, totally supportive of it.Rich Birch — Interesting. So where have you seen churches kind of get this wrong as we’ve tried to engage with the community? Maybe a common a pothole that we fall into or a way that we stub our toes, you know, a thing maybe you’ve you’ve you’ve seen that we just, we you know, kind of consistently make the same mistake.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. You know, one of my mentors told me a while ago, he was like, when you’re thinking about the church in the community, he’s like, there’s a small percentage of people that are for you. He said, there’s, there’s also a small percentage of people that are anti-church and they always will be, and you’re not going to change their minds.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And he’s like, but then there’s this large percentage that’s just kind of going to go one way or the other. And he’s like, that’s the percentage that you really have to be intentional about connecting with.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so I think, you know, it is very easy to tell the story like, hey, they don’t want us to do our Christmas show. This is persecution… Rich Birch — Yes. Lou Pizzichillo — …you know, and we got to fight and suffer for the name of Jesus. And ah we’ve just found that that’s not always the case. Rich Birch — Right. Lou Pizzichillo — You know, it’s people that don’t want to be inconvenienced and they may love church, but there’s there’s all this stuff going in the community. Maybe they maybe they have you know other reasons why. So i think I think it’s just the posture.Lou Pizzichillo — Like a lot of, most people, most people aren’t unreasonable. And I think if we give them the chance to really articulate what’s going on, I’ve been surprised at how understandable a lot of the feelings have been, a lot of the resistance to church comes from real stories, real experiences.Rich Birch — Right, right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so, yeah, I think it’s the you know the whole like persecution thing or suffering or that is real and people do really experience that. But a lot of times I think we’re a little too quick to say, oh, this is what that is when really it may not be.Rich Birch — Well, and it it’s, ah in some ways, it’s like a low form of, well, it’s a leadership shortcut for sure to like demonize, to like, oh, there, those people are come out to get us. You know, any leader that’s led before realizes, oh, that’s like a that’s a tool that actually works. People respond to that, but, but we don’t want to do that. Like that isn’t, these are the people we’re trying to love and care. These are people we’re trying to see point towards Jesus. They’re not our enemies.Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. Yeah.Rich Birch — They’re not, you know, they’re, they’re not, they might just not like parking, like you at the end of the day.Lou Pizzichillo — Right. Right.Rich Birch — And so let’s not, let’s not get over-revved, ah you know, on that. And unfortunately there are, I know, you know, way too many churches that have got themselves on the wrong side of this. And it’s very hard to backwards engineer out of that. Once you go down that road of like, we’re going to try to go negative with our community. That just isn’t, it’s just, it’s, it’s very difficult to to step back from that.Rich Birch — If you think about a church leader that’s listening in today and they’re, they’re saying, Hey, They’re thinking we want to do a better job being trusted more locally, trusted by local leaders, trusted by other you know businesses in town, that sort of thing. What would be a couple first steps you think they could take? A couple things where they could start to try to build that kind of trust with the community around them?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. You know, I think I’m a big believer in praying for those opportunities. And also just giving things a second look, you know. When you’re in a situation that may seem like a challenge or something that may seem like it’s getting in the way, to just stop and think, okay, is, is there an opportunity here to build trust with the community?Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Because we, and when we say the community, we’re not just talking about this nebulous, you know, idea of Babylon village. There are people there.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And if those people see this church as trustworthy, they may come here, you know, when their relationships are falling apart or when they’re looking for answers.Rich Birch — Yep.Lou Pizzichillo — Um, and so it’s really just been… We have great people here who have bought into what we’re doing, who have really helped us to see like, this is an opportunity to win with the community. And yeah, you gotta, you have to look outside the box and, and also be willing to, there, there are moments like with Church Has Left the Building—with the fair—and with the Christmas and light show, there are moments where they’ll see, okay, do you really care? Do you really care?Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — Like are how how much will you inconvenience yourself? And I mean, the payoff from that has just been huge, even though it’s been an inconvenience and our giving goes down that week and it throws off the series and we got to restructure the calendar.Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — It has gone, there’s there’s never been a time where we’ve regretted it.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good. And, you know, there’s no doubt one of the things I think we can in our our little world of kind of church leadership, I think we can forget often that people in the communities that we’re serving, they really don’t have any frame of reference for a church of 1,200 people. Like they that that isn’t people’s normal perception of what a church is. Like a church is 25 people or 50 people in a room somewhere super small.Rich Birch — And, and their perception can be, they just don’t, they just don’t have any idea. What is that? What’s that look like? And some of that can skew negative because it’s busy and blah, blah, blah, all those things. And so we’ve, we, we have to take it on ourselves when our church gets to the size that you’re at or larger to try to help them understand and see though this is like really positive for the community and actually point towards that.Lou Pizzichillo — Yes.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good.Lou Pizzichillo — Yes. And, and like along those lines, ah it’s also perceived as a source of power, right? Like if, if there, if you have 1500 people that all believe the same thing and you’re trying to run a village or a community, there is this, this sense of like, okay, well, are they going to be for us or against us? Like, are all these people going to be anti-village?Rich Birch — Right.Lou Pizzichillo — And so there is like that, that instinct to kind of protect from this group of people that make, make things really hard for us. But over time, as they begin to see like all these people are, are behind us, they’re here to support us and they want to make this place better.Rich Birch — Yes.Lou Pizzichillo — It’s, it really is a beautiful thing. And we’re not there yet as a church, but we’re getting there. And, uh, we’ve just seen a lot of, lot of positive signs and, uh, Yeah, think it’s paid off.Rich Birch — So good, Lou. That’s, that’s great. Just as we wrap up today’s conversation, any kind of final words you’d have to, ah you know, to leaders that are listening in thinking about these issues today?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah. I mean, I think I would just say it’s worth it. It's it’s messy. It does make things difficult. It can be inconvenient. And when you have people who don’t go to church coming to church and you give them permission to be in progress, you get a lot of hairy situations. And we have a lot of conversations where we’re trying to figure out which way to go.Rich Birch — Yeah, 100%.Lou Pizzichillo — But it’s in those conversations that we cant kind of stop and remind ourselves like, Hey, we’re, we’re glad that these people are here and we’re glad that these are the problems that we’re having. And, the end of the day, this is what we feel like it’s all about. So.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. I just want to encourage you as you’re leading, you’re doing a great job and and it’s been fun to get a chance to get a little window into what’s going on at Community. Want to encourage you and your your team, just you’re doing the right thing. If people want to track with the church or with you online, where do we want to send them to connect with you guys?Lou Pizzichillo — Yeah, so communitychurch.net is our website. On Instagram, we’re communitychurchli, we’re @communitychurchli, and we try to keep that handle throughout all the platforms. So YouTube, same thing. But yeah, that’s it.Rich Birch — Great. Thanks for for being here today, Lou.Lou Pizzichillo — Thanks for having me, Rich. It’s an honor to be here, and I love what you guys are doing for the church.

In this Sacred Assembly (Number 10!), Pastor Josh McPherson rolls out the word for 2026, relating to the Year of Jubilee from the Old Testament. Pastor Josh announces some service time changes that will be happening soon, then walks through several of the prophetic words over Grace City, and how they came out. Check back on Sunday for a major reveal!Support the showThanks for listening! Go to www.StrongerManNation.com for more resources.

#top .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-d2ee1f7d062c3b3e85d15dbe7467f5e5{ padding-bottom:10px; } body .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-d2ee1f7d062c3b3e85d15dbe7467f5e5 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{ font-size:25px; } .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-d2ee1f7d062c3b3e85d15dbe7467f5e5 .av-subheading{ font-size:15px; } Through My Bible Yr 03 – February 26Genesis 1 – 2 LISTEN HERE Through My Bible – February 26 Genesis 1 – 2 (EHV) https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0226db.mp3 See series: Through My Bible The Creation of the World Genesis 1 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was undeveloped [1] and empty. Darkness covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning—the first day. 6 God said, “Let there be an expanse [2] between the waters, and let it separate the water from the water.” 7 God made the expanse, and he separated the water that was below the expanse from the water that was above the expanse, and it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” [3]There was evening and there was morning—the second day. 9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. ⎣The waters under the sky gathered to their own places, and the dry land appeared.⎦ [4] 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathering places of the waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. 11 God said, “Let the earth produce plants—vegetation that produces seed, and trees that bear fruit with its seed in it—each according to its own kind on the earth,” and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth plants, vegetation that produces seed according to its own kind, and trees that bear fruit with its seed in it, each according to its own kind, and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning—the third day. 14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night, and let them serve as markers to indicate seasons, days, and years. 15 Let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,” and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in place in the expanse of the sky to provide light for the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning—the fourth day. 20 God said, “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds and other winged creatures [5] fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their own kind, and every winged bird according to its own kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them when he said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening and there was morning—the fifth day. 24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their own kind, livestock, [6] creeping things, and wild animals according to their own kind,” and it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their own kind, and the livestock according to their own kind, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its own kind. God saw that it was good. 26 God said, “Let us make man [7] in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crawls on the earth.” 27 God created the man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 God said, “Look, I have given you every plant that produces seed on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that bears fruit that produces seed. It will be your food. 30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 2 1 The heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. [8] 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on it he rested from all his work of creation that he had done. The Creation of Man and Woman 4 This is the account about the development [9] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens: 5 No bushes that grow in the field were yet on the earth, [10] and no plants of the field had yet sprung up, since the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth. There was not yet a man to till the soil, 6 but water [11] came up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground. 7 The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground [12] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden [13] in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made every kind of tree grow—trees that are pleasant to look at and good for food, including the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 10 A river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became the headwaters of four rivers. 11 The name of the first river is Pishon. It flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, 12 and the gold of that land is good. Incense [14] and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that winds through the whole land of Cush. [15] 14 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one which flows along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God gave a command to the man. He said, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, 17 but you shall not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is a suitable partner for him.” 19 Out of the soil the Lord God had formed every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that became its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal, but for Adam [16] no helper was found who was a suitable partner for him. 21 The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, the Lord God took a rib [17] and closed up the flesh where it had been. 22 The Lord God built a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, Now this one is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called “woman,” because she was taken out of man. [18] 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will remain united with his wife, and they will become one flesh. [19] 25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. Footnotes Genesis 1:2 Or without form Genesis 1:6 Traditionally a firmament Genesis 1:8 Or the heavens Genesis 1:9 The Greek Old Testament includes the sentence in half-brackets. It is not in the Hebrew text. Genesis 1:20 The Hebrew word oph usually refers to birds, but it means “flyers” and can include other flying creatures such as insects and bats. Genesis 1:24 Or domestic animals Genesis 1:26 The rendering of the Hebrew word adam is a key issue in this section. Adam may refer to man, mankind, or Adam. This translation retains the article where it occurs with adam (the man) and retains singular or plural forms of verbs and pronouns according to the Hebrew text. Genesis 2:1 Literally all their armies Genesis 2:4 The Hebrew word toledoth, which is used in the headings of the ten sections of Genesis, is related to the Hebrew root for give birth, but as used in the section headings of Genesis (such as 2:4; 5:1; 6:9, etc.), toledoth seems to refer to the development more than to the origin of the group being discussed. For this reason, in the section headings of Genesis, toledoth is regularly translated account about the development. Genesis 2:5 Literally every bush of the field was not yet on the earth. This wording seems to refer to the time before the creation of plants on day 3, but the context of chapter 2 seems to be the preparation of the Garden of Eden as a special home for man and woman. Some commentators suggest that this verse refers only to the area of the Garden of Eden, which had been left unfinished, but the wide term on the earth does not seem to be a natural way to say this, so this may be a reference back to day 3. Genesis 2:6 A rare word (ed) is used. It may refer to springs or, less likely, to mist. Genesis 2:10 refers to the presence of rivers. Genesis 2:7 Literally as dust from the ground. This means man is still dust and will return to dust. Genesis 2:8 In Hebrew, the term garden includes groves of trees. Genesis 2:12 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. It probably refers to a fragrant resin or a precious stone. Genesis 2:13 In the Old Testament, Cush often refers to the land south of Egypt. Here the names of the third and fourth rivers suggest an area in Mesopotamia, today's Iraq. Genesis 2:20 Here the Hebrew word adam without the article becomes a personal name. Genesis 2:21 Part of his side is a more literal translation than the traditional translation rib. Genesis 2:23 Here the Hebrew word for man is ish not adam. Like the English word pair man/woman, the Hebrew words ish/ishah correspond to one another. Genesis 2:24 Verse 24 may be a continuation of the words of Adam or a comment of the inspired writer. In either case, Jesus recognizes them as part of the divine institution of marriage (Matthew 19:4-5). #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-aocsdx-89cb4ca21532423cf697fc393b6fcee0{ height:10px; } The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-4vzadh-3f04b370105df1fd314a2a9d83e55b26{ height:50px; } Share this entryShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare by MailLink to FlickrLink to InstagramLink to Vimeo

Is covenant theology alien to the Catholic tradition? In this episode of The Road to Emmaus, Scott Hahn is joined by Rob Corzine—Vice President of Academic Programs at the St. Paul Center. Together they discuss the biblical roots of the sacraments, drawing insights from Dr. Hahn's book Swear to God. To order your copy visit: http://stpaulcenter.com/promise Together they explain how sacramental theology is covenantal. Just as God used covenants in the Old Testament to expand His family from a couple to an empire, so now He uses the Seven Sacraments to draw us into His worldwide covenant family. Discover why covenant theology is at the heart of the Catholic approach to Scripture.

On this episode of Crosspolitic at AmFest 2025, Knox, Toby, and Gabe welcome Shahrig and Pastor Greg from Christ Underground on to talk about the issue of reaching Muslims with the gospel and why they believe starting with the Old Testament rather than jumping straight to Jesus is the most effective way to undermine the authority of the Quran and lead Muslims to faith in Christ. ABOUT CROSSPOLITIC CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Find out more on Christ Underground including their FREE COURSE here: https://christunderground.org Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Join Us at Our Next National Conference Sign up for Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars and lock in Early Bird pricing. https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

Today we're studying Genesis 18:19 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/4qocgeUGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Crosspolitic at AmFest 2025, Knox, Toby, and Gabe welcome Shahrig and Pastor Greg from Christ Underground on to talk about the issue of reaching Muslims with the gospel and why they believe starting with the Old Testament rather than jumping straight to Jesus is the most effective way to undermine the authority of the Quran and lead Muslims to faith in Christ. ABOUT CROSSPOLITIC CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Find out more on Christ Underground including their FREE COURSE here: https://christunderground.org Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Join Us at Our Next National Conference Sign up for Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars and lock in Early Bird pricing. https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

In this powerful teaching from Isaiah 64, we unpack the rich Hebraic background behind phrases like "rend the heavens," "come down," and "the mountains might shake." These are not random poetic expressions. They are layered idioms filled with covenantal, prophetic, and eschatological meaning. What does it mean to ask God to tear open the heavens? Why do mountains symbolize governments? How does this passage connect to Mount Sinai, the Exodus, and the future Tribulation? This study reveals: • The Hebraic meaning of "rend the heavens" • How "coming down" connects to Sinai and divine intervention • Why mountains represent kingdoms and authority structures • Israel's future national repentance in the Tribulation • The difference between spiritual salvation and physical deliverance • The biblical meaning of the Potter and the Clay • A contextual breakdown of Romans 9 in light of Jeremiah 18 • Why misunderstanding Hebraisms leads to theological confusion We also explore the personal application. When God delays intervention in our lives, what is He teaching us? How does remembering past deliverance build faith for future rescue? Understanding the Jewish background of Scripture brings clarity to passages that are often misunderstood, especially in debates surrounding sovereignty, free will, and replacement theology. If you want to understand the Old Testament foundations behind the New Testament, and how prophetic passages fit into God's redemptive plan for Israel and the nations, this teaching will deepen your perspective. Subscribe for weekly biblical teaching, prophecy updates, and in-depth studies from Rock Harbor Church.

We have a bonus episode for you this week! To celebrate the recent publication of The Rewritten Bible in Late Antiquity, a new book by regular podcast guest and Sects, Lies, and Videotape columnist Gavin McDowell, he and Tim sit down to have a conversation about the history of movies based on stories from the Old Testament, from the silent era up to the 21st Century. What makes a good one? What, more commonly, makes a bad one? What stories do we want to see on the big screen? All of these questions and more are discussed on this special episode!

Gospel Luke 11:29-32 While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.” Reflection There's an interesting comparison between the Old Testament and New Testament in this passage. The Old Testament was powerful. It did teach us things. But there's something so much greater than all of those, the stories of prophets and kings and patriarchs. They all led up to something radically new, radically different. And this effectiveness of the words in the ministry, in the presence of Jesus, is radically new. And so we need to pay attention always to the New Testament as the core of the teaching that fulfills the Old Testament. Closing Prayer Father, in the Old Testament, you were proving that you were the one and only God, and you began slowly to reveal yourself to those that you called to be your followers. But it was not until the New Testament that you were able to reveal fully what your intention is for all of us, it's to pay attention to all that you are teaching us and to go through a transition filled with the wisdom greater than Solomon, the ability to change a world better than Jonah. That's how our inheritance, bless us with it. Help us to be aware of it, to live in the New Testament. And we asked this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Monday Christian and Conspiracy Podcast Ep. 350How to Support the ministry: $5.99 a monthpatreon.com/JoshMondayChristianandConspiracyPodcastJoin the Patreon here: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Joshmonday_podcastIf you want to donate to the Ministry CashAPP:https://cash.app/$JoshmondaymusicPaul and Crystals links: https://thetinfoilhatfactory.com/Youtube: ⁠@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.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/josh-monday-christian-and-conspiracy-podcast--6611118/support.

Wednesday, 25 February 2026   Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. Matthew 17:11   “And Jesus answering, He said to them, ‘Elijah indeed, he comes first, and he will reconstitute all'” (CG).   In the previous verse, the disciples queried Jesus, asking, “Why therefore the scribes, they say that Elijah, it necessitates, to come first?” Having recalled that, Matthew next records, “And Jesus answering.”   What Jesus says is the spoken word of God. Therefore, what He says is to be taken literally. He will make His statement based on what Scripture has already taught about Elijah. Therefore, what seems contradictory in the coming verse is due to a misunderstanding of what Jesus is saying. Understanding this, “He said to them, ‘Elijah indeed, he comes first.'”   Some texts omit the word “first,” as if this resolves the issue that many find difficult to understand. However, Mark 9:12 includes the word “first,” but accompanies it with an aorist participle, saying, “Elijah, indeed, having come first, he reconstitutes all.”   Thus, there is no reason to assume the word “first” doesn't belong here. The words of Jesus so far don't tell when Elijah is coming. It is a statement of fact, “He comes first.” However, the next words add more clarification, saying, “and he will reconstitute all.”   The future tense leaves no doubt that Elijah's coming is yet ahead. Therefore, what is coming is what was prophesied in Malachi 4 concerning him –   “Behold! I sending to you Elijah the prophet, To faces coming day Yehovah – The whopping and the ‘being feared,' 6 And he will cause to return, heart fathers, upon sons, And heart sons, upon their fathers. Lest I come, and I cause to strike the land – anathema.” Malachi 4:5, 6 (CG)   These are not words describing immediate family relations, as in, “He will turn the people in the families to love one another.” Rather, this is a word concerning the Hebrew people as a whole. The fathers are the patriarchs, especially Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.   The children are those who have misunderstood both the promise to the patriarchs and the purpose of the law. The heart of the fathers was that of promise while trusting in the gospel of the grace of God. Paul explains this in Galatians 3 –   “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.' 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”  ... “And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Galatians 3:8, 9, & 17, 18   The hearts of the children, the unbelievers of Israel, will have their hearts turned to the hearts of the fathers who trusted the gospel of Christ as a certain and sure promise. If they do not turn their hearts, the warning stands.   Life application: The Old Testament, the time of man's living under the curse of law, ends with the word kherem, anathema. It speaks of the utter destruction or ban of something. It is a fitting end to the thirty-nine books of law.   Only with the hope of God in Christ is there life and renewed fellowship with God. Only in understanding the gospel can that state be realized.   As with the whole chapter of Malachi 4, the final words speak of a dual fulfillment. The first part of it came about when Israel rejected Jesus. He told them as much in Matthew 23:36, saying, “Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”   The nation as a whole rejected Jesus, remained under law, and fell under the ban because of it. The second fulfillment will be for those of Israel who continue to reject Jesus during the tribulation. However, for the nation, that will eventually end. The land of Israel, symbolized by Jerusalem, was anathema because of Israel's rejection of Jesus. This is seen in Zechariah 14:11 –   “The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter destruction [kherem], But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”   This prophecy concerns the future when Israel finally receives Jesus. Only when the hearts of the children are turned to the hearts of the fathers, meaning those who lived in faith and not by law, will this time of woe for Israel end.   The day is coming, and the world is being readied for it with the return of Israel to her land. The nation has been reestablished, prophecies of the past have come to their fulfillment, and many more prophecies are set to be fulfilled.   The book is written, and these things will come about. We are simply spectators watching as the words of Scripture are faithfully realized, often before our own eyes. At some point, the rapture will take place, and the attention of the Lord will be directed to bringing about the final restoration of Israel while also bringing about judgment upon all who refuse to believe.   Malachi sets forth both the hope of restoration and the warning of rejecting it. Though it is directed to Israel, for those who know Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles, we can learn from what is said there.   Our trust is not to be in the Law of Moses but in the One who is spoken of there and throughout all of Scripture. It is not easy to let go and place ourselves solely under the authority of another, but we must do so. If we are in need of surgery, we have to trust that the surgeon will get us through the ordeal.   In the case of our eternal souls, we have to let go of trusting in ourselves and look to the eternal gospel, which God has slowly and methodically revealed to the world through His word. And that gospel is centered completely and entirely on the Person of Jesus Christ.   Lord God, help us in our stubborn desire to earn what You have so freely given. May we never assume that we can somehow merit Your gracious offering of Jesus. Rather, may we trust only in the word that tells us of what He has done, accepting it as the one acceptable means of restoration with You. Thank You for Your grace, which is found in Jesus Christ! Amen.

On this episode of Crosspolitic at AmFest 2025, Knox, Toby, and Gabe welcome Shahrig and Pastor Greg from Christ Underground on to talk about the issue of reaching Muslims with the gospel and why they believe starting with the Old Testament rather than jumping straight to Jesus is the most effective way to undermine the authority of the Quran and lead Muslims to faith in Christ. ABOUT CROSSPOLITIC CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Find out more on Christ Underground including their FREE COURSE here: https://christunderground.org Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Join Us at Our Next National Conference Sign up for Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars and lock in Early Bird pricing. https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found.

Paul speaks to the leaders of the church who are excited about what God is doing among the Gentiles. But they warn Paul that not everyone will be as excited as they are. Some zealous Jews actually believe Paul is breaking Old Testament law when he shares with Gentiles. So what does God want? Let's find out as we read  Acts 21:17-25 and Jeremiah 7:1-26.#WhatDoesGodWant #Acts21 #Jeremiah7 #GodsDesire #GentilesAndJews #BreakingTheLaw #ZealousJews #GodsPriority #Acts2117 #Jeremiah726 #LetsFindOutTogether #DailyDevotional #BibleStudy #BookOfActs #ActsOfTheApostles #PaulTheMissionary #OldTestamentLaw #GospelToGentiles #JewishLaw #GodsWill

When you read the Old Testament, especially the part about all the sacrifices of lambs and bulls, you might wonder if this is still important to know about.  If so, you'll be fascinated by the many ways Pastor Dan shows today that everything in the Old Testament in some way points to Jesus.  Yes, there were a tremendous number of sacrifices, and yet they all point to God's final sacrifice of His Son.  The sacrifice of Jesus is a reminder of your sin, your need, His sacrifice, and your forgiveness. 

February 25, 2026Today's Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16Daily Lectionary: Genesis 8:13-9:17; Genesis 9:18-11:26; Mark 4:1-20“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.It could be argued that the best coaches in professional sports are the ones who've been athletes on the field. Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time (that Super Bowl trophy is named after him), understood that playing experience helped to make him a better coach. He once said, “Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.”Can the same be said about Jesus Christ? Is He able to motivate us because He knows what it's like to be human? Is that what makes Him such a great savior... because He doesn't expect us to do anything that He hasn't done Himself?   It's certainly encouraging that Jesus knows what it's like to be human because He is an actual human being! He was conceived, grew, and developed in His mother's womb. He was born and continued to grow from childhood into adulthood, just like human beings do. Throughout His life on earth, He experienced hunger, weariness, sadness, and anger. In every respect, He knows what it's like to be human, and yet He lived His life without sin. He can sympathize with our weaknesses, but He hasn't excused them. It's not like after His 33-year stint on earth, He reported back to His Father, “You know what, that was really hard. I think the expectation You have from them is just too high. You need to lower Your standards and give them some credit for trying real hard. I barely made it. You can't expect them to do much better.” Jesus came in the flesh, not to motivate. He came in the flesh as our substitute- to take our place under God's wrath against sin. He came to cover your sin with His righteousness. If He had not done this, we could never approach His throne of grace with confidence. Instead, we would live our lives in constant fear and trepidation, wondering if we've lived our lives “good enough” to be accepted by Him. Because Christ is our Great High Priest, who has succeeded where we have fallen short and showered us with God's grace and mercy, we have great confidence and hold fast the confession of faith that's been revealed to us. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O Christ, You walked the road Our wand'ring feet must go. Stay with us through temptation's hour To fight our ancient foe. (LSB 424: 5) Rev. Chad Hoover serves as Campus Pastor and theology teacher at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, IN and pastoral assistant at Emanuel Lutheran Church in New Haven, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.Better understand difficult and overlooked Old Testament passages in this new book by Authors R. Reed Lessing and Andrew E. Steinmann. Their conversational yet academic writing style makes learning about the Old Testament accessible to those at all points in their Bible reading journey. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter invite you to think more in-depth about what you just read and record your answers. To stretch your understanding, a list of resources for further reading is also included at the back of the book.

God has given us one book that can change the entire direction of our lives: the Bible. In this episode of Journeying Through Scriptures, host Scott Pauley takes a big-picture look at the short but powerful Old Testament book of Habakkuk, tracing its message in the context of Judah's looming captivity by Babylon and exploring how faith governs every area of life. Scott explains the historical setting—Israel's enemies and the coming Babylonian judgment—and introduces Habakkuk (whose name means "Embracer") as a godly prophet wrestling with difficult questions. The episode centers on the book's key verse, Habakkuk 2:4 ("the just shall live by his faith"), and highlights how that truth reverberates through the New Testament (Romans, Galatians, Hebrews) and fueled the Reformation. Listeners will hear the book's spiritual progression: a sob of lament (chapter 1), a vision and call to patient waiting (chapter 2), and a climactic prayer-song of trust (chapter 3). Scott draws practical lessons: bring burdens to God in prayer, wait on the Lord, rehearse God's character, and choose to rejoice even when circumstances remain unchanged. He points out how Christ's presence and justification by faith are seen throughout Habakkuk. The episode offers encouragement for anyone facing unanswered questions or national and personal crises—faith is the bridge from sorrow to praise. Scott also reminds listeners that the Word of God is meant to be walked through daily and points to ETJ's online resources at etj.bible, where you can find book-by-book study aids to enrich personal Bible reading. Expect thoughtful exposition, pastoral application, and a pastoral call to live by faith: talk to God, wait on His timing, and choose rejoicing. Join Scott Pauley as he moves from lament to worship and invites you to let God's Word restore your song. Join our study through Scripture this year. Find resources for every book of the Bible at enjoyingthejourney.org/journey-through-scripture/ Whether you're a new believer or have walked with the Lord for years, you'll find thousands of free devotionals, Bible studies, audio series, and Scripture tools designed to strengthen your faith, deepen your understanding of the Bible, and help you stay rooted in the Word of God. Explore now at EnjoyingTheJourney.org. Extend the Work Enjoying the Journey provides every resource for free worldwide. If you would like to help extend this Bible teaching, you may give at enjoyingthejourney.org/donations/

What can we learn from studying Lot's wife? Let's open up to Genesis 19:26! 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/4qocgeU-Grab Kristen's copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/ Check out her monthly Come Follow Me YouTube videos here: https://kristenwalkersmith.com/youtube/Get our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a scripture podcast for kids! We are a church primary podcast that is learning all about the Old Testament this year, and this episode is specifically about Noah! Children will learn:Following the Lord's prophet will bless me and my family.God will keep His promises to me.Following Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.Noah Found Grace In The Eyes Of The LordYou're listening to Come Follow Me Kids!Come Follow Me For Kids Podcast A Come Follow Me Podcast for Primary Kids of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.We are an interactive game play podcast for kids. Children will learn shout the scriptures while playing games that go with the Come Follow Me Lessons from the church.This year we are studying the Old Testament. If you are looking for a Scripture Podcast for Primary Kids, look no further! Our podcast is called Come Follow Me Kids. Come Follow Me for kids that are primary aged 2-12 in the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We follow the come follow me manual from the church but are not officially affiliated in any way. Some audio segments come from the friend magazine and other church sources. On this podcast we play interactive games while learning about the gospel and atonement of Jesus Christ.If your children would like to be guests on this podcast or to receive a baptism shout out, please email us at their info at comefollowmekidspodcast@gmail.com 

"Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" Miriam and Aaron, Moses' own siblings, challenge his unique authority. They use his Cushite wife as a pretext, but their real complaint is against Moses' position. God Himself intervenes, and Miriam is struck with leprosy. In this chapter, we see that even family can become instruments of opposition to God's appointed servants. Yet we also see Moses' meekness and his intercession for his sister.  The Rev. Jacob Hercamp, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Noblesville, IN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Numbers 12.  To learn more about Christ Lutheran, visit clc-in.org. The Book of Numbers is far more than an ancient census report. It is the story of a people learning to trust God in the wilderness, and failing, and finding grace anyway.  In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk through the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter by chapter. We follow Israel from Sinai toward the Promised Land, through grumbling and rebellion, fiery serpents and a talking donkey, faithless spies and faithful priests. The journey is hard, the failures are many, and God remains faithful to a faithless people.  These ancient accounts point us to Christ. The bronze serpent lifted on a pole points to the cross. The rock struck for water points to the one struck for us. The high priest whose death frees the manslayer points to the Great High Priest whose death sets us free forever. Join us as we discover that the wilderness has more to teach us than we ever expected.  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.

Officiant: Mtr. Lisa Meirow, Psalm(s): Psalm 80, Fr. Wiley Ammons, Old Testament: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Laura Ammons, First Canticle: 16, New Testament: 1 John 2:18-25, Corey Sees, Second Canticle: 21. Logo image by Antonio Allegretti, used by permission.

Officiant: Fr. Wiley Ammons, Psalm(s): Psalm 33, Laura Ammons, Old Testament: 1 Samuel 12:1-5, Laura Ammons, First Canticle: 15, New Testament: Acts 20:17-35, David Sibley, Second Canticle: 17. Logo image by Laura Ammons, used by permission.

The Matt Slick Live (Live Broadcast of 02-24-2026) is a production of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry (CARM). Matt answers questions on topics such as: The Bible, Apologetics, Theology, World Religions, Atheism, and other issues! You can also email questions to Matt using: info@carm.org, Put "Radio Show Question" in the Subject line! Answers will be discussed in a future show. Topics Include: Matt discusses AI and How it Operates on The Internet/ Email Question—Has The Devil Ever Seen God The Father?/ A Discreet Marriage?/ LORD in The Old Testament, Who was it?/ Luke 16-The Unjust Steward Parable and Interpreting Chiastic Structure/ Is There a Problem with The Revised Standard Version (RSV) of The Bible?/ Is Christian Divorce Permissible?/ Is it Unbiblical to Stop Tithing?/ February 24, 2026

Rebecca talks with John Meade and Peter Gurry about the New Testament canon, “lost gospels,” and why New Testament writers sometimes quote the Old Testament differently. They address common objections—Constantine, politics, the Apocrypha—and why studying Scripture's history tends to deepen faith rather than undermine it.Follow Peter:XFollow John:XUse code IF to receive 30% off your copy of The ‘If' That Changes Everything at thegoodbook.com.Visit MoodyPublishers.com or find The Rekindled Heart wherever books are sold.Find Digital Liturgies wherever books are sold, or visit crossway.org/digitalliturgiesbook to get 30% off with a free Crossway+ account.Watch Us on YouTubeSign up for weekly emails at RebeccaMcLaughlin.org/SubscribeFollow Us on Instagram and XProduced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Good Podcast Co.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Today, Lloyd will continue our verse by verse study through the Old Testament book of Proverbs. The theme of this book is wisdom - Godly wisdom that is. Lloyd will point out to us today that it's just as easy to err by doing nothing as it is by doing something! That's a pretty accurate assessment of the world in 2026, wouldn't you agree?

In this episode of The Universe Next Door we examine the biblical figure called the "angel of the Lord," surveying key Old Testament scenes (the burning bush, Jacob's wrestling, and Abraham and Isaac) to argue that this figure is specifically the pre‑incarnate second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. We explain how "angel" functions as a messenger term without diminishing God, why the figure disappears after the Incarnation, and the theological significance of these appearances as preparation for Jesus and his atoning work.

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We're ending Season 7 by talking about things crumbling over time. Let's hope it's not too meta. This week we'll discuss how we can develop a taste for things that don't go bad (it's not as obvious a choice as you might think); how a national landmark fell apart because of its genius builder's personal failures; how our tiny underground neighbors can show us the upside of rot; and how rust accumulates in your gameplay and your service to Jesus, but only when you let it.Check out Hal on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@halhammons9705Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shepherd for the Lakewoods Drive church of Christ in Georgetown, Texas. He is the host of the Citizen of Heaven podcast. You are encouraged to seek him and the Lakewoods Drive church through Facebook and other social media. Lakewoods Drive is an autonomous group of Christians dedicated to praising God, teaching the gospel to all who will hear, training Christians in righteousness, and serving our God and one another faithfully. We believe the Bible is God's word, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that heaven is our home, and that we have work to do here while we wait. Regular topics of discussion and conversation include: Christians, Jesus, obedience, faith, grace, baptism, New Testament, Old Testament, authority, gospel, fellowship, justice, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness, Twenty Pages a Week, Bible reading, heaven, hell, virtues, character, denominations, submission, service, character, COVID-19, assembly, Lord's Supper, online, social media, YouTube, Facebook.

Officiant: Mtr. Lisa Meirow, Psalm(s): Psalm 80, Fr. Wiley Ammons, Old Testament: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Laura Ammons, First Canticle: 16, New Testament: 1 John 2:18-25, Corey Sees, Second Canticle: 21

Send a textTo receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at:Jeremy McCandless | In the latter part of Galatians chapter 2, beginning at verse 11 and continuing through the end of the chapter, Paul recounts a significant second encounter with the Apostle Peter in Antioch. During Peter's visit, he initially ate with Gentile Christians, recognizing that Old Testament dietary laws were no longer binding upon him. However, under pressure from certain individuals, Peter withdrew and began to only associate with these Jewish Christians and reverted to keeping the dietary laws.Recognizing the implications of this behavior, Paul confronted Peter directly, challenging the notion that adherence to the laws of Moses was necessary for salvation. This rebuke underscored the importance of maintaining doctrinal clarity regarding justification by faith alone. And the details of Paul's response to Peter are documented in Galatians chapter 2, providing valuable insight into this pivotal moment in early Christian history….Meet Me in the Word: A Daily DevotionalThoughtful reflections for Jesus-Followers Monday through Friday.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showFollow and support me on Patreon. Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | Patreon To receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at: Jeremy McCandless | Substack Check out my other Podcasts. The Bible Project: https://thebibleproject.buzzsprout.com History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.com The L.I.F.E. Podcast: (Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment Podcast). https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.com The Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891 The Classic Literature Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906 To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle and now also on Audible, Visit: Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest update

Psalms 1 & 2 E1 — The Psalms scroll—Israel's ancient hymn book—has deeply shaped the worship and prayers of millions of people over several millennia. The first two psalms work together as a unified introduction to the whole collection. Psalm 1 starts with the phrase “How good is life for the man who…” or in most English translations, “Blessed is the man who…” We then find a list of activities to avoid and an instruction to practice daily Scripture meditation. So how does this way of living lead to “the good life”? And what happens to those who follow it—and to those who don't? In this episode, Jon and Tim start a short series in Psalms 1 and 2 by first meditating on Psalm 1.FULL SHOW NOTESFor chapter-by-chapter summaries, biblical words, referenced Scriptures, and reflection questions, check out the full show notes for this episode.CHAPTERSThe Path of Tragedy (0:00-21:35)Becoming Like a Tree (21:35-40:40)Standing in the Judgment (40:40-1:06:14)OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTView this episode's official transcript.REFERENCED RESOURCESThe Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert AlterCheck out Tim's extensive collection of recommended books here.SHOW MUSIC“Growing Season” by Gas Lab & Guillaume Muschalle“New Dae” by El Train & G MillsBibleProject theme song by TENTS SHOW CREDITSProduction of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today's episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty writes the show notes. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Dr. Lynne Hilton Wilson explores the rich Old Testament narratives surrounding the matriarchs of Israel, highlighting the faith, courage, and covenant loyalty of women in the Jacob cycle. Beginning with the well-known scene of Rebekah's generosity in Book of Genesis—where she offers water not only to Abraham's servant but to his camels—Dr. Wilson connects this act of selfless service to the covenant marriages that shape the house of Israel. The story then moves to Rachel and Leah, daughters of Laban, whose lives intertwine with Jacob's through love, deception, longing, and divine promise. Through their marriages, and through the faithful contributions of Zilpah and Bilhah, the foundations of the twelve tribes are laid. Dr. Wilson carefully examines the births of Gad and Asher through Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, and reflects on the complex family dynamics that shaped Jacob's household. She also addresses the wives of Esau and the contrasting covenant paths chosen by Jacob and his brother. With insight drawn from ancient context and Latter-day Saint theology, this episode brings forward the voices of these often-overlooked women—Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah, Rebekah, and Esau's wives—showing how their choices, sacrifices, and faith played a central role in God's covenant story. Thank you for joining us at Scripture Central! We hope that you have enjoyed this content.

Today we're studying Genesis 18:14 in just one minute! Grab your scriptures and let's dive into them together!And grab study guides for the whole family here: -Grab Kristen's copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/ Check out her monthly Come Follow Me 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/4qocgeUGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Behalf of Ten by Autumn Dickson The Old Testament is chock full of stories. One of the stories this week is about Sodom and Gomorrah. They were an incredibly wicked city, and the Lord destroyed them. Before the Lord does so, He talks to Abraham about it. Abraham has a whole conversation with the Lord where he asks the Lord not to destroy the city if he can find righteous people within it. First, Abraham asks the Lord to spare it if he can find 50 righteous people. Then he keeps decreasing that number until we reach this point: Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. The Lord agrees to not destroy it for the sake of ten righteous people. This is an oft-repeating principle throughout scriptures. The Lord preserves nations because of a few righteous within it. The first example that comes to mind is Ammonihah. When Ammonihah killed and exiled all of the believers, it was ripe for destruction, and that was precisely what happened. The entire city was demolished by the Lamanites. The second one that comes to mind is in Isaiah 65 where the Lord talks about preserving the vine on behalf of a small cluster of good grapes. It repeats far more than that, but those are just a couple of examples. And of course, there is a type in this. Let's talk about it. Sometimes it's not about preserving a nation but a person. Abraham loved people enough that He pleaded with the Lord to save the city if he could find even a little bit of righteousness within it. Abraham is a type of Christ, and Christ pleads on our behalf even when there is only a little bit of righteousness within us. He loves us and wants us to have time to figure it out. It is important to understand what that means and why He does it. When the Lord preserves a nation on behalf of the righteous who are dwelling there, He isn't declaring the entire nation righteous. He isn't turning a blind eye to the wickedness found there. He doesn't plan on interceding on behalf of those who are unrepentant. For them, it will be as if no atonement had been made. Can you imagine how Lot's daughters might have felt if Heavenly Father ignored what they had tried to do? Can you imagine how minimalized and cast aside and unsafe they would feel? Mercy and intercession are not about ignoring wickedness. Rather, it is because He is providing the righteous with an opportunity to grow if possible. In Alma 13, we read more about the king of Salem, Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a person from the Old Testament who blessed Abraham at one point. He was also king over a city that had waxed strong in abomination. They had “all” gone astray and were “full” of wickedness, except for Melchizedek. It was just Melchizedek. And yet, through the preaching of Melchizedek, the people repented and were saved. When it comes to our own hearts, the Lord is willing to intercede if we repent. If there is a shred of goodness in us that holds sway, there is a chance to be saved. On the flip side, we read about Ammonihah that I mentioned previously. Alma went there, was rejected, and left. He was commanded by an angel to return again, and in doing so, he came to Amulek. Amulek's home welcomed him in and blessed him. After Alma and Amulek were preaching, some were converted but the leaders of Ammonihah killed them by fire. Alma and Amulek escape, and Ammonihah is destroyed. If we willfully kill those good seeds within us and reject Christ that thoroughly, He will not plead on our behalf. He does not save us in our sins. He saves us from our sins when we're trying to escape them. He saves us long enough to let our choices play out in either direction, to the ultimate rejection of Him or to our repentance. I want to expand the example of Ammonihah just a bit. There are times when the Lord chooses to rain down His justice on purpose. There are times when He actively brings down trials and tragedy upon His people. When the wickedness is so bad that a softer answer won't hit the mark, the Lord is not afraid of using a hard answer. There are times that He directly brings about difficulty in an attempt to reach us. I wonder if it's just a tad different with the city of Ammonihah. I wonder if the Lord didn't have a hand in bringing the Lamanites to their doorstep to destroy them. I wonder if the Lord simply didn't protect them any longer. There is a type in this. Sometimes the Lord purposefully rains down difficulty to try and shake us awake to our awful condition. But when it comes to a “final” judgment, He simply steps aside and doesn't plead on our behalf. It is as if there is no atonement of Jesus Christ. Ammonihah wasn't a final, final judgment, but it was a type of final judgment. It was meant to teach us something about the nature of eternity. The Lord wasn't trying to reach them anymore; they had already shown that they didn't want Him. Rather, He simply stepped aside and didn't save them. His atonement simply didn't apply in their lives. Abraham pleaded on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah because he couldn't stomach the idea of such destruction. It was hard for him to watch. After Lot was gone, I'm sure Abraham hated to watch it happen, but accepted the tragic necessity. Abraham is a type of the Lord. Our Lord and Savior pleads on our behalf. If there are even ten good people, He wants to give us time and let us play out our choices. He intercedes on our behalf and preserves us until the day that we completely reject Him. He performed the atonement, the intercession, because He couldn't stand to watch us be destroyed when there was good in us. Honestly, I think He can't stand to watch us be destroyed even after we have rejected Him, but He weighs that option with letting us destroy everything around us. I testify that the Lord wants to save us. He is pleading with us to come and be saved. He isn't standing there with a ruler ready to kick us out at any infraction. He is doing everything He can to get us to hear Him and find peace in Him. He stands ready to save us and then walk us through repentance towards a happier state of being like He did with Melchizedek and the city of Salem. He wants to save. Let Him. Work with Him. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 18–23 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

In this episode, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb explore one of Scripture's most fascinating puzzles: the parable of the lost sheep appears in both Luke 15 and Matthew 18, yet teaches dramatically different lessons depending on its context. In Luke, it defends Christ's mission to seek the lost and exposes Pharisaic self-righteousness. In Matthew, it becomes a pastoral manual for church discipline, humility, and restoration. This conversation challenges the common assumption that parables have only one meaning and demonstrates how the same story can illuminate multiple theological truths. The hosts unpack the scandalous grace woven throughout both accounts while wrestling with practical implications for church life, confrontation, and the celebration of repentance within the covenant community. Key Takeaways Context transforms meaning: The parable of the lost sheep appears in both Luke 15 and Matthew 18 with similar wording but vastly different applications—proving that parables can have multiple valid meanings depending on their literary and theological context. Matthew 18's audience is internal: Unlike Luke 15, which addresses outsiders and critics, Matthew 18 speaks to disciples about life within the kingdom community—focusing on humility, care for "little ones," and the church's responsibility toward vulnerable or straying members. The parable sets up church discipline: In Matthew 18, the lost sheep parable (vv. 12-14) directly precedes and theologically grounds the church discipline passage (vv. 15-20), teaching that confrontation should be motivated by pastoral rescue, not punitive justice. "Little ones" matter to the Father: The phrase "little ones" refers to children, new believers, and those vulnerable within the church—Christ warns sternly against despising them and insists it is not the Father's will that any should perish (v. 14). Restoration is the goal, not excommunication: Verse 15's language of "gaining your brother" frames confrontation as recovery. Even final excommunication (v. 17) should be carried out with ongoing hope for repentance and return, not with triumphalism or relief. Christ's presence empowers difficult work: The promise that "where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them" (v. 20) is not a general prayer meeting verse—it's a specific assurance of Christ's authorizing presence during the judicial and painful work of church discipline. Divine intention shapes church posture: The statement "it is not the will of my Father...that one of these little ones should perish" (v. 14) must color every step of the discipline process, ensuring the church never loses sight of God's restorative heart. Explanatory Paragraphs Context Transforms Meaning One of the most significant insights from this episode is the recognition that the parable of the lost sheep serves distinct theological purposes in Luke 15 and Matthew 18. In Luke, Jesus tells the parable to Pharisees and scribes who criticize Him for welcoming sinners—the lost sheep represents those outside the covenant community whom Christ seeks. In Matthew, however, Jesus addresses His disciples within the context of kingdom life, and the lost sheep represents a believer who has wandered from the fold. This contextual shift demonstrates that parables are not rigid allegories with single meanings but flexible teaching tools that illuminate different facets of divine truth. The hosts argue that this reality should free interpreters from overly narrow readings and encourage careful attention to literary setting, audience, and surrounding discourse when seeking to understand Jesus' teaching. The Parable Sets Up Church Discipline In Matthew 18, the parable of the lost sheep (vv. 12-14) is not an isolated story but a theological foundation for the church discipline instructions that immediately follow (vv. 15-20). By emphasizing the shepherd's joy in recovering the one lost sheep and stating that it is not God's will for any "little one" to perish, Jesus prepares His disciples to approach confrontation with a restorative rather than punitive mindset. The language of "gaining your brother" (v. 15) echoes the recovery theme of the parable—confrontation is rescue, not victory. This connection is often missed because English Bible headings create visual breaks between verses 14 and 15, obscuring their flow. When read together without interruption, the passage reveals that every step of church discipline—from private conversation to final excommunication—must be undertaken with the Father's heart, which longs for the wanderer's return rather than their expulsion. Christ's Presence Empowers Difficult Work The promise in Matthew 18:20—"where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them"—is frequently misapplied as a general encouragement for small prayer groups or house churches. While Christ's omnipresence certainly validates such gatherings, the primary context of this verse is judicial and ecclesiastical. The "two or three" echoes the Old Testament requirement for multiple witnesses in matters requiring serious judgment (Deuteronomy 19:15), and the phrase appears at the climax of Jesus' teaching on church discipline. Christ is promising His authorizing presence specifically during the church's most difficult and painful work: confronting sin, evaluating repentance, and when necessary, declaring someone outside the visible church. This is both sobering and comforting—sobering because it reminds us that church discipline carries divine weight, and comforting because Christ does not leave His church alone in this weighty task but stands in the midst of the assembly, confirming its righteous judgments and sustaining its members through heartbreak. Memorable Quotes "This almost proves the idea that parables have one meaning just isn't really real...a single parable with the same words can have multiple, at the very least, can have multiple gradations of meaning." — Tony Arsenal "The scandal here is that it's not God's will that any one of these little ones should be lost. And that sometimes, I think, in the midst of great conflict feels scandalous." — Jesse Schwamb "Gaining your brother frames confrontation as rescue...discipline begins maybe actually all the way through as pastoral care. It's not public shaming." — Jesse Schwamb Full Transcript [The complete, unedited transcript of the episode would be included here for reference and accessibility.]

Check out this encore show from March 10, 2025 (2:03) Bible Study: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 Why is Leviticus such an important book? Father explains Matthew 25:31-46 How does this reading connect with Leviticus? Don’t worry It fits better than you’d think. Luke 4:1-13 Is there importance to the word “if” in this passage? (22:04) Break 1 (25:50) Letters: Does the burnt offering always have to be male in the Old Testament? Do I need to confess a mortal sin if I don’t realize I committed it? Father answers these and other questions. Send him a letter at simon@relevantradio.com (39:36) Break 2 (40:09) Word of the Day: Minister (41:25) Phones: Judy – Because there are so many religions, I’m concerned that one of them may be wrong, and what is your opinion on that, and set me straight? Pam – Didn’t Satan know Jesus was the son of God? Angela – My husband died a couple year ago. If he’s in heaven/purgatory, does he hear me when I call out to him/talk to him? Patty – There’s one commandment, about follow the Sabbath. When did we no longer follow the Sabbath. When change and why?

What happens when God transforms a death sentence into a joyous celebration?In these last two chapters of Esther, we witness the final unfolding of "The Great Reversal" as the Jewish people move from fasting in terror to feasting in victory.  Esther 9-10 reveals how God's divine providence arranged one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the Old Testament. Episode highlights:Historic Rematch: How Mordecai and Esther (descendants of the House of Kish) finished the mission that King Saul failed centuries earlier.A Bold Request: Why Queen Esther asked for one more day of fighting in the citadel of Susa and the impaling of Haman's ten sons.Origins of the Feast of Purim: Why the holiday is named after the "Pur" (the lot) and how it is celebrated today with gifts, food, and the reading of the Megillah.Mordecai's Legacy: How Mordecai's mourning turned into a day of celebration as he rose to become second-in-command to King Xerxes of the Persian Empire and worked for the good of his people.Lessons for our lives today: The Book of Esther concludes with powerful truths about God's faithfulness and our calling:God Specializes in Reversals: What "impossible" situation in your life might God be transforming from mourning into joy?The Power of Divine Providence: Even when God's name isn't mentioned, His hand is never hidden. He orchestrates your story through what may seem like coincidences.Faithfulness Positions You for Purpose: Like Mordecai, your commitment to the welfare of others opens doors for God to work in unexpected ways.Join the Bible Book Club as we wrap up the story of Esther and prepare for our next season in the Book of Job!We love feedback, but can't reply without your email address. Message us your thoughts and contact info!Contact Bible Book ClubDONATE Buy merch Like, comment, or message us through Bible Book Club's InstagramLike or comment on Susan's Facebook or InstagramLeave us an Apple reviewContact us through our website formThanks for listening and happy podcasting!

February 22, 2026 | In Hebrews 11, we reflect on the heroes of the faith who lived through the Old Testament. Among them was Abel, brother of Cain. In this sermon, Pastor Ben Mandrell teaches from the life of Abel about how we can surrender to the Lord and worship Him. We are also warned not to live as Cain, who chose to murder his brother out of envy and anger against the Lord. Through this story, we see how sin works its way into our lives and leads to suffering for all those around us.For more sermons each week, be sure to subscribe so you can stay in the know. If you've liked what you've heard in this message, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and follow us on Spotify. Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, TN | bellevue.org

"Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" The manna that sustained Israel in the wilderness becomes the object of complaint. The people weep for the meat of Egypt, and Moses buckles under the burden of leadership. God responds with quail and with His Spirit poured out on seventy elders. In this chapter, we see both the ugliness of ingratitude and the generosity of God who shares His Spirit with His servants.  The Rev. David Boisclair, senior pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Overland, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Numbers 11.  To learn more about Our Redeemer, visit ourredeemerstl.org. The Book of Numbers is far more than an ancient census report. It is the story of a people learning to trust God in the wilderness, and failing, and finding grace anyway.  In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk through the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter by chapter. We follow Israel from Sinai toward the Promised Land, through grumbling and rebellion, fiery serpents and a talking donkey, faithless spies and faithful priests. The journey is hard, the failures are many, and God remains faithful to a faithless people.  These ancient accounts point us to Christ. The bronze serpent lifted on a pole points to the cross. The rock struck for water points to the one struck for us. The high priest whose death frees the manslayer points to the Great High Priest whose death sets us free forever. Join us as we discover that the wilderness has more to teach us than we ever expected.  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.

Presented by Julie Busteed Proverbs aren't found only in the Old Testament—and obviously not just in the book of Proverbs. They're also found in the New Testament. Jesus frequently used parables and proverbs as teaching tools. I want to look at some of the proverbs Jesus taught. A proverb is a short, concise saying that expresses a general truth or piece of wise advice. Many of Jesus' proverbs appear in his most well-known message, the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapters 5–7. Jesus says: For where your treasure is there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). I think you and I generally understand what Jesus is referring to here. What you and I value most is where our thoughts and actions are most prominent and how we spend our time and energy. But let's take a closer look at what he means by “your heart.” Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23). Heart refers to the center of one's life. It's from this place a person does all thinking, feeling, and choosing. It's that essential to our life. So, yes, above all else we are to guard it. Guard what we hear, watch, say, and do. What is influencing you most right now? If it's not God's Word, then something else has taken center stage in your life. When Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, he's asking us to consider: What do you truly value? What occupies your time and your thoughts? Who or what are you serving? Your treasure might not be money or material things. It could be a relationship, a career, status, security, health, comfort, politics, food, or even our physical fitness. None of these things are wrong in themselves. The problem comes when these things are overvalued—when they are treasured above a relationship with God. That's where you and I can get into trouble. If your heart treasures God's Word and your relationship with him—if you make time with him a priority—your heart will follow. Sometimes you may not feel like putting in the effort. And sometimes it may not seem immediately fruitful. But don't rely solely on your feelings. When you discipline yourself to spend consistent, quality time with Jesus Christ, your heart will begin to treasure that time. Your affection will grow. And your joy will increase—because his joy will be in you.