Podcasts about Reconciliation

Pakistani Christians could face renewed persecution following the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to withdraw an honour to a leading Muslim cleric, Monsignor Michael Nazir-Ali warns in this episode of Holy Smoke.The former Bishop of Rochester speaks to Damian Thompson following the news that Lambeth Palace has had to withdraw an award to Hafiz Ashrafi after previous comments by the Imam came to light. Following the ‘Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation' award being presented, it came to light that Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden in 2007, saying he would give the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks the title Saifullah – or 'Sword of God' – for 'serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels'. The question remains ‘why there was not due diligence' Msgr Nazir-Ali tells Damian, saying Pakistani Christian leaders fear a backlash. The ‘reactionary action on the part of extremists' should have been thought about before making the announcement, Nazir-Ali said, as he criticised Lambeth Palace. Msgr Nazir-Ali, now a priest of the Catholic Ordinariate and who was born in Pakistan, is a world renowned authority on Islam's relations with Christianity. He talks to Damian about the debacle over the award, and warns against the increasing secularisation and desecration of British churches.Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pakistani Christians could face renewed persecution following the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to withdraw an honour to a leading Muslim cleric, Monsignor Michael Nazir-Ali warns today in this episode of Holy Smoke.The former Bishop of Rochester speaks to Damian Thompson following the news that Lambeth Palace has had to withdraw an award to Hafiz Ashrafi after previous comments by the Imam came to light. Following the ‘Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation' award being presented, it came to light that Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden in 2007, saying he would give the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks the title Saifullah – or 'Sword of God' – for 'serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels'. The question remains ‘why there was not due diligence' Msgr Nazir-Ali tells Damian, saying Pakistani Christian leaders fear a backlash. The ‘reactionary action on the part of extremists' should have been thought about before making the announcement, Nazir-Ali said, as he criticised Lambeth Palace. Msgr Nazir-Ali, now a priest of the Catholic Ordinariate and who was born in Pakistan, is a world renowned authority on Islam's relations with Christianity. He talks to Damian about the debacle over the award, and warns against the increasing secularisation and desecration of British churches.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Food and water are essentials, and Pastor Al Dagel speaks of spiritual food and water in today's episode of Moments of Grace, from the 4th chapter of John.

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Read OnlineAn Unnamed Sinful WomanA certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. Luke 7:36–38Why did Simon the Pharisee invite Jesus to dine at his house? Though the Gospel does not tell us explicitly, the context suggests that Simon was not yet a believer or disciple. Perhaps he was merely curious about Jesus or, more cynically, sought to test or expose Him. Nevertheless, Jesus, knowing the thoughts and intentions of every heart, accepted the invitation—likely because He perceived in Simon the potential for conversion and salvation.Traditionally, many have associated this unnamed sinful woman with Mary Magdalene, but the Scriptures do not support this identification. Others have confused her with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anointed Jesus shortly before His Passion. Yet this event in Luke's Gospel is clearly distinct, taking place much earlier in Jesus' public ministry and under different circumstances.Though this woman is undoubtedly a real historical person, the fact that she remains unnamed invites a deeper spiritual reflection: She represents each of us. Her anonymity makes it easier for us to see ourselves in her story. We are all sinners in need of grace. Like her, we are called to approach the Lord with humility, sorrow, and deep love. Her gestures of repentance offer a model of adoration for every contrite heart.Her weeping, her use of her hair to wipe the Lord's feet, and her anointing of them with costly ointment are signs of a heart overflowing with both grief and affection. In her, we see the soul that has come to understand the weight of sin and the boundless mercy of the Savior. When we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we often do so with fear and hesitation. It's tempting to minimize or gloss over our sins. But this woman, though she says nothing, expresses everything. Her actions cry out her sorrow and longing for forgiveness. She holds nothing back, which is precisely what makes her a model for us.Even more touching than her contrition is Jesus' response. He does not recoil, rebuke, or reject her. He receives her, defends her, and speaks words to her that must have pierced her heart with joy: “Your sins are forgiven” and “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”Such mercy, when fully received by a humble and contrite heart, is breathtaking. To those with hardened hearts, however, it can be scandalous. Simon thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” And the others at table said among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”The true cleansing, anointing, and kiss exchanged at that dinner were not what the woman gave to Jesus, but what Jesus gave to her. She washed His feet with her tears, but He washed her soul with His mercy. She anointed Him with costly oil, but He anointed her with the Holy Spirit. She kissed His feet in reverence, and He kissed her heart with divine love—betrothing her to Himself as her Heavenly Bridegroom. Reflect today on this unnamed sinful woman, and try to see yourself in her. Let her humility become your own. Let her tears of sorrow become yours. Let her bold and loving gestures toward Jesus inspire you to approach Him without fear or hesitation, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. No sin is too great for His mercy. If you come to Him with a contrite heart, He will not only forgive—He will elevate your soul, heal your wounds, and unite Himself to you in the deepest bond of divine love. Let her story become your own act of love and trust.My compassionate Jesus, when a sinner approaches You with a contrite heart, Your Sacred Heart is moved with Divine Mercy. You do not hesitate to receive the repentant soul, to cleanse, anoint, and kiss it with Your love. You welcome the humble without shame or reproach. Please fill my heart with the same depth of sorrow and love shown by the sinful woman. May her tears become my own, and her boldness in love become the pattern of my life so that I also may hear You say to me, “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Feast in the House of Simon by Artus WolffortSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Interview recorded - 14th of September, 2026On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming back Shaun Rein. Shaun is the Founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group (CMR), the world's leading strategic market intelligence firm focused on China.0:00 - Introduction1:43 - Overview of markets and the economy4:13 - Chinese property9:06 - Manufacturing12:10 - Chinese subsidies14:08 - Surplus problem18:29 - Geopolitical shifts22:03 - Reconciliation possible?26:53 - Underrated countries?29:47 - Chinese Growth Sustainable?31:23 - Safety nets?35:48 - Asset overview40:21 - One message to takeaway?Shaun Rein is the Founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group (CMR), the world's leading strategic market intelligence firm focused on China. He works with Boards, billionaires, Heads of States, CEOs and senior executives of Fortune 500 & leading Chinese companies, private equity firms, SMEs and long/ hedge funds to develop their China growth, political and investment strategies. Rein authored the international best-sellers "The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order," "The End of Cheap China"​ & "The End of Copycat China."​ Publishers Weekly named "Cheap"​ a "Top 10 business book for 2012." The Financial Times called "Copycat"​ "Intriguing" and said of Wallet: “Mr. Rein's insider tales of what it takes to work in contemporary China are insightful...a toolbox for those who want to work with Chinese companies make it a worthwhile read.”Rein is regularly featured in the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times. He frequently appears on CNN, BBC, MarketPlace, CNBC, Bloomberg, PBS and MSNBC. Rein formerly taught executive education classes for London Business School and was a weekly columnist for CNBC and Forbes. He also wrote a column for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Rein is one of the most sought out keynote speakers focused on innovation, consumer trends and the economy in China.Shaun Rein - Website - http://www.cmrconsulting.com.cn/xsyX - https://x.com/shaunreinYouTube - @shaunrein4708 WTFinance -Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wtfinancee/Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/67rpmjG92PNBW0doLyPvfniTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtfinance/id1554934665?uo=4X - https://twitter.com/AnthonyFatseas

Today, Pastor Al Dagel raves about what we can learn by reading the Book of Mark for ourselves!

Delivered by Theodorus Pehang from Saint Peter's School Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara, in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Rs psalm 118: 1-2.16a-17.28; Luke 7: 36-50.THE PATH TO LOVE The theme for our meditation today is: The Path toLove. How did you feel when you had a very heavy burden of life that torturedand caused you helpless, yet finally it was removed and gone away? You mustfeel relieved, happy and grateful. Debt paid off. Your spouse repented.Children graduated and get to work. Reconciliation was achieved and forgivenessgiven. There are many more examples like these. The sinful woman whom Jesus forgave yet was treated sobadly and hostile by Pharisees is an example for us today. She, like us, bore aheavy burden. Once she knew that there was an opportunity when someone couldhelp removing her burden, she didn't waste it. Like that woman, we  also come to meet that special person and weare confident that our burden and problem could be resolved. That person mustbe our savior. That person must be the Lord, or at least someone through whomGod works in him. We believe in the truth that the process to obtainsalvation and perfection is the path to love. When you find the highest pointof love, which is its source, there is salvation and perfection. This is thepoint where sins are washed away and sinners are forgiven, then one enters anew life. The path to love shows from the start of  an experience of seeking the Savior who haspower to lighten or remove one's life's burdens. People who are in the processof seeking and are anxious normally have insufficient love. They lack patience,their understanding is weak, they are not in peace and calm, their hopes areshaken, their thoughts tend to be negative, their moral principles arechallenged, and their hearts are not free to open up. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides them to startmoving from their trouble situation, then they move forward even though thelight is not always bright. In this process they certainly meet many people andexperience various situations, all of which become lessons for them to learn.They must continue to walk toward love. Little by little they begin tounderstand that in order to come to true love, they must go through manyobstacles, as experienced by that sinful woman in the Gospel. They must not giveup and turn back. The aim must be already clear, namely to find that love.During this process, they gradually transform from their weak love to stronglove. Saint Paul pleases to accompany us along this process.When that burden is removed, like the experience of Saint Paul and the sinfulwoman, we will receive God's grace that helps us to change. According to SaintPaul, this change happens not because of our own ability and strength, butbecause Jesus Christ who lives in us. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Lord God, may Your grace fill and empowerour lives that we may renew ourselves to become perfect like you who remainperfect from the beginning. Hail Mary, full of grace ... In the name of theFather ...

Confession is good for the soul, and Pastor Al Dagel shares his confession with us and urges us to confess Jesus as our Savior.

Sermon Series: Lost & Found Preacher: Josh White 9.13.26

"Steps to Family Reconciliation"Chapter 43The Book of Genesis Series - In The Beginning, God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FD-EKLAyvI&list=PLrgvg1IJfGEoNskcuggMJPDwYu1n9alpmGuest Bishop Michael GrantSeptember 6, 2026Virginia's proposed Constitutional amendments on Abortion & Marriage - How to VOTE BIBLICALLY: https://youtu.be/Y8z8xTFsOn8How should Christians respond to wickedness in the world? https://youtu.be/2OJUIM9YRwASERMON NOTES:Topic: Steps to Family ReconciliationText: Gen. 43:33-34Intro: What is reconciliation?1. The starting point (Gen. 43:1)2. Reconciliation Requires us Letting go of what we love in order to receive what we need (13).3. Jacob sends Benjamin, but with a prayer (14)4. The house of Joseph(26)5. The table prepared(33-34)The mercy we need is bigger than our memory.Oasis Church exists to Worship God, Equip the believers, and Reach the lost.We are led by Pastor Nate Clarke and are located in Mechanicsville outside Richmond in Central Virginia.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/oasischurchva/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OasisChurchRVA/Website: https://oasischurch.online

Listen to Pastor Gawel's sermon for September 13, 2026, taken from Matthew 18:15-20. The post Jesus' Guide to Reconciliation – Sermon for September 13, 2026 appeared first on St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

Today, Pastor Al Dagel speaks of the King of Kings, who is worth following!

Aaron Pete examines B.C.'s DRIPA and UNDRIP framework, explaining how Aboriginal title, private property, Indigenous consent and investment uncertainty shape the debate over repeal and reconciliation.Send us Fan MailSupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

Vision Sundays invite us to reconnect with our shared mission: joining God in the restoration of all things through worship, reconciliation, and neighborhood development. This week we are focusing on our value of reconciliation. Reconciliation is a journey and invitation from God for a community to embody shalom in holistic ways that disrupt, re-shape and inform structures and everyday patterns of relating so that all people and creation may flourish.

God Empowers the Weak (3) (audio) David Eells, 9/13/26 Let me share a testimony with you. Back when I was in the world, I had a deficiency that was passed on to me from my daddy. His daddy had this really bad sinus problem. My daddy used to pack around this bottle of Neo-Synephrine. It opened up the sinuses, and he carried it year-round. Growing up, I had the same problem. My sinuses would close up, and so I used that stuff to open up my breathing, but eventually it will eat the lining right out of your nose, and then I would have to use it even more. Well, when I saw that Jesus healed me at the cross, I threw that bottle away. God healed my nose then and it hasn't stopped up to this day. That was in my low twenties when I threw that bottle out by faith. And I've had head colds since then, but my nostrils haven't stopped up. When I threw that bottle out, that honored God so much that He just took it out. I used to have a natural problem with colds and sinuses, chest congestion, and all that left. The doctors gave me so much penicillin that it no longer worked for me.  Then I caught on to vitamin C, and I started taking it, and let me tell you, it did twice the good that the drugs and Neo-Synephrine had done. I saw it worked so much better than the shots, medicine, and stuff, but when I found out what Jesus did for me, I stopped taking vitamin C and I got deliverance from the whole curse of colds, congestion and sinuses. Even though the vitamin C worked better than the drugs because my system totally just was ignoring them by that point, I threw the vitamin C out, too. When I'd get a cold back then, and we'd have orange juice in the ice box, God would say, “Don't drink any of that; just totally avoid it.” He wanted to prove to me that the deliverance I was getting was from Him; it didn't have anything to do with vitamin C. Listen, I got delivered of something I had all of my life to that point. It was so bad that the infection would get in my inner ears, then my eardrums would burst, and I had fluid draining out of my ears. When God delivered me, I threw out the Neo-Synephrine, and I threw out the drugs and the vitamin C; I got total deliverance from that. It's no longer a problem.  So, what is it to walk by faith? We can pick up parts of walking by faith by looking at one another, but we need to get an image of what God's faith is. Look at Mark 11:22. Most versions read, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” But in the original version, it says, “Have God's faith” and the Numeric Bible says that, too. I thought about that, and I felt like the Lord told me that God's faith is not the faith of man in God, but the faith of God inside of man. It's hard for us to work up enough faith in God, but it's our right and privilege from the Scriptures to have God's faith in us, which is what salvation is all about. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And you know it's our right because that's what Jesus did. He made reconciliation. Reconciliation is an exchange. Jesus took our unbelief; He put it on the cross along with the curse and He gave us His faith. We have to reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin (Romans 6:11). Self is the unbeliever, but your spiritual man is not able to walk in unbelief because he is born again. He's born of God. The problem is our old carnal man gets in the way. From the time we are children, our carnal man is being trained to be our savior, to be a grown-up, but Jesus taught us that we have to become as children, or we won't enter into the Kingdom with its benefits. Now, we know that we're entering into the Kingdom because Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luk.17:21) and some translations say “among you” instead of “within you.” Both are true.  So we are entering into the Kingdom, but we can't enter into the Kingdom without being a child. And that means we are weak. That's not a grown-up, right? The qualities the world calls “grown-up” are not considered to be qualities in the Kingdom of Heaven. Casting all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7) and putting our total trust in Him to be our supplier (Genesis 17:1), our Savior (Ephesians 5:23), our Healer (Exodus 15:26) – these things please God. (Heb.11:6) Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him]; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. So what we need is what He says in Mark 11:22. We need to “have God's faith” in us.  When you get a picture of Jesus, you may get a picture of a faith that you don't have by manifestation. Let me say that you can have that faith. The Bible says, We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory…. (2Co.3:18). You have to see it as an accomplished fact. You have to see the fact that Jesus has already given you everything that He is, and that includes His faith (Romans 5:10,11). And that's the way faith works. It speaks the end from the beginning. It calleth the things that are not, as though they were (Rom.4:17).  When we look in the mirror and we are to see Jesus. The Bible promises us that for this we'll be transformed into that image, from glory to glory, so we need to get a picture of His faith because that's our faith. It is the faith of God inside of man, not the faith of man in God, because the carnal man has no ability to walk in faith. We try and try to work faith up in ourselves, and that is the faith of man in God. But the faith of God inside of man is the Father's free gift given to us by grace. It's by grace we are drawn to the Father; that's His gift to us. And He will keep us in the same faith He put in us to cause us to come to Him at the beginning, if we continue to walk in that faith. He's given us the faith that we need. He's given “us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2Pe.1:3). He's given us all things. His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (3) and faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. “Have you been saved” is what it says in the original and that's what the Numeric says and that's what the Nestles Text says. I believe the Received Text says that, too. “By grace have ye been saved through faith.” Faith always looks back. Faith believes you have received. It's always past tense. Hope is future tense. Hope is looking forward to something, confident that you will receive something, a firm expectation. Strong's says the Greek word elpis, meaning “hope,” is “a favorable or confident expectation.” But faith is looking back at something, not forward to something. It's something that you have already received. It's calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). So whatever salvation is, whatever salvation incorporates, it comes by grace through faith and it comes by looking back. And since our salvation is past tense, it makes being weak of primary importance. If you obey the Word of God, if you obey the principles of Jesus, you will be weak in yourself. You will cease from your struggling to save yourself in situations; you will enter into the sabbath and cease from your works so that God can do His.  Some time back, I ran into this one woman in Louisiana. She had been to “who's who” in the healing circuit. She had gone to everybody. She had two very large, inoperable tumors, and she gave me a list of all the people she had gone to. She said, “David, I just don't understand why I haven't been healed.” And I said, “Well, I believe the reason just came out of your mouth as to why you haven't been healed. You're looking forward to healing and the Bible teaches us to look back at healing, for by His stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) Faith is always in the past. The sacrifice of Jesus was at the beginning of this Testament so that we would always look back and accept what was done there, accept it as ours, because it is past tense. If we accept it as past tense and done, then it causes us to be weak because it causes us to cease from our works and we enter into the sabbath rest. If you believe it's done, then you don't have to keep working to try to bring it to pass. If it's in the future, you'll never know what method God wants to use to bring it to pass, but since it's in the past, you can accept it as a free gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. So we do have works to do; only they're not our works, they're the works of God. Whatever God's work is between here and the manifestation, our work is to believe what the Bible says, and the Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). We should never be moved away from that for any reason that would say, “Maybe not, maybe not in this case,” because we'll never be able to have faith if we're not convinced that what the Bible says is true about our healing. See, Jesus came to reveal the Will of the Father and He did that by healing everyone who came to Him. Our problem is that we can't come to Jesus physically and touch Him, but we can all come to Him by faith. We can confess our sins that we may be healed. (Jas.5:16) Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. We have the ability to get things out of the way that would hinder healing. So we confess our sins that we may be healed, as the Bible says, and then we can “touch” Jesus by faith. He healed everyone who came to Him. He came to show us the way and to be an example. Everybody who came to Jesus was healed, so why isn't everybody healed today? The number one reason is that it's not being taught that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). You, as a Christian, were healed. This is not something you have to look forward to. That's hope. See, that's the problem with many Christians – they're looking forward to something that they need to be looking back to. We were all healed at the cross. And we enter into that by ceasing from our own thinking and our own reasoning and saying, “God, I repent. Your Word is true.” What does it mean to “repent”? It means to “change your mind.” The Word is true. If it says by His stripes you were healed, then change your mind; you were healed.  What we need to understand here is this word “salvation,” or in Greek, sozo. The Scripture says, “for by grace have ye been saved through faith” (Eph.2:8). Now, I point out to you that faith is past tense. It's always believing for something that you've received. When you pray, Jesus said, “believe you have received and you shall have it” (Mark 11:24). That's the way that faith works. That identifies how our salvation is going to come, our sozo, our “saved,” is going to come. Grace is another thing that identifies God's method for bringing you sozo, “salvation,” “saved.” Let's look carefully at this example. (Rom.4:4) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. It says, if it's grace, it's not your works. If it's grace, you have to cease from your works. See, many people are seeking healing and deliverance because they have hope. But hope will not get you either. Faith will. If you have to work for it, or pay for it, if you have to earn it, it's not something that's coming through grace because “grace” is “unmerited favor.” Much of the church is caught up in their own works. They say, “You're not saved by your works,” but they believe that only refers to their soul. When the Bible talks about salvation in other areas, like “deliverance” or sozo, “saved” in other areas, it's, “Oh, well, no; now God does it this way.” So they continue in their own works. He says here, “To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.” In other words, God would owe it to you if you could work it up in yourself. But it's not grace if you have to work for it because God would owe it to you. It would be a debt. He refuses to cooperate with you in that. (Rom.4:5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Notice: “to him that worketh not…” Grace comes “to him that worketh not.” Here's another example. (Rom.11:6) But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. Whatever salvation is, salvation is very big. It's much bigger than your soul going to Heaven when you die. Salvation is here and now. Salvation covers everything that Jesus did on the cross. It covers everything having to do with the curse of sin and of death. We've been delivered from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2), and that's what salvation is all about. But if any part of that salvation is by works, then that's not salvation through grace. There are salvations out there that are not God's method for His people. The world always wants to be your savior. The arm of the flesh always wants to be your savior. I.e.,“Let me do it my way, Lord. I know how to take care of myself. I'll do it.” The worldly ways of deliverance don't cause us to grow closer to God; they don't cause us to manifest Christ, nor do they cause us to grow in faith. They are salvations that are of the world. When the children of Israel were brought out into the wilderness, they wanted to run back to Egypt for their salvation (Exodus 16:3). They said, “Let's go back to the flesh-pots.” God said in effect, “No, you stay in the wilderness. Your salvation is coming out of Heaven.” But they continued to murmur. “Well, we would rather have Egypt's salvation; it's easier on the flesh; it's not so much of a trial. Let's go back to Egypt.” Every time the Israelites got into a tight spot, every time they lacked water, or food, or whatever, God put them in that spot. He brought them there, and He put them there so that they would come to the end of themselves and put their trust in Him. Instead, they kept crying, “Let's go back and get Egypt's salvation.” Egypt had a salvation. The world has a salvation for you; it has a deliverance, but it's not an eternal deliverance, and the end is always a curse. The Bible says, “Cursed is he who trusts in man, in the arm of the flesh” (Jeremiah 17:5). Maybe you don't see it, but in some way, whenever the world saves you, there's always a curse in it. Maybe you don't see it yet, but there's one there. When Christ saves you, it is eternal. It causes you to grow in faith. It causes you to grow in manifesting Him. It's an affront to Him to think that you can pay for His benefits. You remember when Peter and John were praying for people and they were receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15,17), that Simon the magician also received the Holy Spirit, but he wanted to pay Peter and John for this ability. (Act.8:20) But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. (21) Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before God. Simon wanted this gift to be able to lay hands on people to impart the Holy Spirit. That's all he wanted, but we need to see that the principle here covers much more than just this gift of imparting the Holy Spirit. Peter said, “Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money”; in other words, it's not something that you can earn or ever pay for. The gift of God doesn't come through your ability, nor does it come through your earning it. You cannot pay for it. It has to be free. Do you know what happens when you go and pay for the world's salvation and call that God? Because it's not God; it's going back to Egypt. You get an answer and you may grow, too, but you grow in the world; you don't grow in God. You see, the Lord explained something to me about the image of the beast. The image of the beast is being manifested in this world right now. I'm not going to deny what anybody else has to say about the image of the beast in the future, but the Bible says that Christ was the image of God (Hebrews 1:3) and that His Body is made up of saviors. The Bible even says, “and saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” (Oba.21). “Saviors” is plural. God's body is made up of people (1 Corinthians 12:27) whom He has gifted in different gifts (1 Corinthians 12,13,14) to enable them to do the work of Jesus in this earth, works that Jesus wanted done: of deliverance, of saving, of healing, of providing. But, you know what? First of all, God's administering these gifts through Spirit-filled believers. Don't twist the Word, as many Christians do, and say, “Well, now God administers these gifts through pagans.” No. Not so. Although God can give you many gifts through pagans, and although the Holy Spirit does not have to go through a man, these particular gifts He's talking about only come through Spirit-filled believers. None of these gifts can be bought. If you have to buy it, or pay for something that you call “God's salvation,” it's not grace and faith. Grace and faith cause you to be weak; it causes you to cease from your trusting in Egypt and in the ways of the world. God's gift is free. You can't pay for it, you can't earn it, you can't be good enough for it. It comes by faith. Faith is believing you have received. When you believe you have received, it causes you to stop seeking it. Stop and think about it. If you believe you have received healing, are you going to keep running after it? No, because faith always cuts off the works and the methods of men. When you believe you have received, you can rest; you can cease from your works; you can enter into rest. Everything can come from God that way. Everything will come from God that way. It's the most perfect way to receive from God. You say, “Well, doesn't God keep Egypt going?” Sure He does, but God wants Egypt for the Egyptians. God has planned the wilderness for Christians. Does God give strength to Egypt to keep running? Of course. (Act.17:28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being…. He gives you your very breath. The world gets its breath from God, but the world is not God's method for Christians.  God's method for Christians is receiving every salvation that comes from Christ through grace and faith. That's His method. It is offensive to God to think that you would want to buy from Him any gift that He has already given to you. He has chosen it to be a gift. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God. Note the word translated “saved” here is the word sozo. “For by grace have ye been saved,” Sozo. That word is used over and over in the Scriptures. If we can find the places where this word is used, then every place this word is used, it should come by grace through faith. That means not of your works. A free gift of God; exercising faith in God. That's what pure faith is. That is what God's faith in man is. The other is not real faith and fails us. I want to give you an example of what salvation encompasses, one probably every Christian would agree on. This was the sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and Jesus pronounced her forgiven of sins. (Luk.7:47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little. (48) And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (49) And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins? (50) And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Now I believe everybody who is a Christian would agree with me that forgiveness of sins is salvation, and it comes by grace through faith. As we look at some of the other places where the same word, sozo, is used, you may question whether that salvation still comes by grace through faith, but I can assure you, any kind of salvation that comes from God is a free gift that comes by grace through faith. Wherever this word is used, it fits into Ephesians 2:8. Everywhere it fits in there, no matter what we identify as being this salvation. I once asked a Greek man, who spoke Greek as his native language, “What does the word soteria mean to you?” Soteria is the noun of sozo in the Greek and is the word in the Scriptures for “salvation.” He said, “Well, it means to us Greeks, ‘all of your needs supplied like a little baby; all of your needs supplied.'” See, we have such a very narrow idea of what salvation is. Most of the churches that we've been raised in have taught us that salvation is only getting to go to Heaven when this life is over. But when we look at that word and identify it in the Scriptures, we find out it's very big, very broad, and that every bit of it is incorporated in these promises concerning being saved. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith…. This woman, to whom Jesus said, “thy faith hath saved thee,” was saved by grace through faith. This was where her sozo came from. All her needs were supplied like a little baby. A little baby needs all his needs supplied. We have to come to Jesus as a child, in need of our needs being supplied. Adults are used to going out and supplying their own needs; they're used to taking care of themselves, but God desires this sozo kind of relationship with us. He desires that we would keep the sabbath, cease from our works, and enter into the rest through faith in the promises of God, as the Bible says. (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, that's a broad promise, but salvation is very big.  Let me give you another example of this word, sozo, and let's see if “by grace have you been saved through faith” still applies. This is the story of the 10 lepers. Remember the one leper who returned and gave glory to God (Luke 17:15)? Here's what Jesus told him: (Luk.17:19) And he said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. And the word for “made thee whole” here is the word sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” What the leper received from God can only be obtained in the wilderness, not in Egypt. Sometimes there is a salvation in Egypt, but just like the mark of the beast, there are two marks. There is a mark of the beast, and there is the mark of God. Exodus 13:16, speaks about the mark of God on the forehead and on the back of the hand, and the mark of God was to have the Word of God. The Israelites would write the Word of God, put them in these little boxes, and then they'd tie them right across their forehead and put them on the back of their hand (Deuteronomy 11:18). But, guess what? The corresponding verse in Revelation 13:16 talks about the mark of the beast. So, if it's the Word of God being manifested in your mind and in your works, that's the mark of God. In contrast, the mark of the beast can be the word of the flesh, the word of the devil, the word of the world, the thinking of the world being manifest, the mind of flesh being manifested in your mind and in your works. That might be just a spiritual revelation of it, but accept it because it's still Scriptural.  See, if we walk after our own thinking and after our own works, it's because we're trusting in our own ability. We're not walking by faith in Jesus, and your mind is not being renewed by the Word of God. You walk as a beast. I don't care if you walk in church; you still walk as a beast if you walk after the mind of the flesh and if your salvation comes from the world. So we have the image of the beast being manifested in the world, while the image of Christ is being manifested in the Church. Christ's Body is made up of people, each of whom has been given gifts to serve the rest of the Body. Do you know the world is made up the same way? Jesus said there are only two men in the earth (Matthew 24:40) – there's Christ and there's antichrist. The world works the same way. The only difference is that the saviors who make up the image of the beast want to save you from Christ's salvation, and Christ wants to save you from their salvation. His salvation is free. Theirs is not free; theirs is very costly. The Lord has a better way. He showed it to us in the Gospels. What Jesus gave in His provision was free; it didn't come through the works of man, the ability of man, or man's money. When you have to pay for it, believe me, that's not salvation by grace through faith. This leper found that out. What did he have to pay for this sozo? He received a sozo that came by grace through faith. You know, a third example can be found in the story of the blind man. (Luk.18:38) And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. (40) And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, (41) What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. (42) And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. Sozo, “saved.” “Thy faith hath saved thee.” That's what He's talking about that saves you. Salvation covers healing, and it's always covered healing, even in the Old Testament. The word right here is sozo. It's “saved.” The leper was “saved” of his leprosy. The blind man was “saved” of his blindness. See, they've translated the same word different ways. They've translated it “saved”; they've translated it “made whole,” but the original word is still only one word; it's the same word. I have the three most ancient manuscripts, and it's the word sozo. Sozo is the word in the Scriptures for “saved.” Everywhere Scripture uses the word “saved” in talking about our eternal salvation, it's the word sozo. We see now it's also used for healing, which tells us that healing is involved. Remember, Jesus came to deliver us from the curse of sin and of death (Romans 8:2). Sin brought death. What was incorporated in death? Sickness, disease, everything else was incorporated in death.  Our salvation is double; it's dual. It saves us not only from sin, but it saves us from the penalty for sin. What is the penalty for sin? The curse. In Deuteronomy 28, God expounded the penalty for sin and He gave us the curse there. When you go back and read it, you'll find out that the curse covers not only sickness, but everything detrimental that ever happened to man because of his sin. Everything that came against man from the beginning because of his sin is a part of the curse. And you know what? Jesus became accursed for us that we might have Abraham's blessings. He became a curse on that cross. Everybody who's put on a cross is accursed (Galatians 3:13). What Jesus bore was not only the sin; it was the curse for that sin. Why would God say, “I'm going to take away your sin,” but not take away the curse? So now we see this word, sozo covers all of that. It covers not only the sin, but also the curse. We've just looked at three people who were delivered of the curse of sin, and they were delivered of it because it was by grace through faith. Let me give you yet another example to show you the difference between God's salvation and the world's salvation. Let's not change the Scriptures. What we see in Jesus is still the truth. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is our Salvation. What He did, was to prove to us what He wanted to do. What He did in the Gospels, He does today to everybody who believes. The Gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). What's the Gospel? It's the Good News. It's the promises of God. And it doesn't matter if you're a “Christian.” What matters is: are you a believer? Do you believe what the Gospel says? There are Christians who are unbelieving Christians because they only believe what they want to believe. We have to believe in the Jesus of the Bible and that He really is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus still heals everybody who comes to Him. Let's not make up another Jesus. Paul talked about those who would come to you with another Jesus. No, we don't need another Jesus. We need this Jesus. The problem is not with God. People blame the problem on God. The problem is not with God because God has already healed you. It's not a matter of God deciding whom He's going to heal and whom He's not going to heal. That's not what the Bible says.  The Bible says that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). This is your decision to make. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation (soteria) to every one that believeth…. Look, the condition is on you believing. The condition is not whether God wants to heal you. The Bible says all of the promises of God are “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Don't believe the people who say, “Sometimes it's ‘no.'” No, all the promises of God are “yes,” and through him is the Amen (2Co.1:20). That means “the so be it.” That means it will come to pass through Him. What we have to do is renew our mind and get back to the real Jesus. The real Jesus of salvation covers your body and your circumstances. Now let's look at this example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians…. You know what? She was trying to buy salvation here. She was trying to buy sozo. The word “saved” is used in this text. She was trying to buy it. This is not God's method for you to receive it. God's method for you to receive this comes the same way as it did in the Scriptures: through the laying on of hands (Mark 16:18) and the confession of faith (Romans 10:10). That's His method. You know why? Because it excludes all of man's glorying in it. Nobody but God can take credit when you do it God's way. (Jas.5:14) Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: (15) and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up … This doesn't say it “would” or it “might”; this says it “shall” raise them up. The Bible says if any two of you agree as touching anything, it shall be done (Matthew 18:19), and I consider that to mean the person being prayed for and the person doing the praying. That's two, right?  Let's continue with our example. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any. Some of you have been there. I've been there, too, only to find out that God gave it freely when I gave up. God gave it freely. Look at this same story in Mark. (Mar.5:25) And a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, (26) and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse … I just wanted to point that out to you: she spent all that she had. She came to the end of herself. I've been there. You don't have to try everything but God. You can start out with God. God is faithful. He is faithful Who promised (Hebrews 10:23). He will not fail you. There is no “maybe.” You can't exercise faith if you think, “Maybe God will, maybe He won't.” The Bible doesn't say “maybe” He will, “maybe” He won't. It says He's already done it. When this woman was healed, it didn't have anything to do with Jesus' faith because she came up and touched Him, but Jesus didn't know it until after it was all over. I do want to make a point here, though. This salvation she had been looking for was not sozo because it was not grace through faith. It was not. Why? Because if it's grace, it's no more works. If it's a gift of God, you can't pay for it. And if it's faith, it's past tense. She was looking for it in the future. She sought to receive it. But if it's faith, she was looking the wrong way, just like this lady I told you about who had those two tumors. I told her, “Turn around and look the other way; you're looking the wrong way.” That's when God gave this to me, this thought of “You're looking the wrong way. Turn around and look at the cross.” When the serpent on the pole was raised up in the wilderness, everybody who got their eyes on that serpent on the pole was healed (Numbers 21:9). You had to get your eyes off the snakebite and on the serpent on the pole to be healed. I told her, “Turn around and look at the cross. That's where your healing happened. You're looking in the future.” Tomorrow never comes. Faith never works that way. Faith believes that you have received (Mark 11:24). Faith turns around and looks back at the cross because the Bible says, by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). Your healing is certain. It was accomplished at the cross. Reconciliation was accomplished (Colossians 1:20). What is that? Exchange. At the cross, Jesus gave you His healthy body and He took your old, unhealthy one. He gave you His clean, pure soul, and He took your old, unclean one. He gave you His righteousness and His blessings, and He took away your unrighteousness and your cursings. The exchange was made. This is how faith works. (2Co.5:17) Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. Now our old things have become new. What are we? New creations. New creatures in Christ. This is how faith works. Faith sees the end from the beginning; faith accepts it, grasps it; and faith holds on to it. That's why this particular method is God's method. You ask, “Can God do it?” Sure. God keeps all the Egyptians alive until they come to know Jesus. Do you understand that when we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we still need “Egyptology” to come out of us? Yes! When we come out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, we need to be delivered of Egypt. I'm not talking Law here; I'm talking about a privilege. It is our privilege to accept our salvation in Jesus Christ as an accomplished fact and what I'm telling you is just how big the salvation is. (Luk.8:43) And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any, (44) came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the issue of her blood stanched. (45) And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Master, the multitudes press thee and crush [thee]. (46) But Jesus said, Some one did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me. By the way, I know the King James says “virtue” here, but the word is “power”; it's dunamis. In fact, the King James does translate it “power” in other places in the Bible, like in Luke 10:19. The word “power” there is the word dunamis. So it was power that came out of Jesus, but if it was power that came out of Jesus, it didn't have anything to do with His faith. In this particular case, all that was necessary was for this woman to touch Him by faith. It wasn't a matter of Jesus making up His mind whether to heal this woman or not.  Jesus never turned anybody away anyway and He's not going to tell you “no.” In fact, if there's a “no,” the “no” is going to be in you; it's not going to be in Him. Our problem is we listen to the devil; we listen to the flesh. We don't listen to the Bible. Confess your sins and believe. That's all you have to do. Now, if you have willful disobedience in your life, it will come between you and healing because you won't have faith toward God. The Bible says, “if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God” (1Jn.3:21). That's why you have to confess your sins to get them out of your way. But Jesus always said, “Yes.” Do you think that there were some of those people who came to Jesus who needed something worked out in their lives? I guarantee you that all of those people who came to Jesus had something that needed working out in their lives, but that didn't stop Jesus from healing. You know what did stop Jesus from healing some? When He went to His own hometown, their unbelief stopped Him. He could not. It doesn't say He would not. (Mat.13:58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Now, we need to have the faith of God in us. This salvation has been accomplished. It's not a matter of you asking Him to accomplish it; “it is finished” (Joh.19:30). I have overcome the world (16:33). This is not a matter of Jesus doing something in the future. Ask Him, “Will You do it?” He'll tell you just what the Bible says. “I did it.” He won't say, “I will do it.” He never says that. The Bible doesn't say that. He's always going to agree with the Word. He won't tell you something contrary to the Word. I knew a man one time who was asking God to heal his wife of cancer, and God told him, “She's healed.” You know what? His wife died. He was sure God told him that she was healed, and he was angry with God. I said, “Bud, God told you exactly what the Bible says. He's not going to disagree with His Word. The problem is, do you agree with His Word? He's going to tell you to believe the Bible every time. He's going to tell you, ‘You are healed.' By his stripes you were healed. What else is He going to say? Are you going to ask Him to tell you something besides what the Bible says? He's only going to tell you what the Bible says.” I know calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17) appears like a lie to the world, but it's not a lie because you're in agreement with the Scriptures. You agree with God Almighty, the One Who does not dwell in time, and what He says goes. (Rom.3:4) … Let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. Now, when you come under the judgment of the curse, what you need is justification. Justification is God calling you righteous. And He calls you righteous when you come under the curse, if you agree with the Bible concerning what Jesus did about the curse. Can you agree with the Bible about what Jesus did for you? He became accursed for you so that you could have the blessings of Abraham. (Isa.53:5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Do you agree with the Bible? See, if you're not agreeing with the Bible, you're going to consider, “Well, I need this.” Or “I'll have to handle it. The crucifixion of Jesus was not enough, I'll have to handle a little bit of it myself.” The worldly teachers will convince you of that, and you will be a double-minded person because you are not agreeing with God's Word. Jesus only preached to those people who had eyes to see and ears to hear (Matthew 13:9-11). He wasn't talking about the physical eyes and ears; they all had them. He meant spiritual eyes and ears. (2Pe.1:3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…. Do you see that? Do you see with your spiritual eyes that God has already given you everything that pertains unto life? It's not a matter of Him accomplishing it. He did that almost 2000 years ago. Now the problem is, are you going to agree with Him? Two can't walk together except they be agreed (Amos 3:3). You can't walk with Jesus except to the extent you agree with Him. Now, how are you going to agree with Him? I told Bud, “The Lord told you what the Bible says. The problem is you didn't believe in it. You were waiting to see something first. That is not the way faith works. Faith accepts it as a fact before seeing it. If you walk by faith, you'll see it, but if you walk by sight, you'll never see it because that's not the way it works. That's not faith. Faith is looking back at the cross.” So, Bud was angry at God because God didn't do what He said He was going to do. But it wasn't God's fault. See, we enter into the Covenant. The Bible says that the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom.1:16). Listen, the power of God has already accomplished everything. What He's done is already accomplished. Your part is to enter into that Covenant by your faith. That's what brings it to pass. God's part is sure; it is finished, and it is final. Now we enter into our part of it by faith. That's our part of keeping the Covenant. When the disciples asked Jesus, “what must we do, that we may work the works of God?” (Joh.6:28), He said just one thing: “believe on him whom he hath sent” (29). All we have to do to do the works of God, whatever they are, is “believe on him whom he hath sent.” Does everybody have to die under the curse? Does everybody have to leave this life under the curse? The world has taken for granted that you're going to die of something. Do you have to die under the curse, or can you keep believing all the way up to the end, until you leave this life? Has everybody died of the curse? No, they did not. In fact, I have some books describing people who died on their deathbeds, and there was absolutely no pain in their bodies, and they couldn't find anything wrong with them; they just went to be with the Lord. This is not to condemn the ones who do die, but we have to get our sight and our vision on Jesus. You can't go somewhere that you can't see, you know. The Bible says, if you can see Jesus in the mirror, you can go there. Of course, everybody's not going to go there to the same extent. Look, one person received one talent, another two and another five (Matthew 25:14-30). Everybody doesn't get the same gift. Everybody doesn't manifest the same fruit, do they? There's 30-, 60- and 100-fold fruit (Matthew 13:8,23). Do you want to enter into only what you see other people entering into, or do you want to enter into everything that God has for you? That's the point. We're supposed to be looking at Jesus, not looking at our neighbor. Get your eyes on Jesus. He'll show you what you can enter into. God is going to do a special thing in these days. Did you know that He's going to do something He's never done before? The Bible says He's coming “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day” (2Th.1:10). Oh, glory to God! The apostle Paul said there was a day in the future when his words would finally be believed and that Jesus would be glorified in those people in that day because they did believe that word.  You know, God gives grace for us to enter into believing just as much as we can believe. God gives grace for us to reach out to places people have never reached out to. In this day there is more grace to believe more than there's ever been. Do you understand what that verse says? He said, “in that day.” Paul was saying that they weren't believing it in his day, but that's what we're seeking right now. We don't want to stop with what religion has accepted; we want to go on and get everything God has given us. (Eph.2:8) By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. That's one work. Now, here's another work: (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…. The first is talking about your work, the work of the flesh, the efforts of man, the efforts of self, the buying of God's gift, all those things. The second is talking about God's work. So let's just use healing again as a “for instance” because we're talking about it already. Do you know what? When you have faith that Jesus healed you, which is the only one that's a Scriptural faith, that faith is going to be walked out by your feet; it's going to come out of your mouth; it's going to be seen in your actions. That is a work that comes from faith. You know what the other work is? It's a work that comes before faith. Works of the flesh come before faith; works of God come after faith. When you believe, you're able to walk just like you received, and do you know what happens when you do that? You do what the 10 lepers did. Jesus said to them, “go and show yourselves unto the priests” (Luk.17:14). Well, they understood that because in the Law of Moses, when a person was healed of leprosy, he went to show himself to the priests. Then the priest inspected the person and took his turtle dove and gave his offering. But these lepers went to show themselves to the priests before their healing was manifested. Their walk was a walk of faith. But the way of the world would stand right there and say, “Well, I'm not healed.” Those lepers would look at themselves and say, “Well, I'm not healed yet. It's not the time to go show myself to the priest.” That's a carnal walk. That's walking by sight and not walking by faith. So there is a work that follows faith. Faith without works is dead. If you believe that you're healed, let me hear it come out of your mouth and let me see it in your feet. And if you believe that Jesus delivered you from sin, let's see that come out of your mouth and see it in your feet. Do you understand? When you believe something, your actions have to agree with that belief. Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself (Jas.2:17), or it's incomplete. It's not real faith until it's put into works that agree with what the Bible says. But the world says, “I can see you're not healed,” but your feet keep on saying, “I'm healed. Look at me walk,” because your works are going to agree with faith. So if you're just healed by faith, you know you're not healed by manifestation. As long as you're healed by faith, you're believing for something that you don't yet see. That's the way faith works. And if you don't do it there, you'll never see it by manifestation. We have to repent of our worldly thinking. We have to repent of our Babylonish doctrine that's been given to us. We must change our minds, and we say, “God, You're right.” You have to say that before you can enter into it. (Rom.3:4) Let God be found true, but every man a liar…. Justification comes from agreeing with God. Agree with God; even if you're failing, agree with God. God's not going to condemn anyone. You don't condemn your child if your child is a toddler and stumbles and falls. There's no way you would condemn that child because that's the way they learn to walk. That's the way children are. They don't always get it right the first time. Now, as they get older and they're stumbling, you start asking what's wrong with them. So when we start out on a faith walk, we stumble and fall, but we get up. If you don't get up, you're not overcoming. You get up, you walk a little farther, you stumble, you walk a little farther. Every time you get up, you're walking farther, and you keep going. But if you decide, “I'm just going to sit right here because it's too dangerous to stand up,” then you're going to be an unprofitable servant (Matthew 25:30) because you've been given knowledge and you're doing nothing with it. Remember, it's God's faith inside of you; it's not your faith in Him. You'll fail as long as it's just your faith in Him. It's God's faith inside of you. Remember that God has given you His faith. Accept it as a gift. Reconciliation has given you this gift. Unbelief was taken away from you at the cross. Did you know that? All your sins were put on that cross, including the one that's at the foundation of every sin – unbelief. But that's at the cross, and you've been delivered. The Bible says, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin” (Rom.6:11). That means to reckon your old unbelieving self to be dead and gone. “I'm delivered from unbelief.” Do you understand? That's not a confession of faith in yourself; that's a confession of faith in God. We are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have been made free from sin (Romans 6:22). You're free from unbelief. Believe and accept it.  Don't get anxious when you fail God because of your unbelief, and don't let anybody put a guilt trip on you. Don't let anybody put you under the Law to do what they expect. Don't be moved by peer pressure because somebody else has faith. Don't look at any of that. Get your eyes on Jesus. He will give you the faith that you need to do these things. It's His free gift to you. You don't have to be anxious or try to work it up yourself. You can't pick yourself up off the floor by your bootstraps. It's just not possible. It has to come from the outside in. It's nothing that you can do from the inside out. So don't be condemned if you're not able to do everything that you see Jesus do or that you see others do. Don't worry about it. It's God Who started the good work in you, and it's He Who's going to finish it (Philippians 1:6). The people who put others under legalism cause a lot of people hurt. This is wrong. And I'll tell you what, they ultimately get hurt, too, because what you sow, you reap (Galatians 6:7) and you can't sow that legalistic thing without it coming back on you. You can't judge others without being judged (Romans 14:4). I'm just offering you the knowledge. I'm trying to put the picture of Jesus there in front of you. Look at Jesus and you'll be transformed into that image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Don't look at any religion or put another Jesus up there because, believe me, you can be transformed into any Jesus. Religions do it all the time. The only Jesus we want to reflect is the One the Father sent. Look in your Bible. The only way you'll see the true Jesus is to look in this Book. Look at Him. This is Jesus. He's the same. He hasn't changed. Men try to change Him; they have made a comfortable Jesus. One that the flesh could be comfortable with, a Jesus that wouldn't bring you through any kind of a trial of your faith. It's easy to have the Jesus that religion has. Let's look at the Jesus in the Bible. I tell you the reason we're not seeing the works of Jesus on this earth; it's because they've made another Jesus and they're being transformed into that image from glory to glory. That's the problem. Let's get back to the Word and believe it. Jesus sent His disciples out to do the same things He did. How can you do the same things He did unless you agree with Him? So now let's read the rest of the story from where Jesus perceived that power, sozo, went forth from Him. I really want to get beyond healings being included in salvation because I believe a lot of people already understand that, and I want to show you how broad salvation is. And it's all going to come by grace through faith. All of it. The rest of it, let me tell you, is man's works. (Luk.8:47) And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately. (48) And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath (my Bible says “made thee whole,” but the word there is sozo) saved thee; go in peace. He saved her. This is a part of salvation. She was saved. Remember, she sought the physicians.  The Bible clearly shows you the difference between seeking deliverance from the physicians and seeking it from Jesus. (2Ch.16:12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers…. The Scripture makes a difference between seeking the salvation that normally comes from the world and the salvation that comes from God. Now, did you know that those Jews received their healing from God for many, many years. They started being drawn away from that when Solomon brought in all of his pagan wives, who brought the physicians into Israel. Up until that time, they got their healing from God. And when they went to Babylon, they started falling into many of the things of the world that weren't Scriptural. And the word in Scripture for “healing by the use of medicine” is the word pharmakia – just what we use today. Pharmakia is the word for “sorcery” or “witchcraft,” depending on which Bible you have, and is where we get our word “pharmacy.” Jesus has a better way, and it won't cost you anything, and believe me, you'll get out of so much trouble. If you live a life of the carnal Christian, by the end of your life you will have spent a lot of money on Egypt. But I tell you, God will get you out of that; it's His free gift. Don't say, “I have to do this.” No, it is a privilege. God gives you a privilege. You don't earn it; He's given it to you freely. This is His sozo. This is a part of His deliverance.  Years ago, way back at the beginning of our Christian walk, my wife, Mary, and I were riding motorcycles up in Mississippi. And this was a real hilly area. We were on two dirt bikes, and this was new territory to us, so it was kind of crazy what we did. We were each on a bike and we came over this hill, and she turned one way, and I turned another way. Well, on her side it was almost a cliff. It just went nearly straight down. And I heard her screaming all the way to the bottom of that hill, “MOMMAAA!” And she was mashing the foot peg as hard as she could, but I don't think she ever mashed on the brake because I never saw the wheels skid or anything. I mean, she was flying when she hit the bottom of that hill. It was painful for me to watch. I saw her bounce off a few trees, and I went down in there and scraped her off those trees and put her on the back of my bike. And then I took her out of there and got her to a hospital. This was during the same time that Mary was taking some medicine to try to clear up an infection, so the doctors were talking about operating on her kidneys. But a friend of ours told us about the promises in the Scriptures about healing, and we went to this church that believed in healing. So she went down in front of the church, and they prayed over her. Well, nothing physical happened. We went home, and it was probably a week or two later when she was meditating and thinking on it all, and the Lord spoke to her. And you know what He said? He said, “If you believe that I have healed you, why are you taking all that medicine?” Because the Bible says, ‘He has healed you'. And you know what? When Mary ran into the bathroom and started pouring her medicine down the commode because of that voice of the Lord, she was instantly healed. And not only was she healed of the kidney problem from hitting the tree, but she was healed from a natural kidney deficiency that she'd had since she was a little girl. She was healed of always having infections. God did a miracle. He did it freely. The doctors were going to charge us an awful lot to do that, but God did it for free.  God will ask you the same thing one day. He says, “If you believe that I have healed you …” God expects us to believe, not because of what we see or feel, but because He expects us to believe what the Scripture says. We need no other grounds. Peter stepped out of the boat because of what Jesus said. “Bid me to come unto you, Lord” (Matthew 14:28). And when Jesus said, “Come,” that's all Peter needed to step out (Matthew 14:29). All Peter needed was the Word of God, and he stepped out on that Word and the water held him up.  If you're walking by sight, you'll never be able to walk where we're talking about walking because you're calling the things that are as though they are, instead of calling the things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). God chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:28). Think about it again now. God chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. How does He do that? What are the things that are not? The promise. “By His stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24), when you look at yourselves and say, “Well, I don't see myself healed. I still feel sick. I still look sick.” See, the things that are not, are these promises that are not manifested yet. So how do you translate that into this present physical time? It's very simple. We do it the way the Bible tells us to: by calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). Please understand. If God chose the things that “are not” to bring to nothing the things “that are,” then He did not choose the things “that are” to bring to nothing the things “that are.” Did you get that? Read it again. He chose the things that “are not” to do away with the things “that are.” What are the things “that are”? The curse. What are the things that “are not”? The promise. Don't say, “God chose this method” or “He chose that method,” when you're talking about the things that are, because the Bible says He chose the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. That's the promise. When you don't see the promise, and you say, “Well, now God chooses doctors or lawyers or bankers or going in debt,” etc., if you say that God uses or chooses the things “that are” to bring about the promise, you're contrary to the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, the men of God used faith to bring to pass everything.  Do you understand what I'm saying? The world will tell you, because it's very convenient or comfortable for them, they'll say, “Well, now God uses this method, now God uses that...” No, He doesn't use “now methods”. That's not Scriptural. He uses the things that are not. He still uses the things that are not. Jesus doesn't have to heal you because He already healed you. You can prove it for yourself. Find one place in the Scripture, find just one place, where anybody who ministered healing to anybody else stopped and prayed and asked God to heal somebody. Find it. They didn't do it, and do you know why? Because it was already an accomplished fact. You know what they did? “Be healed in the Name of Jesus.” They laid hands and they commanded them to be healed. They commanded healing in the authority of God. “As the Father sent me, so send I you,” Jesus said (John 20:21). So we do the same thing Jesus did: We command healing in the name of Jesus. The reason we can do that is that there shouldn't be any question in our mind that it's already an accomplished fact. None of the disciples in the Book of Acts ever stopped and prayed, “Lord, will You heal this person?”  Now God gave us conditions. He said, for instance, it's “the children's bread” (Matthew 15:26). That's for us. He called deliverance from demons and healing the children's bread. It's ours. Is God ever going to deny the children their bread? No. May they go hungry? They might go hungry but it won't be because He's denying them their bread. That woman who was not one of the children, she said, “Well, even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table” (Matthew 15:27). She exercised faith. She proved herself to be a believer. I'm not saying that God can't do more than what it says in the Scripture. He won't do less, but I'm not saying He can't do more.  When Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Melita (Acts 28:1), it didn't say anybody there believed him, but he prayed for the sick, and God healed them (Acts 28:8,9). He prayed for a bunch of pagans, and you have to get God's permission to do that because Jesus said it's not right to cast the children's bread to the dogs. You have to get God's permission to do that. He might give it to you. He might do it as a witness. He may do it as an evangelistic tool. He may do it for those reasons, but He doesn't have to because you can't hold Him to any Scripture for that. The Bible says it's the children's bread. You may question, “What about the mercy ships and the mercy planes that have doctors and nurses specialized in a lot of the surgeries they do for cleft palates and so on?” Well, is it using the things that are or using the things that are not? I'm sure not going to condemn them, but let's get our eyes just on Jesus and look at His perfect way and His perfect Will. Did you ever see Jesus doing that? No. Did you ever see any of His disciples doing that? No. Wasn't Luke a physician? Maybe. Did you ever see him practicing that? No. Not after he came to Christ; you don't see him practicing that. So we don't have an example; we don't have a foundation to do it that way. I'm not condemning them; I'm not going to come against them. I'm just trying to get back to the Scriptures. I'm just trying to get back to God's method, God's way. You can make a mistake trusting in man and it can be dangerous because man can surely fail you. But it's never dangerous to trust in God. He never fails. He's never failed to heal me in almost 57 years, and I've gotten in some places where I needed healing. I've had broken bones; I've had cancer and He's healed me every time. God has never failed me. It didn't matter if it was a cold or a hangnail. It doesn't make any difference. You see, it doesn't matter how big it is. Jesus knew that He had the authority of the Father to come against all the works of the devil and destroy them. And that's the very same authority He gave us.

Matthew 18:21-35; Reconciliation; Forgiveness; Mother Emanual AME

Pastor Al Dagel tells us that when an ancient world-class king realized his power was nothing compared to the God of Daniel, that king acknowledged the True King of the universe!  Do you know this King?

In this episode of The Kubik Report, I present a message originally delivered in Cincinnati on September 28, 2020, examining the deeper meaning of the Day of Atonement and its powerful message of reconciliation. The biblical Holy Days reveal God's plan in a remarkable progression. Passover begins with the individual and Christ's sacrifice for sin. The Day of Atonement expands that picture from personal forgiveness to the restoration of relationships—with God and with one another. I explore the important difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness can begin with one person, but reconciliation requires both parties to participate in repairing a broken relationship. Restoring trust may require time, patience, humility, and repeated positive actions. This work of reconciliation, I explain, provides a glimpse into the enormous work that will be necessary in the coming Kingdom of God as Christ brings healing to a fractured world. The episode also examines Jesus Christ's role as High Priest. A prophet carries God's message to humanity; a priest represents human needs before God. Because Christ experienced human life and understands our weaknesses, Christians can approach God with confidence, knowing they have a compassionate High Priest. I also reflect on fasting and repentance. Biblical fasting is not merely going without food or attempting to persuade God to grant our requests. Drawing from Isaiah 58, I emphasize that genuine fasting should change us—loosening the bonds of wickedness and making us more compassionate, generous, and willing to serve others. Finally, I consider the need for both personal and national repentance, reflecting on my attendance at The Return gathering in Washington, D.C., in 2020. The Day of Atonement ultimately points beyond forgiveness to something greater: reconciliation, restored relationships, and humanity becoming at one with God.

This Psalm overflows with God's grace.  How fitting that Pastor Al Dagel would share this Psalm of Grace with us today!

Many survivors of childhood abuse and betrayal are told to “forgive and move on,” yet they're given no real guidance on how to heal, reconcile, or deal with the deep and lasting pain. Today's guest, Pastor Margaret Mearns-Bass, author of “Broken: The Healing Power of Forgiveness After Abuse and Betrayal,” shares her remarkable story of surviving 14 years of sexual abuse by her father, navigating infidelity in her marriage, and finding genuine healing and freedom through God's grace. In this episode, Margaret explains the critical difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, and why that distinction matters for anyone recovering from deep wounds. She describes how you can choose to forgive on your own, but true reconciliation requires repentance, accountability, and a willing heart on both sides. Through her own journey with her father and her husband, she shows why “cheap apologies” and vague statements like “I'm sorry for everything” often prevent real healing instead of promoting it. Margaret also dives into the physical impact of emotional trauma, sharing her experience with atrial fibrillation and what her doctor recognized as broken heart syndrome. She connects emotional wounds, silence, and shame to real health consequences, and encourages listeners to see a broken heart as something serious and valid, not “being dramatic.” From a biblical perspective, she challenges how many churches only teach half the message: urging people to forgive, but rarely teaching believers how to seek forgiveness, repent, and restore relationships. You'll hear how Margaret found freedom by telling the truth, writing an honest letter to her deceased father, describing what her broken heart really looked like, and refusing to carry someone else's shame any longer. She offers practical steps listeners can take, such as writing a letter of forgiveness (even if the person has passed away or is unreachable) and putting into words the shape of their broken heart as a path toward clarity and release. https://youtu.be/j_J_sIhSpv4?si=ZQqXMpgmJj1kXtbO This conversation is filled with comfort, conviction, and hope for anyone who has asked: Where was God when this happened? Why am I still hurting? Is reconciliation even possible after such deep betrayal? Margaret's story shows that while you can't outrun your past, God can redeem it and use it to help others whether through your story, your calling, or simply your willingness to speak the truth. If you or someone you love is dealing with the aftermath of abuse, infidelity, or lifelong emotional pain, this episode will help you better understand biblical forgiveness, recognize the power of truth, and take your next step toward healing. To learn more about Margaret, access her resources, and find her book, visit MaggiesHiddenManna.com. Quotes: "God wants to heal the people who are broken, but He can't heal them if they shy away from His presence." "You can't run away from your past because it's part of you; but God can take that and make something good from it." "We're no longer teaching biblical forgiveness, which also includes seeking forgiveness. The church is only teaching half the gospel." Contact Details: Discover Hope, Healing, and Purpose at Maggie's Hidden Manna: Visit the Website Today Visit Margaret Mearns Bass's Website Today and Start Deepening your Walk with God Follow Pastor Maggie Bass for Faith-Filled Encouragement Broken: Forgiveness and the Journey to Reconciliation on Amazon Broken: The Healing Power of Forgiveness After Abuse and Betrayal on Amazon

In the 40th chapter of the Book of Proverbs, Pastor Al Dagel found the writings of a humble, not stupid, man. Please listen humbly today!

Misty looks her daughter in the eye and says the words she's owed her for years: I'm sorry. A real apology — not a lesson, not polished. For a wound she didn't know was there. ❤️‍

What happens when we stop treating relationships like a scoreboard?In Episode 5 of Let's Talk!, Dawson sits down with Pastor Dale and Discipleship Pastor Brian Krum to continue the conversation from Matthew 5:7:“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”They explore why keeping score comes so naturally, how envy and comparison shape the way we see other people, and why mercy becomes much harder when someone has actually hurt us.The conversation also looks at the mercy of Jesus, the cry of Bartimaeus, resentment, forgiveness, trust, consequences, and healthy boundaries.Mercy does not mean pretending nothing happened. Forgiveness and trust are not the same thing, and reconciliation requires both people.One of the clearest takeaways from the episode:Forgiveness is a one-person job. Reconciliation is a two-person job.If you are carrying a grudge, keeping a record of wrongs, or struggling to show mercy to someone who has disappointed or hurt you, this conversation offers a practical path forward.Scripture: Matthew 5:7Series: Blessed?CONTINUE THE CONVERSATIONUse these questions with your small group, family, friends, or for personal reflection:- Where are you most tempted to keep score in your relationships, your work, social media, or somewhere else? How is that affecting you?- Pastor Dale asked, “What have I hired this grudge to do?” Is there a resentment you are holding onto? What has it promised to accomplish, and what has it actually produced?- How does remembering the mercy you have received from Jesus change the way you view someone who has hurt or disappointed you?- Is there someone you have started defining by your worst experience with them? What would it look like to see that person through a lens of mercy and compassion?- The episode reminds us that forgiveness is a one-person job, while reconciliation is a two-person job. Is God inviting you to forgive someone, rebuild trust, establish a healthy boundary, or take a step toward reconciliation?Take a moment to pray: Ask God to remind you of His mercy, reveal any resentment you are carrying, and show you one practical way to extend mercy this week.

Reconciliation with your estranged adult child is the goal. That's pretty universal with estranged mothers. But how you get there is another subject. The mainstream world has its rules for reconciliation, and for those of us who are Christians, it can feel like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole.  . In this episode of The Estranged Mom Coach™, I'll tell you about 3 mainstream reconciliation rules I break. And I've been reconciled with my daughter for years at the time of this episode.  These are some rules I break… and I hope you will too. Warm up your tea, and let's talk about it.  . Next Steps: 1) Apply for your FREE consultation to talk to Jenny 1:1. Find out the exact path forward to feeling better and greatly increasing your chances of getting your son or daughter back in your life. And learn how estrangement coaching can get you there: https://www.theestrangedmomcoach.com/schedule     ⬇️ 2) Access your audio meditation to help you cast your anxieties and worries about estrangement at the feet of Jesus: https://www.theestrangedmomcoach.com/meditation   ⬇️ 3) Join the free Facebook support community for Christian estranged mothers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/christianestrangedmothers    ⬇️ 4) Download Your Free Guide Of What To Do When Your Adult Child Estranges: https://www.theestrangedmomcoach.com/child-estrangement-next-steps  . Client Reviews… ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Jenny's teachings have produced results reconnecting me with my estranged daughter… I cannot express enough gratitude for the incredible support and guidance received in the most tragic time of my life from coach Jenny Good. Her faith, compassion, understanding, dedication and display of radical love has truly been life-changing for me. I was so overwhelmed with feelings of confusion, guilt, and sadness. I felt lost and didn't know how to navigate through the emotional turmoil I was experiencing. However, from the very first call, Jenny created a safe and non-judgmental space for me to share my details. Her ability to listen attentively and empathize while helping me understand a different way of thinking is truly remarkable. She understood my feelings and offered tools each session in ways I have not experienced even from therapy. I am forever thankful for the medicine she has poured into me to be the very best version of myself! This has rippled into all areas of life for me. Jenny's teachings have produced results reconnecting me with my estranged daughter! Thank you for being the vessel of unwavering faith & love that so many of us could benefit from, estranged or not. A true Godsend.  - Melinda Wyman . ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I am living a truly happy life, and I reconciled with all 3 of my sons! Having a coach and mentor who is rooted in Christ is very important. I've experienced so much inner healing with Jenny as my Coach. I am living a truly happy life, and I reconciled with all 3 of my sons! I feel empowered to continue stepping into my full power as a mother and to live a life where my children matter, but they don't determine my worth. I am me again. - Carol Adams

Did someone tell you to "just forgive them" after an individual, church, or a leader hurt you?You tried. You said the words. And the weight never left.Teasi Cannon, author of Counterfeit Forgiveness, taught, what she thought was, biblical forgiveness for years before she discovered the version most Christians learned is a therapeutic self-help model, not the forgiveness of scripture. In this episode of Shepherd's Heart she walks through how God actually forgives, why forgiveness in the Bible is tied to repentance and reconciliation, and how the counterfeit has quietly put the moral burden on victims of spiritual abuse while sheltering the people who hurt them. If you're in spiritual abuse recovery, dealing with church hurt, or trying to learn how to forgive someone who hurt you without pretending it didn't happen, this conversation is for you.GET TEASI'S BOOK:Counterfeit Forgiveness: https://amzn.to/3VeuJ1t HEALING COMMUNITY: Join: https://www.skool.com/shepherds-heart-ministries-6528/aboutWe cover the paperclip-and-strings model Teasi used to teach, the podcast that made her ask "what if I've been wrong all these years," what therapeutic forgiveness is and why sincere believers embrace it, whether Jesus forgave everyone from the cross, how to recognize real repentance, what to do when repentance never comes, and what you actually lose when you trade the counterfeit for the real thing.You are not disobeying God when you can't forgive someone who hasn't repented. That burden was never yours to carry.We love the Church. That's exactly why we take this seriously. Getting forgiveness wrong hasn't just wounded the people in our pews; Teasi makes the case that it's a contributing factor to cover-up culture in the church today. The biblical model is better news for everyone, the wounded and the offender both.Teasi's book, Counterfeit Forgiveness, is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.https://amzn.to/3VeuJ1t Watch for the counterfeit listing with the dark cover; buy the real one. Find Teasi on the True Comfort Podcast, Instagram, and YouTube.SHEPHERD'S HEART HEALING COMMUNITYOur first month begins October 6 with Teasi as author in residence, a study through Counterfeit Forgiveness, and live Q&As every Tuesday at 7pm Central. Founding rate $47/month, grandfathered for the life of your membership. Details and sign-up: https://www.skool.com/shepherds-heart-ministries-6528/aboutSCRIPTURES REFERENCEDEphesians 4:32 | Colossians 3:13 | 1 John 1:9 | Luke 23:34 | Luke 6:28 | Matthew 18:6 | Matthew 18:15-17 | Luke 17:3-4 | 2 Timothy 3:1-5 | Isaiah 42:3 | 1 Samuel 15 | Revelation 3:14-18 | Ephesians 5:11-13 | Luke 14:26 | Luke 15 | Acts 2:36-38 | 1 Corinthians 5:5 | Romans 1:28CHAPTERS0:00 Is the Forgiveness You Were Taught Counterfeit? (Teasi Cannon Returns)2:25 The Paperclip Model of Forgiveness She Taught for Years5:04 "What If I've Been Wrong All These Years?"8:21 Shepherd's Heart Healing Community (Book Study Starts October 6)10:37 What Is Therapeutic Forgiveness? Why Sincere Christians Fall for It15:39 How Do You Know You've Forgiven? Feelings Are a Moving Goalpost22:08 Ephesians 4:32: How God Actually Forgives (Repentance, Then Reconciliation)26:12 Did Jesus Forgive Everyone From the Cross? (Luke 23:34)31:21 Therapeutic Forgiveness Puts the Moral Burden on the Victim35:19 "For the First Time in My Life, I Can Believe God Is Good"39:10 Counterfeit Forgiveness Fails the Offender Too: "That's Abandonment"44:06 "It's Not Our Place to Judge": Church Discipline and Cover-Up Culture45:34 What If Repentance Never Comes? (Dead, Dangerous, or Unrepentant)49:02 Matthew 18 and 2 Timothy 3: Are You Commanded to Confront an Abuser?50:57 What Real Repentance Looks Like (Fruit, Not Just "I'm Sorry")54:16 Forgive From Your Heart, Not in Your Heart: "I'm Willing, I'm Not There Yet"57:41 Red Flag: When Someone Rushes Your Forgiveness1:03:56 When You've Repented and Forgiveness Is Withheld From You1:07:04 What You Lose When You Trade the Counterfeit for the Real Thing1:12:02 Matthew 18 and Luke 17:3-4: Repentance Is the ConditionIf this episode put words to something you've been carrying, share it with one person who needs it. About 96% of the people watching aren't subscribed yet; subscribing is the simplest way to help these conversations reach the people who are quietly wondering if something is wrong in their church.Have a story or a question? Email us at info@shepherdsheartministries.org.Shepherd's Heart is hosted by Stewart and Alycia White, a married couple with 20 years in ministry, and releases new conversations on church hurt, spiritual abuse recovery, and biblical discernment. The audio version is available on Spreaker and wherever you listen to podcasts.#SpiritualAbuse #ChurchHurt #BiblicalForgiveness #CounterfeitForgiveness #RepentanceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shepherd-s-heart--4100466/support.

Romantic Reconciliation ~ How do I get back my girlfriend who broke up with me? Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show (where you can also download free chapter one of her serious relationships guidebook).

Msgr. John Esseff reflects on the Sacred Heart, sin, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a path toward healing the deeper roots that separate us from Christ. The post SH11 – The Sacred Heart, Sin, and Confession – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

Msgr. John Esseff reflects on the Sacred Heart, sin, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a path toward healing the deeper roots that separate us from Christ. The post SH11 – The Sacred Heart, Sin, and Confession – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary TimeGospel: Matthew 18:15–20In this week's homily, Fr Rob Galea reflects on the importance of reconciliation.Homilies with Fr Rob Galea offers a practical and engaging reflection on the Sunday Gospel, helping you encounter God's Word and apply it to everyday life.Homilies with Fr Rob Galea is part of the Outside The Chapel Network, a collection of podcasts produced by ICON Ministry.Discover more podcasts and conversations at outsidethechapel.com.

A partner. A friend. A therapist. A faith community. Sometimes a voice online we will never meet. When our adult child begins to pull away, we often find ourselves searching for the person who changed them. In this episode, Dr. Janet Steinkamp looks honestly at the influence other people hold in our adult children's lives, including the ultimatums that can feel impossible, and gently offers a different question to ask.In This Episode•    Why who turned your adult child against us may not be the right question after        all•    The difference between healthy influence and unhealthy influence, and how to        tell them apart•    What to do when you are facing an ultimatum, the is it them or me moment•    Why trying to fight an influencer head-on so often backfires•    Where your actual power lies and how to respond (in unfamiliar conversations)        without escalating (or alienating)Voices From This Episode•    "One of the most common questions asked by estranged parents is, what happened to my son or daughter? Many describe watching their once independent, thoughtful, compassionate, loving adult child adopt beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors that seem unfamiliar or dramatically different from the person they knew. Often I hear this as fear, impatience, anger, resentment, accusations."•    "Healthy influence strengthens an individual's ability to think critically, to maintain multiple meaningful relationships, and make voluntary choices. Unhealthy influence, by contrast, narrows perspective, discourages independent thinking, and may reinforce fear, loyalty conflicts, and emotional dependency. Unhealthy influence oftentimes reduces the number of relationships and focuses on one or two primary relationships."•    "There's great wisdom in Michael Corleone's line from The Godfather: keep your friends close but your enemies closer. That applies in estrangement. That's not to say unhealthy influences or influencers in your child's life are enemies. It's only to recognize that alienating them will only make your situation worse."•    "If you are sitting with something that feels impossible right now, an ultimatum, a person you don't trust, a relationship you're afraid of losing, that is exactly the kind of situation I help parents work through one at a time."•    "Here's what I hope you carry away from this episode. Maybe the question, who influenced our adult child, is not the right question. Maybe it is how influence works and whether you can see it clearly enough and respond without escalating. That is where your power as a parent actually is." ConnectFind the show on YouTube at @DrJanetSteinkamp. If you know a parent who is quietly carrying this, share this episode with them.One Next StepIf you are sitting with something that feels impossible right now, an ultimatum, a person you do not trust, a relationship you are afraid of losing, that is exactly the kind of situation Dr. Janet helps parents work through one on one. You can find out how through the website.●Virtual Office Hours: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/office-hours●60-Minute Consultation: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/service-page/60-minute-consultation●Fall 2026 Workshops: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/copy-of-classes●Writer's Lab: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/writers-lab#FamilyEstrangement  #AdultChildren  #EstrangedParents  #ParentingAdultChildren  #Reconciliation  #FamilyHealing  #Ultimatums  #EstrangementRecovery  #WhenOurAdultChildrenWalkAway  #DrJanetSteinkamp  #FamilyRelationships  #HealingFromEstrangement  #ParentChildRelationship  #Boundaries  #Empathy LEARN MORE: WhenOurAdultChildrenWalkAway.comProduced by Balancing Life's Issues.Hi Listeners. I'd love to hear from you!DISCLAIMERThe content of this podcast is based on my professional work as an estrangement coach and my personal estrangement journey. Any examples, characters, or stories referenced are drawn from my own lived experience or represent a composite of multiple real-life situations shared with me over time. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS: Dr. Janet SteinkampWhen Our Adult Children Walk Away with Dr. Janet Steinkamp explores healthy communication, ethical interaction, safe family relationships, and reciprocal (appropriate) boundaries. The podcast provides education and support for parents navigating family estrangement, communication breakdowns, grief, reconciliation efforts, healthy boundary development and adult family relationship dynamics.Dr. Janet Steinkamp's work emphasizes emotionally healthy communication, adult accountability, ethical and safe relationship practices, mutual respect and appropriate boundaries, voluntary communication and reconnection and safe and appropriate family systems. Listeners gain practical tools to improve communication, understand the dynamics of estrangement, and pursue emotional responsibility, compassion, and integrity. 

Fr Blackburn preaches on Reconciliation in the Church, based on Matthew 18 Principles.

Pastor Delbert Denny Jr. preaches a message about being a Divine Ambassadors of Righteous Reconciliation from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.---Parkview Church exists to glorify God through the whole church forming whole disciples for the good of all people.Website: www.parkviewchurch.orgInstagram/Facebook: @parkviewchurchic

A Sermon on Forgiveness Dr. Eric J. Gilchrest, Pastor | September 6, 2026 Download Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript A Sermon on ForgivenessDr. Eric J. Gilchrest, PastorGood morning everybody. A couple of things before we get started. I know Clint already said it, but I am personally so pleased to have Erin Ovenshire as our new admin. She has been wonderful to work with already, and I look forward to good things there. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew and to welcome her in this role. Second, though, so one of my new favorite things these last few weeks has been the number of children in our worship service. I don't know if you feel this way too, but I definitely do. And I also want those parents to feel very comfortable having their children in the worship service. This is something that at South Run Baptist Church, we prize. We hold this as very important. I don't say this enough, so this is part of what I'm doing right now, which is we have intentionality behind having the kids in here. There are many churches you could attend where you ship the kids off and they're gonna be somewhere else for the whole time that you're here. And by kids, I mean like even up through like junior high or something. We've learned, but studies say Having your kids in here, like seeing what the adults do, watching your parents worship, this is very, very important for their spiritual development. And so this is why we want the children in here. With that said, we also want you to feel comfortable taking your kid out if you need to. And so if at any point you need to, we have a room downstairs. I think it's the Birch room, whatever the middle room is down there. where the TV's on with me on it, and you can participate in the service down there if that's what you need at any point. So feel free to utilize that. All right, let's get started here. Please bow your heads in prayer. God, our Father in heaven, your name is holy, and we seek your holy name this morning. God, I ask that you speak your words through your humble servant this morning, that those who are in attendance and those who are listening, whether online or at some future point, will hear you. They will hear you speaking to them loud and clear. Lord, this morning you know what we're talking about. We are talking about forgiveness. And Lord, we are the recipients of your boundless forgiveness. And so we begin with thanks, but we also now open our ears to what you wish to say to us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. We're talking about forgiveness, but we're also kind of the macro level. We're talking about the two ways. There's the narrow way and there's the wide way, and the wide way leads to destruction. And Jesus is trying to get us to walk down that narrow Rd. right? Which is to say it's a harder Rd. to walk and it requires some intention behind it. And it means that we have to pay attention to what we are doing and should not be. And some of those things we're not doing, but we should be. And so this morning, we have a wonderful test case in forgiveness. Forgiveness. This is certainly something that we've all been on both sides of the coin for. We've needed to forgive somebody, but we've also needed to be forgiven by somebody. But I wanna begin with a question that I asked our deacon ordinands on this last Wednesday. We had a deacon ordination meeting, council, where we brought in the two gentlemen who were being tried and tested, and it was grueling, and we really put it to them. They did pass, so next week we will be voting on our deacons, which will now include Brian Sands and Dan Ovanshire. We're very happy to have them on that slate, and you'll get to vote on them along with two others next week. But the question I asked was, what is the gospel, right? What is the gospel? Somewhat simple question. And I would hope that each of you, if you've been around the church for a while and if you confess Christ as Lord, you would have some kind of answer to this. What is the gospel? So I want to offer to you kind of a version in brief of how I think about this. It starts at the beginning of the creation, which is to say that in the beginning, God created all things good. In fact, he finishes it all and says, this is very good. But we know it doesn't stay there for too long. And there's the fall, Genesis 3 happens, and Genesis 4, they're kicked out of the garden. And then we're living in this world. And if you look around, you see what? You would currently see three hurricanes are sitting in the Pacific Ocean. Something is broken with the world itself, literally. There's a flood in Nepal that led to over 1000 deaths. There's all kinds of illnesses that are just waiting to infect each and every one of us. But it doesn't stop with the brokenness in the world, does it? then kind of seeps into us, you and me, or maybe there's other people, right? the sin sickness that covers humanity. And we are all people who do things that we shouldn't do and we don't do the things that we should do. And then when we're really honest, we look inside and we realize that it's sitting in here. And if you think back through your past, you realize, you know what, there are things that I regret There are things that I need forgiveness for, and I'm reaching out to a God that I need forgiveness from. And so then the gospel is God looking down and saying, I'm going to do something about the state of the world. And to do something, well, he sends Jesus, the Son of God, into the world, And Jesus dies on a cross, as we say, every single second Sunday of the month when we take communion, for the forgiveness of your sins, to make things right again. And then he is raised on the third day, defeating death and offering eternal hope into the future. This is what's happening. And so then the macro story says that what God is doing is he's taking the very good thing that had been broken and he's putting it back to rights again. This is good news. And it's the hope that we all hold on to. At the very center of all of it is a God who loves us so much that he keeps coming after us offering forgiveness when we don't deserve it. Offering forgiveness when we don't deserve it. Which then gets to what Paul says to us about forgiveness at large. He says, for example, actually, sorry, slide one, I had this on here. So what is the gospel? It's the good news that God has chosen forgiveness and mercy instead of punishment. He has chosen reconciliation instead of walking away, and he has chosen restoration instead of pushing us out. And here's what Paul, the move Paul makes in Ephesians 4.32. He says, forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. And so this morning, as we're talking about the need to forgive one another, we should be reminded that the gospel story is the frame to it all. And as Paul says, God forgave you. And how did he do this? In Christ, in the story that I just told you, on the cross, through his death and through his resurrection, you have been forgiven. And so we too are to what? We're to take that same model and we are to apply it, everybody around us. forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. Now the goal of forgiveness with both God and man is restoration. If the story of scripture from front to back is a story of restoration, well then that's what we're doing in our relationships when we forgive as well. We're seeking to restore. to make all things new. Now I should say very clearly that this does not mean consequences don't matter. They matter deeply. And so if you are seeking forgiveness from somebody, you must be ready to acknowledge that there is going to be a fallout to whatever it is that you have done in this life. And so consequences matter. There's a famous theologian from the mid-1900s named Bonhoeffer, and he had this famous book in which he talks about cheap grace, cheap grace. And I would offer you, there's something that is kind of a corollary to this, which is cheap forgiveness. Cheap forgiveness wants the benefits of forgiveness without the cost. Costly forgiveness is the willingness to do what it takes by the person who needs forgiveness to be reconciled. And so if you have harmed somebody and you are seeking their forgiveness and you are seeking to be made right again with them, you must recognize that there are consequences and there are costs to whatever it is that you've done. And we'll talk more about that momentarily. I've put a few things at the bottom of your bulletin. Some bullet points that I'm hoping you walk away with after the sermon, if you don't walk away with anything else. And here's one. Forgiveness restores you and reconciliation restores the relationship. Forgiveness restores actually the one who is doing the forgiving. It's the one, when you forgive, like you have been made whole, there's kind of a weird logic to this. And then reconciliation is when the relationship has been made whole again. Now I confess, I've kind of teased two things apart that may not be obvious just from the kind of a flat reading of scripture, but I do think this is really important for you to know that there are two sides to this. And sometimes forgiveness is all that's possible because whatever that other party they're doing, they may not want reconciliation. But in the ideal world, both parties are involved, and that's when reconciliation actually happens. But for the time being, I kind of want you to piece these out and keep them separated one from the other. Forgiveness or restoration and reconciliation are two different things, and it's important for you to hold them apart from one another. But in the best case scenario, both happen. With that then, let's turn to our scripture for today, which is Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 and 22. Matthew 18, 21 and 22 goes like this. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times? And Jesus said, I do not say to you 7, but 77 times. Now the observant among you will immediately say, wait, I thought it was 70 times 7. We could dig into the Greek here and we could look at precisely what's there. And even if we did that, here's what you would find, that we actually don't know what the answer is. It might be 70 times 7, which would be what, 490? Or it might be 77. But the truth is, neither matter, because that's not what Jesus is saying, is he? He's not asking you to count up how many times you forgive, and then once you reach 77, done. No, he's saying forgiveness should be ever ready. This is something that as followers of Christ, that narrow way, like at any moment when somebody calls on us to be forgiven, like really be forgiven, we are willing and ready to offer that to them. The passage today is followed by a parable, which we won't read together, but I'll just simply tell you what's in it. It applies directly to the gospel story that I gave you up front and it goes like this. There's a master and he has a servant and the servant owes him the equivalent of $4 billion, a billion with a B. This is like the math works out this way. And the servant comes and is pleading with the master. He says, please just let me go. He was about to sell, the master was going to sell the servant into to slavery. And he said, please, I can't. And the master had mercy on him and said, you know what? I'm actually, I'm going to forgive the debt, $4 billion, and I'm going to let you go. As the servant left, he found somebody else who actually owed him some money to the tune of about $6,000, which, That's A lot. Like $6,000. Somebody owes me $6,000. You better believe I'm going to want that money back. But if I've just been forgiven $4 billion, you know, I think I might be generous. I would hope. But this servant was not. This servant instead, he went after the guy who owed him $6,000. And then when he couldn't pay, what did he do? Well, he sold him into debtors prison. Well, when the master found out, he said, how could you do this? You are wicked. Do you not know how merciful, how forgiving I have been to you? And then you turn around and with this debt, sure, it's some money, but it's nothing what you've been forgiven already, right? Hopefully you can see the comparison to the gospel itself. God has offered each and every one of us forgiveness in abundance. And so when he calls on us to forgive others, to forgive our neighbors, to forgive those who have done something wrong to us, our friends, our spouses, our kids, or whoever, we should be ready at any moment to say yes. But there are some parameters. And this is worth our time because oftentimes forgiveness turns into that cheap forgiveness. And I don't want it to do that this morning, and I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression about how forgiveness works. And so if you're in the Matthew 18, I just encourage you to back up just ever so slightly because the forgiveness stuff doesn't start there. It actually starts in 1815. And here's what Jesus says here. He says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. And if he listens to you, have gained your brother. The scenario is a simple one. Somebody has done something wrong to you and you go to them and you say, you've done this wrong thing to me. And you're coming with open arms and you're saying, I would like to forgive you. I just need you to own what you've done. And if they say yes, well, then you've got your brother back. Reconciliation has happened, right? Luke actually. gets a little more pointed here. There's a version of this same saying that happens in Luke's gospel. If you return there at some future point, if you want to, it'd be in chapter 17, verses 3 to 4, go like this. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times, I say, repent. Or saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Here's what I want you to know about this passage. Some of us are really good at rebuking others. Others of us are really good at forgiving others. But in my experience, very few are good at both. I want us all to be people who are good at both. rebuking or bringing to someone else, here's what you've done wrong to me. None of this passive aggressive stuff. Just be honest and straightforward and say, you've hurt me. I need you to apologize. Here's what's wrong. And then when that person actually does, and when they own the problem that sits between you and that person, then you forgive them and you make things right. This is the ideal, right? That you're doing both the rebuking and then the forgiving when it happens. Which is another way of saying that in every scenario where forgiveness is involved, there's always two parties. If you were to come to me in pastoral counseling or something and you would say, Eric, I need to talk to you about forgiveness, my immediate question, well, which one are you? the one who needs forgiveness or are you the one forgiving somebody else? Because the conversation is going to look a little different depending on what side of the ledger you're sitting on. So we'll start with the one who's in need of forgiveness. Maybe this is you this morning. The first thing I would say to you in that counseling session would be to own your sin, no matter how big or small it is. Own whatever it is you've done wrong. And maybe you don't even want to call it sin. Maybe it's like, you're thinking it's this thing. But I need you to own it and to say, you know what, I really did that. And then you need to recognize the consequences that happen and flow out of whatever that thing is that you've done. And depending on the severity of the thing you've done, you might expect that some trust has been lost and must be restored with that person. And that again, depending on the severity of it all, it might take a while. It might take years or even decades to restore some of the trust that is lost. Once you're ready for it, I would then encourage you to apologize to the other person. But in my household, we have a way of apologizing that isn't just merely saying, I'm sorry, and then you move on. I would call that cheap forgiveness, and that's what we're trying to avoid this morning. Instead, we have a fourfold model of what apologies look like. includes, I am sorry. It was wrong because in the future I will. And then will you forgive me? Now, parents, you can take this and use it for your kids. That'd be great. But parents, I would encourage you to use it for one another as well. And it goes like this. I am sorry for. And this is when you actually name the thing that you did and you own it. and you say it out loud so that the other person knows what you've done wrong, and they know that it was wrong. And then you say it was wrong because, and here's where you get to explain to the person that you now understand why it was wrong. And you've put yourself into their shoes, and you show them or explain to them what it must have been like for them to be on that side of it all. And then in the future I will. And here is what you should have done instead. It's more than just next time I won't do X, Y, or Z. Next time I just won't get angry with you. It's in this moment that you get to demonstrate that you understand why you did the thing that you did. And so maybe you came home from work and you were just in a rage because somebody at work had offended you, and then you come home and you take it out on your spouse. when you apologize, you say, in the future, if I know I'm in this mood, I'm just going to tell you right up front, and then I'm going to encourage you to maybe avoid me for a short time, and I'm going to go cool off, and then I'm going to make sure that I'm a good man or a good woman so that you have the spouse that you deserve in that moment. And then finally, once you've really explored what went wrong, then you're in a place to say, will you forgive me? Let us make things right. And hopefully, prayerfully, you're with a spouse or maybe it's a friend or maybe it's, again, your kids or whoever it is. This works with anybody. Hopefully they will say, yes, I forgive you. Now the flip side of the coin is the party that needs to forgive. Jesus tells us 70 times 7. If someone seeks your forgiveness, you need to be ready to forgive. This is the way to life. Life abundant is living with a heart ready to forgive at any moment. Again, remember Ephesians 4, forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. Remember, There was the billion dollars and there's the thousands of dollars and the ledgers are very, very different. And I would also encourage you to remember that forgiveness, it restores you. First and foremost, to withhold forgiveness is an affront to the way God operates in this world. And therefore, It is an affront to our truest nature as children of God. If we were made in God's image, and I believe with all my heart that we were, and God is a God who forgives again and again and again, then if we want to live into our truest nature, we must be people who forgive. But if you want a more selfish reason for why you should forgive, it goes like this. It's good for you. To forgive somebody else, it feels good to just let it go. In fact, there's a famous saying that holding on to anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It's not going to happen. And so you must stop drinking the poison and you must forgive the other person and let it go. Now there is a deep struggle that happens if you've been hurt. And the struggle is, do I trust this person again? There are the memories that I have of when they wronged me. There's the fear that they're going to do it again. And so again, depending on the severity of what has happened between the two parties, I just want to affirm that sometimes is going to happen. And that's okay. And it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you and your ability to forgive someone. It is a reminder that trust It's not a guarantee in a relationship, and it must be earned and it must be kept. But the question left then is when do you choose reconciliation and when is it okay not to? I've said that these are two different things, forgiveness and reconciliation. And the goal is reconciliation. Two parties coming back together. This is what God does with us. God is, we are rather, estranged from God, but God seeks us out because God wants to be with us. This is the truest form of forgiveness. But there are times in life where reconciliation may not be possible, because it does depend on both parties participating. But there's also this. There is the example of abuse in a relationship. And so if you've ever been a part of an abusive relationship, whether physical abuse, emotional abuse, or otherwise, you know that there is a gap that sits between forgiveness and reconciliation better than anybody else knows this, or at least you should. And so I would want to talk to you and to say, forgive. but not too quickly. To return to Luke, if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. You must first learn to rebuke. It is possible that if this abusive relationship you've been in has gone on for too long, you're probably pretty good at the forgiveness side but maybe need to learn some things about rebuking, holding someone accountable for their actions, to build boundaries and to tell someone that they can no longer do this to you. And if they do, there are clear consequences for it. But the other thing that needs to happen is that the abuser must learn to repent. Repentance is actually a big word. It's more than just, baby, I'm never gonna do that again. It's actually walking the walk. It is not cheap forgiveness, like Bonhoeffer warns of cheap grace. True repentance in relationship is the same as it is with God. When we truly repent, it means we turn around and we start walking in a different direction, not just by words, but in our actions. We no longer do what we used to do. We take necessary steps, radical steps, to stop doing the old and to start doing the new. So if the abuser is showing no signs that they are taking steps in the opposite direction, well they aren't getting help from a counselor, or they haven't changed their behavior in some fashion, then repentance has not really begun. Repentance hasn't really begun and reconciliation should be off the table until they are ready to truly repent. If you keep reconciling with someone who refuses true repentance, you are not righteously walking as Jesus teaches us to. You are simply putting yourself in harm's way. And if I were in the room with you, giving you counsel, I would say you need to walk away until true repentance is part of what is happening in that reconciliation. So how to seek reconciliation, how to offer forgiveness, a very quick word to our married couples in the room, but everybody else can listen in because I think this applies to everyone. Empathy is mission critical. Empathy. It's the ability to see the world as somebody else sees the world, to put yourself into their shoes. If you're going to apologize to someone, you need to understand what it is that they're experiencing and feeling in the world. And as they walk through the world, they see it a certain way. And you need to be able to say it and to name it. Because if they're going to understand that you get it, or they're gonna need to know that indeed, you see it and you're able to say it and you're able to speak it out loud. I came across this wonderful quote this week by a guy named Oswald Chambers. He wrote the devotional that, I don't know, everybody in my generation seemed to grow up on. And he says this, spiritual maturity is going from being thin-skinned and hard-hearted to thick-skinned and tender-hearted. I loved this. There's so much wisdom in this. Too many of us Christians who have been in the church for way too long are too thin-skinned and way too hard-hearted. And when it comes to our relationships, we're too thin-skinned and we're too hard-hearted. We're too quick to judge and not quick enough to forgive. But the maturest ones among us are what? They are the thick-skinned ones, and they can see why someone might behave the way they do. And they don't take it personally always. Sometimes they do if they should, but they don't always take it personally because they have this thick skin needed to be a mature person. But more than that, they are tender-hearted, looking out for all the opportunities to make things right in the world, to breathe life into the world, into other people, and to reconcile at every possible opportunity. We are to be people who are thick-skinned and tenderhearted. Back to the gospel. The world was created very good, but we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to atone for the sins of the world and to make all the wrong things right. He forgave you and me 70 times 7 times. The billions of dollars that you and I, oh God, have all been wiped away. So let us heed Paul's advice together. Forgive because in Christ Jesus, God has forgiven you. Let us pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in this place right now, are a group of your children. We're a messy bunch, often harming others and being harmed by others, sinning and having sins committed against us. And so Lord, we need a few things about forgiveness. And so Jesus, we look to you. We look to you to offer us the billions of dollars of wiped debt that we've needed. But we also look to you to show us the way to life, the way that you have already paved for us. You've made abundantly clear on the cross, Lord, the kind of God you are, a God who forgives. And Jesus, you even say, forgive them, and they don't even know what they're doing. Jesus this morning, teach us to be more and more like you, our king, the one who rules on high right now, the one we say that we serve, the one we say that we love, the rabbi that we say that we follow, God make us more like you. We pray all of this in Christ's holy name, amen.

Read OnlineThe Joy of ReconciliationJesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” Matthew 18:15When someone sins against us, especially in a grievous way, anger and condemnation can quickly arise as strong temptations. Our natural sense of justice often takes over, and we may find ourselves rationalizing a response rooted in judgment rather than compassion. In today's Gospel, however, Jesus offers the much better path—to seek reconciliation, not division. The ultimate goal is to win the sinner back to God and restore the bond of communion.Sin touches every human relationship, with the sole exception of the one shared between Jesus and His Blessed Mother. Their mutual and perfect charity rendered sin and division entirely absent from their union. What a sublime and singular gift they shared!But we are not perfect. Even the most loving and holy relationships are affected by human weakness, and sin inevitably creeps in. We sin against others, and others sin against us. Sometimes the sin is deliberate and deeply wounding. Other times, it stems from weakness or the absence of fully formed virtue. Regardless of its source, every sin inflicts harm and weakens the communion we are called to share and deeply desire.In today's Gospel, while Jesus appears to be addressing serious sin that severs a person from sanctifying grace—mortal sin—the same principles apply to all offenses, even venial sins and spiritual imperfections. The Christian response to sin must always be grounded in mercy. Whether we are correcting or being corrected, the goal must always be to heal, to restore, and to deepen our unity in Christ.To begin applying these spiritual principles, call to mind those toward whom you may harbor resentment. Start with your family, since familial bonds—due to their natural closeness—are especially vulnerable to sin. Resentment born of sin is often present in close relationships. While some wounds may have caused deep fractures, even the most loving bonds can suffer subtle injuries. Prayerfully examine these relationships in your life.If the wounds are deep and hostilities strong, the path forward is usually clear: Seek to win over your brother, sister, parent, or spouse. And if you are the one who has caused the wound, then humbly acknowledge your sin without excuses. This is always the better path. Always.To aid this process, it is helpful to recognize a hidden dynamic: Holding onto resentment or anger can bring a certain emotional satisfaction. Though it may seem surprising, this is often the case. Anger energizes the emotions and creates a charged feeling that, while disordered, can feel gratifying—like a drug that fuels addiction.The first step is to recognize this disordered emotional pattern for what it is. The next step is to realize that a healed and reconciled relationship offers a deeper and more lasting fulfillment that is far superior to the fleeting satisfaction of resentment or hostility. Winning over another—or being won over by one we have wronged—is profoundly rewarding. It transcends emotion and enters the realm of grace, producing true peace and spiritual joy.Reflect today on the first step of reconciliation outlined by Jesus in the Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Take sin seriously. Acknowledge its presence in your relationships, especially the close ones. See yourself both as one who is sinned against and as one who sins. Identify the offenses that diminish love. Confront those sins with courage and humility. Reject the false comfort of resentment, and seek instead the true consolation that comes from unity and charity. This is the path that leads to a share in the holy love between Jesus and His Blessed Mother—a love they desire us to know and live.Lord of perfect mercy, Your Sacred Heart burns with a deep desire to win us back to Yourself—fully reconciled and united in love. I repent of my sins before You, and I pray that Your love, living within me, may become a wellspring of mercy for others. I forgive all who have sinned against me, and I repent of the sins I have inflicted upon others. Restore every relationship in my life, Lord, and endow them with the same pure and holy love You shared with Your Blessed Mother. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image via Adobe StockSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

I think there is this idea that when you forgive someone, part of that is letting them back in. Like forgiveness automatically means reconciliation. Like because you let go of the anger, they get their old access back. And I think that is one of the biggest misunderstandings about forgiveness. Because I can forgive you and still not trust you. I can wish you well and still not want you in my space. Those things are not contradictions. That is clarity. Forgiveness, for me, is about releasing what I no longer want to carry. The anger. The resentment. The replaying. But forgiveness does not delete the data. I still remember what you showed me. I still remember what happened. I still get to make decisions based on that information. And if nothing has changed, giving someone access again is sometimes just giving them another opportunity to do the exact same thing. So today we are talking about how to forgive without reopening doors that need to stay closed. How to release resentment without abandoning your boundaries. And I think learning the difference between forgiveness and access is one of the most important lessons there is when it comes to protecting your peace. FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS I think this is where so many people get confused. Forgiveness is internal. Reconciliation is relational. Forgiveness is something you can choose by yourself. Reconciliation requires two people. You can decide: "I am done being angry about this." "I am done letting this take up space in my mind." "I am done wishing things were different." "I am going to move forward." None of that requires you to restore the relationship. Reconciliation requires rebuilding. It requires accountability. Change. Consistency. Trust. Effort. Time. And sometimes, even after all of those things, you may still decide that the relationship is better left in the past. Forgiveness does not automatically create an obligation to reconnect. FORGIVING SOMEONE DOESN'T DELETE THE DATA I love this idea: Forgiving you doesn't delete the data. Because sometimes we treat forgiveness like we are supposed to suddenly become forgetful. But experiences give us information. If someone lied repeatedly, that is information. If someone betrayed your confidence, that is information. If someone consistently disrespected your boundaries, that is information. If being around somebody repeatedly left you anxious, depleted, insecure or confused, that is information. You don't have to be angry about the information in order to use it. That is such an important distinction. You can say: "I'm not mad anymore. But now I know." That is wisdom. You don't need to keep touching the stove just because you forgave it for burning you. You learned. And learning is supposed to change your behavior. FORGIVENESS IS NOT THE SAME THING AS TRUST This is another huge one. You can forgive somebody and still not trust them. Because forgiveness can happen in a moment. Trust is built through behavior. Trust is evidence. Trust is repetition. Trust is somebody consistently showing you: "My words and actions match." "I respect your boundaries." "I take responsibility when I hurt you." "I have actually changed." You do not owe somebody instant trust because they apologized. And you definitely don't owe them trust simply because you decided to forgive them. You can forgive freely. Trust should be earned. ACCESS SHOULD BE EARNED Not everyone deserves the same level of access to you. I think we need to normalize this. There are levels. Someone can be somebody you care about but don't confide in. Someone can be somebody you are cordial with but don't spend time alone with. Someone can be somebody you love but know you cannot have an emotionally close relationship with. Someone can be somebody you forgive from a very large distance. Access is not a punishment. Access is a boundary. Your time is access. Your home is access. Your children are access. Your private thoughts are access. Your energy is access. Your vulnerable moments are access. Those things should not be automatically available to everyone. Especially someone who has already shown you they cannot handle that access responsibly. YOU CAN WISH SOMEONE WELL FROM FAR AWAY This is where people think boundaries somehow mean hate. They don't. You can genuinely hope somebody has a beautiful life. You can hope they heal. You can hope they grow. You can pray for them. You can celebrate something good happening to them. And still say: "I do not want to participate in your life anymore." Those things are not contradictions. You do not have to hate somebody in order to leave. Sometimes you leave because you finally stopped hating them. You stopped fighting. Stopped trying to prove your point. Stopped trying to make them understand. Stopped trying to get the apology. And you simply accepted reality. THE GOAL OF FORGIVENESS ISN'T TO GET THE RELATIONSHIP BACK Sometimes the goal is just peace. That's it. Not closure from them. Not an apology. Not a reunion. Not some perfectly wrapped ending. Just peace. Peace that says: "That happened." "I didn't like it." "I learned from it." "And I am not going to keep paying for it emotionally every day." Forgiveness can simply mean that the event no longer gets to control your nervous system. You stop waking up thinking about it. You stop rehearsing imaginary conversations. You stop checking whether they finally understand what they did. You reclaim your attention. That is freedom. SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT FORGIVENESS. THEY WANT THEIR POSITION BACK. This one is important. Sometimes somebody says: "Well, I thought you forgave me." But what they really mean is: "I thought I would get the same access again." Those are not the same thing. Some people aren't upset that you're still angry. You're not angry. They are upset that there are consequences. They want to skip accountability and go directly back to proximity. They want your forgiveness to erase the natural consequences of their choices. But forgiveness does not require you to protect somebody from consequences. If I learn that I cannot trust you with certain parts of my life, the consequence may simply be less access. Not revenge. Not punishment. Just a new boundary based on new information. PROXIMITY WITHOUT CHANGE IS JUST ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR THE SAME PATTERN This line really matters: Proximity without change is just a second opportunity to do the same thing. Because people will sometimes rush reconciliation because the discomfort of distance feels awkward. But if nothing actually changed, what are we reconciling? Did the person become more accountable? Did the behavior stop? Did communication improve? Were boundaries respected? Was there actual repair? Or did enough time just pass that everyone feels uncomfortable talking about it anymore? Time passing is not the same thing as growth. An apology is not the same thing as transformation. Words matter. Behavior matters more. STOP PERFORMING REUNIONS YOU DON'T ACTUALLY FEEL I think sometimes people reconcile because they don't want to look mean. They don't want family members to think they're difficult. They don't want mutual friends to feel awkward. They don't want to be accused of holding a grudge. So they perform closeness. And inside they are thinking: "I don't trust this person." "I don't feel safe around this person." "I don't actually want this relationship." That kind of relationship becomes exhausting because now you're spending energy pretending. You do not have to manufacture intimacy to prove that you're healed. Sometimes healing actually looks like being able to peacefully say: "No thank you." YOU DON'T NEED ANGER TO JUSTIFY A BOUNDARY You don't have to still be mad in order to say no. You don't need a dramatic reason. You don't need another explosion. You don't need them to do something terrible one more time. You can simply decide: "This relationship no longer works for me." We have been conditioned to think boundaries need a courtroom argument. They don't. You are allowed to notice patterns. You are allowed to recognize how somebody affects you. And you are allowed to make decisions accordingly. BEING AT PEACE DOESN'T MEAN BECOMING AVAILABLE AGAIN Peace sometimes looks like silence. Peace sometimes looks like not responding. Peace sometimes looks like seeing their name and feeling nothing. Peace sometimes looks like being able to be in the same room without needing to confront them. And peace sometimes looks like never seeing them again. There is no universal picture of forgiveness. Sometimes people assume healing means everybody gets back together. Maybe healing means you no longer need everybody to get back together. YOU CAN LOVE SOMEONE AND STILL LOVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TO LEAVE This applies to friendships, family relationships, romantic relationships, work relationships and everything in between. Love by itself does not make every relationship healthy. Sometimes you can genuinely love somebody and still recognize: "We are not good together." Or: "I cannot keep exposing myself to this." Or: "I care about you, but I cannot keep participating in this dynamic." That doesn't make the love fake. It means love isn't the only factor in the decision. You also have to consider trust. Respect. Safety. Compatibility. Peace. Values. Patterns. STOP WAITING FOR THEM TO UNDERSTAND YOUR BOUNDARY One of the hardest parts about boundaries is realizing the other person may never agree with yours. They may call you dramatic. Cold. Unforgiving. Sensitive. Difficult. Selfish. And if your entire goal is getting them to approve of your boundary, you're going to stay stuck. Sometimes the person who benefited most from you having no boundaries is going to hate your boundaries the most. That doesn't automatically mean the boundary is wrong. You have to be able to tolerate being misunderstood.   THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF FORGIVENESS MAY BE INDIFFERENCE Sometimes we think forgiveness means having this big emotional moment where you suddenly feel warmth toward the person. Maybe. But sometimes forgiveness is much quieter. You just stop caring. Not in a cruel way. You simply stop being emotionally hooked. Their choices don't ruin your day anymore. Their name doesn't trigger a twenty-minute rant. You don't need everyone else to agree with your version of what happened. You don't need revenge. You don't need validation. You moved on. That is powerful. ASK YOURSELF: WHAT DID THIS EXPERIENCE TEACH ME? Instead of only asking: "How could they do this to me?" Ask: "What did this teach me?" Maybe it taught you to stop ignoring red flags. Maybe it taught you to speak up sooner. Maybe it taught you that chemistry does not equal compatibility. Maybe it taught you that history does not equal loyalty. Maybe it taught you that an apology without changed behavior means very little. Maybe it taught you to trust your instincts. Maybe it taught you that you can survive losing a relationship you once thought you couldn't live without. Take the lesson. Leave the bitterness. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CREATE A NEW VERSION OF THE RELATIONSHIP Sometimes the answer isn't all-in or completely gone. Maybe the relationship needs a different shape. You can move someone from your inner circle to your outer circle. You can reduce frequency. You can change what topics you discuss. You can stop sharing private information. You can stop asking them for emotional support. You can see them at family events without maintaining a close personal relationship. Boundaries don't always mean cutting someone off. Sometimes they mean creating the appropriate distance. IF RECONCILIATION DOES HAPPEN, LET BEHAVIOR LEAD If you do decide that you want to rebuild a relationship, don't rush it. Let the person show you. You don't have to immediately hand them the keys again. Start small. Pay attention. Do they respect your boundaries? Do they take ownership? Do they become defensive when the past comes up? Do their actions match their apology? Can they tolerate earning trust slowly? Real change can handle patience. Manipulation usually demands immediate access. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HATE THE OLD VERSION OF YOU WHO ALLOWED IT Sometimes after a difficult relationship, we get angry with ourselves. "How did I not see this?" "Why did I stay?" "Why did I give them another chance?" But you made choices with the information, confidence and perspective you had at the time. Now you know more. The goal isn't to shame your previous self. The goal is to become somebody who responds differently now. Growth means the lesson changes your future behavior. PROTECTING YOUR PEACE IS NOT REVENGE There is a major difference between creating distance to hurt somebody and creating distance to protect yourself. If your goal is: "I want them to suffer." That's revenge. But if your goal is: "I don't want to live in this dynamic anymore." That's a boundary. You know the difference internally. Protecting your peace does not require you to punish anybody. Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is simply remove yourself.     I think one of the strongest forms of emotional maturity is being able to say: I forgave you. I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. I don't spend my days thinking about what happened. I genuinely hope you have a great life. And I still don't want you close to me. There is nothing contradictory about that. You are allowed to forgive somebody without restoring their previous position in your life. You are allowed to release anger and keep the lesson. You are allowed to stop carrying resentment while still maintaining boundaries. Forgiveness doesn't delete the data. Forgiveness doesn't automatically rebuild trust. Forgiveness does not require reconciliation. And forgiveness does not come with a key. Sometimes the healthiest ending isn't everyone hugging and going back to the way things were. Sometimes the healthiest ending is simply: I learned. I released it. I wish you well. And the door stays closed. That isn't bitterness. That's clarity and some of the BEST kind of it. 

New Gospel Bracelet – You can change people's lives by sharing the Good News of Jesus. These bracelets are a simple and clear way to do that. They've been used as an evangelism tool for nearly 200 years! For this bracelet, each of the 5 colors stand for a single word which gives a starting point to tell part of the Gospel story. Red is for blood – the blood of Jesus's death on that cross takes away our sin. White is for purification – Jesus did not stay dead. And just like Jesus came back to life, God can make us new people without sin. Green is for growth – just like you grow up as a human, you grow in your new spiritual life in Jesus. And last, but certainly not least, gold is for heaven – Jesus's people will be with Him forever. In heaven, there will be no more pain, no more sadness, and no more sin. Thank you for stepping out in faith to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each bracelet comes with a description card and check out the video below for deeper explanations behind each color. Get one for you and a friend!    Use the coupon code: RADIOGIFT for free shipping! *Limit two per person* Click here to receive today's free gift on the Radio Page --------Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible. Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org. Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

Pastor Margaret Mearns Bass, author of the book " Broken: Forgiveness and the Journey to Reconciliation" joins to show to discuss her rough upbringing, outlook on faith, and how she plans to help others with her story. Forgiveness and reconciliation are NOT the same thing. She explains. https://margaretmearnsbass.com/

In this powerful interview with Dr. Adolphus Sims, Dr. Self and Dr. Sims discuss the need for reconciliation and how debates, pride, and the need to be right run counter to the fundamentals of Scripture. Reconciliation is not optional; it's Christ's ministry and the ministry we have been called to. This show covers relationships, marriage, forgiveness, and much more.  2 Cor 5:18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,   Help Dr. Self continue this show - partner at www.icmcollege.org/donate  Answer your call by enrolling with the International College of Ministry at www.icmcollege.org/enroll  Purchase Dr. Ray's latest book, "The Call." God called you, and you answered: this is what you need to know! Click Here  Follow and subscribe to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self on our podcast website: https://www.icmcollege.org/selftalk.   Click here to purchase Dr. Self's book – Hear His Voice, Be His Voice, or visit Amazon.com. Click here to purchase Dr. Self's book – Redeem Your Past and Find Your Promised Land, or visit Amazon.com. Or our new podcast website at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249804   For show topic suggestions, email Dr. Ray Self at drrayself@gmail.com Enjoy free courses offered by the International College of Ministry Free Courses Show host bio - Dr. Ray Self founded Spirit Wind Ministries Inc. and the International College of Ministry. He holds a Doctorate in Christian Psychology and a Doctorate in Theology. He currently resides in Winter Park, Florida. He is married to Dr. Christie Self and has three sons and a daughter.

This week, Jake and Bob welcome John Edwards (Just a Guy in the Pew) back to the show to continue his story of conversion and the long journey of healing that followed. John opens up about what happened after his powerful encounter with Christ in a jail cell, including the hard work of rebuilding trust with his wife and children, learning to be vulnerable, and surrendering control. He also talks about the struggle to reconcile with himself, especially the self-hatred and false identities that can remain even after receiving forgiveness from God and others. Through his story, John reminds us that conversion and healing is not a one-time event, but an ongoing invitation to allow Christ to transform every part of our lives.    Key Points: Radical conversion does not instantly repair the relationships damaged over years of destructive behavior. Simply stopping addictive behaviors is many times not enough for complete healing. This is because deeper wounds like selfishness and self-focus also need to be healed. Life is not ultimately about ourselves but about loving and serving the people God had entrusted to us. Self-reliance, control, and selfishness are not merely struggles unique to addicts but can quietly affect the lives of many people. Vulnerability is not weakness but an act of courage that allows a person to acknowledge the truth about himself and receive help. Reconciliation reveals God not as an angry judge waiting to punish us but as a loving Father who desires our good and wants to walk with us. The reconciliation of our relationships requires us to examine our own responsibility rather than waiting for other people to change. Reconciling with ourselves requires confronting the lies that attack our identity and continually renewing our minds with the truth of who God says we are. Self-forgiveness is essential because refusing to receive God's forgiveness for ourselves can keep us bound to the identity of our past. Resources: Power Made Perfect by John Edwards Just a Guy in The Pew Website Redeemed Men's Retreat with the JPII Healing Center Episode 149: Healing in Men (Part 1) w/ John Edwards   Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:10 John's Unmasking 07:18 The One Priest Who Changed His Life 12:06 From Self-Focus to Self-Gift 19:41 The Courage to Become Vulnerable 26:20 Reconciliation with God 33:51 Reconciling with Yourself 37:28 Breaking the Voice of Self Hatred 49:11 The Long Road to Rebuilding Trust 57:30 Finding Freedom from Addiction   Connect with Restore the Glory:  Instagram: @restoretheglorypodcast  Twitter: @RestoreGloryPod Facebook: Restore the Glory Podcast   Never miss out on an episode by hitting the subscribe button right now! Help other people find the show and grow in holiness by sharing this podcast with them individually or on your social media. Thanks!

Because of the fall, we are all born alienated from God, which includes being alienated from the image of God and the knowledge of God. God has to reconcile our conscience, our heart and its affections, and our will in order to bring us back to Him. If we continue in the faith, He will be able to present us holy, unpolluted, and having no guilt attached to us before Him in heaven. VF-2273 Colossians 1:21-23 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith Center in Glendale. Call 1-800-338-3030 24x7 to leave a message for Pastor Scott. You may make reservations to attend a live service, leave a prayer request or make a commitment. Pastor Scott appreciates messages and reads them often during live broadcasts. Follow @Pastor_Scott on Twitter and visit her official Facebook page @Pastor.M.Scott. Download Pastor Scott's "Understand the Bible" app for iPhone, iPad and iPod at the Apple App Store and for Android devices in the Google Store. Pastor Scott can also be seen 24x7 on Roku and Amazon Fire on the "Understand the Bible?" channel. ©2026 Pastor Melissa Scott, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Read OnlineThe Power of His WordAfter Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. Luke 4:38–39In today's Gospel, we encounter the first mention of Simon—whose name Jesus would later change to Peter—in Luke's account. Simon was likely present in the synagogue and witnessed Jesus cast out a demon from a possessed man. With a simple command, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”, Jesus revealed His divine authority. The people were astonished and exclaimed, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out” (Luke 4:35–36).Having seen His authority firsthand, Simon presumably spoke to Jesus about his mother-in-law, who was suffering from a severe fever. It is striking to imagine the moment of Simon's first personal encounter with the Lord. Though Jesus, in His divine foresight, knew what Simon would one day become—the first pope entrusted with the spiritual authority of Heaven—Simon himself could not have foreseen how radically his life was about to change.Upon entering Simon's home, Jesus rebuked the fever. The Greek word used here, epitimaō, is the same word used in the previous passage when Jesus rebuked the demon. This deliberate parallel reveals that both the spiritual and physical realms are subject to Jesus' command. What He rebuked were real evils and disorders: demonic possession as a violation of the soul and the fever as a natural affliction of the body.Later in this Gospel passage, Jesus continues healing many who are sick and casting out demons. Once again, He rebukes the demons, silencing them and forbidding them to speak. Though they cry out, “You are the Son of God,” Jesus does not permit them to bear witness to Him. He has no need of demons to proclaim His identity. His revelation will come in His time, by His own design, especially through the Cross and Resurrection.Jesus' rebukes, whether uttered by a word, expressed through a gesture, or conveyed by His mere presence, are divine actions against evil. They are not expressions of wishful hope, but authoritative, efficacious commands. What He speaks comes to be. His word is not just powerful; it accomplishes what it declares.Understanding this is foundational to our life of faith and our spiritual journey. When we turn to Christ with trust, we must believe that His word has the power to heal, to free, and to transform. He does not speak in vain. His authority extends to every dimension of our lives, body, soul, and spirit, and He desires to restore all that has been wounded by sin, suffering, or disorder.One of the most tangible and powerful ways this takes place today is through the words of absolution spoken by the priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a spiritual authority first given to Simon Peter and passed down through apostolic succession. The words of absolution are Christ's words, words that rebuke sin and its effects, restoring the soul to grace and peace. They are divine actions that accomplish what they signify.Though the words of absolution may be the clearest example, every Sacrament—Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony—conveys God's grace and power through the efficacious word and action of Christ.Reflect today on your own trust in the power of Jesus' word. Do you believe He can rebuke the disorders in your life with divine authority? Do you turn to Him with confidence in the Sacraments, knowing that what He speaks, He accomplishes? Surrender all that afflicts you to the power of His Word, and allow Him to restore you to grace, relying especially on the sacramental authority given to Simon Peter and exercised by the priests who have followed after. My authoritative Lord, when You speak, what You speak comes to be. Speak to me, Lord. Rebuke my sin and weakness, so that Your holy will may be accomplished in my life. Let me hear Your voice, especially in the Sacraments through which Your mercy is poured forth and Your power is made manifest. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Christ Healing the Mother of Simon Peter's Wife, by John BridgesSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Genesis 32v22-32 with Tyler Staton What does it mean to wrestle with God well? Jacob's struggle reveals that bringing our deepest fears, desires, and resistance to God can lead us somewhere we could never reach through control alone: toward surrender, healing, and the courage to reconcile with what has been broken.   Bridgetown.church/teaching   

What happens when God shows you something about yourself you don't want to see?Our instinct is often to defend.Explain.Distract ourselves.Push it away.But what if the uncomfortable truth is actually an invitation to transformation?In this reflection on Psalm 32, John Ortberg explores the relationship between pain, honesty, forgiveness, and genuine change.John begins personally, describing a conversation in which a longtime friend helped him recognize uncomfortable patterns of comparison, envy, and competition in himself.Instead of defending himself, John is learning to say:“Yep. That's me. God, I need Your help.”Psalm 32 describes the blessed person as someone “in whose spirit is no deceit.”Then John tells the extraordinary story of Tom Tarrants, a violent white supremacist and KKK terrorist who was imprisoned in Mississippi.In prison, Tarrants encountered the words of Jesus:“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”His life began to change.The man who once participated in racist terrorism eventually devoted himself to forgiveness, racial reconciliation, and serving the very people he once hated.How far can somebody fall and still be changed by God?Maybe much further than we imagine.So when your conscience shows you something today, don't immediately run.Don't defend.Don't hide.Ask:God, help me see the truth about myself.And then:Would You change me?In this episode:- Psalm 32 and honest confession- What happens when we become defensive- Dallas Willard on pain and reality- Why hiding the truth fragments us internally- David, Psalm 51, and forgiveness- The story of Tom Tarrants- Radical transformation from hatred to reconciliation- What it means to have “no deceit” in your spirit- How to respond to conviction- Why God's grace can change anyoneScriptures: Psalm 32 • Psalm 51 • Psalm 1 • Matthew 16:26 • 2 Samuel 11–12#Psalm32 #JohnOrtberg #Forgiveness #Psalms #Transformation #SpiritualFormation #Confession #ChristianFaith #Grace #BibleStudy

Genesis 31v17-32v1 with Nijay Gupta What happens when God's promises seem to take a completely different path than the one we expected? Through Jacob's long detour in Genesis, we are reminded that God is present even in the waiting, the disappointment, and the places where we cannot see what he is doing.   Bridgetown.church/teaching