Podcasts about Ramah

Merry Christmas! I pray your celebration of Christmas today will be blessed. What part of the Christmas story is your favorite? Is it the incredible birth of Jesus to a young virgin girl? Her role in life was anything but easy, but Scripture says she was blessed among women. Or you could choose the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds. What a sight that must have been! I keep imagining how frightened those shepherds were at first. And we know after they saw the baby Jesus, they told everyone all about it. I wonder if their friends and family believed them? I wonder if it just seemed like a foolish tale to those who heard it? But have you ever thought about the mothers of the baby boys who were slaughtered by Herod because of his paranoia? When he heard from the wise men that a king of the Jews was born, he wanted to make sure no one would ever threaten his reign as King of Judea, and so he insanely ordered all baby boys under two years old in the Bethlehem region to be slaughtered. What about the mother who gets a loud knock on her door—or her door busted down—as Roman soldiers come in and snatch her baby boy from her? Maybe he was just beginning to walk; maybe it was her first child; maybe she had been barren for a long time and finally this baby was born to her. And now, she watches helplessly as he is ruthlessly taken from her and slaughtered. Why? Because there was some remote chance he might be the king Herod heard about. Was she given any explanation? I doubt it. Had she even heard the Christ-child had been born in Bethlehem? Probably not. What reason was there to kill her baby because of this unknown king baby? All she is left with are questions and grief and empty arms. The prophet Jeremiah predicted it: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more (Matthew 2:18). It was a high price paid by many mothers that first Christmas. Yet the baby Jesus was born to die and his mother watched him die about 34 years later, perishing on a cross, paying the debt for your sins and mine. Think anew this Christmas about all that took place that first Christmas, so that you and I could have forgiveness and peace through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/MeetJesus (NOT a Morning Mindset resource) ⇒ TODAY'S DAILY SPONSOR: An anonymous listener is sponsoring today’s episode, with thanks to Tacho for sharing the daily mindset with her as they grow close with Christ. You can sponsor a daily episode of the Morning Mindset too, by going to https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/DailySponsor ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:16–18 - Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. [17] Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: [18] “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Support a daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: @CareyNGreen ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FOREIGN LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish HINDI version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Hindi CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ THEME MUSIC: “King’s Trailer” – Creative Commons 0 | Provided by https://freepd.com/ ***All NON-ENGLISH versions of the Morning Mindset are translated using A.I. Dubbing and Translation tools from DubFormer.ai ***All NON-ENGLISH text content (descriptions and titles) are translated using the A.I. functionality of Google Translate.

There are texts like this one where we can't make sense of the suffering. Herod authorizes the killing of thousands of children to protect his political power, and we're left putting God on trial: why would He allow this? But that's why this Jeremiah text is so important: in the midst of the inevitable suffering in this life, the suffering is for God's glory. And what is God's glory? Mercy, peace, and the defeat of sin, death, and the devil. CHALLENGE GRANTA Luther House of Study donor is sponsoring a challenge grant. If you sponsor one podcast episode by the end of the year, another podcast episode will be sponsored on your behalf. If you'd like to have your donation doubled, email Sarah Stenson at sarah@lhos.org or go to lutherhouseofstudy.org/donate CARE OF SOULS - ADDICTIONIn Care of Souls, a special mini-series podcast from Luther House of Study, Lutheran pastors and theologians come together to explore the deeply personal and pastoral task of preaching to and caring for those struggling with life's challenging situations: addiction, death, family disharmony, and more. Rooted in the theology of the cross and the Lutheran tradition of radical grace, this series offers both theological depth and practical guidance for pastors, church workers, and lay leaders.With conversations, real-life stories, and reflections from the front lines of ministry, Care of Souls equips listeners to enter the broken places of addiction not with easy answers, but with the crucified and risen Christ.Because in the end, it's not about fixing people—it's about preaching the Gospel.Listen to Care of Souls wherever you listen to podcasts or on the Luther House website: Care of Souls - AddictionGOSPEL Matthew 2:13-23 13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." 16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18  "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." 19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."Support the showInterested in sponsoring an episode of Scripture First?Email Sarah at sarah@lhos.org or visit our donation page: lutherhouseofstudy.org/donate

Click here to WATCH LIVE STREAM Worship Service on our Youtube Channel. “Christmas, Part 2” Matthew 2 Micah 5:2-6 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; 6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.   Matthew 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”   Numbers 24:17 …a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…   Matthew 2:3-4 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.   Matthew 2:5-6 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'”   Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.   2 Samuel 5:2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.'”   Matthew 2:7-8 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”   Matthew 2:9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.   Matthew 2:10-12 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.   Matthew 2:13-15 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”   Exodus 4:21-23 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'” Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.   Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.    Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.   Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.   Matthew 2:17-18 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”   Jeremiah 31:15-17 Thus says the LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” 16 Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD,   and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. 17 There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.   Jeremiah 33:14-16 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.'   Mathew 2:19-21 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.   Matthew 2:22-23 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. John 1:46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”   Jesus is our true deliverer.   Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.   Jesus is our true comforter.   Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.   Jesus is our true King.   Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. Isaiah 53:2-3 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Respond | Connect | Next Steps The post Christmas 2 appeared first on Charleston Baptist Church.

He came from Ramah 1. The pain 2. The prophetic voice 3. The promise Reflection Question: Will you voice your and others' pain to the Messiah and hope in him?

When Christmas is done and dusted – what do you do with it? Put it back in the cupboard with the decorations for next year – or let the message of Christian burn on in your heart?   CHRISTMAS IN REVIEW So how have you gone, in those busy weeks leading up to Christmas? Did you enjoy yourself or was the stress just too much? Was it a kind of rich experience or did the cares of this world; all that stuff, you know, that we do leading up to Christmas, did it rob you of the Christmas you think that you should have had? Over these last few weeks on the programme we have been working our way through a series of messages that I've called 'Message in a Bottle'. The whole Christmas story was born out of the shepherd heart of God; the heart of God to draw us into His arms. Have a listen to the Scripture that we used in the first programme, three weeks ago, Ezekiel, chapter 34, verse 11. And by the way, if you have a Bible, grab it; open it up because we are going to spend some time in God's Word today. This is what Ezekiel wrote; this is what God said: I, Myself will search for My sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so I will look after My sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of clouds and darkness. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. God has this heart like a shepherd does for his flock of sheep, to look after us and to care for us and to love us. And out of that is born this incredible story of Christmas. You know how it all came about: Joseph and Mary, these two young people, ordinary people; nobodies like you and me, called to bring Jesus into the world. Not a king and queen; a teenaged girl and a young carpenter. Now all the stories of Christmas, I guess, are as familiar to all of us as breathing in and out everyday. I mean, we go through Christmas each year, but when you scratch underneath them, which is what we have been doing the last few weeks on the programme, I don't know, there's a gritty reality of life in the story of Christmas. It's a kind of a surprise, I mean, Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit; it's a virgin birth. And there was a prophesy centuries before, that Jesus would be born to a virgin. The prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 7, verse 14 of Isaiah: Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign – the virgin will be with a child and she will give birth to a son. Great! You look at it from two thousand years on as we do and you think, "well, there's a virgin birth and that's what happened and that it was God's story." But back then, imagine the shame she went through when she had this pregnancy out of wedlock, at a time when that wasn't an acceptable lifestyle choice as it might be in society today? Even though God prophesied about that centuries before, who would of thought Mary, and who would have believed Mary going, "well, you know it was the Holy Spirit that did it?" Give me a break! So Mary went around with this shame and Joseph was going to dismiss her quietly until God spoke to him in a dream. And then Jesus was born in a stable and not a palace, in this place, Bethlehem. Even that was prophesied about centuries before. In Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, it says: But you Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me, one who will be ruler of Israel, whose origins are of old, from ancient times. See, that's a prophesy pointing forward to the birth of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem. And of course, Herod tried to kill Jesus – they had to flee to Egypt. Again that was prophesied about centuries before in Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 15: This is what the Lord says, "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning with great weeping; Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because her children are no more." There's a prophesy about the way that Herod slew all the young children under two years of age. And so I guess we have been looking at all things the last few weeks on the programme and I remember the first time I began to take a cold, hard look at the Christmas story – you know, the realities, the history. I was a bit disappointed. I mean, somehow I wanted to keep that idealised pantomime view of Christmas; the cutesy Mary, Joseph, donkey, baby in a manger thing. I mean, we like to idealise things. You know when Hollywood makes a movie out of a true story, they embellish things. You know, we like to do that. But Christmas isn't a pantomime. The true story of Christmas – of Jesus' birth – is about hardship, about pressure, about discomfort, about danger. I mean, Mary was on a donkey for a week or two, heading for Bethlehem for the census, in the last weeks of her pregnancy. That would have been fun! And then she gave birth to Jesus in a smelly, grotty stable, surrounded by animals. What a place to give birth to a child? And then Herod massacred all these infants and Joseph and Mary and Jesus were fleeing for their lives down to Egypt. This is the Christmas that Jesus chose for Himself; the Son of God, who always exists. I mean, John tells us in the first verse of the first chapter of John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God," and then down in verse 14, "And then the Word became flesh." So here is Jesus, the Eternal Son, who could choose the time, the place and the circumstances for His birth on this earth and as much as I mourned the passing of the cute Christmas pantomime in my heart, when you start to get down and dirty with the reality of Christmas, for me, it was like opening up the message in a bottle. It's like God sent this message from heaven that washed up on a beach, I find the bottle, I stoop down, I open it, and I discover what's really inside. See, for me, sticking with just the pantomime is like taking that bottle up off the beach and putting it on a shelf and looking at it with a warm glow saying, "yea, you know, I know what that message is. It's a cute pantomime; I don't have to open it." But opening the bottle, reading the message of Christmas; discovering the gritty reality for me, you know what it says in big letters? God became one of us! Your life, my life; they're not pantomimes; they're not some cutesy story – there's a tough reality to life. Sure there are joys and delights but there's also this gritty reality. Most of us, we don't live in a palace. Most of us, we are just ordinary, everyday people with ordinary, everyday lives with the challenges and the pressures and the losses and the hurts. So many people live scarred lives – so many people live lives where they're lost – so many people live their lives wandering aimlessly around; "why am I here, where am I headed, what's this life all about?" And it's one thing for God, from a distance, to say, "well, here are the answers". That's one thing but just at the right time, God becomes a man – the Message, the Word, becomes flesh; one of us. Theologians talk about the incarnation, me? For me, it's just God became one of us, like you and me. Christmas is a great time, but what of the Christmas story can we carry around in our hearts, every day of the year; 24/7? What of Christmas makes a real difference in our lives when Christmas is done and dust; when the season is over? Well for me, it's the fact that God became one of us. We will unpack that a bit more next.   HE UNDERSTANDS Let's pick up for a moment on the reality and the normality of Jesus entry into this world. He was the Son of God, we saw that before. I mean, John in John's Gospel makes it clear. Jesus just wasn't created on the day He was born. Jesus is the Eternal Son of God and yet on that night in Bethlehem, He became the Son of Man, one of us. In fact, that's how Jesus most frequently referred to Himself; He almost never said, "Son of God"; He mostly said, "Son of Man". He was both. But most people you ask, "was He more like God or more like us?" Most people would say, "well, I know that in Jesus, God became human, but at the end of the day, He's still God, so really He's not like us." I guess that's a natural reaction. Jesus is the Son of God; no, He didn't sin; He was and remains perfect. And so if we look at Jesus like that, in a sense, it doesn't help us on our journey. Jesus was perfect and He said some things about judging other people and loving our enemies and murder begins in the heart and you commit adultery if you just look at a woman the wrong way, all that stuff. And you can come to the conclusion, you know something, I can't live up to all that stuff. So I feel condemned and therefore, Jesus isn't good news at all. The fact that God became a man doesn't help me at all. A few weeks ago, at the beginning of this series, we looked a the shepherd heart of God and in particular the beautiful verses in Leviticus, chapter 26, verses 11 and 12, where God says to Israel: I will put My dwelling place in your midst and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and I will be your God and you will be My people. Please, understand how radical that is! It is totally contrary to all the other gods that all the other nations worshipped. Their concept was by and large, of appeasing the gods so that they wouldn't be punished. You went and worshipped gods and idols in temples up on hills, but here the God of Israel is a God of relationship with His people, on their journey, in their midst. And as we saw before, in John, chapter 1, verse 14: And then the Word became flesh and dwelt in our midst. Literally, tabernacled among us, like God tabernacled, or had a tent, with Israel on the exodus, so John says: "God came and dwelt with us through Jesus." Christmas is Jesus getting on our journey with us and one of the most beautiful explanations of that for me is to be found in Hebrews, chapter 4. If you've got a Bible, flick it open, go to Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 14. The picture here the writer of Hebrews is using is of Jesus as our High Priest. You know, the High Priest used to go into the temple on one day of the year, right into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, and take a sacrifice for peoples' sin. And so that's why the writer used this term the "High Priest". And he says: Since we have a great High Priest, who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith that we profess. For we don't have a High Priest who can't sympathise with our weaknesses but we have one who has been tempted and tested in every way, just as we are, yet He was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. See, it says here Jesus was not just in heaven, that's natural, He's the Son of God, but He is able to sympathise and empathise with all the stuff we go through. Why? Not just because He's God but because He has been through every trial and every temptation, every hurt, every disappointment that we ever have been or we will ever travel through. He's walked on those long dusty roads. I challenge you to read one of the Gospel accounts – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, end to end in one session, like a story. Not all chopped up like we sometimes do, but end to end – and just look at what He experienced, how people treated Him, what they said about Him. How often they misunderstood Him. It will only take you a couple of hours and it's really worth doing. Curl up with a good cup of coffee and read a good book; the Good Book. And as you read about all the stuff He went through put yourself in His shoes and we begin to understand what He felt. At Christmas God steps out of heaven and into history. That's exactly what He does for us – He steps into our shoes, our reality, our experiences first hand, every trial, every temptation that we go through, He knows because He's God; He knows because He's man. And therefore, because of His humanity, because He's been through it all, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Therefore, because He became a man, became He has experienced what we go through; we can go to Him with boldness and confidence, and approach the throne of grace. A boldness that arises, not of who we are or what we do, a boldness that arises out of the central fact of Christmas – the Son of God became the Son of Man. Because of that we can be confident that He understands and that we will find and receive mercy and grace, just at the right time in our need. And the whole point of mercy and grace is that they can't be mercy and grace unless we don't deserve them. If we deserved them they wouldn't be mercy and grace. But we can be bold about them anyway. Can I tell you something? That's a Christmas message worth carrying around in my heart for everyday of the year, not just for the 25th of December. Jesus gets it not just because He's God; He knows everything of course, but because He became one of us and walked a mile or two in our shoes. That is something to warm our hearts every day of the year. But there's one other thing – a really important thing about our future, about our inheritance that comes out of Christmas and I'm going to share that next.   OUR INHERITANCE There's this one other thing; a really important thing that I want to share with you about Christmas today. Again it's a side of Christmas that you and I can carry around in our hearts every day of the year for the rest of our lives here on this earth. Earlier we looked a Christmas where Jesus becomes one of us; the thing that the theologians call the "incarnation". He gets it; He understands our circumstances because He's walked in our shoes and God's Word says that we should place our confidence in that. That when we are struggling; when we made a blunder; when we are just finding it hard, to come boldly before the throne of grace because Jesus has walked in our shoes and He understands That's fantastic and it's for here and now. But there's also a really important thing for the future that we get out of Christmas and that is "hope". Hope is such an important thing, something to hope for in the future; a certain hope; not a kind of uncertain hope like "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow", or "I hope I win the lotto", or, you know what I mean? A certain hope, because without hope life if hopeless. We have all experienced that sense of lost-ness and hopelessness from time to time and for some people it's a place where they seem to live almost permanently. Well, it's not meant to be that way. Have a listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans, chapter 8, beginning at verse 15. He's writing about God's love for us through Jesus Christ and if you have a Bible, go there, Romans, chapter 8, verse 15. He writes this: For you didn't receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption and by Him we cry, "Abba", 'Dad'. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirits that we are God's children. Now if we are His children, then we are His heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. See, Jesus became one of us. Yes, He's the Son of God; God the Son but just as He is the Son of God, we are children of God, joint heirs with Jesus. That's a hard idea to get our minds around because if we think, 'well, Jesus is so different to us because He is the Son of God', we miss the point. Jesus was a little baby that came into this world just as you and I did. He slipped into this world, He cried and He was just like you and me. He was born, He lived, He struggled, He ministered, He died, He rose again and now He is with the Father in heaven and He has gone ahead of us and we inherit what He inherits. The Apostle Peter puts it like this in First Peter, chapter 1, verse 3: Praise be to God and our Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, because in His great mercy He's given us a new birth into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith, are protected by God's power. It's an inheritance that's being kept for us and it comes from the fact that we are joint heirs with Jesus. Jesus was the one that went to the cross for us; He was the one that rose again and He purchased that inheritance for us on the cross. That inheritance is there waiting for us, safer than anything we can imagine. The reason I have called this programme "Christianityworks" is because I believe that it does. I believe that faith in Jesus Christ changes our lives – it works – it makes our lives better. It means God gets in and deals with problems that we can't deal with. But you know what the risk of that is? The risk is we focus just on the here and now but God calls us to live with eternity in mind. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because in His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, being kept in heaven for you. God is saying, "Lift up your eyes. Look at eternity. Look at what I have prepared for you." You are a joint heir with Jesus. Jesus is the first born among many and He has risen from the dead and we get to spend eternity with Him in delight and worship and rest and peace and no sickness or tears or poverty. We are co-heirs of that, in Christ. That's all part of God's plan for Christmas. Jesus became one of us to make us joint heirs with Him. Christmas is an awesome message. It is like a message in a bottle when the Word became flesh; when Jesus was washed up on the sands of time as one of us. Jesus is God's message; that's why the Bible calls Him 'the Word of God'. Jesus is God speaking to us in a language we can understand and what a wondrous message – help for today and hope for tomorrow – compassion and understanding and mercy and grace for today because Jesus has walked in our shoes. And so we can be confident in that because of the fact that He knows, first hand, but also joint heirs with Christ for all eternity. Christmas – what an amazing message – a message in a bottle. And I want to encourage you, don't take Christmas and put it back in the cupboard with the Christmas decorations, just to kind of trot it out in twelve months time – don't do that. The message of Christmas is that God the Son became one of us and He walked the dusty roads of the Holy Land and experienced every thing that you and I experience. He knows what we are going through and He has purchased an eternal hope.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,     are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler     who will shepherd my people Israel.'”Matthew 2:1-6 DAWN OF THE KINGNow after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,     are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler     who will shepherd my people Israel.'”Matthew 2:1-6IT'S PART OF OUR NATURE TO DESIRE TO BE LED.IT'S PART OF OUR FALLEN NATURE TO DESIRE TO LEAD.4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”1 Samuel 8:4-9KINGS RULE THROUGH POWER Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] and have come to worship him.”Matthew 2:1-2“Herod trembles at the report of Christ's birth, because tyrants are tormented by the mere shadow of a rival.”John Calvin16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Matthew 2:16Augustus famously quipped it was “safer to be Herod's pig than his son.”“Herod's actions fit precisely what we know of his character from history; Matthew is not inventing a villain but unveiling the true nature of power threatened by God.”Craig KeenerKINGS RULE THROUGH HYPOCRISY3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,     are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler     who will shepherd my people Israel.'”Matthew 2:1-6They preach Christ to others and remain at home themselves. Thus God's Word becomes a servant of pride rather than a call to repentance.Martin Luther“Those who know the Scriptures best are often the least prepared for the kingdom when it actually arrives.”N.T. Wright22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. James 1:24YOU WILL BECOME LIKE THE PERSON YOU ARE FOLLOWING.KINGS RULE THROUGH SACRIFICE 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant[c] is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.John 13:12-17WHO WILL YOU FOLLOW?

Advent // Joy The word for Joy is the Greek word “Chara - Khar-ah,” meaning calm delight or cheerfulness, or “Chairo - Khah-ee-ro,” meaning to be calmly happy or well-off. Philippians 4:4 (KJV)"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice." Matthew 2:1-18 (NLT)“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.' King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, ‘Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?' ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,' they said, ‘for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.' Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, ‘Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!' After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,' the angel said. ‘Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.' That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: ‘I called my Son out of Egypt.' Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men's report of the star's first appearance. Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: a cry was heard in Ramah—weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”      On a day when we announce good news of great joy. It doesn't sound very joyful…It is because of the Nature of this Joy.This is a Joy that is Stronger and Deeper than our Sorrows; A Joy that Cannot be Quenched by the Tragedies of Life; A Joy that can Sustain those who Suffer Great Loss.A Joy that Shines in the Darkness... Whatever the circumstances of our world and our lives, the message given to Joseph by the angel is true, and it's a message of joy—“Give him the name Jesus, because He will save His People from Their sins.” The Joy of Christmas is not just the Joy of personal salvation; it's the Joy of being part of something bigger, grander, and greater—it's the Joy of being able to participate in and cooperate with Christ in the coming and establishing of God's kingdom. It's in our coming together, it's in our unity of heart and purpose, it's in our giving and serving, it's in our intentionality in the midst of our community.It's the Joy of living out of all that we are blessed with to be a blessing to others.It's the Joy of being a participant in the message of salvation to the world. Joy to the World

Welcome to daily dose of bitachon . We're now in our recognizing God in creation series. The next thing the Chovos Halevavos tells us is that a person must recognize that this world has spirituality and physicality. This is actually a deep understanding that although we see this world is a physical world, the underlying factor... Take an example when we eat and we live off of the food that we eat. Now, food is not alive. We're alive. How do we get life from food? And the answer is there is life in food as well. There is spirituality in food. As we mentioned yesterday, there's underlying, we'll call it gases that break down. There's something more than the physical that you can touch and feel inside food. But this is on a deeper level. The Sefer Chesed L'Avraham , the Chida's grandfather in the Sefer Shelah Hakadosh , both explain a pasuk that it says that the lesson of the man was כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם, man does not live on bread alone. Now, what does that mean? Man does not live on bread alone. What does he live on? And I remember when I first started in adult education, I would enjoy asking this question, who said the statement man does not live on bread alone? And what does he live on? And some people would say Shakespeare, Mark Twain. But it's a pasuk in the Torah. What does he live on? And again, different answers. He lives on connection, he lives on spirituality, he lives on meat and chicken as well, not just bread. But the answer of the Torah is man does not live on bread alone. He lives on כי על כל מוצא פי השם יחיה האדם. He lives from the spirituality that emanates from the mouth of God. The Chesed L'Avraham says man does not live on the physicality of bread. Rather he lives on the spirituality that's in the bread that was that is comes out of the mouth of God, that emanates from God. So what's that's what we live on. This world is a a combination of both. And the proof of this was the man . Because if we take the man to a laboratory, there were no nutrients, there was no carbohydrates, there was nothing of the sort. It was just pure emanation from God. And this again the Chovos Halevavos continues says, Ra'ui she'teida , it's important for you to know, כי כל עולם מחובר מגשמיות רוחניות. The world is created from the synthesis of spirituality and physicality that are mixed and and combined in a wonderous way. The Rambam's son in his ספר המספיק לעובדי השם in the 11th chapter called Hamavak , the struggle. And he says that the struggle comes because man is created from a soul which is heavenly, from a body that's physical, and the body and soul are connected with a connection that the only one that could properly understand this is God himself. No human being could give the definition of how this works. Just like no one could understand the essence of the soul, no one could understand how the body and soul work in tandem. The Darkei Moshe as well as the Ramah in Shulchan Aruch tell us that every day we say Asher Yatzar , we're talking about our physical body functions. We end with the words umafli la'asot , and God does something wondrous. What is the wonder? The wonder is that the physical existence which comes from the heavens is connected to the physical body that comes from the earth, and the soul cannot function without the body. If a person is sick in one of his his limbs, his soul feels it so to say. And that is this wondrous connection of body and soul. One of the examples of this wondrous connection, Rav Wolbe speaks about at length in Alei Shur volume two, chapter seven. He discusses how is it that this brain that's a physical organ. Remember him saying if you open a brain, open the skull you would see this bowl of porridge, that's what the brain looks like. And through this bowl of porridge, this physical organ, thoughts, spiritual thoughts and true recognition are created. How do we connect this spirituality in a physical organ? That's the wonder that no one can understand. And that he says is also the wonder of the concept that our actions change our spiritual beings. We become great as the Rambam writes on the... Mishnah in Pirkei Avot , הכל לפי גודל המעשה, it all depends, I'm sorry, הכל לפי רוב המעשה. We change because not the greatness of the action but the repetitiveness, by constantly doing something again. And the famous example is if you have a choice to give $1,000 to one poor person or a thousand single dollars to a thousand people, the latter is more powerful, because the more action changes you. And that's the famous concept that our external arouse our internal, the Sefer HaChinuch that explains why do we do so many actions on the night of the Seder because אחרי המעשים ימשכו הלבבות, after the actions the heart is drawn. You know, how does that work? How do physical, dry actions impact our soul? And that is the Mafli Laasot , that's the wondrous connection of body and soul. The Sefer HaYashar , Rabbeinu Tam in the fourth gate says, why is it that animals walk bent over and human beings stand tall? That's because since the human being is a spiritual existence and his soul comes from above, he's naturally drawn to his source, so he stands up high. Whereas the animal that sources from below goes down back towards his source, which is the ground. The Maharal says that a human being is like a tree, as it says, Adam etz hasadeh . Man is like a tree. How so? A tree is rooted in the ground, but man is rooted in the heavens. And that's why if you stand up and you spread out your arms and spread out your legs and spread out your fingers and spread out your toes and imagine your head is a trunk rooted in the heavens, and the the nutrients and the sap coming from the heavens goes through your brain, through your arms, down to your fingers and your toes. And the the fruit of your labor, when you do something, that's the fruit of your of your labor. But it comes from the roots. And if we're rooted in the heavens, we produce these wonderful fruits from our actions. But that's the connection between body and soul, the wonders of the connection of body of soul that is one of the things we have to be cognizant of when we look.

Advent reveals that love and vulnerability are inseparable, for God entered the world not in power but in the fragile form of a baby laid in a manger. The incarnation isn't distant theology—it is God with us, meeting us in our fear, grief, and limitations with a love strong enough to overcome darkness. True courage mirrors the infant Christ: a willingness to embrace uncertainty, rely on help when we are helpless, and love even when it hurts. In a world afraid of weakness, Advent invites us to begin again with vulnerability, interdependence, and the radical truth that the Father's love is strong enough to save. --- Scripture: Matthew 2:17-24 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,     weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children     and refusing to be comforted,     because they are no more.”[a] The Return to Nazareth 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Islington Baptist is a church for the Islington and widerNewcastle community sharing the life-changing message of Jesus. Our sermons / Bible teaching is a central part of our gatherings.1 Samuel 16:1-131 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.”7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Kencan Dengan Tuhan - Kamis, 27 November 2025Bacaan: "Tetapi hendaklah kamu ramah seorang terhadap yang lain, penuh kasih mesra dan saling mengampuni, sebagaimana Allah di dalam Kristus telah mengampuni kamu." (Efesus 4:32) Renungan: Si anak sulung dalam kisah anak yang hilang, sedang bekerja di ladang ketika adiknya pulang. Bapanya yang menanti-nantikan anaknya yang bungsu itu, ketika si bungsu pulang, menyambutnya, dan menyuruh para pelayannya untuk menyembelih anak lembu yang tambun dan menyiapkan pesta. Selama adiknya pergi, ia tampak baik, tetapi ketika adiknya pulang dan berkata, "Bapa, ampunilah aku dan aku akan bekerja untuk bapa," maka ada persaingan dalam keluarga itu. Selama ini si anak sulung memiliki kekuasaan penuh di rumah, sekarang adiknya kembali lagi. Si anak sulung telah menciptakan tembok permusuhan dengan menunjukkan ketidaksenangannya. Dengan tidak mengampuni saudaranya, maka sesungguhnya anak sulung ini juga tidak akan menerima pengampunan dari Allah. Kita wajib memberikan pengampunan karena Allah telah lebih dahulu memberikan pengampunan kepada kita. Jika saat ini kita mempunyai musuh, ingatlah musuh adalah sesuatu yang mahal! Karena musuh dapat membawa kebencian ke dalam hati kita, dan hal itu dapat menyebabkan penyakit jasmani bahkan lebih parah lagi hal itu akan merusak hubungan kita dengan Tuhan. Marilah kita mulai belajar taat pada firman Tuhan dengan mulai mengampuni sesuai dengan firman Tuhan, "Tetapi hendaklah kamu ramah seorang terhadap yang lain, penuh kasih mesra dan saling mengampuni, sebagaimana Allah di dalam Kristus telah mengampuni kamu. (Ef 4:32). Tuhan Yesus memberkati.Doa: Tuhan Yesus, ajarilah aku untuk tidak iri dan benci terhadap sesamaku. Ajarilah aku juga untuk mengampuni, sebagaimana Engkau sudah lebih dahulu mengampuni aku. Jangan biarkan kekecewaan dan luka hatiku membuat aku menjadi pembangkang di hadapan-Mu dengan tidak mau mengampuni. Yesus, ampuni dan ubahlah diriku. Amin. (Dod).

Islington Baptist is a church for the Islington and widerNewcastle community sharing the life-changing message of Jesus. Our sermons / Bible teaching is a central part of our gatherings.1 Samuel 1:1-281 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?”9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

Islington Baptist is a church for the Islington and widerNewcastle community sharing the life-changing message of Jesus. Our sermons / Bible teaching is a central part of our gatherings.1 Samuel 8:1–221 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

Gratitude // Week 3 // Gratitude And Our OutcomesPastors JF and Ashley Wilkerson1 Samuel 25:1-3 NIV1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran. 2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.1. Gratitude is not a feeling...gratitude is a choice.1 Samuel 25:4-11 NIV4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! 7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.'” 9 When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited. 10 Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”1. Gratitude is not a feeling...gratitude is a choice.2. Gratitude to God results in generosity to others.2 Corinthians 9:11-12 NIV11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.Matthew 25:34-40 NIV 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'1. Gratitude is not a feeling...gratitude is a choice.2. Gratitude to God results in generosity to others.3. Gratitude is more about our obedience than our understanding.1 Samuel 25:14-19 NIV14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.” 18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I'll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.1 Samuel 25:23-27 NIV1. Gratitude is not a feeling... Gratitude is a choice.2. Gratitude to God should always result in generosity to others.3. Gratitude is more about our obedience than our understanding.

THIS SOMEHOW GOT DELETED BY SPOTIFY ITS NOW BACK.Welcome back to TACTICAL AWARENESS - a Canadian Podcast about Corvus Belli's landmark Sci-Fi Wargame; Infinity N5. Come along with our hosts Ash, Owen and Dan for a whole new ITS Edition of Infinity! The BIG GUNS are here for Haqqislam, the supersoldiers and armoured infantry of the Raham Task Force. Let's dive in. OwengZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlCEltbSBnYW5ngSwBAQEACgCBPwEGAACBLwEGAACBLwEFAACFIwEDAACFIwEDAACDUQEBAACBMQECAACBMQEFAACBOwEBAACBPgEBAA%3D%3DAshgZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlDVN0YXJ0ZXIgUmFobWGBLAIBAQAKAIExAQIAAIExAQEAAIEtAQgAAIEtAQcAAIEuAQEAAIE%2FAQYAAIEtAQ4AAIEvAQkAAIRlAQQAAIE%2BAQEAAgEABgCBPQEBAACFNQECAACBTQEBAACBOwEBAACBOwEBAACBTgEBAA%3D%3DDangZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlASCBLAIBAQAKAIE%2FAQYAAIEvAQUAAIEvAQYAAIEvAQMAAIEvAQkAAIYiAQIAAIE%2BAQEAAIE%2BAQEAAIc5AQEAAIE%2BAQEAAgEABQCB0AEBAACDUQEBAACBLQEOAACBTgEBAACBTgEBAA%3D%3DListener Mailbag: ⁠https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sZBGrL7XqK03lyU5bunLkIMDMPce4GnI0278hi3PeRI/edit⁠ Join us on Discord HERE: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/5hndYxvpTuAdd us to your favourite Podcasting App using the RSS Feed: ⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/s/cfa52998/podcast/rss⁠⁠ Music "Built to Last" by NEFFEX used via Creative Commons

Friday Bible Study (10/31/25) // Ezra 2:1-40- (ESV) // The Exiles Return Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. 2 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.The number of the men of the people of Israel: 3 the sons of Parosh, 2,172. 4 The sons of Shephatiah, 372. 5 The sons of Arah, 775. 6 The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812. 7 The sons of Elam, 1,254. 8 The sons of Zattu, 945. 9 The sons of Zaccai, 760. 10 The sons of Bani, 642. 11 The sons of Bebai, 623. 12 The sons of Azgad, 1,222. 13 The sons of Adonikam, 666. 14 The sons of Bigvai, 2,056. 15 The sons of Adin, 454. 16 The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98. 17 The sons of Bezai, 323. 18 The sons of Jorah, 112. 19 The sons of Hashum, 223. 20 The sons of Gibbar, 95. 21 The sons of Bethlehem, 123. 22 The men of Netophah, 56. 23 The men of Anathoth, 128. 24 The sons of Azmaveth, 42. 25 The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. 26 The sons of Ramah and Geba, 621. 27 The men of Michmas, 122. 28 The men of Bethel and Ai, 223. 29 The sons of Nebo, 52. 30 The sons of Magbish, 156. 31 The sons of the other Elam, 1,254. 32 The sons of Harim, 320. 33 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725. 34 The sons of Jericho, 345. 35 The sons of Senaah, 3,630.36 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973. 37 The sons of Immer, 1,052. 38 The sons of Pashhur, 1,247. 39 The sons of Harim, 1,017.40 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74.Website: https://mbchicago.org FOLLOW US Facebook:   / mbc.chicago   Instagram:   / mbc.chicago   TikTok:   / mbc.chicago   Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others TO SUPPORT US Zelle to: info@mbchicago.org Website: https://mbchicago.org/give Venmo: https://venmo.com/mbchurch DAF Donations: https://every.org/mbc.chicago PayPal: https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but... #Ezra #DanielBatarseh #BibleStudy #mbchicago #mbcchicago #Bible #versebyverse #church #chicago #livechurch #churchlive #chicagochurch #chicagochurches #sermon #bibleexplained #bibleproject #bibleverse #bookbybook #oldtestament #explained

Pastor opens with Psalm 33:12  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.”  Our class starts and ends with the story of the kings of Judah. But in between Asa's 40 year reign as a king of Judah and his son, Jehoshaphat's 22 year reign, we see the turmoil and chaos that is transpiring in Israel the northern kingdom. Major events of Asa's Reign:      ⁃    Zera the Cushite attacks (2 Chr. 14:8-15)     ⁃    Azariah and Covenant Renewal (2 Chr. 15:1-19)     ⁃    Treaty with Ben-Hadad of Aram (2 Chr. 16:1-6)     ⁃    Hanani the Seer rebukes Asa (2 Chr. 16:7-10) In 1 Kings 15:16-17 we read about the tension between Baasha, King of Israel and Asa, King of Judah, and how there was war between Asa and Baasha. Baasha fortifies Ramah on the main road to Jerusalem close to the border between to Israel and Judah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering Judah's territory. Asa retaliates but instead of calling on God as he has in the past, he calls on a foreign power and gives temple adornments, silver and gold to the King of Aram and asks him to attack Baasha. Ben-Hadad of Aram does attack Israel, the northern kingdom and wins.  Hanani, a prophet comes to Asa following his treaty with Aram and says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” Asa was so angry at the prophet that he put him in prison. Asa was a good king and had sought to follow the Lord when he first ruled, but in the later years of his reign he did not call on the Lord, instead he relies on himself and others and not God. The scriptures say, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Asa started out that way, but he did not finish that way. A lesson for us today. Meanwhile, up north… (in Israel) we read in 1 Kings 15-16.  910-870 BC during the 40 year reign of Asa in Judah, this is how it was going in Israel. Jeroboam's son Nadab is on the throne and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord following the ways of his father Jeroboam. Nadab rules for only 2 years. Baasha kills Nadab and rules Israel for 24 years. Baasha battles Israel because of King Asa of Judah's request. Baasha defeats Israel and kills off all of Jeroboam's family, ending the rule of Jeroboam's family and fulfilling the prophetic word given to Jeroboam.  Ahijah's prophetic word had said that Jeroboam was to follow God, and if he did his family would continue to reign but if he did not it would end.  We begin to see that when a nation abandons God it invites disaster. The kingdom  of Israel is in chaos. We can see it in the list of rulers of Israel over the next years: Nadab - 2 years (son of Jeroboam) Baasha - 24 years (kills Nadab and Jeroboam's family) Elah - 2 years (son of Baasha killed by Zimri) Zimri - 7 days (killed by Baasha's family) Omri - 12 years (build new capital: Samaria) Ahab - 22 years (Omri's son - he was the worst king of all. Marries Jezebel and establishes Baal worship) 1 Kings 16-22. God's anger is aroused with this succession of evil kings of Israel…. …But in the southern kingdom of Judah, Jehoshaphat is king. 1 chronicles 17 870-848 BC - he was a man who sought the Lord his God. Jehoshaphat was the son of Asa. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of David instead of the practices that we see goin on in Israel. Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor. He removed asheriah poles, he sent teachers out to the people of Judah to teach them about the law in the Torah and revival breaks out.   Join us next week as we meet Elijah! Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

Welcome back to TACTICAL AWARENESS - a Canadian Podcast about Corvus Belli's landmark Sci-Fi Wargame; Infinity N5. Come along with our hosts Ash, Owen and Dan for a whole new ITS Edition of Infinity! The BIG GUNS are here for Haqqislam, the supersoldiers and armoured infantry of the Raham Task Force. Let's dive in. OwengZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlCEltbSBnYW5ngSwBAQEACgCBPwEGAACBLwEGAACBLwEFAACFIwEDAACFIwEDAACDUQEBAACBMQECAACBMQEFAACBOwEBAACBPgEBAA%3D%3DAshgZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlDVN0YXJ0ZXIgUmFobWGBLAIBAQAKAIExAQIAAIExAQEAAIEtAQgAAIEtAQcAAIEuAQEAAIE%2FAQYAAIEtAQ4AAIEvAQkAAIRlAQQAAIE%2BAQEAAgEABgCBPQEBAACFNQECAACBTQEBAACBOwEBAACBOwEBAACBTgEBAA%3D%3DDangZQPcmFtYWgtdGFza2ZvcmNlASCBLAIBAQAKAIE%2FAQYAAIEvAQUAAIEvAQYAAIEvAQMAAIEvAQkAAIYiAQIAAIE%2BAQEAAIE%2BAQEAAIc5AQEAAIE%2BAQEAAgEABQCB0AEBAACDUQEBAACBLQEOAACBTgEBAACBTgEBAA%3D%3DListener Mailbag: ⁠https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sZBGrL7XqK03lyU5bunLkIMDMPce4GnI0278hi3PeRI/edit⁠ Join us on Discord HERE: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/5hndYxvpTuAdd us to your favourite Podcasting App using the RSS Feed: ⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/s/cfa52998/podcast/rss⁠⁠

Send us a textIn this episode, Pastor Dom takes a deep dive into the account of David and King Saul 1 Samuel 8:4-54 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”1 Samuel 8:77 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.1 Samuel 18:5-85 So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. 6 Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 So the women sang as they danced, and said:“Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”1 Samuel 27:11 And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.”1 Samuel 28:128 Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. 1 Samuel 28:33 Now Samuel had died,…  And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land.1 Samuel 28:5-75 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him,… 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” and his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.”Leviticus 19:3131 ‘Give no regard (consideration) to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.Exodus 22:1818 “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.Leviticus 20:2727 ‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits (who consult the spirits of the dead), shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones.1 Thessalonians 5:2222 Abstain from every form of evil.Proverbs 4:1414 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil.3 John 1111 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good….1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,…John 10:1010 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.Ephesians 4:2727 nor give place (opportunity) to the devil.

And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.1SA.2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.1SA.2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.1SA.2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.1SA.2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.1SA.2:6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.1SA.2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.1SA.2:8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them.1SA.2:9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.1SA.2:10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.1SA.2:11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.The Enemy will take advantage of any disobedience, any lack of balance, any unprayerfulness, any delay in heeding My counsel or direction, to strike a blow that will be much more deadly and inflict much more harm than in previous times. (ML 3242:193)FEAR IS A SIN! Let's move our lives into God and receive His rest and peace on all sides no matter how much of a drama queen the Enemy is. GET NOTIFIED WHEN WE GO LIVE HERE AND DOWNLOAD THE APP!fringeradionetwork.com HOW TO SOW THE SEED FINANCIALLY:PAYPAL:spiritforce01@gmail.comBITCOIN:3H4Z2X22DuVUjWPsXKPEsWZmT9c4hDmYvyVENMO:@faithbucksCASHAPP:$spiritforcebucksZelle:faithbucks@proton.mePATREON:Michael BashamHOME BASE SITE:faithbucks.com

In this episode, we explore the tragic decline of King Asa's reign as recorded in 2 Chronicles 16. Once a faithful king who turned to the Lord in the face of overwhelming armies from Ethiopia and Libya, Asa's story takes a sorrowful turn when King Baasha of Israel threatens Judah by fortifying Ramah—a city on a vital mountain trade route leading into Jerusalem.Rather than seeking the Lord as he had in the past, Asa resorts to political maneuvering. He takes silver and gold from the temple—treasures already dedicated to God—and uses them to bribe the king of Syria to attack Israel. It's a move driven by fear, not faith. And it stands in stark contrast to his earlier victories that were won through dependence on God.Why did Asa change? What happens when long periods of security erode our spiritual vigilance?We then turn to the New Testament and look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Where Asa failed under pressure, Jesus triumphs. He does not barter power for safety, nor does he place trust in political alliances. Instead, he clings to the Word of God. Jesus shows us what it looks like for a King to face crisis and remain faithful.In Jesus, we see the hope of a better King—one who doesn't repeat the failures of his predecessors but redeems them. His reign isn't marked by compromise, but by trust, obedience, and unwavering allegiance to the Father. Asa's story warns us; Jesus' story restores us.Join us as we compare the fall of Asa and the triumph of Christ—and discover why Jesus alone is worthy to reign over Israel and the nations.Key Passages: 2 Chronicles 16Matthew 4:8-11⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explainer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Video⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on how to use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.biblehub.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.blueletterbible.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave us a question or comment at our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website podcast page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In 1 Samuel 19, Saul's jealousy of David grows so intense that he openly seeks to kill him. Jonathan, Saul's son and David's close friend, warns David and helps him escape. Michal, David's wife and Saul's daughter, also protects him by deceiving Saul's men. David flees to Samuel in Ramah, where God's Spirit intervenes powerfully—overwhelming Saul's messengers with prophetic worship. Finally, even Saul himself is overcome by the Spirit, stripped of his power and lying helpless, proving that God's hand is upon David and no plan against him can stand.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sendme-radio--732966/support.“Thank you for listening to SendMe Radio — where we share the Gospel, inspire faith, and keep you connected with powerful stories and updates from around the world. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss a message.And remember — you can listen to SendMe Radio streaming 24/7 at www.sendmeradio.net or simply say: ‘Hey Alexa, play SendMe Radio.'

1 Samuel 16:1-13 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.”7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. 1 Samuel 18:1-4 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. 1 Samuel 25:1Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.[a] 2 Samuel 12:1-14 NIVThe Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' 11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

Come As You Are Series - David1 Samuel 16:12-13 “So he sent word and brought him in. Now he was reddish, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel set out and went to Ramah.”We have been talking a lot about how God doesn't always choose the people we think He would choose. If we were in charge, we would probably choose other people as the ones God chooses are flawed, and they make mistakes.They are not the people who get it all right. They are not the people who have it all figured out. They are not the people who look like they fit the part. This is David. He is not the one who looks like he would fit the part. Although this verse does say that he had beautiful eyes and he had a handsome appearance, his brothers looked like they would fit the role of king better. This is not my opinion; this is what it says in the Bible.In 1 Samuel 16, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king, as the Lord had rejected Saul. Listen to what happened when Samuel arrived at Jesse's house. 1 Samuel 16:6-11 “When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed is standing before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel. But he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” Next Jesse had Shammah pass by. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the boys?” And he said, “The youngest is still left, but behold, he is tending the sheep.” So Samuel said to Jesse, “Send word and bring him, for we will not take our places at the table until he comes here.”Samuel thought he knew who God had chosen because when he saw Eliab, he thought he looked kingly. He had the stature of a king. One thing that I think is so telling is that God says, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” David lived 3000 years before Jesus, who lived 2000 years before now, and people were still judging by the outward appearance, while God is looking at our hearts. You would think after 5,000 years, we might learn to look at people's hearts instead of their outside appearance, and yet, we haven't learned that yet.God chose David to be king even though he had seven other brothers who could have been chosen. David was chosen even though his brothers looked like they fit the part better. His brothers, at least some of them, were soldiers in the military. David didn't have that training. When Samuel asked Jesse to present his sons to him, he didn't even invite David. That is how sure his family was that he would not be chosen. Does this sound familiar? Has your family counted you out so many times you can't even count? Have they just assumed you couldn't do it or that you weren't the right person for the job?I am sure the reasons for each one of us are different, but I think we all have a story of a time when others decided we couldn't do something. Don't let others tell you what you can and can't do. Don't count yourself out, or let others count you out, because you don't think you look the part. If God chose you, it is because you are the best person for that job. Don't let others talk you out of it.Sometimes it is not others that count us out, but we count ourselves out. We didn't think we could do it, and yet someone asked us to do it anyway. Someone saw something in you that you didn't see in yourself. I doubt David thought he was qualified to be anointed as king. I doubt he felt ready and yet he was anointed anyway.  He wasn't called to be king right then. David was anointed when he was around 15 years old. He was out in the fields tending to his dad's sheep. He became king over Israel around the age of 30. God saw something in David that even his family didn't see. The same is true for all of us. God sees something in us that no one else can see.God called David to do extraordinary things that no one would have seen coming. David was asked to bring his brother's lunch on the battlefield one day. When he got there, he saw everyone very scared, and no one was fighting. He saw a giant soldier from the other side, whom everyone was afraid of. David didn't understand why they were afraid, as they were God's army. They were God's chosen people; why would they be scared if they knew God would save them? David offered to fight this giant. The king said no at first, but David persuaded him. The king wanted him to use armor and fight like the soldiers did. However, he was too small for the armor. He needed to do it with his weapons, a sling shot, and a few rocks. Do you see how this is an unlikely pairing? A small shepherd boy going against a giant soldier in full armor? It is an unlikely pairing and yet one ordained by the Lord. David had been anointed, he had the Holy Spirit, and he knew the Lord was all-powerful. He knew the Lord would fight for him and that all he needed to do was show up. He showed up, he said yes to the Lord, and he defeated the giant.The same is true for you. You may find yourself in some uncomfortable situations. You may find yourself paired up with a giant, a bully, someone, or something that you don't see any way you can defeat. That's ok, you don't have to know a way, you can trust that the Lord is there fighting this for you. He will help you win, he will help you defeat your giant, whatever that may be. You don't have to fight your battles the way others do. You don't have to take the advice of every person who wants to “help” you. Be brave like David. Do things your way with the confidence that God is on your side, and if He is for you, who could be against you? (Romans 8:31)Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this episode right now. Lord, you are amazing. We are so grateful you look at our heart and not our outside appearance. Lord, help us to be more like you. Please help us look inward and try to see other people's hearts instead of judging them based on their outward appearance. Lord, please give us the courage to stand up and do what you are calling us to do, even if those around us don't think we are qualified. Help us to say yes, even if we don't feel we are qualified. Help us to be brave and not to count ourselves out of anything that you are calling us to, Lord. Help us have the courage David had when he faced Goliath and all the other times in his life where he did really brave things. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Just another week or so to sign up for the retreat. I hope you can join us. CLICK HERE to get all the details. If you are wondering who you are in this world, come and listen to who God says you are. I guarantee you will be amazed at the amazing things God says about you. He loves you and thinks you are so much more special than you know. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in May 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My children, I pour living waters upon you today. Waters that have never penetrated you before. I have new gifts for you. I have new life for you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today on the show, I share my review of "The Chosen" Season 4, Episode 1, titled "Promises." I explore the stark contrast between the impending death of John the Baptist and his birth. Additionally, I discuss subplots involving Thomas and Ramah, Zebedee's oil business, and the crucial conversation between Judas Iscariot and Simon the Zealot about how to serve Jesus best. Also, I discuss the emotional struggle of John the Baptist's loved ones, including Jesus, as they confront his actual death.

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Support our mission to teach every verse of the Bible. Read more here: Project23 Our text today is Judges 4:4-5: Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. — Judges 4:4-5 What happens when men shrink back from the leadership God has called them to? In the middle of Israel's chaos, God raises an unexpected leader: Deborah. She wasn't a warrior swinging a sword or a king sitting on a throne. She was a prophetess who listened to God and spoke his truth. Her “office” was a palm tree in the hill country. People came to her not for military strategy but for judgment rooted in God's Word. Under that tree, she became a steady voice of wisdom in a time of compromise and fear. Here's what makes her story remarkable: Deborah is one of the only female civil leaders in the history of Israel. Why? Because no man stepped up. This wasn't God's usual design—it was a vacuum of male leadership. While Israel's men hesitated, God used Deborah's courage to call them forward. Deborah's leadership reminds us that spiritual authority isn't about position—it's about submission to God. But her story is also a warning: when men fail to lead, God will still accomplish his purposes—sometimes through those we least expect. This should wake us up. God doesn't call you to sit under the shade of someone else's palm tree forever. He calls you to plant your own, to lead your home, your workplace, your friendships with courage rooted in his Word. Don't wait for someone else to carry the spiritual weight God designed for you. The world doesn't need more men who abdicate leadership; it needs men who step up. Don't miss your moment. ASK THIS: Where in my life am I waiting for someone else to lead when God has called me to step up? Do I listen to God's voice enough that others would trust me for spiritual guidance? How has passivity hurt the people around me? What step of leadership can I take this week under the “palm tree” of God's Word? DO THIS: Choose one area where you've been passive—at home, at work, or in your friendships—and take the lead today by bringing God's Word into that space. PRAY THIS: Father, forgive me for the times I've shrunken back from leadership. Give me Deborah's courage and conviction to step up and lead under your Word. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Lead Me."

Presented by Lauren Stibgen We hear a lot about the prophets, but what about prophetesses? Women worked alongside men in the Old Testament, even as prophetesses of the Lord. Although the Old Testament text has a lot less to say about these women, we read that they were respected and sought after for their specific wisdom. The history in the Bible would surely not be the same without unity between these women and the men they served with and for. Why don't we see these stories as powerful movements for the kingdom of God? We have examined the unity God created men and women in and the unity of work he created us for. And we also examined how sin broke this sacred unity. This is the underlying why. Culture and sin both play an unintentional and sometimes intentional role in us not hearing more about these female prophets. You could probably tell me a lot about Moses and Aaron, but what about their sister? Her name was Miriam, and she was also a prophet of the Lord. If I think about this trio more, I wish I could have heard more about their unity and the dynamics of their work together! Miriam is one of the earliest leaders of worship! In Exodus 15:20-21 we see her leading other women in song and dance after they crossed the Red Sea. The timing of the text suggests she may have been the first to lead a victory celebration of the exodus from Egypt! Miriam was noted as one of God's chosen leaders of the exodus in Micah 6:4. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam (Micah 6:4). She was “joined as a whole” in unity with her brothers in this work. Deborah, too, was a powerful prophetess. She is described in Scripture as a judge, military strategist, warrior, and mother in Israel. No, she was not an actual mom, but rather she was a leader of Israel. In Judges, we see Deborah working, first as a judge and then as the one who leads Israel to war. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided (Judges 4:4-5). Men and women sought her counsel. In the next verse we see Deborah sends for and summons Barak. Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go” (Judges 4:8). You can read more about this in Judges chapters 4 and 5, but again we see God using men and women—in unity— to complete work. How do you see examples of Miriam and Deborah and their unity with the men around them in your work today?

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptMy name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're continuing to walk through the book of First Samuel. We are now in chapter 28. We'll be there today. So one of the things that my kids are very aware of is that I made a lot of mistakes growing up. And it's not an uncommon thing for them to ask about a specific thing. Hey, did you do this when you were a kid? And I say, I mean, I don't want to lie in that moment. If I can dodge, I'll do that. I'm very good at changing the subject. But they're getting older and they're getting a little bit smarter, and they're like, no, no, no, no, no. Just stay on point. Did you used to do this as a kid? And what I typically say is, like, yes, I did. And they know at this point that I made a lot of mistakes. You know, I tell them, like, I came to Faith later when I was 17. I didn't love Jesus wholeheartedly. I try to explain that. What I want you to understand is that when you choose this, more bad decisions can come out of that. So it becomes kind of a living cautionary tale. But I try to be discreet. I don't try to share all the things, but that's getting difficult because I have family. And I don't know if it's like a rite of passage for grandparents and aunts and uncles just to volunteer information to your children, but that's a thing. Because the other day they asked very commonly about a thing. Did you used to do this? And we had the whole little thing, yes, you know, I did, but da, da, da, da, like I used to. But, you know, this is a cautionary tale. Don't fall in the same mistakes. Because, you know, I was kind of a bad kid that did bad things at times. And they said, oh, yeah, we know that because he used to throw rocks at cars. And I said, what? How do you know that? I used to throw rocks at carts. And someone in the family had just volunteered the fact that when we were little rebellious children out at the roadside in the woods having fun throwing rocks at cars and, you know, just to see if they would look up in the sky and wonder where it came from. And I was like, yeah, that is a thing I used to do. And I had to do the whole thing. But I'm realizing as I get older that this is going to be a thing, that just some aunt or uncle is just going to volunteer some information, and I'm gonna have to really solidify this point that, yes, I did those things. And if you continue to choose sin, if you continue to choose bad things, it just grows, because that's the reality of sin. So my life gets to be a little bit of a cautionary tear and a parable to my kids to teach that principle, because I want them to understand that. I want them to understand that sin grows, that it is serious, that it has consequences. And one of those consequences is that you might continue to pursue it in a direction to where all of a sudden you're doing worse things that can wreck your life. And boy, oh boy, at this point in First Samuel, we see that so clearly in the life of Saul. We have watched him repeatedly make the wrong decision. We've watched him repeatedly live in his own self interest and to choose sin and how that's grown over time. And we kind of are at the place where he hits rock bottom, where the choices he makes in chapter 28 reveal a heart that is headlong after sin. And my hope is that as we walk through this story and see the truth that is bound up in it, it would remind us and be a cautionary tale for us to take sin seriously. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to walk through the story together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear that we would not see this as simply a story that has all types of interesting details and then that's all it is. But we'd see it as your word that is revealing who you are and who you call us to be. May we have ears to hear and may we respond in the way that you would desire in faith and in repentance and in delighting in you above our own flesh and desires. In Jesus name, Amen.All right, so where we pick up in 28. So we left off last week, where David, through I really think fear and not trusting the promises of God that he was going to be the future king, he goes to the land of the Philistines where he finds safety there. And that's where we pick up right where Chet left off last week in verse one.> In those days the Philistines assembled and made war against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you and your men shall go out with me to battle." And David said to Achish, "Very well; you shall know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Very well; I will make you my bodyguard for life."And it picks up with some context to set up the story in verse 3.> Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and buried him at Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.All right, so we get some context here, something that we already saw a few chapters ago in chapter 25. We already know that Samuel is dead. We know his body is buried in rhema. Okay, that's an interesting context. Also, some things we didn't know that at one point, Saul, when he was doing the right thing, he kicks out all the mediums and the necromancers. These are people who were thought to summon dead spirits. So it's like, why are we being told about that? Buckle up. This story is. Is wild.> And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.So as the Philistines are gathering, Saul is seeing this, and he's terrified. Long gone are the days where he heard about the Ammonites and them disrespecting the people of God. And the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he rallied the people and they defeated them. He is now a scared king who can only see his enemy and is afraid. This is in verse six. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets, which is a picture of. As kings would sometimes get dreams from the Lord. And he's been rejected as king. So that's not happening. That the priests. We saw this earlier. In 1st Samuel, the high priest had the Urim stone, the Thuman stone. These were stones that were used to help answer, we think, prayers in a yes or no kind of manner. But we saw that he killed most of the priests at Nob. So the priesthood isn't with him anymore. So he doesn't have his kingly office. He doesn't have help. He doesn't have the help of the priests. Also, the prophets are no longer with him. He's the Samuel has in his prophecy shown that he has been rejected. So you get a picture of prophet, priest and king, that all of it has abandoned him in leadership and he is alone.> Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a medium at En-dor."All right, so Saul, scared, frightened, says, I will find someone to help me. I will go to a medium for help. The same mediums that he rightfully kicked out of the promised land, that he rightfully saw to get rid of because he followed the law. Then the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 18, it says,> "When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a charmer or a consultant of ghosts, or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD."Stop there. He knew the law. That's why he kicked him out in the first place. He knew that all these people with their evil practices did not belong amongst the people of God. And now he has chosen to go and receive help from there. Which brings up a lot of questions. And I just want to pause in the story to deal with some of those questions, because when you read this story, you have questions about, wait a second, do mediums really do that in the Bible? Do they really consult the spirits of the dead? And the follow up question is, does that still happen? Is that a thing that happens today? Now what we're about to read is the only kind of account of seeking a medium, a witch, a sorcerer, anything like that does in these evil practices. The only really detailed account like this that we get in the Bible, and still it doesn't answer all of our questions. But after looking at this and kind of surveying the rest of the scriptures and thinking through this, here are my general thoughts on how to think about this in light of how we think about this today. Mediums, witches, fortune tellers, many of them are indeed con artists. They're fraudsters, they're tricksters, which I don't think takes a lot of explaining for us, because I think that's the default position of the west, is that if you drive through West Columbia, and you see a palm reader, you see tarot cards, or you see someone dealing in fortune telling, you steal that kind of stuff. Our default position mostly is, and that's probably, probably somebody trying to steal your money. It's probably a con artist of some sort. But what I want to push us on here is that in the majority of the world, so the rest of the world, the not Western world, so South America, Africa, Asia, it is accepted that there are people that deal in these evil practices. They consult evil spirits, they consult evil things to gain information. And really, honestly, the majority of history has kind of accepted this as a thing that happens. It really is only until recent history. And I'll be honest, mostly if your background is more of a white Western background, you're more likely to kind of reject this outright and not see that actually this is something that actually truly does happen. And if you can step out of your position and to see how other people in the world view this and how the rest of history thinks through this, I think it expands our scope a little bit. That's what I've been trying to do over the last few years, the last decade of trying to pastor, because I still think that many of them are con artists. I still think that many of them actually do all types of tricks. But as I've tried to think about this more over the last decade of ministry and then even in pastoring and seeing this, that truly there are unseen demonic forces that are at work all the time, and there are people that consult these things, and what comes out of those experiences sometimes is demonic forces that pastoring people and seeing how this shows up in their life, I see it over and over and over again. So, yes, I think some absolutely are con artists. They're playing tricks. But others of them, when they're consulting someone's ancestor, when they're looking for, when someone's wanting to find out something from their grandmother, that what they're actually hearing on the other side of that is not just trickery, that it's actually demonic forces that are actually speaking to and through these people who are engaged in these evil practices. And we don't know all the things. There's a lot of things we don't understand about this, but I think both of those happen quite a bit. And I think that's helpful for us to think through this. And I think I don't know this, but I think that it's quite probably uncommon to have just immediate access to the spirits of those who have died. Now. I think that's important for us as we think about this, what this is. And also I think it's important to ask the question why anyone would engage in these practices in the first place. People engage in these practices because they're trying to understand things and have control over their next steps in their future. An insight that doesn't come from the Lord. I think that's really helpful to understand. I think going back to actually 1st Samuel 15 is incredibly helpful for this. Because in 1st Samuel 15, when the judgment from Samuel is being passed to Saul, he says something that's very helpful and, and how we should think about this. He says,> "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."What I find helpful about that judgment is it gives us a picture that there's some root issues behind all of this, that ultimately seeking mediums and necromancers is a rejection of the Creator for created things. It's a rejecting rejection of the word of the Lord to gain insight from the evil one, to gain insight to control your situation in life. I was reading a pastor in Africa, in Zambia, who regularly has to encounter people, people that are influenced by witchcraft and witch doctors. And one of the things that he was saying is that as they're seeking to really consult these practices because they have real practical things they want taken care of, they want their crops to grow and they want their kids to get better if they are sick, that as they're trying to control their future, what happens is as they go to these evil practices, it makes them slaves to two demonic forces that captivate and control their life. So the irony of going to seek control over your life by going to these practices, you invite forces in that actually begin to control you. And I thought that was a helpful insight into this to understand why people would do this and the danger that is bound up in doing this. I've seen this. I've sat with someone who engaged in occult practices in the past, and there were demonic forces in. In their life in the present, years later. And I know that our Western minds don't like to wrap our minds. That's hard for us to see. But it is a true spiritual reality now. It's a lot of context to how to think about this, to set up what we're about to. I think we should think about that as you see things from witchcraft to mediums, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, palm readings, even zodiac, horoscopes, and astrology, all of that is in an unseen spiritual realm. But if you are choosing to find insight to control your future by those practices, you are rejecting the Lord and his word and his counsel, and you are inviting evil into your life in a way that is extremely dangerous. Now, all that's helpful, and then we get this, what we're about to read, which is an incredibly unique experience all in itself. And trying to understand it is difficult, but I think we have some insight in how to understand this situation and also how this works broadly.So now we're going back in the story.> So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you." And the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul." And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." And he said, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why then have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" And Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you to tell me what I shall do." And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me. And the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath on Amalek. Therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly terrified and said to him, "Behold, your servant has obeyed you; I have put my life in my hand and have listened to what you told me. Now therefore hear the voice of your servant; let me set a morsel of bread before you, and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman urged him, and he listened to their voice. So the woman took a calf that was fat and killed it at once, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.All right, so he goes to seek help from this woman. And you should feel really the sad nature of this, that he's taking off his kingly garments, he's disguising himself so he cannot be seen. It's pathetic. This once powerful king is having to do this to get help. It's a sad picture. So he disguises himself in the night, and he goes to her, and he said, divine for me, a spirit by me. Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. The woman said to him, surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? So he asks this, and she says, says, you realize the irony here is she can't see that it's Saul, but she clearly knows he's an Israelite. You realize that Saul kicked out all of the mediums. The necromancers, like you understand that you're putting me at risk here. She's nervous. And then Saul responds in verse 10. But Saul swore to her by the Lord, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you from. For this thing which y'. All that is wildly insane and wicked. Because what he just did was that he invoked the holy name of God to offer protection to a woman who is engaging in evil and demonic practices. That is gross blasphemy. And you're supposed to feel that as he invokes the holy name of God to protect this woman so that she will do this evil thing for him.Then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? He said, bring up Samuel for me. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, why have you Deceived me. You are Saul. All right. It's impossible to know for sure what's logistically happening, but I think we can tell a few things. First, this woman did not expect to see Samuel. She is surprised. And when she sees that it's Samuel, she makes the connection that he saw. And she is scared. So she's shocked. And I would argue, I think the reason she's probably shocked that she actually saw and. And a spirit from someone who is dead is because this doesn't happen for her very often. So I think this woman probably is more on the con artist side of this. This is not a thing that normally happens. And if she is consulting evil spirits of some type, it doesn't look like this. So she's caught off guard by this, and she is scared. And once she connects all of this and she says, you are Saul, it says the king said to her, do not be afraid. What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth. Which, again, it's just. This is just shows how all the fools that are involved in here, Saul, a fool engaging this evil. She clearly does not understand how this works. She clearly cannot grasp what's happening. The best thing that she can do, best way she can describe this is it's like a God that's coming up out of the earth. 14 he said to her, what is the appearance? And she said, an old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and he paid homage.So he sees that it's Samuel. And there's this question of that people have when they engage with this. It's like, how does this actually happen? How does an evil person like this, how is she able to bring up the actual spirit of Samuel? Samuel's body's buried in rhema, but somehow she's able to actually bring the spirit of Samuel up. How does this. Why is this even happening? Why does God allow this evil woman to engage in this evil practice to bring about the prophet Samuel? And I think the answer to that question, even I would probably argue that's not the normative thing that happens with the spirits of those who are dead. I think that why God in his sovereignty, allows this to happen in is exactly what we're about to read next. It has to do with what Samuel's going to say to Saul. So God allows it for the purposes of what's about to happen.Then Samuel said to Saul, why Have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. Which just shows the utter foolishness of where Saul is at this point in his life, that he thought that going to get a medium to engage in this evil and wicked and abominable practice to bring Samuel back for him, to help him. He's just. He's a fool. And something I've said multiple times in this series. Saul just. It's clear he doesn't know God. He just doesn't know God. If he thinks that this was going to work out well for him, he doesn't know the Lord. And then verse 16, Samuel said, why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor and David, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek. Therefore the Lord has done this thing to you, done this thing to you. This day, moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. So Samuel is brought up for this right here. I already told you, as I declared years ago, the judgment upon you, that the kingdom that you've been grasping onto for so long is not yours. It is being given away. And very soon tomorrow you and your sons in the battlefield will die, and you'll join me in death, and Israel will lose. That is why God and his sovereignty allows Samuel will be brought to declare that message. You are going to die tomorrow. Saul responds.> Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.Then the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, behold, your servant has obeyed you I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way. And she's like, come on, eat, get out. At this point she's just like, get out of my home. Because she's taken her life in her hands and she wants him gone. And this medium is trying to get him up off the ground. He refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants together with the woman urged him and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. And the woman had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it. She took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she put it before Saul and his servants. And they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. And this is one of the final pictures we get of Saul. And it's sad. It's just sad. And when you think about this in light of his life, it's just like, how did he get here? How has he been so reduced to this sad scene, to having to trust in demonic forces and being told he's going to die? And when you take a step back from the story and you understand the life of Saul, it becomes very clear. He made one sinful decision after the next. He made one self interested decision after the next. And when you see that decision after decision after decision of how this played out, you understand that sin just grew in his life. You go back to 1 Samuel 13, you see that he makes the unlawful sacrifice that he was not supposed to. He disobeys the Lord. You see in 1st Samuel 14 he acts like a fool and he makes a rash vow. You see in 1st Samuel 15 that he refuses to obey the voice of the Lord and to slaughtering the king of the Amalekites. He refuses to do it. You see in 1st Samuel 18 that he tries to murder David. You see in 1st Samuel 19 he tries to murder him again. You see in 1 Samuel 22 he murders the majority of the priests at Nob and their wives and their children. And then from 23 onward, you see this endless pursuit to try to take the life of David, try to murder David and his men. And then he gets spared by David. And there's like a moment where he's sorry over his sin, but he's not truly repentant. And he continues in this. He continues to make sinful choices over and over and over again until his heart is so hardened he cannot see the utter wickedness of deciding that it was a good thing to go and seek the help of a medium. And that right there should serve as a cautionary tale for us. That we should understand the nature and the seriousness of sin and how it grows with every deliberate decision to pursue it. We should heed the wisdom of James chapter one that says,> "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death."That we should see the reality of when temptation comes and how that grows into this desire of sin and how we pursue it, and how when the sin comes, continues to grow in our life, develops, it seeks to destroy us and bring death to us. We should understand the seriousness of sin and how every decision can grow into further pursuing sin. Because here's what happens, y', all, is that sometimes we get so caught off guard by how someone could make such a sinful, foolish choice. People will say, I can't believe that he cheated on her. I can't believe that he would wreck his family and decide to do this. As if it's some surprise when in reality this is what sin does. That he was a man that from early on his teenage years was addicted to pornography and grew this unhealthy, sinful appetite that continued to grow over time. And then maybe he had some freedom when he got married for a moment, but he keeps running back to pornography, keeps running back to these sinful desires. And then in a season where his marriage isn't doing all that well, he gets the positive attention of a co worker. And it inflames that desire in him even further, which develops into lustful thoughts throughout the day, which develops into long lunches with her, which develops into hotel rooms. And it's not a surprise when you understand the nature of sin and how it grows. People will be shocked and ask, I can't believe those friends had this massive falling out. What happened? They were such good friends, like for so long now they seem so cold and distant towards one another. But it's the long road that gets you there of one thing after the next, that it starts with a comment, this person hurts their friend. And then instead of their friend doing the right God honoring thing to go to their friend, and after examining their own heart of why it hurt them to go and say, hey, you've actually hurt me, this was A hurtful thing to say. They just keep it to themselves, and they get angry, and then weeks later, they return fire. Typically, how it goes is, you know, you've been angry for weeks, and all of a sudden something that's completely unrelated just bubbles out in a way that just hurt. Where did that come from? And then no resolution happens there. No reconciliation happens there. Now there's relational weirdness that is set up in the friendship. And now they're both growing resentful, and they're unwilling to repent along the way until finally their eyes see towards each other. They're cold, they're distant, they're calloused. And it's like it was one bad decision after the next. People will be surprised when someone steals from their company. I can't believe that he robbed his company. He's going to prison. Like, what was he thinking? And again, you have to follow the progression here. These things happen over time with decision after decision that years ago that he was a person that started to finally make money. Instead of submitting his finances to the Lord and growing in generosity, he said, I want to spend on myself. And he's continued to fill his life with riches and all types of pleasures. And then as he began to fill his life with things and upholding things over the Creator, he started to grow some debt in his life. And then all of a sudden, there was an easy way to maneuver a little bit of money in a way that no one would ever see. And then he continues this and continues to buy more things and continues to set his heart on material things. And more debt is growing, and more debt is growing. And then all of a sudden, he's in a lot of debt and has some big decisions to make, and there's a big move that he shouldn't have made. And all of a sudden he makes it, and now he's facing prison time. Do you see how this works? Sinful choices that we make over and over and over again. I'll give you one more. People will ask, I can't believe that church split in two. I can't believe that this group all of a sudden just fell apart. What happened there? And y', all, it just. It's. It is a slow fade into this type of disunity. It usually starts with someone who just goes to someone else in their group or goes to someone else in their church and says, I need to vent. I need to. This is the way. This is the holy way to do it. I need the process. Just need to process with you. And then loose Lips rolls out into some gossip, and all of a sudden there's gossip in the air and distrust is in the air. And then eventually slander comes out. And then someone comes back and says, hey, I heard that you said this about me. What's going on with that? And then sides are taken. No one does what they're supposed to do in repenting of their sin and seeking reconciliation God commands us to do. Sides are taken, hearts grow hard and they part their separate ways. This happens over and over and over again. And that's what happened with Saul. He continued to make sinful choices, cementing the position of his heart. And some of you right now have what you might consider to be baby small sins in your life. Maybe some of us have these respectable sins in our lives that we don't think are a big deal. Maybe there's some hidden sin in our lives. And what we do is we justify ourselves, our actions, our thoughts. Thoughts. Are we minimized and say, that's not that big of a deal. Are we covered up with a veneer of righteousness that says, yeah, I know I got this going on. I haven't really confessed it to anyone, but I'm still doing these things. And then that grows, and then it grows and it influences the next decision and the next decision and the next decision, and then it destroys us. We should heed Hebrews chapter three in a way that should sober our souls to reality.> "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'Today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."And the warning there is, be careful in choosing sin, lest you actually, in your pursuit of sin, finally realize that your heart wasn't rooted in belief in the first place, receive the warning of the seriousness of sin, and hope that you have people in your life that will point you. That will point out the choices that you are making, that will ask the tough questions, that will notice the patterns in your life that reveal something beneath the surface that when you dip out for two or three months and you make lots of excuses about not being around, that someone will come into your life, the word of God will come into your life and will reveal what's happening before you, harden your heart in a direction that you do not come back from. We should receive the warning here that we're only a few steps away from wrecking our lives.Now, here's the good news while Saul chooses evil and he meets this very sad end. We have the opportunity to choose Christ. We have the opportunity to delight in him, to run to him. We have the opportunity to actually turn from path of destruction towards Christ. We have the opportunity to end humility, humble ourselves before the Lord, and pray for a softened heart. We have the opportunity to have groups of Christians in our community group that we have people in our lives that at a moment's notice will give us the ear that we need to listen to begin to walk in the light. We have the opportunity and some of you have the opportunity 4 be very first time to actually choose Christ over the desires of our own flesh and following the ways of the world, influenced by the enemy himself, we have Christ and that's his desire for us. I so appreciate 2 Corinthians 5:15 that says,> "and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."that he died for us, that we on the path towards sin and hell might actually see that we had a Savior who bled and died for our sinful choices, for our bad trajectory, so that we might actually live not to ourselves, but but in submission to Him. And that is my hope as we leave this story today. Do not let the sins in your life grow and expand in a way that would suffocate your soul. Do not live for yourself like Saul did live for Christ, who for our sake died and was raised to free us from choosing evil. Pray for us. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would sober us to the reality of sin in our lives and you would awaken us to the joy that is found and understanding that while we sinned against you, you bled and died for our trespasses that we might trust in you of our own selves. Lord, we cannot do that without your work in our hearts. Lord, may you work in our souls in a way to awaken us to the reality of sin and the reality of your redemptive work on the cross in an empty tomb in Jesus name. Amen.We're going to prepare to take the Lord's Supper here in a moment. I want to read from Luke chapter 22.> And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."That as Christians we get to come to the table remembering that yes, we make sinful choices and yes, we pursue sin, and yes, we have hidden sin in our life that we need to actually respond by walking in the light. We have all those things. But the offer of Christ is you don't come in your perfection, you don't come in your righteousness, you don't come in your good works. You come needy, humbly rejoicing that his blood was poured out, that his body was broken. And we remember the good news of the gospel that is for, for us, the sinners. So as you consider your sin, consider your Savior. When you are ready, come joyfully to the table. Some of you, you have not actually fully trusted in the work of Christ. Some of you, if you're honest with yourself that your whole life has been won towards only pursuing sin. And where there's been bits of religiousness, where there's been bits of church attendance, where there's been bits of just doing some good things, those are a cover for a life that is fully captured by sin. And my hope right now is that God would soften your heart and open your eyes to the reality that that only leads to death. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus dies for sinners and that you would not come to the table. Do not come to the table right now. Come to Christ in faith, trusting in his work. And my hope is you wouldn't leave here today without talking to someone, talking to a pastor, talking to anyone, and asking them what does it look like to actually follow Jesus. And then we can talk about what it means to come to the table. But Christians, when you're ready to come to the table, there's gluten free in that back corner and upstairs.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning, my name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and go to First Samuel, chapter 25. We are working our way through the book of First Samuel. We left off last week where David had the opportunity to murder Saul. Saul's been chasing David, trying to kill him. David finally has Saul right in his grasp in a cave and he does not kill him. He comes, cuts off a piece of his cloak, follows him out of the cave and says, see this? Do you notice that it used to belong to your cloak? Check out your cloak. I could have killed you and I didn't because I don't want to.Saul and David have this moment where Saul says, I'm wrong, I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. There's a little bit of a peace. Then it says they head separate ways. We're picking up in chapter 25, and we're going to see this interaction with David and some other people, and we're going to see David actively pursuing sin and how God meets him in that, what happens, how David responds, and how these other people respond. Hopefully, we will learn along with David to appreciate correction.The verse says this:> Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and buried him in his house at Ramah.Samuel has passed and his work as the last judge is over. He's the last judge of Israel. He has transitioned under the leadership of God and under the desire of the people to a monarch ruling the land. It hasn't gone well. We've seen how all that's worked out. The last we saw him, David had run to him to try to hide while Saul was chasing him. He is now passed, and it says all Israel gathered to mourn. I think it is likely that that included David and Saul, but if it excluded one of them, it was probably David. The way the text is written seems as if David was there.It also says that Samuel was buried in his house at Ramah, which makes me think people didn't keep living in that house. I don't know; maybe it became a site for the people of Israel, but the text doesn't give us much information about that.Continuing in verse 1, it says:> Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man whose business was in Carmel.The man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and a thousand goats. Take a moment and try to picture that. That's a lot of sheep and goats, a lot of people that have to tend to them. The man was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now, you may have a picture of what shearing sheep is like. You understand that it's removing the excess wool from a sheep. But culturally, when we just say he's shearing his sheep, I don't think we completely capture the festivity.This was festive. In order to shear 3,000 sheep, you need a lot of shearers. They gather, it's like a harvest. You've kept these sheep alive all winter; it's now about to get hot, and it's spring. They gather. It's celebratory. A bunch of people together. The wool means wealth—he can use it, he can sell it. People gather, eat, celebrate, shear sheep, and then eventually they have to spread back out because you can't have that many sheep in one place at one time.So they've been all over the place, gather, shear the sheep, have a festival for however long this takes, a bunch of people together, then spread back out. That's what's happening. Culturally, when they heard "sheep shearing," it's like us hearing it's Christmas time. It's festive in their mind with all it entails.He's shearing his sheep. Verse 3:> Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail.There's another cultural thing missed on us here: the word Nabal means fool or boorish; his name is "fool." If you spoke Hebrew, you'd catch that. Names mean things in their culture. Either it was a rough time in the life of his parents when he was born and they took it out on him, or he was born and his mom said, "You look a lot like your father; we're gonna name you Fool." Some family dynamics we don't want to get into. Or he has earned this name over time and just rolled with it.It'd be like if you introduced him as "my buddy Blockhead," and he'd say, "Sup?" You'd have guesses on what this dude's like. That's what's happening here: his name's Fool.Then it tells us where we are. The woman, Abigail, was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved. So he's earned it; he's lived up to it. At least he was a Calebite, meaning he comes from a prominent family inside the tribe of Judah. David is also in the tribe of Judah, so they would have considered each other kin, more especially kin than just being of the people of Israel.David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men:> Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him:>> Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.>> I hear that you have shearers.>> Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.>> Ask your young men, and they will tell you.>> Therefore, let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day.>> Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.David sends a ten-man delegation to say, "We hear you have shearers, which means it's a feast day. We've been with your shearers and shepherds. We've actually been part of the reason all your sheep are alive. If there's anything you could give us, that'd be great."This can sound a little extortionary to us: "I helped you out, you owe me." Maybe a little of that is there, but they're of the same tribe. This is a normal thing to be hospitable and to expect hospitality. So what David has helped him, he's saying, "I'm part of the reason why this has gone so well for you this year, and we'd like to participate in this feast."The next layer is that we're of the same tribe. They belong to each other. Another layer is you should just say yes to this anyway, no matter who shows up and asks because that's what the people of Israel are supposed to be like: hospitable and welcoming.Well above our cultural pressures to be hospitable and welcoming, this is a normal cultural thing that you would say yes to.It's a little bit like if someone says, "Hey, is there anything you could do? It would be really helpful. You know it is Christmas." Saying "It's Christmas" adds this "You should" kind of thing to it. But they should say yes all the time. At sheep shearing time, it's more festive and more hospitable; there are all kinds of layers to why Nabal should say yes to this. It's expected, it's good, it's what he ought to do.Remember his name, right? Let's see how he acts.Verse 9:> When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David. And then they waited.And Nabal answered:> David's servants, who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to the men who come from nowhere, whom I do not know?That would be rude to us. It is wildly, excessively rude to them. You ever watch a Western? You know how there's a moment where one calls the other a liar, and everything gets tense? They stand up because you've called me a liar. Obviously, I have to shoot you now. That's the kind of thing happening.Or in the play Hamilton, they've seen multiple duels in writing letters back and forth. You can tell these are fighting words, working toward a duel. Culturally, we don't have that anymore. We don't do duels anymore; that's probably good for us.Every once in a while you meet someone and think, "I wish someone had hit them upside the head," but in general, culturally it's good that we turn the other cheek, that we're calmer, that we don't overreact or defend our honor in that way.But what Nabal has done is aggressively, intentionally disregarded, dishonored, picked a fight with David in pride. He said, "Who is David? Who's the son of Jesse? You come from no one; you are worth nothing." He says there are many people who have broken away from their masters and are roaming around the woods these days. You want me to feed all of them? Like, no.This is very aggressive.They go back to David. Let's see how David responds.Verse 12:> So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this.David said to his men:> Every man, strap on his sword.Every man strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword. About 400 men went up after David, while 200 remained with the baggage.He leaves 200 and takes 400, saying, "Put your swords on. Let's go talk to Nabal ourselves."Verse 14:> But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us. We suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields. As long as we went with them, they were a wall to us both by night and by day. All the while we were with them, keeping the sheep."Now, therefore, know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house. He is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.There's a handful of things going on here. Somebody watches this interaction and says, somebody go tell Abigail, somebody get Ma—she'll handle this. That's the assumption.You can actually see the kind of respect and the position that she held in this household by the way they're responding. I don't know if your life has been like mine, but I've been wildly blessed by ladies like this who can handle things, who will sort stuff out, who, when something's going poorly, you say, "Yeah, go get them. Explain this to them. They'll step in, make this better, know what to do." That's the situation she's in: somebody goes to say, "Hey, real quick, Nabal was Nabling, and I need to talk to you about what just happened."They explain it to her.I also want to point out that they say, "You know what he's like. You can't talk to him. He is such a worthless man. No one can speak to him." I just want to tell you that you don't want that to ever be true for you. You don't want people to say, "Well, you know what it's like to talk to them? They don't listen. They're hard to talk to."You want to actively fight that in yourself. When someone says, "Hey, I need to talk to you about something," you want to go, "Okay, this is my chance. Lord, help me. Don't get defensive. Help me listen," because that's a bad spot to be in.They say he was very rude to them, and they've been great. David was great to us. It was great to be with David. We didn't worry about anything. As long as we were with them, there was nothing to worry about. They helped us; they protected us; they defended us.Not only should he probably not respond that way to anybody, but he certainly should be good to these guys because they've been very good to us. That's the situation they're saying to him.Verse 18:> Then Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared, and five seahs of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.That's a lot of food just ready to go.She starts piling this on donkeys: 200 loaves, five sheep already prepared, 200 cakes of figs. He's very rich.We'll find out later it's not like she went and cleaned out buffets. They don't even notice this stuff is gone. Not only should he have said yes, he actually had the ability to say yes and not even notice it. So he's got all this ready to go at the moment. It's unnoticed.She puts it on donkeys.Verse 19:> She said to her young men, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.As she rode on the donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her. She met them.David had said:> Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him. And he has returned me evil for good.>> God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.David's plan as he's traveling is, when we get there, we're going to kill every man. David says to himself that it was a huge waste of time that he defended his sheep.If you lived in a modest home backed up to somebody's massive acreage and could see all the wealth they had, and at some point their fence broke and their little yappy dog got out, you helped catch the dog and fixed the fence. Then later, you go around and say, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any eggs?" and they say, "I can't be giving handouts to people who can't afford eggs." What does that look like? Charity? "Get off my lawn before I call the police."You might go back to your house and think, "I'm going to break their fence and steal their dog." Originally, you weren't doing it because you knew one day you were going to need something, but there might be something in you that goes, "That was a waste of time. This guy's such a jerk. He doesn't deserve any good thing I've ever done for him."You might just be losing it in your backyard.That's a little bit of what's happening with David here. He's responded violently and is saying to himself, everything that I did that was good was a waste of time. He's decided he's going to kill everybody.He gives an interesting curse—we've seen several curses in First Samuel. This is one of the better ones because of how he words it. Most curses we've seen have followed a pattern: "May the Lord do so and more also to me if I don't blank to them." But David says:> May the Lord do so and more also to my enemies if I don't kill all of them.A double outward-facing curse. It seems like a better way to word it. If I don't kill them, may the Lord kill them. He just puts it out that way; he doesn't bind himself in a curse.His plan is to go kill everybody.I want you to hear this clearly: David is wrong. Don't read your Bible and think this is one of the good guys. Not everything he does is good. The Lord is good, and what he does is good. You can see what he's doing and say that's good (Jesus is good). The Bible isn't about good people and bad people; it's about bad people and Jesus.You see Jesus at work; you can say, "This must be good," but you can't do that with anybody else.What David is about to do is wrong; he's going to defend his pride through massacre. Nobody talks to David like that; that's where he's at.But who just met him? Abigail.David's coming with 400 men, all with swords strapped on. They don't look pleasant; they're on their way to harm people. She comes to talk to them.What she's about to do is insanely courageous.You know how you have things you're afraid of? Meeting new people, large crowds, public speaking, facing down an army, possibly being murdered, conflict. She's about to do all those, and handle them extremely well.When you look at Proverbs 31, which talks about what a woman should look like—a wife should look like—Abigail is Proverbs 31 on display: using intelligence, ability, wisdom for the good of those around her.She could have avoided this situation. She knew something bad was coming. She could have left; it would have affected her household. But she was involved.She jumps right in the middle for Nabal's sake and for David's sake. She sees two foolish men. She actually knew that something bad was going to happen.As soon as she heard the situation, she said David's on the move. She was right. She said, "I don't think you can talk stuff to David like that without there being a lot of bad things that happen next."She's right.She's going to intercept David and Nabal, jump in the middle of them and this brokenness where pride, arrogance, anger are about to slam into each other.Suddenly there's Abigail on a donkey, about to give the largest speech of any woman in the Old Testament. She's going to share wisdom, clarity, humility, faith.This is what she says.Verse 23:> When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.She begins with a very humble posture. She shows up, bows to the ground. It does not tell us if she gets up. It's possible she continues speaking from that posture or maybe stands.Verse 24:> She fell at his feet and said,>> On me alone, my lord, be the guilt.>> Please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant.>> Let not, my lord, regard this worthless fellow Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.Quick pause: I don't believe this gives wives license to speak however they want about their husbands, even their foolish husbands. Which I know is a follow-up question.Put your hand down.But if you are negotiating good for his entire household and trying to save his life, I think the rules get looser than when you're at book club with your friends. She doesn't speak in a very honoring way of her husband. He has actively done dumb things. She is trying for the sake of their household to bring good.She's trying to bring blessing to him, even though he's acted like that.But this isn't how I think you're allowed to talk about them all the time.Even if she did, you still shouldn't.She starts off by saying we don't want Nabal representing her house. This is on me.Don't let him lead you into this. That's what she's saying.She continues:> But I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. Please forgive me. This is on me. If I had seen him, we wouldn't have this problem.Verse 26:> Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt and from saving with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.She says it's so good the Lord restrained him from blood guilt. She assumes graciously and boldly that he's going to stop. The Lord has intercepted him to keep him from doing something foolish.She doesn't say "foolish," but it's baked in.The fool was about to create folly, and she's thankful the Lord helped stop it.Then:> May the Lord make all of your enemies like Nabal—not dead, but foolish. Let them act foolish, but don't let you act foolish.Verse 27:> And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.> If men rise up to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God, and the lives of your enemies shall he sling out as from the hollow of a sling.She's wise in words, uses sling metaphors for David. He gets it immediately.She brings blessing. She shows up in the middle of sin, takes guilt, and brings blessing.She brings physical blessing and then verbally blesses him. She says, “Take this gift,” and then she blesses David, his house, family, future.Verse 30:> When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel...It seems known that David has been anointed and that he's going to be king; that has spread at least to the people in Judah.Verse 31:> My lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause, or for my lord working salvation for himself.> When the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.She says when she shows up, "I'm glad the Lord let me intercept you to keep you from blood guilt." She ends with, when he makes you king, you won't feel bad about this. You won't have pangs of conscience that you tried to save yourself or shed blood without cause.It's wise, clear, corrective, humble.Verse 32:> David said to Abigail,>> "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me.>> Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have kept me this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand.>> For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left in Nabal so much as one male."David erupts in worship:Oh, thank the Lord! Blessed be the Lord! Blessed be your discretion! Blessed be you that you came because I was about to do something so foolish!Y'all, may we respond like David when we're corrected. May we love the people who correct us.Culturally, we celebrate, "I want my friends to match my energy." Like, if I'm amped up, I want you to get amped up with me.I saw a clip from a movie: a guy comes in, looks at his friend, says, "Hey, you can't ask me questions; I need you to come with me. We're going to hurt some people. We can never talk about this again." His friend looks at him and says, "Are you driving, or am I driving?"Culturally, we say, "Yay! Best friends! Secret murders!"That's what we want. We want friends who ride or die. We want you to hop in the car if I say, "Let's go."Reality is, no. You need some calm, patient, wet blanket friends. Some people who say, "Why aren't you mad?"You need people who have wisdom, discretion, who slow you down, love you enough to risk a relationship by correcting you.I'm not talking about argumentative, contrary people. I'm talking about people who love you enough to say, "Hey, we need to talk because what you're doing is unwise, unhelpful, foolish, sinful."We want to learn to be people who say, "Praise Jesus that you listened to the Spirit when I didn't! Thank you, Lord, that you sent them to be around me."You're doing things over your life that are unwise. You're doing things that aren't good. You're sinning.The last time you were corrected is maybe the last time someone showed you genuine love.If you go long seasons without correction, you need to begin to work on how you respond to correction and the type of people you surround yourself with.May we be people like Abigail who love people enough to say something. She jumped in the middle, could have left, but she was involved.Verse 35:> Then David received from her hand what she had brought him.>> He said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice and granted your petition."Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king.Nabal's heart was merry within him; he was very drunk.She told him nothing at all until morning.Verse 37:> In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things.>> His heart died within him, and he became as a stone.>> About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.She went and explained: you said this, I did this, I met David with 400 men coming to kill everybody, the gift I gave him.He locks up; something happens to his heart, his body. He dies ten days later.Verse 39:> When David heard that Nabal was dead,>> He said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal and kept back his servant from wrongdoing.>> The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head."This principle runs throughout Scripture: we aren't meant to get vengeance ourselves. We're to trust the Lord that He will respond, will care for us, and this is not to be taken into our hands.We are to say, "Lord, I will bear insult, trusting you'll bring about good."That's how David responds when he hears that: "Thank you, Lord, for letting his wickedness fall back on him and not on me.""For me not getting involved, me not doing wrongdoing, You kept me back from him."Verse 40:> Then David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her as his wife.When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her:> David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.She rose and bowed with her face to the ground, saying:> "Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."Abigail hurried, rose, mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her.She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.First of all, she has little notes: she has the largest lady entourage of anybody in Scripture.She's wealthy and well attended to. She humbly accepts this. She even responds, "I'll just be a servant." I think she knows she's going to get married, but she humbly says, "I'll be a servant." She's gracious.The story begins with David sending men to say, "Hey, Nabal, can we have some food from your feast?"It ends with him going and getting Nabal's wife.It's a wild story.One thing is when David's corrected by Abigail, he loves her for it; he responds.I want to read the last of this chapter before considering a few things:Verse 42:> So she became his wife.David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.Saul had given Michal, his daughter, David's wife, to Palti, son of Laish, who was of Gallim.Personally, I wish that note was somewhere else, because it feels like you see this interesting little love story play out, and at the end they're getting married, but then there's another lady also, and you're like, "Wait, what?"Historically, men in power had multiple wives.We see David wrongfully, angrily respond to a thing. We see him begin to take multiple wives.He's not handling everything well.One of the things for kings is they wouldn't have too many wives. He's not even a king yet; he's just roaming the woods.He already has two and a half because we're not exactly sure what's going on with Michal. She's married to someone else but also married to him.We'll see how that plays out.That's the situation.Looking back, consider something beautiful in this text.Abigail rides in to intercept in the middle before things go wildly wrong.David loves her for it.He walks under the shadow of the mountain, ready to murder.He leaves praising the Lord.His heart is softened at her correction.Nabal is hardened at her correction. He turns to stone, and it kills him.We have softening and love, and death born out of the same action.This reality is how Jesus comes to us.He intercepts us in our sin.He comes to correct us, call us away from sin, stepping into situations He didn't have to but does because He loves us and wants to rescue and bring blessing.He steps in to take guilt on Himself, saying, "Let the guilt fall on me."All who hear this message will either, like David, soften and love Him or will harden and say, "Who does He think He is? Why do I have to worship Him? Why do I have to follow Him? What does He mean He died for my sin? What is sin? He made the rules. Why would I have to?"You will twist on it.There's a way to respond that brings life, blessing, joy, hope.There's a way that hardens you up.If you belong to Jesus, your heart ought to be very soft to Him and His correction.You ought to see with joy the love He shows when He corrects.You ought to be soft in correction to those around you who say, "I think you're wrong about this."You ought to say, "Thank you for loving me."Try to listen as best you can, understand what they're saying, sort it out, be patient.Praise the Lord for people who will correct you.None of us want to harden ourselves against Jesus or His people so we might work closer to death, locking ourselves into stone so we can't hear His voice or listen.Let's pray.God, may You in Your grace let us be soft and receptive.May we be receptive to Your Spirit when You call us to repentance.May we be receptive to the people in our church family and those around us who know us and love us and love You who correct us.May it be a delight to our soul as David was blessed and continued to bless Your name for turning him away from wrongdoing.Lord, may we love the people in our church and those close to us enough to correct them.I pray in Jesus' name and by Your Spirit's work, for those who have hardened themselves against Your calls to repentance, may You not let them do it.May You not let them harden their heart or turn to stone so they cannot hear Your voice or listen to Your people.May You intercept them by Your grace even now.May they hear and repent.We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.As a church, we are going to take communion together.I'd like to read from Luke chapter 22.This is Jesus on the night He was betrayed, at the last supper with His disciples.Luke 22:19 says:> And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,>> "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."When we take communion together, we take a loaf and remember that Jesus' body was broken for us.Our hope is not that we would suffer and die for ourselves, atone for our sin, but that He has.We share in one loaf, and when we do this together, we remind ourselves and each other that our one hope is Jesus and Jesus alone.And then likewise the cup:> "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."This hope is made sure because it is covenanted with us through the blood of Christ, sealed through His work.If you have trusted Christ, we take communion as a remembrance of this moment and the covenant made with us.We take it in hope of the day coming when all things are restored and made new, forgiven fully and made free.If you have not placed your faith in Jesus, this is not for you.We say Christ is for you. His offer of salvation is for you. Repentance is for you.But we ask you not to take communion until you understand fully what you're celebrating.For those who've placed faith in Jesus, take a moment, listen to the Spirit.If there's somewhere you need to repent, if there's someone you need to talk to, do that, then come joyfully.Remind your soul your sin has been paid for, and your hope is held sure because of Christ's work.If you have a gluten allergy, we have gluten-free back there.

Don't Whistle At Night welcomes Filmmakers Jenny Pond and Norman Brown Date: July 27th, 2025 EP: 14 Topic: Discussion will centre around Jenny and Norman's Research via their Team - Ramah Bigfoot, concentrating on the sightings and experiences of the various Navajo Tribes About Our Guests: Jenny Pond – Filmmaker & Producer Director/Producer of Poison Wind (2007), a documentary that exposes the deadly legacy of health hazards caused by uranium mining in the Four Corners region. She directed and co-produced it with fellow filmmaker and Dine' actor, Norman Patrick Brown. Jenny has over 15 years of professional experience in film and TV production, with credits including VFX work on the movie Flightplan (2005), starring Jodi Foster. She also served as an associate producer for MTV's Room Raiders and supervising the script for The Curse of El Chorro from Pretty Dangerous Films with Danny Trejo. Jenny is a full-time resident of Ramah, NM and works as a contract photographer for the Gallup Sun, a weekly newspaper. In 2023, she received an award from the New Mexico Press Association for her photo of an ultimate fan attending a Gallup Bengals girls softball game. She has experienced many paranormal events throughout her life and enjoys sharing those experiences on her Ramah NM Bigfoot Facebook group. She is a member of the Gallup Film Committee and is looking forward to the UFO FF in Gallup this fall with eagerness. Active on social media under handles like @RavenRanch she enjoys sharing multimedia content and glimpses from her life and work. ( Waiting for Normans bio and pic. These 2 are head of Ramah Bigfoot group

Summer at City Speaker Panel Andy Esposito Exodus 31:1-3 Now the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and skill, in understanding and intelligence, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 5 and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship. “Your daily work is ultimately an act of worship to the God who called and equipped you to do it—no matter what kind of work it is.” - Tim Keller Act 1:8 8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Brooklyn Cadwallader Matthew 11:28-30 28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Three gifts that come from carrying our weights when yoked with Jesus: 1. The weights drive us to stay yoked. Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” 2. We can bless the world by carrying heavier weights. 2 Corinthians 12:10 “That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 3. We learn the care our Companion has for us. Philippians 3:10-11 “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Taylor Smithson 1 Samuel 16:11-13 ESV 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Psalm 27:14 ESV Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Waiting is transformative. It can build up character and can teach you to be patient. Or It can harden your heart and make you bitter.How will you wait on what is next from God?

Listen to our guests from bunk a10! A live recording from 7/17 with tzeirim campers telling us about themselves and choosing some fun music:) Featuring Adin, Micah, Jona, Noam, Wesley, Seymour, Louis, Liaml, Asher, Charlie, Nolan, Ben.

True and Better // A Better King // Pastor Casey BushWhat made David “a man after God's own heart”? How does this ancient king help us understand the kind of King we actually need? In this message, Pastor Casey Bush invites us to take a deeper look atthe stories we think we know—and the questions we might not be asking. We're going to look at how David's rise, failures, and faith point us to something more, the true and better.Sermon Notes1 Samuel 8:4-54 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”1 Samuel 8:7And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”Kingship” - A God-ordained position of leadership, authority, and servanthood under God himself."Anointing" - The act of applying oil to someone or something, symbolizing consecration, sanctification, or divine empowerment.1 Samuel 13:13-14“13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”1 Samuel 16:11 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”1 Samuel 16:6…”Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him!”1 Samuel 16:12Now he was ruddy, with [f]bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.Matthew 6:33“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”1. DAVID WAITED ON THE LORDFIRST1 Samuel 18:7“..Saul has slain his thousands, but David his 10 thousands.”1 Samuel 24:6“And he says to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lords anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”2. DAVID WAS OBEDIENT TOGOD'S AUTHORITYMatthew 25:1“You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things” Gods not after your obedience to earn His love-Its aboutresponding to it.Disobedience doesn't just break the rules, it breaks the relationship1 Samuel 15:23“Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also rejected you from being king.”Malachi 3:6“For I am the Lord, I do not change…”1 Samuel 15:1-21 Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words ofthe Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them.1 Samuel 15:7-97 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which iseast of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, they utterly destroyed.1 Samuel 15:2121 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”2 Samuel 24:1010 And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”3. DAVID WAS REPENTANTRepentance - Where our heart turns away from sin and turns toward God—a genuine sorrow, confession, and a desire to walk in obedience.A. David valued relationship over reputationB. David feared losing God's presencePsalm 51:11“Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”C. David was tender toward conviction“Conviction” is not condemnation-its correction wrapped in compassion.Numbers 32:23“and be sure your sin will find you out.”Numbers 32:23James 5:16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.Someone or something will sit on the throne of your life. The question is, who?

Saul and the Medium of Endor 28In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. 2David said to Achish, Very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And Achish said to David, Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. 3Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 4The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7Then Saul said to his servants, Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a medium at En-dor. 8So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. 9The woman said to him, Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? 10But Saul swore to her by the Lord, As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. 11Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me. 12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul. 13The king said to her, Do not be afraid. What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. 14He said to her, What is his appearance? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage. 15Then Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. 16And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy?17The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lordhas done this thing to you this day.19Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. 20Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.21And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. 22Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way. 23He refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. 24Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it, 25and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. David and Abigail Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. 6And thus you shall greet him: Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David. 9When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. 10And Nabal answered David's servants, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where? 12So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. 13And David said to his men, Every man strap on his sword! And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. 14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. 15Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him. 18Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs[a]of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19And she said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21Now David had said, Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. 22God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him. 23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.24She fell at his feet and said, On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.28Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.29If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince[d] over Israel, 31my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant. 32And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! 34For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.35Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition. 36And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.37In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. 39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.40When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. 41And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. 43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. 44Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

In chapter 7 after a long interval with the ark isolated the nation laments their condition and appeals to Samuel for change. Samuel indicates that this could only happen if Israel with all their heart seek for God and utterly forsake the idolatry that had brought their ruin. When the nation does this Yahweh would be found by them. To potently demonstrate the Almighty's saving might Samuel, washes his hands and sacrifices a sucking lamb. This animal spoke of the nation's helplessness and dependence on Yahweh's protection. This occurs at Mizpah (signifying God's over watching protection). Next Samuel prays for Israel's deliverance from the approaching Philistine host and Yahweh of armies responds with lightning, thunder and an overwhelming hailstorm unleashed upon the enemy host. This led to the scene of victory overseen by the now to be named, Ebenezer (or rock of help). The chapter finishes by telling us that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life and of him establishing his residence where his roots began, Ramah.1 Samuel 8 sadly tells of the failure of Samuel's sons to walk in his ways and consequently Israel's plea to be like other nations with an earthly king. Samuel remonstrates that this was tantamount to a rejection of God. Samuel outlines the huge cost upon the nation that such a choice would bring.Isaiah 52 reveals Jerusalem's exultation that would accompany the "good tidings" of her king with his liberating gospel message. Zion's watchmen would sing with joy at the "comfort (or consolation- Hebrew 'nacham') the Messiah would bring. The Lord Jesus Christ is the subject of these Servant prophecies and no more strongly than in chapters 52-53. Verses 1-2 call upon Zion to rouse herself from the dust to which she had been reduced by her oppressor. The Assyrian yoke had been broken from her neck. Verses 3-5 tell of her oppressors being firstly Egypt and in the time of the prophet, the Assyrian. Verses 6-7 describe Yahweh proclaiming liberty to the slaves in the good news: ie the Gospel. The words of verse 7 are quoted by the Apostle Paul as applying to all who preach the Gospel: Romans 10:5-21. Isaiah 52:8-12. Those verses speak of the condition of Jerusalem in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Jerusalem as its capital: Isaiah 2:1-5; Jeremiah 3:16-17. At that time Jerusalem will be cleansed and purified: Zechariah chapters 12-13. Verses 13-15 belong, in fact to chapter 53 and will be so considered tomorrow. Isaiah 52:13-15 describe Messiah as Yahweh's great servant being elevated after the humiliation of his crucifixion spoken of in chapter 53. He gospel message taken into all the world would cause kings and dignitaries of many nations being astounded by the message about the Messiah: our Lord Jesus Christ.Revelation 14 verses 1-5 shows the redeemed with their Lord on Mount Zion, the glorious Jerusalem of the kingdom age. They are like those spoken of in chapter 7 the 144,000 - the Israel of God. They are virgins as they have not been defiled by the Roman whore - her teachings and behaviours. The Word of God had penetrated their thinking to the extent that the Lamb's Father's name - Yahweh - was written on their forehead (compare John 6:26-29). Verses 6-13 deal with the message/work of the three following angels. The first angel spoke of the everlasting Gospel being taken to all nations. This message includes the acceptance of God as the Almighty Creator (evolution is a falsehood that people will forsake in Christ's kingdom). The second and third angels proclaim Rome's doom (that city is symbolised as Babylon). The system which has persecuted the faithful believers of our Lord for 1,700 years will be avenged at that time. Two judgments are outlined. Firstly, the "harvest of the earth" - Catholic Europe from where Rome has derived its temporal power. And secondly, "the vine of the earth" the centre of doctrine - or spiritual correctness.

In honor of season FIVE of the Chosen out TODAY, this episode is a THROWBACK to one of my favorite convo's I've ever had on Made to Shine!! Yasmine is beyond humble and kind.P.S.: GO WATCH THE CHOSEN!In this episode we talk all things:Every person has a ministry and can shine their light in all areas of lifeSelf-discovery often involves unraveling societal expectations and finding one's true identityFaith plays a significant role in navigating career choices I pray this blesses you friend!

Saul Tries to Kill David 19And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.2And Jonathan told David, Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you. 4And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?6And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. 7And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before. 8And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him.9Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. 11Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. 12So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13Michal took an image[a] and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.16And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill you? 18Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19And it was told Saul, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah. 23And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, Is Saul also among the prophets?

Saul Tries to Kill David 19And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.2And Jonathan told David, Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you. 4And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?6And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. 7And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before. 8And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him.9Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. 11Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. 12So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13Michal took an image[a] and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.16And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill you? 18Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19And it was told Saul, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah. 23And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, Is Saul also among the prophets?

Join the Bigfoot Society as host Jeremiah Byron interviews Jenny and Norman, documentary filmmakers from New Mexico. Jenny, also a news photographer for the Gallup Sun, shares her and her husband's experiences with Bigfoot on their off-grid property in Ramah, New Mexico. They recount various encounters including a violent house shaking, finding large footprints, mysterious trail cam photos, and communication through gifts left by the elusive creature. Norman delves into the Navajo perspective on Bigfoot, highlighting their spiritual significance and role as master herbalists. The episode also discusses the broader implications of these encounters and calls for increased awareness and respect for these beings. This episode is packed with insights on the sacred landscapes of New Mexico and draws connections between environmental changes and Bigfoot sightings.Resources:Poison Wind documentary: https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11835/poison-wind Sasquatch Summerfest this year, is July 11th through the 12th, 2025. It's going to be fantastic. Listeners, if you're going to go, you can get a two day ticket for the cost of one. If you use the code "BFS" like Bigfoot society and it'll get you some off your cost.Priscilla was a nice enough to provide that for my listeners. So there you go. I look forward to seeing you there. So make sure you head over to www. sasquatchsummerfest. com and pick up your tickets today.If you've had similar encounters or experiences, please reach out to bigfootsociety@gmail.com. Your story could be the next one we feature!

David Anointed King 16The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. 2And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. 4Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, Do you come peaceably? 5And he said, Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. 7But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 8Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. 10And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. 11Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest,[a] but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. 12And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. David in Saul's Service 14Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lordtormented him. 15And Saul's servants said to him, Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well. 17So Saul said to his servants, Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. 18One of the young men answered, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him. 19Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep. 20And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul.21And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. 23And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. David and Goliath 17Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. 3And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six[b] cubits[c] and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels[d] of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. 10And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together. 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 12Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.[e] 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.14David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. 17And Jesse said to David his son, Take for your brothers an ephah[f] of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them. 19Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.23As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 24All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. 25And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. 26And David said to the men who stood by him, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27And the people answered him in the same way, So shall it be done to the man who kills him. 28Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. 29And David said, What have I done now? Was it not but a word? 30And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. 31When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth. 34But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. 37And David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you! 38Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. So David put them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. 41And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. 45Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lordsaves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand. 48When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath[g] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. 55As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. 56And the king said, Inquire whose son the boy is. 57And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

April 25, 2025 - Equipped 2025 - Day 2 - 1:30PM Session   Scott leads a bible study of the political climate of Judiah during the book of Isaiah.   Isaiah 7-12 - Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz 7 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. 3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field, 4 and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”— 7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand, Nor shall it come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, And the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, So that it will not be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established.” ' ” The Immanuel Prophecy 10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.[i] 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.” 18 And it shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will whistle for the fly That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They will come, and all of them will rest In the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, And on all thorns and in all pastures. 20 In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor, With those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, The head and the hair of the legs, And will also remove the beard. 21 It shall be in that day That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; 22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give, That he will eat curds; For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. 23 It shall happen in that day, That wherever there could be a thousand vines Worth a thousand shekels of silver, It will be for briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and bows men will come there, Because all the land will become briers and thorns. 25 And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe, You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; But it will become a range for oxen And a place for sheep to roam. Assyria Will Invade the Land 8 Moreover the Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man's pen concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; 4 for before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father' and ‘My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The Lord also spoke to me again, saying: 6 “Inasmuch as these people refused The waters of Shiloah that flow softly, And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah's son; 7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them The waters of the River, strong and mighty— The king of Assyria and all his glory; He will go up over all his channels And go over all his banks. 8 He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck; And the stretching out of his wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel. 9 “Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For [r]God is with us.” Fear God, Heed His Word 11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,' Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. 13 The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. 14 He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait on the Lord, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him. 18 Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the Lord of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21 They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness. The Government of the Promised Son 9 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian. 5 For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, Will be used for burning and fuel of fire. 6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. The Punishment of Samaria 8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, And it has fallen on Israel. 9 All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the Lord shall set up The adversaries of Rezin against him, And spur his enemies on, 12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. 13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. 14 Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day. 15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, And every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. 18 For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, And kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts The land is burned up, And the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall snatch on the right hand And be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand And not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. 21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. Assyria Shall Be Broken 10 “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed 2 To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless. 3 What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? 4 Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. Arrogant Assyria Also Judged 5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. 6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations. 8 For he says, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings? 9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? 10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?' ” 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.” 13 For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. 14 My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, And as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; And there was no one who moved his wing, Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.” 15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood! 16 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Will send leanness among his fat ones; And under his glory He will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire. 17 So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame; It will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day. 18 And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, Both soul and body; And they will be as when a sick man wastes away. 19 Then the rest of the trees of his forest Will be so few in number That a child may write them. The Returning Remnant of Israel 20 And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. 22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land. 24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.” 26 And the Lord of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt. 27 It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. 28 He has come to Aiath, He has passed Migron; At Michmash he has attended to his equipment. 29 They have gone along the ridge, They have taken up lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Cause it to be heard as far as Laish— O poor Anathoth! 31 Madmenah has fled, The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge. 32 As yet he will remain at Nob that day; He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem. 33 Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, Will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled. 34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One. The Reign of Jesse's Offspring 11 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. 6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” 11 It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. 12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. 13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. 15 The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod. 16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. A Hymn of Praise 12 And in that day you will say: “O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.' ” 3 Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. 5 Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”   Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6T9IGrUlv4   Duration 41:36  

In Isaiah, Cyrus the Great emerges as a unique figure chosen by the God of Israel to fulfill a specific historical task: the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and the liberation of the Judahites from exile in Babylon in direct fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah.Cyrus's rise to power is depicted not as a product of his strength but as the result of God stirring his spirit and granting him authority over all nations.God bestows upon Cyrus exceptional titles: “my shepherd,” a nomadic-pastoral, Bedouin-styled function typical of prophetic literature, signifying his role in guiding the people of Israel back to God's land, and “my anointed,” indicating a special divine commissioning that parallels, though does not equal, the messianic expectations normally associated with Israelite kings.Through Cyrus's conquests, especially the subjugation of Babylon, the Lord demonstrates his universal sovereignty, demonstrating to all nations that he alone is the Unipolar Hegemon that directs the course of history and holds ultimate authority over the kingdoms of the earth.While Cyrus plays a pivotal role as a pawn on God's political chessboard, Isaiah carefully distinguishes him from the Slave of the Lord.The Slave—often wrongly identified with Israel itself—points to a future messianic figure who carries a broader, more enduring mission: to establish justice, bring light to the nations, and embody God's ultimate purpose. Unlike Cyrus, whose mission is temporal and political, the Slave's work is a universal call to the path of the Lord, extending beyond the restoration of Jerusalem to the transformation of the human race.Thus, Isaiah presents Cyrus as a divinely appointed instrument for a limited, though critical, historical role. At the same time, the Slave of the Lord stands as the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan of victory and liberation for his people and the entire world.Then, in Luke, the Slave landed on the beaches of the Gerasenes.Everything I do, I do for the Slave.This week, I discuss Luke 8:29.Show Notesπαραγγέλλω (parangellō)order, summon, command, send a messageשׁ-מ-ע (shin-mem-ayin) / س-م-ع (sīn-mīm-ʿayn)hear, submit!1 Samuel 15:4 - Saul, Israel's first king, asserts his leadership by gathering a vast army (200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah) to fulfill a divine command: to destroy the Amalekites utterly. Centralized, royal power at its peak.1 Samuel 23:8 - Saul, now insecure in his power, redirects his military might to pursue David at Keilah, driven by jealousy and fear of losing his throne.1 Kings 15:22 - King Asa commands all of Judah to dismantle Baasha's fortifications at Ramah and repurpose them to fortify Geba and Mizpah. Asa's leadership is pragmatic and defensive, focused on security rather than prophetic utterances.Jeremiah 26:14 (LXX) - Jeremiah stands alone before religious and political leaders, “I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and right to you.” Luke's lexical itinerary at Decapolis follows the biblical storyline, shifting from the king's authority to the prophet's vulnerability.Jeremiah 27:29 (LXX) - Jeremiah warns Judah that resisting Babylon will only bring destruction; the people must submit to Babylon's yoke as God's instrument of judgment.Jeremiah 28:27 (LXX) - The theme of the yoke—submission to Babylon's dominion—continues. This reinforces the prophet's earlier warning that Judah's fate is sealed unless they accept God's judgment.ע-ב-ר (ʿayin-bet-resh) / ع-ب-ر (ʿayn-bāʼ-rāʼ)pull along, pass through, pass by, go your way; consistent with nomadic pastoral or shepherd life2 Chronicles 36:22 - This verse marks the beginning of the return from exile. It records that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord moved his heart to make a proclamation allowing the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This aligns with the prophecy of Jeremiah being fulfilled — God's promise to bring his people back from captivity after seventy years.Ezra 1:1 - This verse parallels 2 Chronicles 36:22. It highlights that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia's reign, God stirred his spirit to make a decree throughout his kingdom allowing the Judeans to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, again, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah.In Arabic, this root carries various functions, including “to cross,” “to pass over,” “to interpret,” or “to take a lesson.”عُبُور (ʿubūr) crossingمَعْبَر (maʿbar) crossing placeتَعْبِير (taʿbīr) expression, interpretation (especially of dreams)א-מ-ר (ʾaleph–mem–resh) / أ-م-ر (ʾalif-mīm-rāʾ)In Arabic, this root is the foundation for words like أَمْر (ʾamr) (“command” or “order”) and مَأْمُور (maʾmūr) (“one who is commanded”). Matthew Cooper observes that אָמַר (amar) “he spoke,” is inter-functional with the Arabic word أمير (emir), which means “prince,” “commander,” or “leader,” from the same root.Joshua 6:7 - Joshua commands his army to advance on Jericho. Specifically, he orders the armed men to proceed, and the seven priests with the trumpets to go before the Ark of the Covenant as they prepare to encircle the city. This is part of the famous account of the fall of Jericho, where the walls come down after the Israelites' obedience to God's instructions.צ-ע-ק (ṣade-ayin-qof) / ص-ع-ق (sīn–ʿayn–qāf)In biblical Hebrew, צעק (ṣāʿaq) means “to cry out, to shout, to call loudly.”1 Samuel 10:17 - Samuel gathers the people of Israel at Mizpah to publicly present Saul as the chosen king. This follows God's command to anoint a king, as the people had demanded one like the nations around them. Samuel is about to cast lots to reveal Saul as God's chosen king formally.In Arabic, صعق (ṣaʿaqa) means “to be struck by thunder, to be shocked, to be stunned.”י-ע-ץ (yod-ayin-ṣade) / و-ع-ظ (wāw-ʿayn-ẓāʾ)1 Kings 12:6 - Rehoboam, Solomon's son and the new king, consults the elders who had served his father about responding to the people's request to lighten their burdens. The elders advise him to show kindness. He does not listen.“To advise, to give counsel.” The Arabic triliteral carries the core function “to exhort, to admonish, to preach.”وَعْظ (waʿẓ) exhortation, admonitionوَاعِظ (wāʿiẓ) preacher, admonisherتَوْعِيظ (tawʿīẓ) act of exhorting, preaching“Call to the path of your Lord with wisdom and the beautiful exhortation (الْمَوْعِظَةِ ٱلْحَسَنَةِ al-mawʿiẓati al-ḥasanati), and discuss with them in that which is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from his path, and he is most knowing of the guided.” Surah An-Nahl (16:125) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Pastor Damaris Solis brings this week's message, “Until I ____ Arose!" Judges 4:1-10 ESV: “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand'?” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.” Judges 5:7 ESV: “The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.” If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends on social media. For more information about PNEUMA Church, visit our website at mypneumachurch.org.  Connect with Us: Instagram: https://instagram.com/mypneumachurch YouTube: https://youtube.com/mypneumachurch Facebook: https://facebook.com/mypneumachurch Time Stamps: 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Welcome 04:18 - Judges 4:1-10 ESV 06:13 - Judges 5:17 ESV 07:08 - Until I ____ Arose!

Teacher: Adam Barnett “Through writing and reflecting, journaling keeps you alert to God's presence and activity in, around, and through me.” – Adele Calhoun “David's story isn't a stain-glassed window of a saint, but a cracked mirror in which we see ourselves and the God who loves us anyway.”  - Eugene Peterson But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22 “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”  - 1 Samuel 15:23b Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men so I gave in to them.” – 1 Samuel 15:24 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.”  - 1 Samuel 15:28 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.  – 1 Samuel 15:35 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” – 1 Samuel 16:1-3 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  - 1 Samuel 16:7 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.  – 1 Samuel 16:11-13 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 1. David loved God – “The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart…”  - 1 Samuel 13:14 2. David was faithful – Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. – Luke 16:10 3. David had integrity – He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.  – Psalm 78:70-72

05/04/2025 Rev. Paul Bang Nehemiah 7:5-73     5 Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: 6 These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. 7 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 8 the sons of Parosh, 2,172. 9 The sons of Shephatiah, 372. 10 The sons of Arah, 652. 11 The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,818. 12 The sons of Elam, 1,254. 13 The sons of Zattu, 845. 14 The sons of Zaccai, 760. 15 The sons of Binnui, 648. 16 The sons of Bebai, 628. 17 The sons of Azgad, 2,322. 18 The sons of Adonikam, 667. 19 The sons of Bigvai, 2,067. 20 The sons of Adin, 655. 21 The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98. 22 The sons of Hashum, 328. 23 The sons of Bezai, 324. 24 The sons of Hariph, 112. 25 The sons of Gibeon, 95. 26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188. 27 The men of Anathoth, 128. 28 The men of Beth-azmaveth, 42. 29 The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. 30 The men of Ramah and Geba, 621. 31 The men of Michmas, 122. 32 The men of Bethel and Ai, 123. 33 The men of the other Nebo, 52. 34 The sons of the other Elam, 1,254. 35 The sons of Harim, 320. 36 The sons of Jericho, 345. 37 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721. 38 The sons of Senaah, 3,930. 39 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, namely the house of Jeshua, 973. 40 The sons of Immer, 1,052. 41 The sons of Pashhur, 1,247. 42 The sons of Harim, 1,017. 43 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua, namely of Kadmiel of the sons of Hodevah, 74. 44 The singers: the sons of Asaph, 148. 45 The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, 138. 46 The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 47 the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, 48 the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Shalmai, 49 the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, 50 the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, 51 the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, 52 the sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim, 53 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 54 the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 55 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 56 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha. 57 The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida, 58 the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 59 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Amon. 60 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. 61 The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove their fathers' houses nor their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 62 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 642. 63 Also, of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name). 64 These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 65 The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise. 66 The whole assembly together was 42,360, 67 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337. And they had 245 singers, male and female. 68 Their horses were 736, their mules 245, 69 their camels 435, and their donkeys 6,720. 70 Now some of the heads of fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 basins, 30 priests' garments and 500 minas of silver. 71 And some of the heads of fathers' houses gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. 72 And what the rest of the people gave was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments. 73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.

In this Bible Story, Saul seeks to take David's life. Jealousy and rage fill Saul, and he sends men to murder him, but Jonathan saved David and David escaped to Samuel. This story is inspired by 1 Samuel 19. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Samuel 19:18 from the King James Version.Episode 87: Saul's plotting against David has not stopped and Jonathan quickly learns of the plan. Wishing to protect his friend he warns David about this plot and makes plans to convince his father to have mercy on David. Jonathan was successful and all was well again, at least for a time. But when David came home from war again and the people were giving him praise, Saul's unjust anger returned. And David escaped to Ramah where he met with Samuel, becoming protected for a time.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.