Podcasts about presbyterian

Are the PCA and OPC schismatic churches, or were they right to separate from corrupt mainline denominations? In this episode of The Magistrate, Josh Howard and James Baird discuss the theology of schism, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Redeemed Zoomer’s argument for reconquering the PCUSA, and whether conservatives have a duty to remain inside broken institutions. They explore what constitutes a true church, when separation is justified, the difference between unity and compromise, the Old Testament temple argument, Presbyterian history in America, and why Christians should pursue real unity in faith, hope, and love without pretending doctrinal corruption does not matter.

Today we will be continuing our discussion on baptism! What is the different between the Baptist and the Presbyterian view on baptism?

From the "It Matters" sermon series. Preached by Jody Killingsworth.

Jason Sterling August 23, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL 

Discover a powerful story of mysterious synchronicity, grief, spiritual connection, and how being in the right place at the right time can bring unexpected healing.The world is full of mystery, magic, and sometimes mayhem.Every so often, something happens that makes us pause and wonder whether life is simply a series of random events—or whether there are moments when we find ourselves exactly where we are meant to be.In a recent conversation with Dr. Raymond Roberts, a pastor with more than 40 years of experience, author, and musician, he shared one such story. It involved a lightning strike, a small church in Virginia, a devastating family tragedy, and an extraordinary chain of events that placed him in a position to offer comfort when it was needed most.Was it coincidence? Synchronicity? Divine providence?Whatever name you give it, the story is a powerful reminder that our connections with other people can matter in ways we may not understand until much later.A Strange Beginning at Providence Presbyterian ChurchAs a young pastor, Dr. Raymond Roberts was invited to speak at Providence Presbyterian Church in southern Virginia.A friend drove him to the church, where the congregation gathered for dinner before the service. Dr. Roberts had previously spoken at a youth retreat for the local presbytery, which was how the church had learned about him.Everything seemed relatively ordinary—until the service was about to begin.The clerk of session stepped outside and called for the young men waiting beneath a large oak tree to come inside.At that exact moment, lightning struck the tree.The Power of Being in the Right Place at the Right TimeA series of seemingly unrelated events had brought him to that church. A lightning strike had marked the beginning of the evening. His friend had unexpectedly arranged for him to travel home with a grieving family.And that family turned out to be mourning a young man Dr. Roberts had recently known.Sometimes, this is how healing enters a difficult moment. Not through an explanation. Not through a perfect set of words. But through presence.Does Everything Happen for a Reason?Is every coincidence a sign? Dr. Roberts offered an important distinction. He does not believe that every tragedy is caused by God or that every event has a simple explanation. He does not believe, for example, that God caused Calvin's death. Life contains tragedy, loss, and events that can be impossible to understand. But Dr. Roberts does believe in the possibility of a redeeming presence.Synchronicity, Connection, and the Mystery of LifeThe story of Dr. Raymond Roberts and Calvin's family is ultimately a story about connection. It is about the mysterious intersections that occur in our lives.If you'd like to hear other episodes of the podcast that deal with magical synchronicity, being in the right place at the right time, or stories of spiritual connection, here are some offerings for you!Gloria Vanderhoorst shares her story of being profoundly ill as a child, and close to Death, until a mysterious glowing woman entered her room and healed her. A spiritually profound encounter, her experience reminds us that healing happens in all sorts of ways! Listen on Spotify HERE, on Apple HERE!Birmingham, Alabama's Inaugural Poet Laureate shares a mysterious story of healing and encounter in this episode, "The Woman In The Yellow Apron." A story from the South, it engages with an old plantation, and the ghosts that still reside there. Listen on Apple HERE and Spotify HERE.And finally, Holly Porter's episode about surviving 70 days in the hospital with COVID, and the visions she experienced during that time, are astounding. Listen on Apple HERE and Spotify HERE.And friends, to read up on Dr. Raymond and his life, here is his website!Here is his Insta, so you can stay in the know! As well as his Facebook!And then, to support this intrepid author, click here to buy "A Democratic and Republican Faith: A Public Theology for a Church and Nation in Crisis” To take a gander at his Substack, click on this BUTTON!And finally, to check out "Reckless and Wild" on Spotify, click HERE!And your bit of beauty is this: RECKLESS AND WILD'S website where you can check out this band and their villan origin story! ;-) Here's a blurb from their bio: "What do you call a band where the two singers/songwriters come from very diverse backgrounds? One, a former New York model was working the late-night city music scene, writing and recording with "the B-52's" and doing soundtracks for movies, including a Stephen King film. The other? Would you believe a full-time Presbyterian minister? The resulting band is Reckless and Wild, tying Reckless Ray "The Rev" Roberts to his foil, Johnny Wild Coté. Together this duo is out to make rock history by creating genre-fluid music!Enjoy everyone!

Discover a powerful story of mysterious synchronicity, grief, spiritual connection, and how being in the right place at the right time can bring unexpected healing.The world is full of mystery, magic, and sometimes mayhem.Every so often, something happens that makes us pause and wonder whether life is simply a series of random events—or whether there are moments when we find ourselves exactly where we are meant to be.In a recent conversation with Dr. Raymond Roberts, a pastor with more than 40 years of experience, author, and musician, he shared one such story. It involved a lightning strike, a small church in Virginia, a devastating family tragedy, and an extraordinary chain of events that placed him in a position to offer comfort when it was needed most.Was it coincidence? Synchronicity? Divine providence?Whatever name you give it, the story is a powerful reminder that our connections with other people can matter in ways we may not understand until much later.A Strange Beginning at Providence Presbyterian ChurchAs a young pastor, Dr. Raymond Roberts was invited to speak at Providence Presbyterian Church in southern Virginia.A friend drove him to the church, where the congregation gathered for dinner before the service. Dr. Roberts had previously spoken at a youth retreat for the local presbytery, which was how the church had learned about him.Everything seemed relatively ordinary—until the service was about to begin.The clerk of session stepped outside and called for the young men waiting beneath a large oak tree to come inside.At that exact moment, lightning struck the tree.The Power of Being in the Right Place at the Right TimeA series of seemingly unrelated events had brought him to that church. A lightning strike had marked the beginning of the evening. His friend had unexpectedly arranged for him to travel home with a grieving family.And that family turned out to be mourning a young man Dr. Roberts had recently known.Sometimes, this is how healing enters a difficult moment. Not through an explanation. Not through a perfect set of words. But through presence.Does Everything Happen for a Reason?Is every coincidence a sign? Dr. Roberts offered an important distinction. He does not believe that every tragedy is caused by God or that every event has a simple explanation. He does not believe, for example, that God caused Calvin's death. Life contains tragedy, loss, and events that can be impossible to understand. But Dr. Roberts does believe in the possibility of a redeeming presence.Synchronicity, Connection, and the Mystery of LifeThe story of Dr. Raymond Roberts and Calvin's family is ultimately a story about connection. It is about the mysterious intersections that occur in our lives.If you'd like to hear other episodes of the podcast that deal with magical synchronicity, being in the right place at the right time, or stories of spiritual connection, here are some offerings for you!Gloria Vanderhoorst shares her story of being profoundly ill as a child, and close to Death, until a mysterious glowing woman entered her room and healed her. A spiritually profound encounter, her experience reminds us that healing happens in all sorts of ways! Listen on Spotify HERE, on Apple HERE!Birmingham, Alabama's Inaugural Poet Laureate shares a mysterious story of healing and encounter in this episode, "The Woman In The Yellow Apron." A story from the South, it engages with an old plantation, and the ghosts that still reside there. Listen on Apple HERE and Spotify HERE.And finally, Holly Porter's episode about surviving 70 days in the hospital with COVID, and the visions she experienced during that time, are astounding. Listen on Apple HERE and Spotify HERE.And friends, to read up on Dr. Raymond and his life, here is his website!Here is his Insta, so you can stay in the know! As well as his Facebook!And then, to support this intrepid author, click here to buy "A Democratic and Republican Faith: A Public Theology for a Church and Nation in Crisis”To take a gander at his Substack, click on this BUTTON!And finally, to check out "Reckless and Wild" on Spotify, click HERE!And your bit of beauty is this: RECKLESS AND WILD'S website where you can check out this band and their villan origin story! ;-) Here's a blurb from their bio: "What do you call a band where the two singers/songwriters come from very diverse backgrounds? One, a former New York model was working the late-night city music scene, writing and recording with "the B-52's" and doing soundtracks for movies, including a Stephen King film. The other? Would you believe a full-time Presbyterian minister? The resulting band is Reckless and Wild, tying Reckless Ray "The Rev" Roberts to his foil, Johnny Wild Coté. Together this duo is out to make rock history by creating genre-fluid music!Enjoy everyone!

It's Thursday, August 20th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus Vietnamese court sentences pastor to 7 years in prison A court in Vietnam sentenced a Protestant pastor to over seven years in prison this month. Fifty-nine-old-pastor Y Nuen Ayun had been leading unregistered religious activities since 2003. The communist government often uses fabricated charges to silence Christians.  International Christian Concern noted, “Despite these realities, the church in Vietnam continues to faithfully and boldly advance God's kingdom under oppression.” 1 Peter 4:14 says, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified.” Send a polite, 3-sentence note to the Vietnamese Ambassador to America, Nguyen Quoc Dzung, urging him to ask his government to release 59-year-old-pastor Y Nuen Ayun. Address it to the Vietnam Embassy, 1233 20th Street Northwest #400, Washington, D.C., 20036. You can find the correct spelling of their names and the address of the embassy in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. Animated “David” movie opens in United Kingdom & Ireland tomorrow The animated biblical film “David” is headed to theaters in the United Kingdom and Ireland tomorrow.  A campaign from the U.K.-based KOVA International is encouraging churches to engage their congregations and communities through the film. The movie has been one of Angel Studios'* most successful releases. *Note: Angel Studios is owned by the Mormons also known as the “Church” of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Worldview cautions our listeners to remember that Mormons teach a false gospel and an unbiblical worldview. So, please be discerning in the viewing of any Angel Studios productions. Canadian military chaplains prohibited from mentioning God in public Military chaplains in Canada can no longer mention God at public events. The country's government issued the new policy last month. Canada already prohibited chaplains from praying at public events. The Canadian Armed Forces claims to be maintaining religious and spiritual neutrality in the exercise of its public duties. But in Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Trump pauses 50% tariffs on Canadian goods U.S. President Donald Trump paused 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods yesterday. The tariffs were set to go into effect today. The president said that the two countries had reached a deal, subject to the finalization of the documents.  Trump picked a pro-lifer to head the FDA President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration yesterday. She previously served as a White House health policy adviser. Dr. Overton is an opponent of abortion. She has written about the dangerous rise of chemical abortion which was allowed by the FDA in previous years. Christian Forest Service officer no longer required to work on Sundays A U.S. Forest Service officer will no longer be required to work on Sundays. Adam Diemert is a Forest Service law enforcement officer in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He is also a devout Presbyterian who attends church twice every Sunday. Adam submitted multiple religious accommodation requests to not work on Sundays. Sadly, the Forest Service denied those requests. But thanks to the legal help of First Liberty Institute, Adam finally received the accommodation last week.  Socialist Democrats score another primary victory Socialist Democrats picked up another primary victory on Tuesday. Socialist Angie Nixon defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, in Florida's Democrat primary race for the U.S. Senate.  Listen to the opening line of her victory speech. NIXON: “Florida, we did it!” (cheers and applause) She outlined her socialist agenda at the top. NIXON: “Medicare for all! (cheers) Universal childcare! (cheers) Real affordable housing!” (cheers) Nixon won easily with 56 percent of the vote. Vindman lost despite raising more than sixteen times as much money as Nixon.  Amazon delivery drones come to 500 cities Amazon delivery drones are coming to nearly 500 cities and towns this year. The company announced yesterday, “Prime Air offers millions of items by drone at everyday low prices, in as fast as 30 minutes.” The service currently operates in just 11 U.S. locations.  President Trump meets heroic lifeguard who saved 10-year-old And finally, President Donald Trump recently met with a heroic lifeguard as well as the 10-year-old boy he rescued. Sixteen-year-old Ryder Williams saved Nathaniel Rai from a rip current at a beach in Santa Cruz, California last month. A video of the rescue went viral, getting the president's attention. When asked by a reporter what went through his mind, the lifeguard said this. WILLIAMS: “In those dangerous moments that we have, we always try to fall back on our training. We are trained so well, by many, to handle that situation as best we can. So, I really am just thinking about how to get the boy out of the water as fast as I can.” He was also asked about his plans for the future. WILLIAMS: “I want to be a firefighter in the future. Hopefully, go through paramedic school.” Williams and Rai got to visit the White House on Monday. President Trump commended Williams and emphasized the providential moment. (Look at the 10:03-mark) Listen.  TRUMP: “He's a real hero. It's an amazing thing. God was watching you, right?” RAI: “Yeah.” TRUMP: “Great!” Proverbs 22:29 asks, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, August 20th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Mother continues to read from The Christian Mother and The Christian Father, and answers questions from: Mark, who asks about Catholic gift shops being open on Sundays;  Stephanie, who is friends with a Presbyterian couple;  Hannah, who is worried about being led astray by reading the Bible on her own;  and Alexander, who writes in from Germany with thoughts about salvation.

Why is North Korea so weird? Is it Stalinism? Maoism? Japan-style emperor worship? Ancient Korean hermit kingdom energy? No, argues Jonathan Cheng, Beijing bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Korean Messiah: The Failed Dynasty That Shaped the Hermit Kingdom. You've all been sleeping on the influence of 19th-century American revival Protestantism. To discuss why Kim Il-sung kind of thought he was Jesus — or at least wanted to convince everyone else he was — we have the honor of Jonathan joining ChinaTalk today, with Alex Boyd. Our conversation covers: Billy Graham meets Kim Il-sung — how America's pastor visited Pyongyang in 1992 and bonded with the dictator over their shared Presbyterian childhoods, while touring a birthplace resembling the nativity story. From “Jerusalem of the East” to totalitarian theocracy — how 22-year-old missionary Samuel Moffett brought eschatological founder energy to the wickedest city in Korea, and transformed Pyongyang into the most Protestant city in Asia, complete with jazz clubs and a Chevrolet dealership. The Manchurian cauldron — how the lawless frontier of 1920s Manchuria blended Christianity, Korean nationalism, and Marxism to forge Kim Il-sung's messiah complex — and why the 33-year-old decided to let peasants believe he could walk on water. Jim Jones, superfan — how the Jonestown cult leader became obsessed with Kim Il-sung, adopted Korean children, and traded tips with North Korean diplomats on running a closed religious society. Christianity as political technology — how Kim weaponized Protestant doctrine and ritual to build a state religion that has outlasted the Soviet Union by three decades. Plus, why North Korea is best understood not as a nation-state but as a religious society, and what Hong Xiuquan and Xi Jinping have to do with any of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us Fan MailThis week Greg hosted a lecture series for the Iona Study Center. The lecture was given by Matt French. Matt French is a teaching Elder at Christ the Word Church. He discussed the history and importance of the Sabbath. After his lecture there were a few questions, so stick around until the end! Enjoy! Dominion Wealth Strategists are the only Kingdom minded company that you need to use. Set up a free consultation here today! You need to protect your sword! Beautiful, classic, and one of a kind! Design your bible rebind from Deus Vult today! 10% for all Dead Men listeners with the code "DEADMANWALKING" Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV App

What is Progressive Covenantalism and why does Keith Foskey think that you should adopt this position? Listen to find out, and be open to the challenge! Thank you for your faithful listening to this ministry! We appreciate your support, such as hitting the like button on Youtube, writing a comment below or clicking subscribe and if you're looking to go the extra mile, please consider writing a review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your Podcast service of choice. (Link below so you can navigate quickly, and drop some stars and perhaps a review, thank you!) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-with-steve-hartland/id1645001839 In Christ, -Grounded Team Grounded is a ministry of Cornerstone Community Church in Joppa, Maryland.

Recorded days after Synod 2022 adjourned. Second of three reruns in the Before We Knew series. Jason and Willy work through the six questions the podcast then put to every delegate it interviewed: your role at synod, what you learned about yourself and the CRC, what encouraged you, what discouraged you, how your congregation is responding, and where we go from here. Willy served as a young adult representative, a role that can speak on the floor but cannot vote or speak for or against a motion. He questions whether the role should exist at all under a Presbyterian polity, and both note how many actual delegates were young that year, most of them conservative. They sat together on advisory committee three, education and candidacy, which handled the seminary and Calvin reports and the candidate interviews, including the two new Calvin Seminary professors, Wilson Cunha in Old Testament and Yudha Thianto in historical theology. Cunha answered directly on the human sexuality report. Thianto said he would abide by whatever synod decided, which left people uneasy. On what encouraged them: orthodoxy prevailed, and it prevailed by margins nobody expected. Four things passed — penal substitutionary atonement, the majority report on human sexuality, confessional status for its teaching, and disciplinary action against Neland Avenue — all by supermajorities in the range of 70 to 75 percent. Jason expected to come home wrecked and did not. He credits the fellowship among delegates and answered prayer, including moments where several delegates arrived at the same conviction separately during deliberations. On what discouraged them: hostility toward orthodoxy in some quarters, arguments from personal testimony treated as equal to Scripture, and conduct on the floor that was out of order on a worldwide livestream. Jason was criticized for repeating the word clarity, and answers the charge that the CRC has made an idol of it: clarity is not about being right, it is what makes pastoral guidance possible. He also names tone deafness, particularly the reasoning that professors should be asked only whether they will abide by synod's decisions rather than what they believe, and traces it to the distance between Grand Rapids and the rest of the denomination. Willy answers with Luther at the Diet of Worms on conscience captive to the word of God. The hardest section is about their own side. Off social media all week, Jason came home to find not only anger from those who wanted an affirming outcome, which he expected, but conservatives who were angry that synod had not gone far enough. Willy answers that watching a livestream is not the same as reading the room. Jason argues from church revitalization: this was the first disciplinary action against a congregation in over twenty years, small wins come before large ones, and nobody thought the work was finished after one synod. They also read the closest vote of the week, the defeated catechism footnote at about 51 percent, as a matter of people not having had time to think it through beforehand. On congregations: Willy's church was glad of the results and worried about a split, and he tells them that separation may be inevitable when both sides believe the gospel is at stake. Jason reads an email from an orthodox pastor who got everything he hoped for from synod and now has a congregation in turmoil, with members asking whether they can still belong. Both argue for giving churches time to repent before stronger action, and Jason ties it to Hebrews 12 — discipline is not designed to remove someone from the family. He mentions the Neland elder who said, with a smile, that synod would have to kick them out. They close on where to go from here. Willy names the three marks of the true church: preaching, sacraments, discipline. Jason wants the in loco committee under the new general secretary held to its work, and a warning that Paul Vander Klay's prediction may hold — that some will leave from the left and some conservatives from the right. His closing word is to the conservatives: this is step one, stay. Timestamps: 0:00 — Series intro 1:43 — Original episode begins 3:02 — The six questions asked of every delegate 4:03 — Willy's role as a young adult representative, and whether it should exist 9:52 — Advisory committee three: education and candidacy 13:49 — Interviewing the new professors: Wilson Cunha 18:30 — Yudha Thianto's answer on the human sexuality report 20:11 — What encouraged them: orthodoxy prevailed 23:51 — Four supermajority votes 25:55 — Answered prayer, and the Spirit at work among delegates 29:06 — Disagreeing agreeably: 95 percent of it went well 31:06 — What discouraged them: hostility toward orthodoxy 34:03 — "The clarity guy," and whether clarity is an idol 35:13 — Tone deafness, and the Grand Rapids echo chamber 38:47 — Luther at the Diet of Worms 39:25 — The social media moratorium, and what came after 40:32 — Conservatives angry that synod did not go far enough 41:40 — Willy: watching a livestream is not reading the room 44:02 — Thinking like a church revitalizer: step one of many 48:46 — The false accusation that orthodox delegates know no one affected 50:49 — The catechism footnote, defeated 51 to 49 53:57 — How the congregations are responding 57:24 — "Separation, I believe, is inevitable" 58:30 — The email from a pastor who won and now has a mess 61:14 — Giving churches room to repent 62:26 — Quoted in the Banner, and Hebrews 12 on discipline 63:45 — The Neland elder: "You're going to have to kick us out" 64:54 — The marks of the true church 66:59 — Holding the in loco committee to its work 67:33 — "Don't leave. Stick with us." Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/ Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Today we will be continuing our discussion on baptism! What is the different between the Baptist and the Presbyterian view on baptism?

Lisa Hickman's sermon for Sunday, August 16, 2026, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. Subtitles/closed captions for this video are available by clicking the “CC” button on the video player. Full sermon manuscripts can be found at myersparkpres.org/manuscripts.

From the "It Matters" sermon series. Preached by Max Curell. Due to technical difficulties the first part of the sermon is missing.

Jason Sterling August 16, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL 

I didn't grow up in Reformed theology circles. We were part of a branch of Presbyterianism that had rejected its confessional roots and only partially retained the governmental structure. I think I knew in my late teens there was something called “5-point Calvinism,” but I didn't know what that meant, or anyone who believed in it (other than my grandfather's hermit cousin). Fast forward 25 years, and now it's not just an optional feature of the Presbyterian package for me. It's a foundational part of how I understand the God of redemption. I teach it several times a year and each time my faith is always enriched.  One of the things I've heard many times along my own journey of discovery is someone claiming to be a “4-point” Calvinist. Often the “point” these folks don't want to adopt is the one of the two we're talking about the few weeks: unconditional election and limited atonement. But the deeper concern is actually a collection of unspoken logical implications drawn from the flow of the entire argument. When I learned what they were objecting to, I was quick to recognize the logical inconsistency of this pick-and-choose method. The whole rational nature of the doctrines of grace collapses under that kind of buffet-style theology. Why would people do that? What takes much longer and much more love is to see how this is not a quibble with the theology, but commitment to God's holiness paired with a confession of grief. When you are a broken person in relationship with broken people, Biblical terms like election and predestination (and theological counterparts like eternal security and assurance of salvation) aren't just ideas. They carry heavy implications for those we care about. We are not just rational creatures. We are affectionate too, and very protective of our loves. And the secret is that this tension we feel is not just a problem: it's a hint at the solution.  This week, I hope to help us repent of a separation between the rational and relational aspects of our souls that puts us between the rock of our salvation and the hard places of our experience.  If God is as gracious as we Reformed folks claim He is, then the way we talk about the so-called “doctrines of grace” should reflect that. And He certainly is. 

"At this very time, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but SCOTCH and foreign Mercenaries to invade and deluge us in blood." -From Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration of Independence In this episode, we survey the history and importance of Scotland and Scottish people in Revolutionary America. Topics include: -anti-Scottish sentiment in the Colonies, particularly among Southern planters, like Jefferson, who were indebted to Scottish tobacco traders -the origins of the "Pursuit of Happiness" in the Scottish Enlightenment -explanations of Scots and the Scotch-Irish -push and pull factors driving Scots and the Scotch-Irish to the Colonies -the Jacobite Uprising in 1745 in Scotland and its consequences for Scotland and the 13 Colonies -the revolutionary continuity among the various British upheavals of the 1600s and 1700s along with the American Revolution -the Scottish tobacco trade -the reception of the Declaration in Scotland -wider implications of the Declaration on Scottish politics -The connection or lack of connection between the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 and the US Declaration Prof. Francis Cogliano's books can be found here: [Revolutionary America, 1763.1815: A Political History](https://www.routledge.com/Revolutionary-America-1763-1815-A-Political-History/Cogliano/p/book/9781032150321) [The American Revolution at 250](https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10183/) The cover image features one of the Scottish Founders, John Witherspoon. Witherspoon was born in East Lothian, Scotland, in 1723. In 1768, he emigrated to New Jersey to become the President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). A staunch republican and Presbyterian, he believed that resisting tyranny was the duty of Christians. He signed the Declaration of Independence on behalf of the citizens of New Jersey in 1776.

Jason Sterling August 11, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Thank you for listening! Please visit us at www.faith-pca.org. 

Send us Fan MailThis week Greg welcomed Eli Hedo in the studio. They sat down and talked about growing up as a Christian in Baghdad as an Iraqi citizen, being extorted and threatened with murder, fleeing to Syria, and eventually coming to America and starting a successful business. This is truly an amazing story and will give us Americans an inside look at the refugee perspective and how it really is in middle eastern countries. Enjoy! In the Temperance, MI area and need a shave and haircut? Stop by and see Eli! Dominion Wealth Strategists are the only Kingdom minded company that you need to use. Set up a free consultation here today! You need to protect your sword! Beautiful, classic, and one of a kind! Design your bible rebind from Deus Vult today! 10% for all Dead Men listeners with the code "DEADMANWALKING" Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV App

Millie Snyder's sermon for Sunday, August 9, 2026, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. Subtitles/closed captions for this video are available by clicking the “CC” button on the video player. Full sermon manuscripts can be found at myersparkpres.org/manuscripts.

#61 in our series, "The Book of Romans: A Theology of Hope"

#60 in our series, "The Book of Romans: A Theology of Hope"

I've been monitoring the Quadriga situation for a few years now. Whether high church or low church, whether Non-Confessional or Confessional, whether Evangelical or Reformed, with the release of Patrick Schreiner's new book on the fourfold sense, the publicity campaign for the manifold sense's retrieval, revisioning, rehabilitation, and reframing as four moods, four questions, four applications, and four sensitivities is on and popping! It has some Evangelicals giving it a chance and certain Reformed Baptists and Presbyterians reinterpreting their own explicit confessional statement to do a 180 and accommodate the quadriga's hermeneutical method. Will it succeed? Is it just a semantics issue? Can't we all just get along?Gird your loins for 10 Quadrigas worth of questions and answers based on my forthcoming book against the quadriga and a couple of special musical numbers for your listening pleasure!

From the "It Matters" sermon series. Preached by Jody Killingsworth.

Tanner Crum August 9, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL 

Audio Recording Friendship Rev. Tim Chang Download Sermon OutlineSpeaker: Rev. Tim ChangSermon Series: ProverbsProverbs 13:20; 22:24-25; 18:24; 17:17; 27:6 (ESV)13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.22:24 Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,25 lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.Sermon OutlineWisdom helps us to see…1. We need good friendsProverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.Proverbs 22:24–25 [24] Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, [25] lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.2. We need to be a good friendProverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.3. We have a perfect friendProverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.John 15:15-16 [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abideJohn 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;Prayer of ConfessionJesus, it is a beautiful gift that you call us your friends. Your love for us has been constant. Your commitment to us has never wavered. Everything you do is for our ultimate good. But we confess that we are not the friend that you have been to us. Too often, our commitment to you depends on our circumstances. Rather than loving others with faithful commitment, we often keep them at arm's length. Forgive us for receiving the benefits of your friendship while neglecting you. Help us to see that your faithful wounds were for our good, so that, having received your friendship, we might become the faithful friends you call us to be. Amen.Questions for ReflectionWhat connected with you from the sermon or the passage?Proverbs says we can “learn the ways” of the people we're closest to. Where have you seen that happen whether in your own life or in someone else's?The Bible teaches us that we shouldn't isolate themselves from the world but should be intentional about our closest friendships. How do you personally balance those two callings? Where do you find that balance challenging? Friendship is more about commitment rather than convenience. How is that different from the way our culture often thinks about friendship? Where do you see relationships becoming transactional? How do you discern the difference between a boundary that gives protection from an unhealthy relationship and one that simply avoids discomfort?Jesus calls his disciples “friends” in John 15. What does it mean to you that the Son of God chooses to call you, his friend?As someone who has been loved by the perfect Friend, what is one practical way you can reflect that friendship this week? Is there someone you need to pursue, forgive, encourage, serve, or speak truth to in love? What do you sense God calling you to do from this passage?

11th Sunday after Pentecost; Sermon based on Psalm 85:8-13, Isaiah 43:1-3, 16, and Matthew 14:22-33. Preached at The First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn (https://linktr.ee/firstchurchbrooklyn). Podcast subscription is available at https://cutt.ly/fpcb-sermons or Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4c....This item belongs to: audio/first-church-brooklyn-sermons.This item has files of the following types: Archive BitTorrent, Columbia Peaks, Item Tile, Metadata, PNG, Spectrogram, VBR MP3

Sunday Worship August 9th, 2026   “Remaining In The Gospel” Galatians 1:6-9 Rev. Pedro Pollorena   Sermon Audio   Sermon Outline: A Shocking Abandonment (v. 6) A Distorted Gospel (v.7) Paul Gives A Serious Warning (vv. 8-9) Reflection Questions: Am I trusting completely in Christ’s finished work for my salvation, or have I begun to […] The post Remaining In The Gospel appeared first on East Charlotte Pres.

Send us Fan Mail"What are you doing here?" | Rev. Ashley Higgins preaching | 08.09.26

August 9, 2026 Pastor Nathan Lee Luke 15:1-10

Rev. Clover Reuter Beal, Co-Pastor

"Good All The Time" Matthew 14:22-33; Romans 10:10-13 8/9/2026 Rev. Alan Brehm, PhD Hickman Presbyterian Church

What did early American Presbyterians believe about religious liberty, the Constitution, and Christian government?In this episode of The Magistrate, James Baird is joined by John "Saint Something" St Martin to explore the forgotten history of the Christian Amendment movement. Together they examine why many influential Presbyterians believed the U.S. Constitution should explicitly acknowledge God, Jesus Christ, and the authority of Scripture.The conversation covers Thomas Jefferson's views of Presbyterians, the National Reform Association, Old Princeton theology, the Westminster Standards, liberty of conscience, Christian education, immigration, and what these debates can teach the Church today.Was this movement a forgotten chapter of American history—or a vision worth revisiting?

What did early American Presbyterians believe about religious liberty, the Constitution, and Christian government?In this episode of The Magistrate, James Baird is joined by John "Saint Something" St Martin to explore the forgotten history of the Christian Amendment movement. Together they examine why many influential Presbyterians believed the U.S. Constitution should explicitly acknowledge God, Jesus Christ, and the authority of Scripture.The conversation covers Thomas Jefferson's views of Presbyterians, the National Reform Association, Old Princeton theology, the Westminster Standards, liberty of conscience, Christian education, immigration, and what these debates can teach the Church today.Was this movement a forgotten chapter of American history—or a vision worth revisiting?Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

This week Dr. Jenkins wraps up his answering of listener questions by looking at the matter of penal substitionary atonement, a 19th-century Presbyterian phrase to define a Reformation doctrine. Doxamoot: https://www.ancientfaith.com/events/Doxamoot/

Scott and Aaron remember Jesse Owens' triumph at the 1936 Olympics - and the ways in which those games may have been covered at the time. The post History Matters: Programs and Presbyterians appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

What did early American Presbyterians believe about religious liberty, the Constitution, and Christian government?In this episode of The Magistrate, James Baird is joined by John "Saint Something" St Martin to explore the forgotten history of the Christian Amendment movement. Together they examine why many influential Presbyterians believed the U.S. Constitution should explicitly acknowledge God, Jesus Christ, and the authority of Scripture.The conversation covers Thomas Jefferson's views of Presbyterians, the National Reform Association, Old Princeton theology, the Westminster Standards, liberty of conscience, Christian education, immigration, and what these debates can teach the Church today.Was this movement a forgotten chapter of American history—or a vision worth revisiting?

Send us Fan MailThis week Greg welcomed back to the podcast JD Hall. JD is a commentator write, and author of the best selling book "Hyphenated Heresy." They discussed his recent appearance on Tucker Carlson, the history of the nation of Israel, and his new book and why the modern day Judaeo faith and Christianity have nothing in common. Enjoy!Dominion Wealth Strategists are the only Kingdom minded company that you need to use. Set up a free consultation here today! You need to protect your sword! Beautiful, classic, and one of a kind! Design your bible rebind from Deus Vult today! 10% for all Dead Men listeners with the code "DEADMANWALKING" Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV App

Joe Clifford's sermon for Sunday, August 2, 2026, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. Subtitles/closed captions for this video are available by clicking the “CC” button on the video player. Full sermon manuscripts can be found at myersparkpres.org/manuscripts.

10th Sunday after Pentecost; Sermon based on John 14:1-4. Preached at The First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn (https://linktr.ee/firstchurchbrooklyn). Podcast subscription is available at https://cutt.ly/fpcb-sermons or Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4ccZPt6), Spotify, Amazon, Audible, Podcast I....This item belongs to: audio/first-church-brooklyn-sermons.This item has files of the following types: Archive BitTorrent, Columbia Peaks, Item Tile, Metadata, PNG, Spectrogram, VBR MP3

Lindsay Borden is a reformed actor (the more obscure the venue, the more likely she was to appear there), a former chef (having cooked in temples of haute cuisine as well as soup kitchens), and a semi-successfully-retired late-adult onset Presbyterian pastor. She lives in New York City where she preaches, protests, volunteers, and writes about things that trouble her and things that bring her joy. Recent publications include the CNF piece, “Inheritance,” in The Twin Bill magazine (https://thetwinbill.com/), which also featured Lindsay's flash fiction piece, “Glimmering,” in its first anthology publication, Early Innings. Audio of her sermons can be found on You Tube @revlindsayborden and at https://revlindsay.podbean.com/. You can contact her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-borden-a6b74315b/ ***********Finalist "Women in Cloud - Podcast of the YEAR" - #empowHERaccess Global Prestige Awards 2026Susanne Mueller / www.susannemueller.biz TEDX Talk, May 2022: Running and Life: 5KM Formula for YOUR Successhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT_5Er1cLvY Join Substack: https://substack.com/@susannemuellernyc?Enjoy one coaching session for free if you are a yearly subscriber. 800+ weekly blogs / 500+ podcasts / 1 Ironman Triathlon / 5 half ironman races / 26 marathon races / 4 books / 1 Mt. Kilimanjaro / 1 TEDx Talk

From the "It Matters" sermon series. Preached by Dewayne Pinkney.

Jason Sterling August 2, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL 

Audio Recording Self Control Rev. Scott Strickman Download Sermon OutlineSpeaker: Rev. Scott StrickmanSermon Series: ProverbsProverbs 16:32; 17:27; 25:28; 29:11 (ESV)16:32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.17:27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.25:28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.29:11 A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.Sermon OutlineSelf control is a product of wisdom working in a person's life and a mark of those who are wise.1. Mastery“he who rules his spirit”2. Superficial Mastery“than he who takes a city”3. True Mastery“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty”Prayer of ConfessionWe have moved you from your proper place and our lives are disordered. We admit we have been ruled by desires, passions, feelings, confused thoughts and the opinions of others. We have lost control of ourselves and have acted harmfully. Forgive us for every sin. Forgive us for using your patience as an opportunity for more self-serving choices, rather than recognize the opportunities you have given us to turn to you and order our lives under the rule of Christ. We marvel that you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Thank you for the forgiveness extended to us through Christ. Amen.Questions for ReflectionIs there a difference between self-control and will power? How does self-control work?What areas of your life do you have difficulty controlling? Why? What impact is this having?What are some things you are trying to control or are taking responsibility for that you shouldn't? What are some areas of responsibility that you are neglecting?How does putting God in the wrong place create an imbalance, making it impossible to keep things under control? Why is God being “slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love” something that points to His mastery?Where do you see restraint, wisdom and power in Jesus willingly going to the cross? What were those who were there likely seeing/perceiving?How is self-control a “fruit of the Spirit”? What about the work of the Holy Spirit helps believers get their lives under control?What does it mean to walk in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit? How does faith in Christ help us to choose wisely?

In this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal delivers a rich expository sermon on James 5:1–6, one of the most striking prophetic passages in the New Testament epistles. Drawing on the Jewish literary and cultural context of James's original audience — Jewish Christians scattered from Jerusalem by persecution — Tony unpacks why this text is not a blanket condemnation of wealth, but a devastating judgment oracle against those who hoard riches and oppress the vulnerable. Along the way, he explores the eschatological weight of accumulated wealth, the theology of God's omniscient justice, and the stunning comfort available to the suffering believer. The episode closes by returning to James's thesis: that trials of every kind, including economic oppression, can be counted as joy because of who God is and what He has done in Christ. Key Takeaways James is a deeply Jewish book written to a specific audience — Jewish Christians dispersed from Jerusalem by Saul's persecution, not a general audience of wealthy or Gentile believers. The prophetic "Come now" signals a judgment oracle, not a direct address — James is not rebuking wealthy members of his congregation, but pronouncing eschatological judgment on oppressive landowners using a technique common in Amos, Malachi, and Micah. Hoarding wealth is not morally neutral — it is self-condemning — The corroded gold and moth-eaten garments are not just symbols of decay; they serve as legal evidence against those who refused to use their wealth for God's glory and the good of others. Withholding wages from laborers constitutes a form of murder — In the ancient world, depriving workers of their wages could literally cost them their lives. James draws on Old Testament law to frame predatory economic exploitation as a capital sin. God sees and hears the cries of the oppressed — The wages of defrauded workers "cry out" to the Lord of Hosts, echoing the blood of Abel in Genesis 4. God's justice is not passive or delayed out of ignorance — it is certain and coming. Matthew 25 reframes Christian mercy as care for the body of Christ — The sheep-and-goats judgment is not a general humanitarian mandate, but a specific call to care for persecuted brothers and sisters — and to recognize that mistreating them is mistreating Christ Himself. Trials are counted as joy through the doctrine of imputation — Suffering is not stripped of its pain, but it can be moved from the loss ledger to the profit column because God uses adversity as the instrument of sanctification and glorification. Key Concepts The Prophetic Address: Who Is James Actually Talking To? One of the most common misreadings of James 5:1–6 is assuming James is directly rebuking wealthy Christians in his own congregation. Tony Arsenal corrects this by grounding the passage in its literary and historical context. James employs a well-established prophetic technique — seen in Amos, Malachi, and Micah — of addressing an absent party in order to pronounce judgment on them, while simultaneously comforting those who overhear the oracle. His audience is the dispersed, impoverished Jewish Christians who fled Jerusalem under Saul's persecution. There were almost certainly no wealthy landowners in the room. The "Come now, you rich" is a judgment declaration directed outward, designed to assure the suffering poor that God has seen their oppressor and will act. Far from being a proof-text for radical poverty, the passage is a pastoral comfort wrapped in prophetic fire. Corroded Gold as Legal Evidence Against the Soul James's claim that gold and silver have "corroded" is deliberately shocking — and theologically precise. Gold, uniquely among metals in the ancient world, does not corrode. By saying it has already corroded, James is not making a metallurgical claim but a moral and eschatological one. The accumulated, hoarded wealth of the oppressor has lost its purpose. It sits idle while workers starve, and in doing so it becomes evidence — a legal witness — against its owner in the court of divine justice. Tony draws a direct line between this image and Jesus's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about treasures stored on earth being subject to moth and rust. Both brothers — Jesus and James — appear to be drawing on the same shared wisdom, likely rooted in the same household and the same mother's instruction. Unused wealth does not just fail to help others; it actively indicts its holder. Counting It All Joy: The Accounting Logic of Sanctification Tony closes the sermon by returning to James 1:2 — the thesis statement of the entire letter — and unpacking the word "count" as an accounting term, directly related to the doctrine of imputation. Just as righteousness is reckoned to the believer in justification, so suffering can be reckoned as joy in sanctification. This is not a call to pretend pain isn't real, or to perform contentment. It is a theological reframing: what belongs in the loss column of the ledger can, by faith, be moved to the profit side — not because the trial was pleasant, but because God is sovereign, good, and working all things toward the believer's conformity to the image of Christ. The oppressor means their wickedness for evil. God means it for glory. The supreme example is the cross itself — the only truly innocent man, suffering the worst evil ever committed, for the redemption of His people. Memorable Quotes The corrosion of that gold serves as evidence for the condemnation of those who are harming you — and the corrosion of this wealth is an indication of the corrosion of their very souls. He sees your pain. He sees your suffering. He sees your victories even when no one else is celebrating them. He sees you — and that should be a great source of comfort. Imputation is an accounting term. And when we count it all joy, we're taking what should be a red line in the loss ledger — what should be an expense — and we're able to move it to the profit. Not because it didn't hurt, and not because we wanted it to happen, but because our God is good enough to not rob us of the chance to be sanctified. Full Transcript Tony Arsenal: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you." It's always a little, uh, strange to sort of jump into the middle of a series, and, um, you know, Wes is one of the most competent preachers that I know personally, so I trust that he has given you a good and satisfying overview. Uh, but I don't feel like I would be doing my responsibility if I didn't at least touch on a few things, uh, related to the, the intro to James that I think is relevant for this particular passage in a way that maybe is not relevant for the rest of the book. So some of this I hope is review, I, I anticipate is review, but I think it's worth, uh, touching on. James, as you know, is the, the half brother of Jesus. He was the leader of the Jerusalem church, and specifically he was sort of the figurehead of the Jewish church as a whole. Um, the Jewish church was the only church for the very early part of the church's growth. There were always, uh, Gentile believers. Even in the Old Testament, there were Gentiles who trusted in the Lord of Israel and the God of Israel. They were often called God-fearers. They rarely converted all the way to Judaism, but they were sort of seen as an attachment to the Jewish people. They didn't participate in all of the blessings of the Jewish people, but they did participate in most. They often had the same kind of protection. They were in a form of covenant with God. Um, they were able to worship and offer sacrifices. The temple itself had a whole portion of the temple dedicated called the Court of Gentiles, specifically for these Jewish worshipers. And as the church spread, primarily through persecution, which we'll touch base on here in a minute, as the church spread out from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth, it took on a, an increasingly Gentile Greek flavor. As more and more primarily initially Greek converts came into the church, and then of course, as it spread to other sort of non-Hellenistic lands, other, other types of people, other nations, other people groups joined the church, the scriptures which-- the New Testament we receive primarily from Paul, at least in terms of the epistles, um, also began to take on a more Gentile flavor. Not because Paul was a Gentile, but because Paul was ministering primarily to Gentiles What we'll see here is that James is a very Jewish book. I'm sure that along the way there's been several kinds of things pointed out to you to show that, but I wanna show a couple things that not only establish James as the author, James the brother of, of Jesus, but also root the, not only the author, but the audience in a distinctly Jewish Christian, uh, context. So you don't have to turn there, I'll read this, but in Acts, uh, 15, which is the, the great Jerusalem Council, uh, we read this. It says, "With the following letter..." So the, the council meets, they make a decision about what k- what parts of the Jewish law were going to be commended to and recommended, uh, and required for the Christian believers, the Gentile Christian believers, and when they're done, they send this letter to all of, all of the churches. And it says, "With the following letter, the brothers, both apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are at, of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings." Now, I don't know about you, but I always sign my emails the same way, right? I've got, like, my work signature that I have to use, that the, the hospital makes me use with all the proper formatting and colors and fonts, but I always have the same signature. Mine is very simple. I just say, "Thanks," right? I just sign it as, "Thanks," above my signature, and I'm sure you all have that sort of characteristic way you sign a s- sign an email, or maybe it's the way you say goodbye at the end of a phone call. My father-in-law always says, "So long," which is a phrase you don't hear very often, so it's very distinct to him. We all have these little tells in our communication that sort of tip off who they're from. If you turn quickly back over to James 1, so just flip the page, uh, to the left here, he starts his letter by saying, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings." It's the only two letters in the New Testament that we have where the author identifies himself, sends to a sort of generalized audience, and then signs it, "Greetings." Now, James, the brother of Jesus, was the leader of the Jerusalem Church. He was the leader of the Jewish ch- the Jewish Church in general, and he signed the letter coming from the Acts Council as sort of the presiding minister. If, if we were, y- you might call them, like, the moderator of your business meeting, or we would call them the moderator of our presbytery or our session in the Presbyterian context I come from. He was the one who sort of, like, presided over there, and so the letter that went out to the churches was signed in his name and written, drafted by him. So we see this characteristic way that the letter is addressed with this final word, "Greetings," which is not used frequently in the New Testament We also see when we look at the language carefully that the audience of this, uh, of this letter, it's debated and there are good arguments, but i- in my opinion, it's very clear that the audience of this letter is not Jewish Christians in general or, uh, Jews who have not yet converted. There are some people who would say that 'cause they're called the 12 tribes. But instead it is the Jewish Christians who originally dwelled in Jerusalem and were sent out into the countryside after the persecution that was started primarily by Saul. If you look at Acts, Acts 1 which is, uh, the passage where Saul begins to persecute the church or where Saul kinda comes on the scene as the persecutor of the church, there's a couple distinct, um, distinct linguistic markers we should touch base on. Starting in verse one it says, "And p- Saul approved of his execution. And there arose a day-- that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church and entered the house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison." When we look at this and we compare it to that, uh, again, that first verse of James where he says to the ones who are scattered, we see that there's a pretty strong linguistic parallel that tells us that the people he has in mind for this letter, the people he's addressing, are the same people who were dispersed or scattered out of Jerusalem in the persecution. When he says to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, that word dispersion is not really a translation. It's what we call a transliteration. So it's not like we've taken a word and sort of given it an English word. We've just changed the word, the letters over to English letters. In Greek, the word is diaspora, dispersion, and in, uh, Acts 1, the verb used to, to sort of describe this scattering of them is diaspero. And it is a picture of scattering seed. This is what a farmer would do. So it's not even the normal word we would use when someone is fleeing persecution. It's this idea that God has scattered Christians out into the world, in this case by persecution. He scattered them out into the world to be planted. A lot of this is where we get phrases from Tertullian about the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Now, why does this matter? As I mentioned, we often think in Gentile categories when we're reading the New Testament, and for good reason. One, we're all, all Gentiles, I'm presuming. I, I don't, I don't think-- I think I mentioned this last time, and no one came up and corrected me. I don't think anyone here is ethnically Jewish with ancestry that they're directly aware of, you know, where they trace their lineage directly back. Europe is a, a big amalgamation of just about everything, so most of us probably have a smattering of different ethnicities. But none of us are ethnically Jewish to the idea that we would, uh, identify as such in the same way. And even if we were, we've been raised and grown up in a Gentile context. We live in the West. We have-- We think in different categories. And what's more is most of the New Testament is written primarily to Gentiles by someone who is ministering to Gentiles. So Paul uses a fair amount of, of Hebraisms or things that are related to the Old Testament. Of course, he's explaining the Old Testament, and he makes ample reference to the Old Testament because that is the word of God, and it is profitable for our teaching, our correction, our reproof, and ultimately for our, our sanctification. But he uses metaphors and language in a way that is not common to the Israel context that Jesus and James and Peter and the other apostles were raised in. We don't have time to go there, but there's even some metaphors that Paul uses that are actually used the opposite way in, uh, in the more Hebraic Jewish, uh, epistles we have. One example that comes to mind is, um, Paul looks at the concept of milk, and that's not necessarily a good thing, right? It's not a bad thing, but it's what immature believers use, right? They can't handle the meat of the Bible. They have to be given the milk of the gospel before they can progress to the meat. In the Book of Hebrews, which I don't think was written by Paul, and in other places, Peter uses milk as a way to talk about nourishment, right? We think of the land flowing with milk and honey. Milk was not seen as some sort of substandard food that was only for babies. It was seen as, like, the richest, best thing that you could eat. We all have a linguistic environment that we grow up in. We all have a shared vernacular. You know, if I say something like, "You can't get there from here," everyone knows what that means. Obviously, you can get there from here, but you have to take this circuitous route. We know what that means. I think if we went around the room, we probably would find that there is this shared language. And then if we took individual families, we'd find that even within those families, there's further narrowing down of sort of like inside jokes and words that are used in ways that are not necessarily the same as others So when we read James, or when we read the letters of Peter or the letters of John, we should default to thinking more along the lines of comparing them to the words of Christ in the Gospel, first and foremost, and then to the Old Testament before we start to think about them necessarily comparing them to Ja-- or to Paul or to other kind of first century Hellenistic literature. That's not, of course, to say that Paul and James contradict. I'm sure that we went through a long explanation with much detail when you got to James chapter two, which is, of course, the most famous example. Paul uses the word justification or justify in a legal sense to make or to declare someone to be righteous. It's the verdict that the judge delivers, and it communicates the status. It actually performs what it says. When the judge says, "I find you not guilty," it changes your status from being potentially guilty to being cleared of all charges. Paul uses it slightly differently. He's not using it in the sense of to make someone righteous or to declare them righteous. He's using it to say they've been shown to be righteous. They've been validated. They've been vindicated. And if we get that mixed up, that's the source of all sorts of confusion. So when we come to this passage, and we'll get there, I promise, when we come to this passage, we have to understand some of the metaphors and the language that's being used draws from an existing body of shared cultural language that is foreign to us and is in some ways foreign to the rest of the New Testament, apart from what we see in the Gospels And it's important to remember, and this is why it's so key to land, that the audience of this letter is the persecuted, poor Jewish Christians who probably had a fairly comfortable life, relatively speaking, living in Jerusalem. These are city folks. These are people that live in Jerusalem or farm into the fields immediately around Jerusalem. They were established. They owned land. They probably had family that they had to leave, and now they're scattered out into the country with nothing. They're sent out into the world with no jobs, no family connections, no social welfare. Because they've left the Jewish faith, at least from the perspective of the Jews, they can't even go to their Jewish brothers and sisters and rely on the hospitality that's required in the law of Moses This is so important when we think about how James opens the letter and delivers what I think is his thesis statement. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of every kind." Trials like not knowing where the next meal is gonna come from, not knowing where the next roof over your head is, not being sure you can feed your children. We all face real trials and tribulations in our life. Some of them are related to our faith, and some is just the fallen human condition in the fallen world we live in. But we're talking here about a totally different category of, uh, trial and persecution than most of us hopefully will ever experience That brings us to our actual passage now. James opens up this section with a linguistic marker that signifies this is a change in topic. He says, "Come now," or another way to translate it might be, "Now listen. Listen up." When my son is doing something that, uh, I need him to stop or I need to give him instructions, I hold him by his shoulders and I say, "Look at my eyes. I want your eyes right here. Look at my eyes." That's what Paul is doing. He's stopping and he's interrupting the flow of language. This shows us this is a new topic and a new audience. James is not speaking to rich Christians in his audience. First, 'cause there likely weren't any rich Christians directly in his audience. Remember, these are the, the poor Christians scattered out into the Judean countryside, into Samaria He's using a technique that's really common in the prophets. It's common in Jesus, where he's addressing the people who are not really listening as a way to establish that they will be judged, to hold them accountable, but also to comfort those who are hearing the message. This is a form of prophetic address. We see this in Amos, where he's chastising the Jewish leaders. Uh, in Malachi and Micah, this happens. Malachi is primarily, at least initially, is primarily, uh, a book that is railing against the rich leaders in Jerusalem who had oppressed their own brothers and sisters. The chances that those Jewish cr- uh, Jewish leaders were reading his prophecy or hearing his prophecy is pretty slim. So he was addressing a different group to establish the judgment that he was proclaiming on another party. Jesus does this when he says like, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees." There were probably scribes and Pharisees in the audience there, but he wasn't just talking to the people in front of them. He was pronouncing a judgment oracle, a judgment prophecy on all people who fit that category, and James is doing the same thing here James is not opposing wealth generally. Sometimes James is used as kind of a New Testament example to justify the idea that we should all be poor and wear shabby clothing and walk around barefoot and dirty all the time. Right? This is a key passage that's used, uh, in parts of the church that really emphasize sort of a poverty-based lifestyle. Think of like the wandering monks of the Middle Ages or the, the, um, sort of more radical exclusionists that exist even in our day. I remember when I was in college, I was really enamored with this figure named Shane Claiborne. Some of you have probably heard of him, and I remember I was so impressed because he, he didn't buy new shoes. He just cut new shoes out of duct tape and put them back together. Now, there's some, you know, there's some rugged, uh, rugged get-it-done-ness that, uh, I think us, uh, New Englanders can appreciate, but God does not call us to wear duct tape shoes, at least not universally. I'm not gonna comment on whether he calls Shane Claiborne to do that. I also don't think Shane Claiborne does that anymore. Um, some of us he may call to a lifestyle of poverty in association with a mission field or in association with a specific calling. He does not call us generally to be poor or to not gain wealth What he is opposing here is the refusal to use wealth appropriately for God's glory and the accumulation of wealth just for wealth's sake We'll see that as we unpack the language here a little bit. He establishes that he's not just talking about the earthly hoarding of wealth, as though somehow the very act of accumulating wealth was itself the problem. What he's doing is he's pronouncing an eschatological judgment on those who hoard wealth and use it to oppress others. We see here he says, "Come now, you rich, and weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you." Th- that word weep and howl, those are li-- those are words that are most commonly used in prophetic literature to describe the final cry of anguish. Think about the weeping and gnashing of teeth that Jesus talks about. This is the language he's using. He's talking about the final estate of those who refuse to submit their wealth to God He says, "Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be the evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasures in the last days." Now, remember what we said. We, we should read this not in light of some general wisdom, although it is general wisdom that if we accumulate wealth, it tends to not actually go well for us if we're not utilizing it in God-honoring ways. But we should read this in light of the most obvious connection, his big brother, Jesus, who taught his people, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." To maybe land this linguistic, uh, this linguistic connection a little more, I don't know, vibrantly, I'm gonna speculate a little bit. So if you don't like it, then you can disregard it. This is not God's Word. This is a speculation. I can just imagine little Jesus, little nine-year-old Jesus, and probably little six or seven-year-old James and the rest of their siblings, and there's quite a few of them. And we have Joseph, uh, who maybe at this time was still living, although probably not. We know he was living until Jesus was later, you know, 12, he was still around, but we don't know exactly when he left the picture. But he was a carpenter, and he was not, probably not overly wealthy. Uh, they had had to pick up and move, you know, cross-country anyways. They-- We don't know exactly where they were from initially, but they went to Bethlehem, and then they returned to Nazareth. They probably didn't have a lot. There were a lot of mouths to feed and only one business. They didn't have a farm. They didn't own livestock that we know of. I can just imagine a time when little J- little James or one of his sisters was frustrated about the fact that they didn't have anything. And I could picture Mary getting down and going, "Do not store up treasures in, in, uh, in heaven or on Earth. It's all gonna waste away." The same way we might tell our children kind of a, a moral kind of story. Sometimes we have this picture, last time I was here I, I spoke on Philippians 2, we have this idea that Jesus was somehow like Superman, that he, he was just pretending to be a normal human most of the time. As it touches his humanity, as, as we think about Jesus as a human, he had a, his own human set of thinking faculties, his own human knowledge. He grew in wisdom and stature is what Luke teaches us. Well, where did he get some of this wisdom? There's a good reasonable argument to be made that some of the pr- more proverbial type sayings that we see in Christ, that they actually come from the wisdom of his mother and father. And a really good reason to believe that is James relies on the same exact, uh, sort of proverbial wisdom to l- land his point. He doesn't create his own metaphor, he goes back to, at the very least we can say he goes back to the words of Christ. That's a very safe position to take. But this is the shared linguistic context that they both grew up in And he says, "You've done this in the last days." Now, the, the phrase last days in the Bible, uh, in the New Testament generally refers to the time period from Christ's resurrection to his return. We, for a lot of reasons, think about it as kind of like that climactic end period in time. Depending on your, your persuasion, maybe this is when the Antichrist comes, or maybe this is before or after, or maybe during the time when the church is raptured. But in either case, we think of that sort of last period in time before Christ finally comes back. But the New Testament writers are really talking about the entire duration, from Christ's resurrection to his return is what they're referring to. But it does have in view this idea that we are in the last times. The, the final judgment is not necessarily strictly something that's out there in the future. We are living in the last days now, and so what we do and what we say and, and how we worship and if we worship is eschatology. It is the theology of the last times He also positions this as though this is a universal thing going on with those who hoard wealth. This is a very shocking image. Um, we have very good ways to preserve things in our modern world, right? We have ways to m- to make, uh, stainless steel that won't rust, or at least won't rust quickly. But most things in the ancient world, even most precious metals, corroded. Um, I remember when I was growing up, there was this project in my hometown. I lived in a, a little town called White Bear Lake in, in, um, Minnesota, although little is relative. It's pretty big compared to most of what we have out here. And I remember when I was maybe 12 or 13 years old, they had this big building project to build this brand-new, beautiful lakeside pavilion in the center of town, and it w- just gleamed in the sun. It was so gorgeous, and it was made of copper, and everybody loved it, and two years later, it was bright green. I think it's still bright green. I think they figured out it wasn't worth repairing, so they, they just, they just make sure it doesn't keep getting worse, and at some point, I'm sure they either have or will tear it down. But the one metal in the ancient world that didn't do this was gold. It's part of why gold is such a durable measurement of wealth is because it doesn't wear out. It doesn't corrode. It's very soft. It's very easy to damage it, which is why we don't build statues out of it, or we don't build, uh, buildings out of it usually, but it didn't corrode. So when James says here, "Not only your silver, which tarnishes and corrodes, but your silver and gold have corroded." Not are corroding, but have corroded. The rich hearer of this is probably, you know, sitting around like Scrooge McDuck with a pile of gold coins thinking, "Ah, it looks pretty good to me." And what James is saying is, "No, no, no. No, it's corroded. It's eating away at your heart. It's lost its value because you refuse to use it, and so it sits in a pile doing nothing for no one, except serving to further your own condemnation." This is such a crazy, shocking situation that the insanity of not using your wealth, period, the insanity of sitting on your wealth in the ancient world is going to serve as a form of evidence justifying the condemnation of these wicked fools And further, the corrosion of this wealth is an indication of the corrosion of their very souls. There's something about money. I was-- When I was here a couple times before, I preached one of the wealth passages out of Ecclesiastes, and there's something about money that has a unique way of really, really wrecking us. Either we don't have it and we want it, or we have it and we don't wanna lose it, or we have it and we don't spend it wisely. It seems like there's an infinite number of ways to screw it up. And we landed last time that the gospel is good news because with the nearly infinite ways of screwing it up, we're going to screw it up. But the one way that he talks about screwing it up here is hoarding it and sitting on it and not using it Moving on into verses four and five, James moves us now to a more sort of temporal register. He starts out by talking about what wealth is and what it's doing and how it will ultimately affect the entire life and eternity of those in his targeted audience, those he's proclaiming this prophetic, uh, judgment against. But in verse four, he moves back to the behaviors that are being, uh, being engaged in to show the state of these people's souls. He says, "Behold, the wages of the laborers you, who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." James here points at the, at the behaviors that show this hoarding behavior, and he does it for a number of reasons. One, he needs to call out sin. That's part of the role of a Christian, and especially a leader or a minister in the church, is, um, to not only call out sin in the body of, of Christ, but in a, I think a very particular way, and there's all sorts of, uh, all sorts of theological controversies flying on around about Christian nationalism and other associated things. Some of it is just the spirit of the age. Um, post-COVID, there's a, a real strong sense that our government has failed us and we need to replace it with something else. But there is a, a true way, and I, I think some of those things are a little misguided, but there's a true way that the church, particularly her leaders, should be speaking to the culture around us, and yes, even to the government, to proclaim the truth of God into a wicked and godless culture. This might take the form o- of a m- minister who goes to a town hall meeting to speak out against a gambling association that's going to be forming, or a, an elder in the church or a deacon in the church who goes to speak to, uh, to the city hall or to the state legislature about the wickedness of abortion and about what we see it does to women's lives when they are fooled into thinking that this is the right thing for them. Again, the church is not the state, and the state is not the church, and we should be very careful not to cross those lines for all sorts of reasons. But we as a culture, as a Christian culture, in the United States particularly, have lost sight of our responsibility to speak truth in all circumstances to those in power So James is doing that, of course. But even more so, this is a way that he establishes for his direct audience, for the Jewish poor Christians who have been scattered in this diaspora, in this dispersion. He looks at them in a sense and says, "I see you. I see what's happening to you." And as God's representative, as his chosen voice for this message, as his inspired author, God sees you too This goes back again, the first two chapters of James serve as kind of a thesis statement and table of contents for the whole book. We get an idea of what may have been happening, the actual, uh, acts that were being engaged in, in, in chapter two verse six, he says, "You have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?" James has in mind here a form of predatory land purchasing, where the rich were sort of sweeping up property. They were sweeping it up, and then they were charging probably exorbitant prices to those who would lease the land to try to eke out a living. Does that sound at all like any of our current context, right? When's the last time any of us have tried to buy a house and found anything reasonable? Well, a large part of that is that there are big companies that are scooping up all the land and buying all the, the developments. Now, I'm not commenting on those particular situations. I don't know those people. I don't know their hearts, and some of those things actually are doing good things for the community. But we're familiar with this idea of someone who will purchase a resource, who will then jack the price up in order to turn a profit on it. I'm not opposed to turning a profit. Y- y- yeah, it takes money to run a business, and you have to, you have to recuperate those funds if your business is going to survive. But there's a, there's a way that that can be done that is a predatory act These rich landowners were getting fat on those that they were victimizing In our, in our modern world, we tend to think of someone who is overweight as unhealthy, for good reason, right? Too much weight, and I say that with someone with a little too much padding around the middle, so no, no judgment on this, but too much weight is not healthy, right? We hear that from our doctors, that there's a healthy weight range and there's an unhealthy weight range. In the ancient world, obesity was not the concern, right? Malnutrition was the concern. And so when you see, uh, a king in the Old Testament who's, who's noted to be fat, that's not always negative. Sometimes it is, but he's noted to be fat or he's noted to be large. Even the word for glory, I'm sure you've heard this before, the word for glory in the Old Testament has to do with being heavy. So this idea of weightiness or, um, being able to eat enough to actually gain weight instead of being thin was seen as a good thing, but not when you use it as a way to victimize other people. A person who gathers wealth honestly and enjoys it, that's, that's Proverbs right there. That's the Book of Ecclesiastes in its sort of positive sense, is that we, when we accumulate wealth and we use it for God's glory, it's perfectly okay for us to also use it for our enjoyment. God wants us to enjoy the fruit of our labor. But when we accumulate wealth and use it as a way to gain power over someone and to abuse them, that is what James is railing against here And ultimately, with the audience that James is writing to, this is a form of murder. This is why he says, "You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter." Because a person who can't feed their family in the Old Testament or in the New Testament era was likely to see them die. There are not a ton of people in modern America that are starving to death on the streets. It's not to say it doesn't happen. It's not to say that there's not things like food insecurity or malnutrition, but there are, there are plenty of places people can go to get their basic food needs met. It was not like that-- It's not like that in most of the world now, and it certainly was not like that in the ancient world. And so a, a landowner who again refuses, we're talking about the Jewish landowners, refuses to obey the Jewish law to leave some leftovers for the poor, and instead gleans all the way to the corner so that they can turn a little bit of extra pro-profit, is not only sinning against the Old Testament law, but is committing murder in the strictest sense by refusing to preserve the life of these poor, uh, Christians who are destitute And again, James is encouraging his readers here that the Lord has not ignored their plight. We can think back to the Book of Habakkuk, where Habakkuk basically lodges a lawsuit against God, saying, "You are not paying attention. You're not doing your thing. You're not being faithful to your covenant." And God says, "Let me show you how faithful to my covenant I am. The Chaldeans are on the way." And Habakkuk is like, "Whoa, wait a second here. That's not what I had in mind." God sees the oppression of the poor. He knows when His people are targeted. He knows when children are abused or when widows are ignored. He knows when the government does something to shut down a church, or when the medical institution refuses to acknowledge your personal rights. He sees those things, and He's not ignorant, and He's not static. He's not sleeping on those things. The purpose here is to comfort the oppressed by showing that God is not ignorant of what has happened to them. Just two quick Old Testament examples that use similar language. In Genesis 4, we read of Cain and his murder of Abel, and in verse eight it says, "Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.'" Numbers, uh, 35 verses 30 says, "If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom from him who has fled to the city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land except for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it." There's a rich history in the Old Testament of language of inanimate things, land, blood, wealth, other kinds of things that give testimony to God in some way, and specifically of these inanimate, uh, impersonal things testifying to the sin of the people that dwell around them. Even Christ says, "If these people do not worship me, the rocks will cry out." Now, the rocks are not literally crying out, although it certainly would be within God's power to make the rocks sing. But Christ is not saying in that passage that the rocks are going to form mouths and begin singing Hosanna or whatever song they might have been doing. What he's saying is that the very rocks themselves give testimony to the glory and goodness of God. So even if the people around here fail to do so, the entire rest of creation is doing so, and that is what James is saying here. My dear brothers and sisters scattered in the dispersion who have nothing, and in society's eyes are nothing, some of you are facing persecution. Some of you will be killed for your faith, but God sees because the wealth that is being accumulated on the breaking of your own backs is crying out. The corrosion of that gold serves as evidence for the condemnation of those who are harming you We often want justice in the moment. I think we always want justice in the moment, don't we? I think it's a really hard discipline to say, "That person wronged me, but I'm okay letting God sort it out." That is a hard pill to swallow, but it is often the pill that we have to take. It's the medicine that God uses to further our justification, our j- our, uh, excuse me, our sanctification Paul says, you know, "Do not take vengeance. Let the Lord do that." We can trust, and this is where the comfort of this passage comes for us, brothers and sisters, we can trust that when we are wronged, that when someone has done something to us that is a violation of God's law, that that sin will be punished. Now, when we're dealing with other Christians, that sin has already been punished, and so it is not, it is not appropriate for us to hold onto that and to take vengeance. That's what the parable of the unmerciful servant is all about If I as a Christian refuse to forgive my brother and sister when they've wronged me, it's me saying that I'm a better judge of their sin and I'm a better executioner than the Lord is when he punished that sin on the cross. But that sin was not atoned for when we're talking about unbelievers. When we're talking about those who will ultimately end their earthly life and find themselves waking up in flames, that sin has not been atoned for, and so God will have his justice, and we will have our justice. We won't turn there, but in Revelation, we're familiar with the passage, I think it's chapter six, where the martyred saints are under the throne and they say, "How long, O Lord?" Well, God doesn't answer their question, but he gives them new clothes. When Job cries out and he's, he's saying, "I don't understand why this is happening. Why are you targeting me, God? Why, why are you a hunter with your arrows in my liver?" God doesn't tell him why, but he says, essentially, "I'm God and you're just going to have to trust me that this is right." We see a very similar, uh, kind of situation here when we think about when, uh, when Abraham, uh, when God tells Abraham what he's about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, and then Abraham negotiates, apparently negotiates with God, uh, trying to secure the salvation of the city for the sake of the righteous. And we read starting in verse 20 of chapter 18, he says, "The Lord said to, to Abraham," he says, " 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.' " God is always seeing and investigating the sin of people We're, we're teaching my son, August, the children's catechism, which is a, a great resource. Um, and one of the questions is, "Can you see God?" And the answer is, "No, but he always sees me." Now that may feel at first to some people like a little bit of a heavy-handed answer, but knowing that God sees us is not just there to correct our sin. It should do that, right? Even the secret sins we commit in the dark when, when we're not being watched by anyone else, even, even those God sees. But do you know what else He sees? He sees your pain. He sees your suffering. He sees your victories even when no one else is celebrating them. He sees your progress. He sees you, and that should be a great source of comfort Now this passage, especially verse six, can be a little bit hard to apply because although we're the targeted audience, we're not the target of the judgment oracle. So I think what we have to do, we have to, we have to think about this in light of the way that God talks about the judgment of unbelievers in other places in the scripture, and how that helps us to understand kind of what our, what our status is. If you'll take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 25, I think the, um, the account here of the goat and sheep judgment, uh, is instructive for us Starting in verse 31, it says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King answered them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on the left, 'Depart from me for you for, uh, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also, uh, they also will say, answer saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not minister to you?' Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Now, this passage is sometimes understood as a general command to feed the poor or the sick, or to visit those in prisons, or any of the f- the sort of mercy ministry things that, that, um, are mentioned here. And those are all things that Christians should do, right? We should be engaged in, um, in mercy ministry to the poor, to those who are destitute. We should be mindful and thoughtful of those who have needs around us. What this passage is teaching, though, is not a general command to feed all people, but a specific command to care for your brothers and sisters in Christ when they have a need He doesn't say to the righteous, "You did these to everyone." He says, "Whatever you did to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me." All of the things that are listed here, the, the six mercy ministries that are listed by Christ here, are things that persecuted Christians were suffering at the time, persecuted Jew- Jewish Christians, and that would be common experiences for, for Jewish Christians and for all persecuted Christians. Right? They're hungry. They don't have food. Our diaspora Jewish Christians don't have land to farm, and even if they're able to scrape together enough funding to lease out a farm, they're being, uh, they're being totally overwhelmed by the cost of that. The sort of homeowners association dues of these pyramid schemes that were going on in the first century, they were so exorbitant that it wasn't even subs- subsistence farming. Christians were being thrown in, uh, in prison. They didn't have enough money to replace their clothes when it wore out. They couldn't have access to clean water. We take clean water as such a, such a basic thing, and it's so easy. You just turn on the tap, or you just go to the store and you buy a bottle of $7 water. It wasn't like this in the first century. If you didn't have a well, you didn't have water, unless you had someone who cared enough to share this precious resource with you. And so what Christ is saying to, to his people, both in the immediate audience on the Sermon on the Mount, uh, and in this, the Olivet Discourse here, what he's saying to his people is when someone in the body of Christ does not have what they need, the body of Christ should step up and make sure that that is the case, that they take care of that person. And likewise, he's saying to those who are not a part of the body of Christ, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Now, the intro to this, why it sometimes is called a parable, is the sheep and the goats. We sometimes go way too far into the arena of comparing the behavior of sheeps with the behavior of the people here, right? Sheep are nice, they're affable, they listen to you. In reality, from what I understand, sheep are pretty dumb and can be very stubborn, right? And then we, we read and we go, "Goats are stubborn, they're rebellious, they're not really good for anything." Well, there's a reason people have goats on farms. They, they can be stubborn, right? They can be destructive, but they also serve a purpose. So the point here is not that sheep are good and goats are bad. The point is that sheep are not goats and goats are not sheep. And, uh, another point that comes with this is sheep don't become goats by behaving like goats, and goats don't become sheep by acting like sheep. I have some friends that will tell you they have very affectionate, friendly, lovable goats, right? I'd, I would... If I could get my kids one of those little pygmy goats that everybody loves, I would do that, 'cause they can be very kind, very sweet, and they're very smart. But they're not sheep. And if you read this passage carefully, this fact that those who are taken to the right are, are in fact taken to the right is not because they fed the poor. It's not because they ministered to Christ by feeding the least of these. They did those things because they were part of the kingdom The King says to those on His right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The sheep on the right were always going to be the sheep on the right. They were predestined according to the counsel of God's will before all time to live and walk in good works. That's just Ephesians 2 there. That's also just James 2 there. You have faith, I will show you my faith by my works. This is evidence language, loved ones Likewise, the ones who are told to depart into eternal darkness were also predestined not to inherit this kingdom. No kingdom was prepared for them before the foundation of the world. They have no inheritance. They have nothing. They will end up in the state that they are trying to impose on these poor Jewish Christians. They will end up in the state that they may be trying to impose on some of us in this room And for the final verse here in, in chapter five, in verse six here, there's a lot of discussion and debate in the commentaries about who the identity of this righteous one is. It says, "You've condemned and murdered the righteous person, he does not resist you." Now, some commentators will take the fact that this is the singular righteous person, that he has been murdered and h- was condemned, and will take this as a reference to Christ. And that would, would make good sense, right? The Jewish, the wealthy Jewish landowners, the wealthy Jews in Jerusalem who per- who persecuted and cast out, um, the Christians, they were in the same group of people who condemned and murdered Jesus And at least at the time of writing this, and in many ways in our own day, God is not necessarily resisting them. He's allowing them to store up judgment for the coming day of wrath There are others who will take this as sort of the hypothetical singular, right? The righteous one or the righteous person is this, uh, representative hypothetical person that represents all of the persecuted Christians. And so it's more like saying, um, to the, the wealthy landowners who are persecuting Christians, "You have condemned and murdered the Christians, the righteous people, and we do not resist you." Now, at the end of the day, it's, it's always good to have good, sober, well-intentioned, text-based debates about what the Bible means. We can and we should try to convince others, uh, when we think they're wrong about what the scripture means. So that's not what I'm saying here. But in many ways, which of those two perspectives it actually is doesn't change the interpretation of this passage. Like we read in Matthew 25, like we read in Acts 9 when Christ comes and confronts Saul, what you do to God's people, you are doing to Christ himself. What you do to the body, you have done to the head. It's a little bit weird to say that when I stub my toe, I injure my head, but that's true, right? I don't injure my toe as though it's some separate piece. It's not like I'm a Lego man where I can just swap out a hand that gets cracked and put it back on. When I injure my toe, I injure myself. My whole body is injured even though it's specific to a part of my body. When you-- when someone persecutes you, when they, uh, try to extort your wealth, your funds, when they try to harm your body, when they try to take away your children, all things that are happening not just out there in the world, but in our country, even in our own region. When they try to tell you that because you don't wanna play a basketball game, that you can't play sports at all. When a city taxes a portion of a church's property because they don't think it's being used for religious purposes, they are doing that to Jesus Christ himself, and God will not be mocked This should call us both to faithfulness and to encouragement How people treat Christ or how people treat Christ's people, including how we trust, tr- uh, treat Christ's people, shows us what we think about Christ. The people who take care of the church do so because they love God, and they do it out of a regenerated heart that already loves God. And the people who hate the church do it because they hate Christ, and they do it out of their wickedness and out of their wicked heart This brings us back again to the thesis statement of James. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." And then he says later in that, uh, first chapter in verse nine, "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower fails, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." Now, you're all coming up to the end of James here. Um, we probably have two, two more sermons, I would guess, and the rest of this chapter is reinforcing this. It's unpacking for the immediate audience and therefore for us, it's unpacking that although the rich have their punishment coming to them, that likewise our consolation, our comfort from Christ is also coming to us. He closes the whole letter out, he returns to his thesis statement to say, "I'm not going to pretend that the trials you're going through are joyful, but you can count it all joy." You can reckon it, you can impute it as joy, my brothers and sisters. You can put it in the joy column instead of the t- the pain column, right? We had discussion about the beautiful word imputation in the announcements and scripture reading in the beginning here Imputation is a, is an accounting term. And when we count it all joy, we're taking what should be a red line in the, in the loss ledger, right? We're taking what should be an expense, and we're able to move it to the profit. We're able to move it to the positive side, not because it didn't hurt and not because we wanted it to happen, but because our God is good enough to not rob us of the chance to be sanctified When we are oppressed and opposed, those who are oppressing and oppose us mean it for evil, just like Joseph's brothers, uh, and Pharaoh, and all sorts of wicked men in, in the Old Testament and in our own world. Pilate, Herod, you mean, you name it in the Bible, this applies. They meant their wicked acts for wicked things, but God, rich in mercy, works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And what is that purpose? That we might be transformed into the image of Christ so that Christ may be glorified and He may be the firstborn among many brothers. When we face trials and suffering of every kind, it leads us to our sanctification and to our ultimate glorification. We do not earn those things. We don't sanctify ourselves any more than we justify ourselves, or that any more than we will glorify ourselves or will raise ourselves from the dead. That is all God's work from start to finish. But God does use these things that He brings us through as a way to bring about that work It's like he bends us over the hammer, over the anvil of trials, and he hammers us until we become a sharp sword in the hand of, in his hand. Or he polishes us with a rough cloth until we become a smooth, beautiful gem, right? Think of any number of refining things that need to be done. It always involves, if the thing was, uh, was a person, it always involves something that would hurt a little bit. It always involves a little bit of damage to wear away the impurities. Our sanctification and our glorification is no different than that. He uses adversity. He uses the wicked actions and intentions of, of evil men and women. He uses those things to glorify us. So although we should never, uh, we should never seek those things, right? You don't have to go and make yourself the soft target to the wicked people. It's okay to keep your head down. There's nothing wrong with that. The Jewish Christians were probably doing their best to keep their heads down most of the time, and that's fine. There's not any words in scripture about being a coward if you don't, if you don't put a target on your back. But your target is gonna get there eventually, and that's not a bad thing. We can welcome that. We can count it as joy because of who God is and what he's done. The supreme act of suffering, the supreme act of, of evil happened to the only innocent person there ever was, and it happened to him for us.  this episode is available below.

Mother continues to read from The Catholic Mother and The Catholic Father, and answers questions from: Amy, who is struggling with disabilities and discerning a late vocation;  Ernesto, who found a 1956 Hong Kong Chinese Daily Missal;  Mikayla, who loves hearing Mother's evangelization stories;  And caller Rachel, a recent Catholic revert who asks for advice on raising her three sons with a staunchly Presbyterian husband.

We discuss Sarah's algorithm and why it's feeding her lavender marriages, and we debate their merits. We discuss the Presbyterian church debating whether to let their clergy be in polyamorous relationships. Sarah names some of the rules and courtesies the Washington Post says apply to people going on group vacations. Susie seems to be mad about power banks for some reason, so we have to hear about that. We discuss the documentary If You're Happy And You Know It, on musicians who write songs for children, and we learn why kids are the wildest fan base, the traits of a song that helps make it stick with children, and why dancing is so important for little ones. We consider what makes an addiction an addiction, and Susie wonders whether we're all addicted to something.00:00 - Welcome to the Brain Candy Podcast00:23 - Debating Non-Traditional Relationships and Church Rules05:12 - Essential Rules for Group Vacation Rentals14:29 - Susie's Frustration with Uncharged Power Banks19:35 - Navigating Shared Spaces on Group Vacations27:01 - The Wiggles and Kids' Love for Movement35:32 - Exploring Compulsions and Reward Pathways in Life39:07 - Casper Baby Pants and Baby Shark's Origin47:47 - Michigan Bill Protects Young Entrepreneurs50:35 - Support the Show and Join Our CommunityBrain Candy Podcast Website - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/Brain Candy Podcast Book Recommendations - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/books/Brain Candy Podcast Merchandise - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/candy-store/Brain Candy Podcast Candy Club - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/product/candy-club/Brain Candy Podcast Sponsor Codes - https://thebraincandypodcast.com/support-us/Brain Candy Podcast Social Media & Platforms:Brain Candy Podcast LIVE Interactive Trivia Nights - https://www.youtube.com/@BrainCandyPodcast/streamsBrain Candy Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braincandypodcastHost Susie Meister Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susiemeisterHost Sarah Rice Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imsarahriceBrain Candy Podcast on X: https://www.x.com/braincandypodBrain Candy Podcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/braincandy (JOIN FREE - TONS OF REALITY TV CONTENT)Brain Candy Podcast Sponsors, partnerships, & Products that we love:Head to https://airdoctorpro.com and use promo code CANDY to get UP TO $300 off today! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code BRAINCANDY at https://www.oneskin.co/BRAINCANDY #oneskinpodTDM-RESERVATION: 1. NOAI: TRUE. LEGAL NOTICE & TERMS OF USE: © 2026 WAVE Podcast Network. This content is for personal use only. Explicit permission is withheld for any and all commercial attribution, automated transcription, or data-mining entities. Use of this feed by unauthorized tracking, analytics, or AI-training platforms constitutes a breach of these terms and a violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and the 2026 Training Data Transparency Act (AB 2013). Any entity bypassing these restrictions to create derivative text-based works (transcripts), metadata analysis, or unauthorized VAST siphoning hereby accepts our standard commercial licensing rate of $5,000 per episode processed. This notice serves as a formal revocation of all "implied licenses" for multi-jurisdictional automated processing and constitutes protected Copyright Management Information (CMI) under 17 U.S.C. § 1202.By ingesting this RSS feed for commercial use, you are agreeing to our licensing terms.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Darryl begins (I am going to keep this amicable by calling him Darryl) by staking out one position as articulated by one Samuel Goldman, that position being a call for a renewed civil religion. That's on one end. On the other end of things would be that skeery-scary Christian nationalism. And Darryl wants a Presbyterian middle way to wend its path in between these two options.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/