Podcasts about remember matthew

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (717)-582-1951If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co...Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JON.INTRO1.NIV

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (717)-582-1951If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co...Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (717)-582-1951If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co...Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVXSpotify Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33NowMa5mgvKeYIRzJX0Hw?si=f6e3cabb2cda488e** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (717)-582-1951If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co...Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Choose Rest not Wrath - Matthew 11:20-30When the child of GodLooks into the word of GodAnd sees the Son of GodThey are transformed by the Spirit of GodInto the image of GodFor the glory of God-Warren WiersbeI brought up Warner Sallman's “Head of Christ” to point out that our image of Christ needs to be shaped by what we read of Jesus in the Bible, not in popular images of Jesus. In today's passage we find images that remind us that the Bible speaks of Him as being like BOTH a Lamb and a Lion.“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him (the Messiah) the iniquity of us all.” - Isaiah 53:6Jesus speaks stern words to those who won't repent - V. 20-24The people of this triangle of cities had seen Jesus work many mighty miracles, but Jesus denounced them because they did not repent and turn to Him. They wanted physical blessings, not Jesus' rule in their life.Woe is a judgment word making us think of how unbelievers will fare on the Day of Judgment. In Matthew 23 Jesus “ROARS” woe to the hard-hearted Pharisees – but here it is used of people who had more exposure to His teaching and miracles than anyone else during His earthly ministry. His ROAR still needs to be heard by those who have often heard the gospel but refused to believe in Jesus and follow Him.The day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. - Jer. 47:4 (see also Ezekiel 26).Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and all surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. - Jude 1:7Earlier in Matthew we saw that God promises degrees of reward for Christians who love and serve God now. Remember Matthew 6:20, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.” Now we see that there will be degrees of punishment in Hell for those who never repent based on how much teaching they rejected (Revelation 20:11-15).Jesus speaks comforting words to those who come to Him - V. 25-30God would rather save people than judge them. God has to judge unrepentant rebels, but He would rather transfer their sins to the cross and forgive them.

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (717)-582-1951If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co...Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (717)-582-1951, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1951 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (717)-582-1082, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1082 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1082 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

THANKSGIVING SUNDAY SERVICE: JESUS - A Name Of Faith And Thanksgiving Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (717)-582-1082, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (717)-582-1082 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (717)-582-1082 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:      / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/brighterside-church/pl.u-mJy8r4EuaaxYVX ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:      / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Wednesday Night Bible Study: Job Series, Part 3: Job 10 - 16 (Job expresses his despair) Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

BRIGHTERSIDE CHURCH: 7AM Sunday, October 13 Church Service - The Mission Of God Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:      / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Summary: God resists the proud.That demon of pride was born with us, and it will not die one hour before us. None of us are invisible to this ancient enemy.Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6).Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ** HOW TO GIVE ** GIVE ONLINE: You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo.https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchGIVE BY CARD:You can text or call in with your amount and information to: (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comGIVE BY CHECK:You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo. EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us! Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.comCall Or Text: (814)-429-3790If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below:https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurchOur website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined! ▼ CREDITS ▼Music Videos Created By:LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon GingerichCINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon GingerichMusic Meets Heaven& Other names listed on the Music Videos"Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!" Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!!"We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!""We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!"DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms! Twitter/X: Brighter_churchPastor Austin's Personal Channel:    / @austinbender  Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY!The Sermon emphasizes the profound biblical perspective on pride and humility, highlighting the consequences of pride and the importance of humility in the eyes of God. It begins with the assertion that God resists the proud but extends grace to the humble, as stated in 1 Peter 5:5 and James 4:6. This theme is reinforced by the notion that God's love for humanity is so immense that He sent His Son, Jesus, to offer salvation, which underscores His disdain for sin, particularly pride.The Sermon outlines specific behaviors and attitudes that God detests, including pride, lying, violence, wicked scheming, and conflict. It references Proverbs 6:16-19, which lists these detestable actions, and illustrates how pride can lead to one's downfall, as seen in the biblical account of Nebuchadnezzar. The text further explains that pride was the original sin that led to the fall of Lucifer, transforming him into Satan, and it continues to be a pervasive issue among humanity.Three distinct forms of pride are identified: vanity, conceit, and arrogance. Vanity is characterized by a preoccupation with appearances and the need for external validation. Conceit involves an exaggerated sense of one's own virtues and accomplishments, often leading to a sense of superiority over others. Arrogance represents a self-sufficient attitude that disregards the opinions and achievements of others, embodying the pinnacle of pride.The text also discusses the characteristics of pride, noting its competitive nature, self-sufficiency, and propensity to foster envy and jealousy. It warns that pride can infiltrate the hearts of believers, leading them to believe they are self-sufficient and do not require God's grace. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

Thank you for joining Brighterside Church to worship and give Glory to our almighty Father Jesus Christ! I just want to remind you that God is overjoyed when his children come into the house of god. Remember Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ** HOW TO GIVE **  GIVE ONLINE:  You can give at our website which is below, the ways are listed on the side, they go as follows: Cash App or Venmo. https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.com/brightersidechurch GIVE BY CARD: You can text or call in with your amount and information to:  (814)-429-3790, or email pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com GIVE BY CHECK: You can send a picture of your FULLY FILLED IN and SIGNED check, checks MUST be signed and fully written our in correct manner. Make sure you write checks out to me AUSTIN BENDER. You can write gift in the memo.  EMAIL THEM: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com  TEXT THEM: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to give in another way please reach out to us!  Email: pastoraustinbsc@gmail.com Call Or Text: (814)-429-3790 If you would like to get more connected here at BSC you can visit our website which is linked below: https://austinluxurylife12.wixsite.co... Our website offers ways to give and sow a seed into our ministry, a forum for prayer requests, and our blog. Make sure to check it out if you feel inclined!  ▼ CREDITS ▼ Music Videos Created By: LYRIC VIDEO BY: Landon Gingerich CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Landon Gingerich Music Meets Heaven & Other names listed on the Music Videos "Give God Thanks In All Circumstances!"  Give all praise and glory to our great almighty Father!! "We worship the Lord every day, NOT Just On Sunday!" "We Are On The Brighterside because WE Are On God's Side!!" DON'T FORGET: Subscribe, and connect with us on our other platforms!  Twitter/X: Brighter_church Pastor Austin's Personal Channel:     / @austinbender   Pastor Austin's Personal Twitter/X: Auslynn7 SEE YOU ALL IN OUR NEXT WORSHIP SESSION! MAY GOD BLESS YOU & HAVE A GREAT DAY! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/austin-bender1/support

https://anchorbaptist1611.com/

Recorded by Ruben Quesada for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on November 27, 2023. www.poets.org

If you dont know who I am, my name is John Olive. I gave a message on False Conversion back in September during which I described my background in criminal justice. Im not a professional theologian, but I am a passionate one, and Ive been involved in a lot of ministry work over the past 20 years. Today I want to discuss the interaction between faith and works, which I have found to be an area of great confusion, especially among newer Christians. It is also one of the traps I fell into as a young Christian. Truthfully, much of what I preach about are related to my mistakes or character defects that God has allowed me to overcome. As a young man, I heard several sermons in Baptist churches that were centered around Ephesians 2:8-9, so lets start there. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. This is pretty clear, isnt it? And it is really, just that clear. Works dont save us; faith saves us. In all the sermons I recall on this passage, I dont remember anyone continuing on to verse 10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Before I discuss anything further, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word for workmanship. It is poiema. You and I are Gods poem to a lost world. Isnt that exciting? From our brokenness God recreates us as a skillfully woven story of redemption and restoration. I just love what that says about how God looks at us and what our mission is. Anyway, think about what Paul is saying. We are saved by grace through faith, so that we can do good works in this world that God prepared for us to do before we were even born. Saved, to do good works. Thats the Gospel message. Saved, to do. Not because doing saves us, but because real salvation produces action. Of course, any discussion of this topic must also address what James Chapter 2 has to say. James 2:14-26 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that[e] God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was[g] perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James is not telling us that works replace faith; rather, works complement faith. They flow from faith. We can see that Abraham believed God because he was willing to act upon the promise of God that he would have offspring through Isaac, and concluded that even if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promise. Thats real faith! We know this is what Abraham was thinking because the writer of Hebrews tells us so in Hebrews 11:17-19. Good works is a popular subject in New Testament letters. They show up in Ephesians, I Timothy, and II Timothy, among Pauls letters. They are also referenced in Hebrews, James, and I Peter Perhaps nowhere do we see such enthusiasm for good works as in Titus. First, we have Titus 2:11-15: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. These things speak and[d] exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you. To be zealous means to be devoted to, passionate about, a zealot. We want to be constantly thinking about how we can serve people with needs. Next, look at Titus 3:4-8: But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people. If we are New Testament Christians, we are to be devoted to performing good works, even though those good works dont save us. So, what are good works? The words in Greek are kalos ergon, meaning morally good action. This would include anything from healing the sick, raising the dead, or sharing the gospel with someone; to helping a child cross a street, assisting an older person to change a light bulb, or going grocery shopping for someone who is sick. We are serving humanity, and not just in spiritual ministry but also in practical aid. Now, lets look at one of Pauls letters addressed to believers who became confused about faith and works. In Galatians, we see congregations that were becoming confused by Judaizers. These were Jewish converts to Christianity, primarily in Jerusalem, who taught that indeed Jesus was the Messiah, and it was vital to believe in His work on the cross to be saved, but that was not sufficient. In addition, to be right with God, one had to adhere to Mosaic Covenant commands of obeying the Sabbath, honoring the dietary laws, and being circumcised. These Greek believers in the region of Galatia had begun their relationship with God by faith but were beginning to compromise the message of salvation by faith. As a young believer, I fell into a similar snare when I was 20 years old. For maybe six months, I was confused, thinking that while I started my salvation experience by faith, I was required to maintain it through obedience. Its true that obedience is a byproduct of faith, and a complete absence of obedience is inconsistent with salvation, but our obedience does not improve our righteousness with God. Our right standing with God is imputed or credited to us through our faith in the blood of Christ. I was a miserable human being. I constantly experienced a gnawing dread, because, after all, one can always study the Bible a little more, pray more, minister more. So, when is it enough? Its a treadmill without end and I was exhausted. One day as I was reading in Galatians in the Amplified Bible, I ran across these verses: Galatians 3:19-20 What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added, later on after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt because of transgressions and to make men more conscious of the sinfulness of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it (the Law) was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels (and was given) by the hand (in the person) of a go-between an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is only one person and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel: its validity was dependent on both. In that moment, God clearly revealed to me my error. I had fallen into the trap of becoming a party to a contract, rather than a recipient of a unilateral promise. The relief I experienced was overwhelming and I wept in gratitude. Why is works-based salvation so appealing? Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is very hard on the ego. Most of us struggle accepting free gifts that we cannot reciprocate. We dont feel right if we dont do something to earn it. But God wont allow that. Remember Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those poor in spirit are essentially beggars. They accept that they are dependent upon the assistance of others. Grace is like that. We have a need that we cant meet and have to depend totally on God. That hurts our pride. But Judaizers of old, and modern-day Judaizers such as Jehovahs Witness, LDS and Seventh-Day Adventists appeal to the fleshly nature to blend grace and works so we can feel good about ourselves and dupe us into believing we are at least partly saving ourselves. Paul makes it abundantly clear that if we attempt to mix grace and works, we have abandoned salvation by grace and become debtors to the Law: Galatians 5:2-4 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Now, I personally am circumcised, and most males born in western societies are also for health reasons. What Paul is talking about is being circumcised in order to fulfill a requirement of the Mosaic Law so these Greeks would be right with God. But Paul tells them that if they get circumcised and proclaim that the shed blood of Christ is not sufficient, then they cant stop there but must fulfill every requirement of the Law, which, of course, is impossible. They have left grace behind, and have been severed, or cut off, from Christ. So, we see this is an extremely serious matter. We cannot blend faith and works to be right with God. It must be faith alone. But maybe you think you are so well versed in Christian doctrine as to be immune from any hint of achieving righteousness by works. Perhaps you are, but consider this: Have you ever hesitated in praying to God because you have had a bad day or a bad week, thinking that God is not likely to hear your prayer because you have been out of His will? Even though you confess your sin and repent, you still feel unworthy to ask God for something. If so, you have unwittingly fallen into a works-based approach to Gods presence, thinking that your ability to come to the throne of grace is somehow dependent upon your obedience. That is a subtle form of righteousness by works and must be recognized and rejected. We come to God boldly, based on Christs shed blood, and never by our obedience or lack of it. The more we grow, the more subtle become the attacks of Satan. Lets not kid ourselves into thinking we cant be deceived if we let our guard down.

If you dont know who I am, my name is John Olive. I gave a message on False Conversion back in September during which I described my background in criminal justice. Im not a professional theologian, but I am a passionate one, and Ive been involved in a lot of ministry work over the past 20 years. Today I want to discuss the interaction between faith and works, which I have found to be an area of great confusion, especially among newer Christians. It is also one of the traps I fell into as a young Christian. Truthfully, much of what I preach about are related to my mistakes or character defects that God has allowed me to overcome. As a young man, I heard several sermons in Baptist churches that were centered around Ephesians 2:8-9, so lets start there. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. This is pretty clear, isnt it? And it is really, just that clear. Works dont save us; faith saves us. In all the sermons I recall on this passage, I dont remember anyone continuing on to verse 10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Before I discuss anything further, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word for workmanship. It is poiema. You and I are Gods poem to a lost world. Isnt that exciting? From our brokenness God recreates us as a skillfully woven story of redemption and restoration. I just love what that says about how God looks at us and what our mission is. Anyway, think about what Paul is saying. We are saved by grace through faith, so that we can do good works in this world that God prepared for us to do before we were even born. Saved, to do good works. Thats the Gospel message. Saved, to do. Not because doing saves us, but because real salvation produces action. Of course, any discussion of this topic must also address what James Chapter 2 has to say. James 2:14-26 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that[e] God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was[g] perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James is not telling us that works replace faith; rather, works complement faith. They flow from faith. We can see that Abraham believed God because he was willing to act upon the promise of God that he would have offspring through Isaac, and concluded that even if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promise. Thats real faith! We know this is what Abraham was thinking because the writer of Hebrews tells us so in Hebrews 11:17-19. Good works is a popular subject in New Testament letters. They show up in Ephesians, I Timothy, and II Timothy, among Pauls letters. They are also referenced in Hebrews, James, and I Peter Perhaps nowhere do we see such enthusiasm for good works as in Titus. First, we have Titus 2:11-15: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. These things speak and[d] exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you. To be zealous means to be devoted to, passionate about, a zealot. We want to be constantly thinking about how we can serve people with needs. Next, look at Titus 3:4-8: But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people. If we are New Testament Christians, we are to be devoted to performing good works, even though those good works dont save us. So, what are good works? The words in Greek are kalos ergon, meaning morally good action. This would include anything from healing the sick, raising the dead, or sharing the gospel with someone; to helping a child cross a street, assisting an older person to change a light bulb, or going grocery shopping for someone who is sick. We are serving humanity, and not just in spiritual ministry but also in practical aid. Now, lets look at one of Pauls letters addressed to believers who became confused about faith and works. In Galatians, we see congregations that were becoming confused by Judaizers. These were Jewish converts to Christianity, primarily in Jerusalem, who taught that indeed Jesus was the Messiah, and it was vital to believe in His work on the cross to be saved, but that was not sufficient. In addition, to be right with God, one had to adhere to Mosaic Covenant commands of obeying the Sabbath, honoring the dietary laws, and being circumcised. These Greek believers in the region of Galatia had begun their relationship with God by faith but were beginning to compromise the message of salvation by faith. As a young believer, I fell into a similar snare when I was 20 years old. For maybe six months, I was confused, thinking that while I started my salvation experience by faith, I was required to maintain it through obedience. Its true that obedience is a byproduct of faith, and a complete absence of obedience is inconsistent with salvation, but our obedience does not improve our righteousness with God. Our right standing with God is imputed or credited to us through our faith in the blood of Christ. I was a miserable human being. I constantly experienced a gnawing dread, because, after all, one can always study the Bible a little more, pray more, minister more. So, when is it enough? Its a treadmill without end and I was exhausted. One day as I was reading in Galatians in the Amplified Bible, I ran across these verses: Galatians 3:19-20 What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added, later on after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt because of transgressions and to make men more conscious of the sinfulness of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it (the Law) was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels (and was given) by the hand (in the person) of a go-between an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is only one person and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel: its validity was dependent on both. In that moment, God clearly revealed to me my error. I had fallen into the trap of becoming a party to a contract, rather than a recipient of a unilateral promise. The relief I experienced was overwhelming and I wept in gratitude. Why is works-based salvation so appealing? Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is very hard on the ego. Most of us struggle accepting free gifts that we cannot reciprocate. We dont feel right if we dont do something to earn it. But God wont allow that. Remember Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those poor in spirit are essentially beggars. They accept that they are dependent upon the assistance of others. Grace is like that. We have a need that we cant meet and have to depend totally on God. That hurts our pride. But Judaizers of old, and modern-day Judaizers such as Jehovahs Witness, LDS and Seventh-Day Adventists appeal to the fleshly nature to blend grace and works so we can feel good about ourselves and dupe us into believing we are at least partly saving ourselves. Paul makes it abundantly clear that if we attempt to mix grace and works, we have abandoned salvation by grace and become debtors to the Law: Galatians 5:2-4 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Now, I personally am circumcised, and most males born in western societies are also for health reasons. What Paul is talking about is being circumcised in order to fulfill a requirement of the Mosaic Law so these Greeks would be right with God. But Paul tells them that if they get circumcised and proclaim that the shed blood of Christ is not sufficient, then they cant stop there but must fulfill every requirement of the Law, which, of course, is impossible. They have left grace behind, and have been severed, or cut off, from Christ. So, we see this is an extremely serious matter. We cannot blend faith and works to be right with God. It must be faith alone. But maybe you think you are so well versed in Christian doctrine as to be immune from any hint of achieving righteousness by works. Perhaps you are, but consider this: Have you ever hesitated in praying to God because you have had a bad day or a bad week, thinking that God is not likely to hear your prayer because you have been out of His will? Even though you confess your sin and repent, you still feel unworthy to ask God for something. If so, you have unwittingly fallen into a works-based approach to Gods presence, thinking that your ability to come to the throne of grace is somehow dependent upon your obedience. That is a subtle form of righteousness by works and must be recognized and rejected. We come to God boldly, based on Christs shed blood, and never by our obedience or lack of it. The more we grow, the more subtle become the attacks of Satan. Lets not kid ourselves into thinking we cant be deceived if we let our guard down.

Happy Thanksgiving! Today the girls are chatting about Friends: The One with All the Thanksgivings (aka the one where Monica dances with a turkey on her head.) They chat about the making of the iconic show, the cast, and Matthew Perry's life and legacy.  Find Matthew Perry's book ⁠here⁠. Matthew Perry Foundation: https://matthewperryfoundation.org/ Follow us on social! Instagram: ⁠@whatwerewatchingpod⁠TikTok: @whatwerewatchingpod

This brand new series for November will show us that in the kingdom we are taught that, we tremendously influence the outcomes we experience. We co-labor with God. In the kingdom where ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE you can participate in shaping the reality you experience. A significant key is how you LOOK at things. We participate with Christ in causing specific outcomes to happen. Remember Matthew 16:19, "Whatever you loose in heaven is loose on earth . . ."

Dr. Bob Thompson, Professor of Pop Culture has the latest entertainment news including the R&R Hall of Fame induction ceremony and Super Bowl commercials? Already?

Jesus Prepares His Disciples Part 1   Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 23 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we look briefly at Jesus preparing His disciples for the coming few days when He will depart from them. John 15:1-16 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another. Jesus and His disciples are now in Jerusalem. They had a triumphant entry. Jesus is saying goodbye to His disciples and giving them some final teaching before He departs. Several times He has told them He is leaving them and going away (John 13:33; John 14:3-4, 19, 28). His departure from them involved him being arrested, betrayed, condemned and crucified. Jesus was going away to die, be raised to life and ascend back to the Father. As usual Jesus uses Old Testament language. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel is often described as a vine (Jeremiah 2:21; Psalm 80). However as a vine, Israel had not produced fruit that God had expected. With Jesus describing Himself as the true Vine, the implication is clear that the nation of Israel was but an imperfect precursor to His perfect self. With Jesus as the vine, his disciples are the branches, and will draw spiritual nourishment from Him. As part of this nourishment, sometimes pruning is required. Cleansing is also required in order that fruit be borne from the disciples. They were cleansed of sin through faith in Jesus and His teaching. The disciples are to remain in Jesus! How are they do that? They are to be obedient to Him. This included regularly confessing outstanding sins to God and participating in the Lord's Supper. Jesus tells his disciples these things so His joy may live in them. Peace and joy would be twins within his disciples if they stayed faithful to Jesus. For when in the very near future, Jesus has departed back to God the Father, His disciples have to prove they really are His disciples. In order for this to happen, Jesus commands them they are to continue loving Him and also to sacrificially love others joyfully (John 15:12-14). Jesus would prove His love for His disciples by laying down his life for them when he goes to the cross. That is the greatest love. This is to be Jesus' disciples' mission statement, and if they live this out, they will bear much good fruit for God's greater glory (John 15:8). Note that Jesus now calls them His friends. He calls them his friends because that is what they are. Jesus has made known to them all He has learned from the Father. There was more to teach them, but they would have to wait for the Holy Spirit in order to be able to bear that teaching. Jesus had chosen each of them to follow Him. Remember Matthew the tax collector? Jesus commanded him to follow – and Matthew did. That is one example. It is to the glory of God, that we in the 21st century if we are followers of Jesus, that Jesus' disciples did as they were commanded to by Jesus. Come back tomorrow for Day 24 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! We shall see together Jesus continuing to prepare His disciples for when He leaves them! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file

Second Date Update: The one where we remember Matthew Perry...  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Second Date Update: The one where we remember Matthew Perry...  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexis had a home invasion over the weekend: A flying squirrel! How long did it take her get it out of her bathroom? And we remember the late Matthew Perry: The "Friends" phenomenon, his immense talent off-screen, and celebrity tributes. And get ready to laugh with some hilarious "Friends" Chandler Bing moments! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AITA: For wearing a graphic t-shirt to my friend's wedding? Holly has the Dirt Alert; "Vanity Fair's" Bravo expose and what is up with "Snow White?!" We call Bea Arthur to tell her about Alexis' classic moment with a flying squirrel, Jason's baby bat encounter, and we remember the late, great Matthew Perry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 28th, 2023, the world lost the brilliant and talented Matthew Perry. In addition to his incredible work on Friends, Matthew was also a fierce advocate for those struggling with addiction, and spent much of his time helping addicts in need of guidance. In this episode, Chloe and Katie speak off-the-cuff about his tragic passing and reminisce about their all time favorite Chandler Bing moments. They also briefly touch on "The One With The Invitations", a Ross/Rachel centered clip show. Follow us on social media: @cuckooforchlochlopuffs @littlebabykates --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chloe-r5/message

Here are some sermon notes that might help any who want to study this further! As we saw in the previous chapter, Jericho was the last leg of Jesus' journey towards Jerusalem. However, more or less on the outskirts of Jerusalem there are two villages, Bethphage and Bethany. Perhaps the people standing by or the owner understood ‘The Lord' to be ‘God', but quite possibly they also understood that ‘The Lord' was Jesus! Some have suggested that this was a prearranged ‘password' or ‘codeword', but it is more likely that it is the evidence of God Sovereignly ruling in every detail of life! We do need to be aware of the account of this event in Mk.11:1-6; Lk.19:28-34; John 12:12-16, because they don't mention two animals – the colt or foal and its mother, whereas Matthew does. Remember Matthew wrote this maybe 30 years after these events telling us that these events were the fulfilment of a combination of Isa.62:11 and Zech.9:9, as you see in your Bible. There are slight differences in the text, and Matthew leaves out the line ‘He is just and having salvation', but he gets to the main point of emphasis – ‘Lowly, and sitting on a donkey', and even specifically – ‘A colt, the foal of a donkey' (Matt.21:5, quoting Zech.9:9, from the penultimate book of our Old Testament). Now you can't get any more specific than that can you? Why this is important is because of typical Jewish expectations of their Messiah riding on a white horse, or something, coming in as a King to Rule and Reign! And yet here He comes ‘riding on a donkey's foal'! But to those who knew what was happening, it was a deliberate fulfilment and an enacting of prophesy so that who knew the Scriptures would... Read More The post Matt 21 Pt.1- Jesus' Triumphal Entry! appeared first on Living Rock Church.

From our series called How to Make A Disciple on the great commission in Matthew 20.16-20, a sermon called Remember on the command to "remember that I am with you always until the very end," preached by Rev. Howard Dudley at First Presbyterian Church of Dunn, North Carolina on World Communion Sunday, October 1st, 2023.

Remember Matthew, the tax collector from the Bible, who completely transformed his life when he followed Jesus? That's the kind of life-altering shift we're delving into today. We examine the profound change that occurs when one chooses to answer Jesus' call, mirroring it with Matthew's divine interaction. This episode brings to light the essence of the Christian life - hearing Jesus, believing in Him, and following His path. It's an exploration of evangelism, understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in drawing people towards Jesus, and the accountability we hold in accepting or rejecting His divine call.We discuss how responding to Jesus' divine call can trigger a 'great rearranging' in our lives, irrespective of our spiritual standing. This episode is an opportunity to see the precarious decision between faith and rejection, and comprehend the transformative power of accepting Jesus' call. The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're excited to be under construction on a brand new building in our hometown of King, NC. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!

Tune in to a stand-alone message from Senior Pastor Derrick Bledsoe! 

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your holy scriptures, and we thank you that all of the counsel of God is given to us as revelation, and all of it is profitable. Lord, we thank you that some texts that we come across are encouraging, and some are edifying, and some come as a warning that there is judgment, there is corruption that we will reap if we sow folly, if we sow to the flesh. But when we sow to the Spirit, when we sow repentance and humility, when we sow desperation, when we stand under the Word of God with trepidation and contrition of heart, Lord, you speak to us and you meet us right where we are.Lord, if there's anyone caught in the thick of sin today, if anyone is not yet a Christian, or is not living a victorious life as a conqueror, I pray today, Lord, give us the power and give us the grace to repent, leave our sins, turn from them, turn to you, and give us power to fight the good fight by the power of the Spirit. Holy Spirit, we love you, we welcome you. Help us understand this text, illuminate it for us, and lighten our minds and hearts, and also help us see your incredible love and grace toward us. Jesus, we thank you that you died on the cross for our sins. We deserve that death, we deserve that condemnation. We thank you that you rose for our forgiveness, and we thank you that you do give us grace. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.Amen.We're continuing our sermon series through Genesis 37 through 50. We're entitling it Graduate Level Grace: A Study in the Life of Joseph. We will never graduate from needing grace, but there are some seasons where we need an extra level, extra dose, measure of grace, grownup grace for grownup situations. That's what the series is about. Today, we are in Genesis 38. The title is Weak Men Create Hard Times. In Genesis 37, we see that Joseph has been sold into slavery by his brothers. The story of Joseph ends at the end of 37, we come back to him at the beginning of 39.But here we get chapter 38, and at first reading it seems like just an excursus. It sounds like some sort of sordid regression, digression. It's weird, it's lurid. I actually came across a wonderful commentary, just brilliant in its analysis of the Hebrew, all the hermeneutic, exegetical stuff, and at the end of the commentary, the chapter, he gives homiletical tips, homiletical purposes. And then he has one sentence and he said, "This chapter has no homiletical purposes. Do not preach this chapter. Under any circumstances, do not even touch this chapter."We believe all scripture's God-breathed and profitable. If the text is here, it's here for a reason. John Calvin, in the Institutes, commenting on the doctrine of election, but that comment applies here as well about difficult texts and difficult doctrines. He says the following, "Lest we seem to scarf at the Holy Spirit for publishing what we ought to suppress." He said, be careful looking at these texts and shunning them, because in doing so, you are suppressing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decided to include precisely this chapter, precisely here. Why?Well, it will only become clear later, but when it does, we'll see that chapter 38 is fundamental to understanding the entire redemptive arc of Jacob's family. To truly understand the climax of the story, where Joseph forgives his brothers, welcomes them into his presence, to truly understand that moment, to truly see how amazing God's grace was on this family of sinners, we must work our way through this most sordid chapter in the Bible, as one commentator put it. This is God's Word, it's part of the counsel of God, and we love scripture, even when it's messy. And I commend you, Mosaic, that you are a church that welcomes even the difficult text; that you do not bristle against difficult texts, because we believe it's God's Word.At first glance, it appears that this chapter has nothing to do with the story of Joseph. It's almost as if the text shows us that God had to get Joseph away from his family and the corrupting influence of his older brothers and Canaan. But the story of Joseph is a story of his family, the whole family, and the redemption of Joseph begins with the redemption of his family, and this was God's plan for redeeming humanity. If you remember in Genesis 12, God's plan to redeem humanity was started with Him choosing Abraham, and saying, "I'm going to bless you with a family, and through your family, I'm going to provide a means of blessing for all the families."This is Genesis 12:1-2. "Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."" God said, "I'm going to bless you, and through your family is going to come the Messiah, who's going to bless all of the families from whom blessing can be found." So we learn here in the beginning as we look at this family, and it's very messy, it's very dysfunctional, very broken. We say, "Where's the blessing?" It doesn't look like a blessed family. And what we learn is that having a blessed family is a lot of work. It takes a lot of grace, it takes a lot of graduate level grace.In this chapter, we take a break from Joseph to learn about his older brother, Judah. In many ways, a wicked man we're about to see. But here I do want to offer a glimpse of good news, because as we're making our way through the chapter, you're like, "Oh, I can't believe, this is terrible, this is so discouraging." Let me just show you. There is encouragement that comes, and it comes in the fact that Judah is redeemed at the end of the story. So much so, that it will be from Judah that will come the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. It's from Judah that we get the Messiah, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed. Judah's story ends with such honor, distinction, blessing.But here in this chapter, he's despicable, thoroughly disreputable, utterly blind to his own sin, treating others with contempt and cruelty. He's a member of the chosen family of God, covenant family, but that means nothing to him. And the God of his family means nothing to him either. He forgets Yahweh and his familial identity. He's a man living as he pleases, driven by his lust, not led by his faith. We see him as a hard-hearted man, a callous man getting worse by the year. He sells his brother into slavery, makes his way down to the idol-worshiping Canaanites, raises sons who are so evil that God has to execute them while they're relatively young. He arranges marriages for his sons with pagan women, and he lies to his daughter-in-law, and then ends up lying with her.However, Judah ends up as the patriarch of the family, replacing Jacob, not Joseph. Judah is the one who's chosen to lead this family, but here he's revealed to be weak in faith, and therefore responsible for much of the pain in the lives of those closest to him. It's only when he realizes his sin, his wickedness, when sin becomes sin to him, when God orchestrates the public exposure of his sin, that we see that Judah does repent, and there is a turning, and there is the beginning of a change. Before we see how suffering strengthened Joseph's faith and forged his character, we see how Judah's weak faith corrupted his character and caused suffering to his family. Before God redeems this family, He reveals their moral corruption, and before He saves them from famine, He saves them from their sin.To frame up our time, I'm going to use Galatians 6:8-7. There's a timeless principle here, implacable. It says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." So four points to frame up our time as we walk through the text together. First, Judah sows to his own flesh. Second, Judah reaps corruption. Third, Judah sows to the Spirit. And fourth, Judah reaps eternal life, even Judah.So here first, Judah sows to his own flesh. This is Genesis 38:1. "It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah." So, here the language is indicative of spiritual disintegration, spiraling down, turning aside from the straight and narrow. Perhaps it's because after selling Joseph into slavery, Judah could not bear to live in the presence of his father, who's still mourning. And his father Jacob thought that Joseph was truly dead, and he was still in mourning. How could a man live like that, knowing that his father believed this lie? He couldn't be around his brothers. So we see the covenant family is disintegrating. There's no transcendent value of holding the family together. And the time that passes in Genesis 38 is probably around 22 years. And the events of this chapter span the time that Joseph is in Egypt. So Joseph is sold into Egypt, he's in captivity in prison for about 13 years, and then he's promoted, and then's seven years of plenty, and then two years of famine. And then that's when the family goes to meet Joseph.So Genesis 38:2... Oh, a word about this guy, Hirah the Adullamite. We're not told much about him, we just know that he is not a worshiper of Yahweh. And later on, we do see that Judah, with Hirah, they go and they partake of sin. So what happens is Judah leaves his family that potentially held him accountable to the faith, and now he goes and he just hangs out with this pagan. This is his party friend, so to speak, Hirah. So this is what he's doing, walking away from the Lord.And then verse two, "There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and he went into her." Evidently, the text shows us it's lust at first sight. They have a union that's based on physical chemistry, not principle. Certainly there wasn't a mutual faith in God, or a shared vision for life, reality, meaning, purpose, children, how to raise children, et cetera. The language here describes the relationship, and the language is very minimalist, it's abrupt. And we see the combination of "he saw" and "he took". Same language that's used in Genesis 3, where Eve sees and she takes the fruit of the forbidden tree. Same language here. Judah approaches sexuality and he approaches family in the same way that Esau did; with God completely out of the equation.Genesis 26:34, "When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." And then in Genesis 27:46, "Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"" We know that trouble is in store the minute that Judah goes out to find a woman of the land, as the text says, a woman of the world, a Canaanite, a woman that wasn't raised in the faith and has nothing to do with Yahweh, doesn't think of Yahweh. Yahweh's not precious to her.Samson did the same thing in Judges 14:1-3, "Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes."" Driven just by superficial, just by the physical, and just by lust.Our passage in Genesis 38 doesn't even give us the woman's name, she's just described as Shua's daughter. All Jacob's sons had long known, from Abraham, from Isaac, they all knew that they should not, and that they're forbidden of marrying pagan women. Abraham had solemnly charged his servant, Eliezer, in Genesis 24:3, it says, "that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell." When Isaac sent Jacob off to Mesopotamia, he called Jacob and he blessed him. This is Genesis 28:1, "Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women."" So Judah, and Judah by the way, is Jacob's fourth-born son, but he now occupies the place of birthright, because his three older brothers sinned so egregiously against their father... Judah should have known better, that he is not to marry a woman who is not a worshiper of Yahweh.And the same principle applies to us today. The apostle Paul in the New Testament sets forth in the plainest language possible. 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?" This is a biblical principle from the very beginning to the Book of Revelation, all throughout scripture, over and over, we see warnings that believers are not to marry unbelievers. Why? Because there's no yoke that is more of a yoke than that of marriage. He sows folly to the flesh, and story continues. Verse three. "And she conceived in bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him."All this should be cause for celebration, but Judah's weak faith is transferred to his wife, and he's out of the picture. She does the naming of the sons, not him. And then their weak faith is transferred to their sons. Lesson here is obvious, first of all, don't marry unbelievers. Second of all, when it comes to children, fathers, you are the faith thermostat in your household. Fathers, you set the faith thermostat in your household. And faith is to be taught to our children. We are to disciple them in the faith, that is commanded. We don't let our children choose the faith. No, we give them the worldview, teach them the scriptures. But faith is not just taught and must be caught. And usually, faith is caught from the father.And the children see, "Dad, you're teaching me this, but do you really believe it? Dad, you say I am to love God, but do you love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind?" Are you interested in the things of God? Are you passionate about God? Are you excited about God? Is God a priority to you? Do you build your life around God? Children see all of that. What do men get passionate about nowadays? Men get passionate about sports. I haven't mentioned sports in a while, because I've been bored. I've been bored with the sports team in Boston, but last night, come on in. I heard it was good. I didn't watch. I work on Sunday mornings. But ESPN tells me that we won in 104 to 103. I don't care how you care, I don't. It doesn't matter if you care about the Cs, the Celtics. Man, the passion, the passion that you see for a leather ball going into a basket. The passion that you see for something that's absolutely meaningless, it's fun, but it's meaningless. And I'm not knocking the passion, like it's fun.But can we, men of God, fathers, we have that same passion, even a modicum of that passion, when it comes to sharing our faith with our loved ones? Judah did not have that passion for God, and a lack of a passion of God, for God, faith for God, it was transferred to his sons, unfortunately. So Judah does reap corruption. We see this in verse six. "And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death." Er, the name Er, is evil spelled backwards in Hebrew. So, here we see that Judah probably didn't play a part in naming his son. If he didn't name his son, probably didn't care for his son.There's a play on words here, of course, and one commentator seeks to bring it out in the English by translating the text as "Er erred." He made an error. The Lord does kill people sometimes, even believers. He takes their life. There is a sin unto death, even in our age. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 11, where it says that some have fallen asleep in Corinth because they have profaned the Lord's supper. They were just going through the motions, and taking communion, and they weren't thinking of the suffering of Christ. So here, God does take the life of Er.In verse eight, "Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."" So this is a custom called a levirate marriage from the Latin word levir, L-E-V-I-R, which means brother-in-law. This was later incorporated into the Mosaic Law, showing it has approbation of God, and it was a fixed custom already in this culture. That's why the phrase, "perform your duty as a brother-in-law" is a single verb in the Hebrew. And the system was designed to preserve the name of the brother and also his inheritance. So by this custom, Tamar's first child, though sired by Onan, or supposed to be sired by Owen, would legally be born to Er, and heirs were bear his name and receive his property. So the son would not be Onan's son, and he would not get the firstborn privileges. This was a sacred obligation, that's the word. The word duty is used, and it was to protect the widow as much as it was to make sure that the man's name wasn't blotted out of Israel.Now, Onan married Tamar, but he refused his duty, his responsibility, because he wanted the right of the firstborn for himself. So he's driven by greed and he's driven by selfishness. He doesn't care of the things of God, of the law of God, he doesn't care what his father tells him to do. Onan, in many respects, is very much like his father, Judah. So Genesis 38:9. "But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death also." The word "whenever" is used, so he committed the sin unto death through his persistence, he just kept sinning, and it's a serious thing to sin persistently against the Lord God.So, first two sons are dead, and there's no mention of Judah's grief over the death of his sons, which, if you contrast that with Jacob, was inconsolable in his grief over what he thought was the death of his son Joseph. So here, this man is unfeeling. He's presented as callous and heartless. It's the same man that at the end of the chapter, he would call for his daughter-in-law to be burned for the sin that he also partook in. This is the same man, of course, whose idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery to make some money.Genesis 38:11, the text continues, "Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up." For he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father's house." So, Judah doesn't believe in Yahweh, but still, you got to believe in something. So here, he's superstitious. Instead of realizing, "Oh, my God has judged my sons." Instead of taking that responsibility upon himself, that, "I did not raise these boys well." No, he blames everything on Tamar. He thinks that she's cursed, hexed, he thinks that she's the problem. So he sends her off to her father's house for protection, until, he says, my third son grows up and then you guys will get married. So he puts her off.Now, in the backdrop of this tale, we see, and this is next chapter, in Genesis 39, we see that Joseph's character is contrasted, his priorities stand out strikingly against the description of Judah and his sons. Especially if you think about Joseph being tempted by Potiphar's wife, that's next week. And then he flees from that sexual temptation. Here, his older brother goes head first into it. And what we see in this text is that every single one of the people that we meet are working their own angle, they've got their own agenda. Judah's got his own, Tamar's got her own, Onan has his own, whereas Joseph's priorities are to honor his God.So, Genesis 38:12. "In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." She took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage." So, the whole section of verses 12-26, this whole section and the plot here, revolves around Tamar's rights to be the mother of Judah's heir. She was the wife of his firstborn, and she had the right to be the mother of the heir to Judah.So she sees a window of opportunity, it comes when her father-in-law, Judah himself, becomes a widower, and she knows his character. She discerned that he is a man who does frequent prostitutes. He would consort with a prostitute. And she knew that after he was comforted over the death of his wife, he would seek female comfort elsewhere. Tamar also knew that he would be sheep shearing, and she knew that he was friends with Hirah, and she knew what kind of character Hirah had. And Tamar, as a Canaanite, also knew that cultic prostitutes would be out selling their services as fertility magic, to ensure the growth of fields and herds. And in a flash, she disguises herself as a prostitute and seizes the opportunity to produce a child for her departed husband.What do you think the text is telling us here? What do you think Moses is telling the people of God through this text? Well, Moses is giving you his clear judgment on the morality of this passage. And by sandwiching this passage between Genesis 37 and 39, he's showing us the incredible character of Joseph and his morality. Incredible contrast. What happened to Judah? And this is what Moses wants the people of God to know and wrestle with. What happened to this guy? He grew up in a household of Jacob, and Jacob probably shared all the stories of God's work and his life, God's miracles. He knew about Yahweh, what happened to him? Well, it's not that Judah just lost his faith, it's that he was sucked into a culture that was absolutely opposed to God. It was the Canaanite culture. He was sucked into their value system, their lifestyle. The practices of the Canaanites became his practices, because he married into them. It was his own choice.And I do want to say to the young people who have not yet chosen a mate, you're looking for a mate, praying for a mate. I just want to say that there's nothing more important than that you choose a mate who shares your faith. Not acquiescence to your faith, not will respect or honor your faith, not will go to church with you once in a while. No. You want to marry a person whose heart beats for Christ as strongly as yours does.In Genesis 38:15, "When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"" While sex with a prostitute was sinful, sex with his daughter-in-law was a crime punishable by death. Verse 17, "He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it." He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood."Judah didn't want to wait to satisfy his appetites, though he was quite willing for Tamar to wait for years to receive what was rightfully hers. Tamar drives a hard bargain here; she sees his lust, and it results in him giving her a very serious pledge. One commentator says it's as if he gave her all of his credit cards, his license, and his passport. These things would have unmistakably belonged to Judah, clear evidence that he had given them to her.Genesis 38:20, "When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. He asked the men of the place, "Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?" And they said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" You will remember that in some of the religions of the ancient East, it was accustomed for prostitution to be associated with worship, and there were temple prostitutes, and that's how Tamar disguises herself. And since the gods were gods of fertility, the act of fornication with a temple prostitute was regarded as a worship act.Well, you say, how does a culture get to that, where this becomes their worship? Well, they didn't believe in God. They don't believe in a God that's transcendent over everything, they don't believe in a God that is creator of everything. A God that commands us to live a certain way, a God that is God over sexuality. Once you get rid of God, this is the way human beings are wired. We still long for the transcendent and the closest that we get is sexuality. That's why they worshiped sex. They didn't just worship with sex, they worshiped sex, and it became a cult. And everyone in that society, you just assume these are the cultural values that matter, it's normal, therefore you think it's normative, or it's how things should be.And I like that it's called a cult. And we live in a culture where, yes, we have gotten rid of God en masse, and as a society, we do not worship. In God we trust, that's only on our money. We, as a society, do not trust God. If you get rid of God, what happens? We start worshiping sex. It does become a cult, and seems like everyone is in this cult. And you see Judah, Judah, you should have known better and he's immersed in it.Genesis 38:22, "So he returned to Judah and said, "I've not found her. Also, the men of the place said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" And Judah replied, "Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her." About three months later, Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral. Moreover, she's pregnant by immorality." And Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned."" Incredible hypocrisy. He goes for the extremist penalty, worse than any forms of execution that the law allowed. Tamar's sin would've been adultery, because she was still betrothed to the youngest son, Shelah, even though Judah had no plans of giving her to him. But this is the ultimate double standard. Under Old Testament law, if Tamar is guilty, so is her partner. And the Old Testament explicitly forbids a different moral standard for men than for women.So what happens now? Judah, you are exposed. What happens now? Well, this is our point three, Judah sows to the Spirit. And, "As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant." And she said, "Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."" You can imagine Judah is crestfallen. And the language used here is parallel to the language used in Genesis 37:32, where they sent the robe of Joseph, the brothers did, to their father Jacob, and it says, "They sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father, and said, "This we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.""Judah was deceived, as he had deceived his father Jacob regarding Joseph. And Jacob, in the same way that Jacob had deceived his father, Isaac, if you noticed. On all three occasions, a goat was involved, and a piece of clothing was involved in the deceit. It's a subtle indication that God knows everything, that there is no hidden sin that will not be exposed, and God will bring judgment down on every single sin. Judah deceived, but will succeed no more than his father before him.Genesis 38:26, "Then Judah identified them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son, Shelah." And he did not know her again." He says, "She's more righteous than I. She is more in the right than I am." And the confession is actually even stronger in the original than it is here or sounds here in the ESV, than the English Standard Version. The two principle Hebrew grammarians and the best commentators agree that the Hebrew should not be read as a simple comparison, but what's called a comparison of exclusion, in which the subject alone possesses the quality of the adjective. The subject, she, the adjective is righteous, so it should be read. "She is righteous, not I." She is righteous, not I. He's publicly exposed for his sin and his hypocrisy, and at this moment, he has a choice to make; is he going to continue down the path of running from God and things of God? Or is he going to stop, and turn?We have the evidence of the first beginnings of a turn in which he does own his sin. It's a turn that, when complete, will make Judah one of the most righteous sons of Jacob. For the first time, we see Judah in the way of God's mercy. For the first time, he's acknowledging his sin honestly and openly. And then when he renounces his sin, we see that he does everything possible to live in a manner worthy of that repentance. The Lord is clearly at work in his heart, his conscience has been awakened, his behavior has finally troubled him for the first time. He condemns himself, he stood, self-condemned, on account of what he had done. He couldn't live on like this anymore. Sin had become sin to him.Judah becomes a changed man, used powerfully by God. He does return to his family of origin and to the ways of Yahweh. He, later on in the text, becomes a spokesperson for his brothers. When he stands before Joseph, he doesn't know it's his brother. He's the one speaking. And then when Joseph, to test his brothers, asks for Benjamin to be brought, his youngest brother and Jacob's youngest son, and then he wants to keep Benjamin, what does Judah do? He gets on his face and he beg, he pleads with Joseph, "No. No, my father has been through too much. Take me. Take me into captivity, not him." What is that? That's a man who's been converted. That's a man who's been regenerated by the grace of God.As Blaise Pascal wrote, "There are only two kinds of men; the righteous who believe themselves sinners, and the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous." Friends, that's the only thing that separates a Christian from a non-Christian. A Christian just reckons, "Lord, I am a sinner. I am a sinner, Lord, forgive me, I repent my sin." And you become righteous because Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. The great turning point is reached in the life of every single man, woman, boy, or girl when they recognize their desperation. "Lord, I need forgiveness." God may have to do a great many things in the life of a person to bring them even to ruins where they finally recognize that and they turn. But turning is all that God requires. Turning from sin and turn to Him for forgiveness.What can possibly come of a story of like this, of lives like these, of a history like this, of cruelty like this, infidelity, hardness of heart, sexual promiscuity, incest, moral stupidity? What can come of the most sordid chapter in the Bible? Well, this chapt teaches us that when sin abounds, and we turn to God, grace abounds all the more. That Jesus Christ Himself, in His physical line through Joseph and Mary, descends from this disgusting act of incest. Well, that's one of the grandest pictures of God's grace overcoming sin in all the scripture.And of point four, is Judah does reap eternal life. In Genesis 38:27, "When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah." Here, the chapter ends with a prenatal struggle between Perez and Zerah, similar to that of Jacob and Esau. And we see that Perez is chosen as the firstborn, despite the judgment of the midwife. And Perez is the grandfather of Jesus Christ. He is the progenitor of Jesus Christ, the ancestor of Jesus Christ.Remember Matthew 1, the chapter that everyone skips, you open a New Testament and you're like, "Ah, lots of names I can't pronounce. I'm skipping it." And we want to get to Jesus. But before you get to Jesus, you got to figure how did Jesus get here? Well, in Matthew 1:1-6, we see, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king."Tamar, the same one from our story, becomes one of the only women listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Perez becomes the grandfather, a grandfather of Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the... Jesus had the blood of Canaanites coursing through His veins. And what does this tell? Why does this happen? Because God, we worship a God that loves to turn evil, even the worst evil, to His own purposes, and bring blessing from curse, redeem that which deserves destruction. When we think of Genesis 38, by the way, don't just be so quick to judge Judah. As I was writing this, I'm like, imagine if the Lord included one of us in the Book of Genesis? Imagine if the Lord—a chapter on us— the worst of the worst that we've ever done. We are at rock bottom, a whole chapter. So that years will go by, and commentators will study that chapter, and they, at the bottom of their commentary, will say, "There's no homiletical value. Stay away from this chapter."Each of us deserves this. We all deserve, this is what the text is showing, we all deserve this condemnation. We are all sinners, just like Judah is. And if there's hope for Judah, that guy, there's even hope for us. And I want to show you just how incredible this story of redemption is. If you think of Genesis 38 and then read Revelation 21, you gain just incredible sense of how astonishing the world of divine grace is. In that text, we see a glimpse of the new Jerusalem. It's a vision of heaven.Revelation 21:9-12, "Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed."In other words, the name of Judah is inscribed at the gate of heaven, the city of God. This guy, Judah, ugly in many ways, a cruel, hateful... He becomes a sign of God's grace. A man who was loved by God so much, that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who came from Judah, to die for the sins of Judah, to redeem the story of Judah. And also, do you remember the marriage of Ruth and Boaz? Ruth was also from a pagan family, as Tamar was, but she cared about God. She cared about God's covenant and she joined herself to God's people, and she marries Boaz. And then the elders pray for Boaz a prayer of blessing.This is Ruth 4:11-12. "Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming to your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman."" So what we read, and we're like, "What? This incestuous relationship, the names of Judah and Tamar?" They become a blessing. Like, "May your house be as blessed as the house of Judah and Tamar and Perez." Incredible. This is a picture of God's grace and what God can do with His grace in our lives. Whatever our sins, however hidden, however polite, all of our sins will be exposed one day. What we'll do with... Well, we are to reckon with them now before they're exposed. And if we do reckon with them, we are forgiven, and we are restored.There's a doctrine in Christian spiritual theology that one rarely hears about, perhaps... If misunderstood, it's dangerous, but it goes by the Latin name, O, felix culpa. O, happy guilt. And it's the recognition of this chapter and of scripture, and part of the doctrine, perhaps the main part, is that if there had been no sin, if there had been no fall, then there would've been no need for atonement, there would've been no need for the cross, and we would've never known the love of Christ. As Augustine once wrote, "God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist."George Fox was so bold as to say that he thanked God more for his sins than for his good work. John Bunyan said the same thing, "The guilt of sin did help me much." Samuel Rutherford reminded one of his correspondents by saying the following, "Christ has a use for all of your corruptions." Well, isn't that encouraging? Isn't that true with you? Isn't that true with me? I know personally, it's my sin that has taught me to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ through thick and thin. It's my sin that, again and again, has humbled me and made my pride seem as ridiculous as it is. It's my sin more than anything that keeps me at work on my salvation. Work out your own salvation with fear and troubling, the Word tells us, through watching, praying, reading, obeying. It's the forgiveness of my sins, experienced time and again, that keeps the greatness of the love of Christ and the power of the cross alive in my heart.Would not David say the same thing? Would not Peter say the same thing? Lord, thank you that you exposed my sin. You brought me to a place where I couldn't but repent. That's all I could do. Well, friend, may God help you see your guilt and help you see your condemnation. That, apart from Jesus Christ, your condemnation's still on you. Apart from Jesus Christ, you will reap the wrath of God that you deserve for the sins that you have sowed. But thanks be to God that God didn't leave us in our sins, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, whom you know sin became sin. He became our sin on the cross, so that if we repent of our sin, we are forgiven, and His righteousness becomes ours.I love grace, because grace is God's unmerited favor. You can do nothing to earn God's grace. It doesn't come to you by joining a church, although you should join a church. This church in particular, you get more grace, graduate grace. But that's not how you're saved. It's not through joining a church. It's not just through praying a prayer. It's not through doing good works or religious works. No, we're saved of our sin the very second that we see our desperation, we repent, we turn from the sin, and we turn to Christ. So if you are not yet a Christian, come to Christ today. Put your trust in Him. Find deliverance and the forgiveness of sins. And if you are a believer, where are you sowing in your life to the flesh? And just know that, just know God is not mocked. He will not be mocked. You will reap the corruption. No, no. Do not sow that. Sow to the Spirit and you will reap eternal life. Amen. Let us pray.Heavenly Father, we thank you for this tremendous text. We thank you for this reminder that despite our greatest wickedness, your grace is powerful, to take it and redeem us, and to take the curse that we deserve and turn it even into a blessing. Jesus, we thank you that on the cross, when you hanged on that tree, you became our curse. And Lord, you went through all that to extend to us a blessing. And Lord, we pray that as we enjoy the blessings of grace, that you give us opportunities to share our grace with those around us, and the message of grace that's found only in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and in whose name we pray, amen.

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your holy scriptures, and we thank you that all of the counsel of God is given to us as revelation, and all of it is profitable. Lord, we thank you that some texts that we come across are encouraging, and some are edifying, and some come as a warning that there is judgment, there is corruption that we will reap if we sow folly, if we sow to the flesh. But when we sow to the Spirit, when we sow repentance and humility, when we sow desperation, when we stand under the Word of God with trepidation and contrition of heart, Lord, you speak to us and you meet us right where we are.Lord, if there's anyone caught in the thick of sin today, if anyone is not yet a Christian, or is not living a victorious life as a conqueror, I pray today, Lord, give us the power and give us the grace to repent, leave our sins, turn from them, turn to you, and give us power to fight the good fight by the power of the Spirit. Holy Spirit, we love you, we welcome you. Help us understand this text, illuminate it for us, and lighten our minds and hearts, and also help us see your incredible love and grace toward us. Jesus, we thank you that you died on the cross for our sins. We deserve that death, we deserve that condemnation. We thank you that you rose for our forgiveness, and we thank you that you do give us grace. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.Amen.We're continuing our sermon series through Genesis 37 through 50. We're entitling it Graduate Level Grace: A Study in the Life of Joseph. We will never graduate from needing grace, but there are some seasons where we need an extra level, extra dose, measure of grace, grownup grace for grownup situations. That's what the series is about. Today, we are in Genesis 38. The title is Weak Men Create Hard Times. In Genesis 37, we see that Joseph has been sold into slavery by his brothers. The story of Joseph ends at the end of 37, we come back to him at the beginning of 39.But here we get chapter 38, and at first reading it seems like just an excursus. It sounds like some sort of sordid regression, digression. It's weird, it's lurid. I actually came across a wonderful commentary, just brilliant in its analysis of the Hebrew, all the hermeneutic, exegetical stuff, and at the end of the commentary, the chapter, he gives homiletical tips, homiletical purposes. And then he has one sentence and he said, "This chapter has no homiletical purposes. Do not preach this chapter. Under any circumstances, do not even touch this chapter."We believe all scripture's God-breathed and profitable. If the text is here, it's here for a reason. John Calvin, in the Institutes, commenting on the doctrine of election, but that comment applies here as well about difficult texts and difficult doctrines. He says the following, "Lest we seem to scarf at the Holy Spirit for publishing what we ought to suppress." He said, be careful looking at these texts and shunning them, because in doing so, you are suppressing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decided to include precisely this chapter, precisely here. Why?Well, it will only become clear later, but when it does, we'll see that chapter 38 is fundamental to understanding the entire redemptive arc of Jacob's family. To truly understand the climax of the story, where Joseph forgives his brothers, welcomes them into his presence, to truly understand that moment, to truly see how amazing God's grace was on this family of sinners, we must work our way through this most sordid chapter in the Bible, as one commentator put it. This is God's Word, it's part of the counsel of God, and we love scripture, even when it's messy. And I commend you, Mosaic, that you are a church that welcomes even the difficult text; that you do not bristle against difficult texts, because we believe it's God's Word.At first glance, it appears that this chapter has nothing to do with the story of Joseph. It's almost as if the text shows us that God had to get Joseph away from his family and the corrupting influence of his older brothers and Canaan. But the story of Joseph is a story of his family, the whole family, and the redemption of Joseph begins with the redemption of his family, and this was God's plan for redeeming humanity. If you remember in Genesis 12, God's plan to redeem humanity was started with Him choosing Abraham, and saying, "I'm going to bless you with a family, and through your family, I'm going to provide a means of blessing for all the families."This is Genesis 12:1-2. "Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."" God said, "I'm going to bless you, and through your family is going to come the Messiah, who's going to bless all of the families from whom blessing can be found." So we learn here in the beginning as we look at this family, and it's very messy, it's very dysfunctional, very broken. We say, "Where's the blessing?" It doesn't look like a blessed family. And what we learn is that having a blessed family is a lot of work. It takes a lot of grace, it takes a lot of graduate level grace.In this chapter, we take a break from Joseph to learn about his older brother, Judah. In many ways, a wicked man we're about to see. But here I do want to offer a glimpse of good news, because as we're making our way through the chapter, you're like, "Oh, I can't believe, this is terrible, this is so discouraging." Let me just show you. There is encouragement that comes, and it comes in the fact that Judah is redeemed at the end of the story. So much so, that it will be from Judah that will come the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. It's from Judah that we get the Messiah, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed. Judah's story ends with such honor, distinction, blessing.But here in this chapter, he's despicable, thoroughly disreputable, utterly blind to his own sin, treating others with contempt and cruelty. He's a member of the chosen family of God, covenant family, but that means nothing to him. And the God of his family means nothing to him either. He forgets Yahweh and his familial identity. He's a man living as he pleases, driven by his lust, not led by his faith. We see him as a hard-hearted man, a callous man getting worse by the year. He sells his brother into slavery, makes his way down to the idol-worshiping Canaanites, raises sons who are so evil that God has to execute them while they're relatively young. He arranges marriages for his sons with pagan women, and he lies to his daughter-in-law, and then ends up lying with her.However, Judah ends up as the patriarch of the family, replacing Jacob, not Joseph. Judah is the one who's chosen to lead this family, but here he's revealed to be weak in faith, and therefore responsible for much of the pain in the lives of those closest to him. It's only when he realizes his sin, his wickedness, when sin becomes sin to him, when God orchestrates the public exposure of his sin, that we see that Judah does repent, and there is a turning, and there is the beginning of a change. Before we see how suffering strengthened Joseph's faith and forged his character, we see how Judah's weak faith corrupted his character and caused suffering to his family. Before God redeems this family, He reveals their moral corruption, and before He saves them from famine, He saves them from their sin.To frame up our time, I'm going to use Galatians 6:8-7. There's a timeless principle here, implacable. It says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." So four points to frame up our time as we walk through the text together. First, Judah sows to his own flesh. Second, Judah reaps corruption. Third, Judah sows to the Spirit. And fourth, Judah reaps eternal life, even Judah.So here first, Judah sows to his own flesh. This is Genesis 38:1. "It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah." So, here the language is indicative of spiritual disintegration, spiraling down, turning aside from the straight and narrow. Perhaps it's because after selling Joseph into slavery, Judah could not bear to live in the presence of his father, who's still mourning. And his father Jacob thought that Joseph was truly dead, and he was still in mourning. How could a man live like that, knowing that his father believed this lie? He couldn't be around his brothers. So we see the covenant family is disintegrating. There's no transcendent value of holding the family together. And the time that passes in Genesis 38 is probably around 22 years. And the events of this chapter span the time that Joseph is in Egypt. So Joseph is sold into Egypt, he's in captivity in prison for about 13 years, and then he's promoted, and then's seven years of plenty, and then two years of famine. And then that's when the family goes to meet Joseph.So Genesis 38:2... Oh, a word about this guy, Hirah the Adullamite. We're not told much about him, we just know that he is not a worshiper of Yahweh. And later on, we do see that Judah, with Hirah, they go and they partake of sin. So what happens is Judah leaves his family that potentially held him accountable to the faith, and now he goes and he just hangs out with this pagan. This is his party friend, so to speak, Hirah. So this is what he's doing, walking away from the Lord.And then verse two, "There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and he went into her." Evidently, the text shows us it's lust at first sight. They have a union that's based on physical chemistry, not principle. Certainly there wasn't a mutual faith in God, or a shared vision for life, reality, meaning, purpose, children, how to raise children, et cetera. The language here describes the relationship, and the language is very minimalist, it's abrupt. And we see the combination of "he saw" and "he took". Same language that's used in Genesis 3, where Eve sees and she takes the fruit of the forbidden tree. Same language here. Judah approaches sexuality and he approaches family in the same way that Esau did; with God completely out of the equation.Genesis 26:34, "When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." And then in Genesis 27:46, "Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"" We know that trouble is in store the minute that Judah goes out to find a woman of the land, as the text says, a woman of the world, a Canaanite, a woman that wasn't raised in the faith and has nothing to do with Yahweh, doesn't think of Yahweh. Yahweh's not precious to her.Samson did the same thing in Judges 14:1-3, "Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes."" Driven just by superficial, just by the physical, and just by lust.Our passage in Genesis 38 doesn't even give us the woman's name, she's just described as Shua's daughter. All Jacob's sons had long known, from Abraham, from Isaac, they all knew that they should not, and that they're forbidden of marrying pagan women. Abraham had solemnly charged his servant, Eliezer, in Genesis 24:3, it says, "that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell." When Isaac sent Jacob off to Mesopotamia, he called Jacob and he blessed him. This is Genesis 28:1, "Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women."" So Judah, and Judah by the way, is Jacob's fourth-born son, but he now occupies the place of birthright, because his three older brothers sinned so egregiously against their father... Judah should have known better, that he is not to marry a woman who is not a worshiper of Yahweh.And the same principle applies to us today. The apostle Paul in the New Testament sets forth in the plainest language possible. 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?" This is a biblical principle from the very beginning to the Book of Revelation, all throughout scripture, over and over, we see warnings that believers are not to marry unbelievers. Why? Because there's no yoke that is more of a yoke than that of marriage. He sows folly to the flesh, and story continues. Verse three. "And she conceived in bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him."All this should be cause for celebration, but Judah's weak faith is transferred to his wife, and he's out of the picture. She does the naming of the sons, not him. And then their weak faith is transferred to their sons. Lesson here is obvious, first of all, don't marry unbelievers. Second of all, when it comes to children, fathers, you are the faith thermostat in your household. Fathers, you set the faith thermostat in your household. And faith is to be taught to our children. We are to disciple them in the faith, that is commanded. We don't let our children choose the faith. No, we give them the worldview, teach them the scriptures. But faith is not just taught and must be caught. And usually, faith is caught from the father.And the children see, "Dad, you're teaching me this, but do you really believe it? Dad, you say I am to love God, but do you love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind?" Are you interested in the things of God? Are you passionate about God? Are you excited about God? Is God a priority to you? Do you build your life around God? Children see all of that. What do men get passionate about nowadays? Men get passionate about sports. I haven't mentioned sports in a while, because I've been bored. I've been bored with the sports team in Boston, but last night, come on in. I heard it was good. I didn't watch. I work on Sunday mornings. But ESPN tells me that we won in 104 to 103. I don't care how you care, I don't. It doesn't matter if you care about the Cs, the Celtics. Man, the passion, the passion that you see for a leather ball going into a basket. The passion that you see for something that's absolutely meaningless, it's fun, but it's meaningless. And I'm not knocking the passion, like it's fun.But can we, men of God, fathers, we have that same passion, even a modicum of that passion, when it comes to sharing our faith with our loved ones? Judah did not have that passion for God, and a lack of a passion of God, for God, faith for God, it was transferred to his sons, unfortunately. So Judah does reap corruption. We see this in verse six. "And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death." Er, the name Er, is evil spelled backwards in Hebrew. So, here we see that Judah probably didn't play a part in naming his son. If he didn't name his son, probably didn't care for his son.There's a play on words here, of course, and one commentator seeks to bring it out in the English by translating the text as "Er erred." He made an error. The Lord does kill people sometimes, even believers. He takes their life. There is a sin unto death, even in our age. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 11, where it says that some have fallen asleep in Corinth because they have profaned the Lord's supper. They were just going through the motions, and taking communion, and they weren't thinking of the suffering of Christ. So here, God does take the life of Er.In verse eight, "Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."" So this is a custom called a levirate marriage from the Latin word levir, L-E-V-I-R, which means brother-in-law. This was later incorporated into the Mosaic Law, showing it has approbation of God, and it was a fixed custom already in this culture. That's why the phrase, "perform your duty as a brother-in-law" is a single verb in the Hebrew. And the system was designed to preserve the name of the brother and also his inheritance. So by this custom, Tamar's first child, though sired by Onan, or supposed to be sired by Owen, would legally be born to Er, and heirs were bear his name and receive his property. So the son would not be Onan's son, and he would not get the firstborn privileges. This was a sacred obligation, that's the word. The word duty is used, and it was to protect the widow as much as it was to make sure that the man's name wasn't blotted out of Israel.Now, Onan married Tamar, but he refused his duty, his responsibility, because he wanted the right of the firstborn for himself. So he's driven by greed and he's driven by selfishness. He doesn't care of the things of God, of the law of God, he doesn't care what his father tells him to do. Onan, in many respects, is very much like his father, Judah. So Genesis 38:9. "But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death also." The word "whenever" is used, so he committed the sin unto death through his persistence, he just kept sinning, and it's a serious thing to sin persistently against the Lord God.So, first two sons are dead, and there's no mention of Judah's grief over the death of his sons, which, if you contrast that with Jacob, was inconsolable in his grief over what he thought was the death of his son Joseph. So here, this man is unfeeling. He's presented as callous and heartless. It's the same man that at the end of the chapter, he would call for his daughter-in-law to be burned for the sin that he also partook in. This is the same man, of course, whose idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery to make some money.Genesis 38:11, the text continues, "Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up." For he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father's house." So, Judah doesn't believe in Yahweh, but still, you got to believe in something. So here, he's superstitious. Instead of realizing, "Oh, my God has judged my sons." Instead of taking that responsibility upon himself, that, "I did not raise these boys well." No, he blames everything on Tamar. He thinks that she's cursed, hexed, he thinks that she's the problem. So he sends her off to her father's house for protection, until, he says, my third son grows up and then you guys will get married. So he puts her off.Now, in the backdrop of this tale, we see, and this is next chapter, in Genesis 39, we see that Joseph's character is contrasted, his priorities stand out strikingly against the description of Judah and his sons. Especially if you think about Joseph being tempted by Potiphar's wife, that's next week. And then he flees from that sexual temptation. Here, his older brother goes head first into it. And what we see in this text is that every single one of the people that we meet are working their own angle, they've got their own agenda. Judah's got his own, Tamar's got her own, Onan has his own, whereas Joseph's priorities are to honor his God.So, Genesis 38:12. "In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." She took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage." So, the whole section of verses 12-26, this whole section and the plot here, revolves around Tamar's rights to be the mother of Judah's heir. She was the wife of his firstborn, and she had the right to be the mother of the heir to Judah.So she sees a window of opportunity, it comes when her father-in-law, Judah himself, becomes a widower, and she knows his character. She discerned that he is a man who does frequent prostitutes. He would consort with a prostitute. And she knew that after he was comforted over the death of his wife, he would seek female comfort elsewhere. Tamar also knew that he would be sheep shearing, and she knew that he was friends with Hirah, and she knew what kind of character Hirah had. And Tamar, as a Canaanite, also knew that cultic prostitutes would be out selling their services as fertility magic, to ensure the growth of fields and herds. And in a flash, she disguises herself as a prostitute and seizes the opportunity to produce a child for her departed husband.What do you think the text is telling us here? What do you think Moses is telling the people of God through this text? Well, Moses is giving you his clear judgment on the morality of this passage. And by sandwiching this passage between Genesis 37 and 39, he's showing us the incredible character of Joseph and his morality. Incredible contrast. What happened to Judah? And this is what Moses wants the people of God to know and wrestle with. What happened to this guy? He grew up in a household of Jacob, and Jacob probably shared all the stories of God's work and his life, God's miracles. He knew about Yahweh, what happened to him? Well, it's not that Judah just lost his faith, it's that he was sucked into a culture that was absolutely opposed to God. It was the Canaanite culture. He was sucked into their value system, their lifestyle. The practices of the Canaanites became his practices, because he married into them. It was his own choice.And I do want to say to the young people who have not yet chosen a mate, you're looking for a mate, praying for a mate. I just want to say that there's nothing more important than that you choose a mate who shares your faith. Not acquiescence to your faith, not will respect or honor your faith, not will go to church with you once in a while. No. You want to marry a person whose heart beats for Christ as strongly as yours does.In Genesis 38:15, "When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"" While sex with a prostitute was sinful, sex with his daughter-in-law was a crime punishable by death. Verse 17, "He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it." He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood."Judah didn't want to wait to satisfy his appetites, though he was quite willing for Tamar to wait for years to receive what was rightfully hers. Tamar drives a hard bargain here; she sees his lust, and it results in him giving her a very serious pledge. One commentator says it's as if he gave her all of his credit cards, his license, and his passport. These things would have unmistakably belonged to Judah, clear evidence that he had given them to her.Genesis 38:20, "When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. He asked the men of the place, "Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?" And they said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" You will remember that in some of the religions of the ancient East, it was accustomed for prostitution to be associated with worship, and there were temple prostitutes, and that's how Tamar disguises herself. And since the gods were gods of fertility, the act of fornication with a temple prostitute was regarded as a worship act.Well, you say, how does a culture get to that, where this becomes their worship? Well, they didn't believe in God. They don't believe in a God that's transcendent over everything, they don't believe in a God that is creator of everything. A God that commands us to live a certain way, a God that is God over sexuality. Once you get rid of God, this is the way human beings are wired. We still long for the transcendent and the closest that we get is sexuality. That's why they worshiped sex. They didn't just worship with sex, they worshiped sex, and it became a cult. And everyone in that society, you just assume these are the cultural values that matter, it's normal, therefore you think it's normative, or it's how things should be.And I like that it's called a cult. And we live in a culture where, yes, we have gotten rid of God en masse, and as a society, we do not worship. In God we trust, that's only on our money. We, as a society, do not trust God. If you get rid of God, what happens? We start worshiping sex. It does become a cult, and seems like everyone is in this cult. And you see Judah, Judah, you should have known better and he's immersed in it.Genesis 38:22, "So he returned to Judah and said, "I've not found her. Also, the men of the place said, "No cult prostitute has been here."" And Judah replied, "Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her." About three months later, Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral. Moreover, she's pregnant by immorality." And Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned."" Incredible hypocrisy. He goes for the extremist penalty, worse than any forms of execution that the law allowed. Tamar's sin would've been adultery, because she was still betrothed to the youngest son, Shelah, even though Judah had no plans of giving her to him. But this is the ultimate double standard. Under Old Testament law, if Tamar is guilty, so is her partner. And the Old Testament explicitly forbids a different moral standard for men than for women.So what happens now? Judah, you are exposed. What happens now? Well, this is our point three, Judah sows to the Spirit. And, "As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant." And she said, "Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."" You can imagine Judah is crestfallen. And the language used here is parallel to the language used in Genesis 37:32, where they sent the robe of Joseph, the brothers did, to their father Jacob, and it says, "They sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father, and said, "This we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.""Judah was deceived, as he had deceived his father Jacob regarding Joseph. And Jacob, in the same way that Jacob had deceived his father, Isaac, if you noticed. On all three occasions, a goat was involved, and a piece of clothing was involved in the deceit. It's a subtle indication that God knows everything, that there is no hidden sin that will not be exposed, and God will bring judgment down on every single sin. Judah deceived, but will succeed no more than his father before him.Genesis 38:26, "Then Judah identified them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son, Shelah." And he did not know her again." He says, "She's more righteous than I. She is more in the right than I am." And the confession is actually even stronger in the original than it is here or sounds here in the ESV, than the English Standard Version. The two principle Hebrew grammarians and the best commentators agree that the Hebrew should not be read as a simple comparison, but what's called a comparison of exclusion, in which the subject alone possesses the quality of the adjective. The subject, she, the adjective is righteous, so it should be read. "She is righteous, not I." She is righteous, not I. He's publicly exposed for his sin and his hypocrisy, and at this moment, he has a choice to make; is he going to continue down the path of running from God and things of God? Or is he going to stop, and turn?We have the evidence of the first beginnings of a turn in which he does own his sin. It's a turn that, when complete, will make Judah one of the most righteous sons of Jacob. For the first time, we see Judah in the way of God's mercy. For the first time, he's acknowledging his sin honestly and openly. And then when he renounces his sin, we see that he does everything possible to live in a manner worthy of that repentance. The Lord is clearly at work in his heart, his conscience has been awakened, his behavior has finally troubled him for the first time. He condemns himself, he stood, self-condemned, on account of what he had done. He couldn't live on like this anymore. Sin had become sin to him.Judah becomes a changed man, used powerfully by God. He does return to his family of origin and to the ways of Yahweh. He, later on in the text, becomes a spokesperson for his brothers. When he stands before Joseph, he doesn't know it's his brother. He's the one speaking. And then when Joseph, to test his brothers, asks for Benjamin to be brought, his youngest brother and Jacob's youngest son, and then he wants to keep Benjamin, what does Judah do? He gets on his face and he beg, he pleads with Joseph, "No. No, my father has been through too much. Take me. Take me into captivity, not him." What is that? That's a man who's been converted. That's a man who's been regenerated by the grace of God.As Blaise Pascal wrote, "There are only two kinds of men; the righteous who believe themselves sinners, and the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous." Friends, that's the only thing that separates a Christian from a non-Christian. A Christian just reckons, "Lord, I am a sinner. I am a sinner, Lord, forgive me, I repent my sin." And you become righteous because Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. The great turning point is reached in the life of every single man, woman, boy, or girl when they recognize their desperation. "Lord, I need forgiveness." God may have to do a great many things in the life of a person to bring them even to ruins where they finally recognize that and they turn. But turning is all that God requires. Turning from sin and turn to Him for forgiveness.What can possibly come of a story of like this, of lives like these, of a history like this, of cruelty like this, infidelity, hardness of heart, sexual promiscuity, incest, moral stupidity? What can come of the most sordid chapter in the Bible? Well, this chapt teaches us that when sin abounds, and we turn to God, grace abounds all the more. That Jesus Christ Himself, in His physical line through Joseph and Mary, descends from this disgusting act of incest. Well, that's one of the grandest pictures of God's grace overcoming sin in all the scripture.And of point four, is Judah does reap eternal life. In Genesis 38:27, "When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah." Here, the chapter ends with a prenatal struggle between Perez and Zerah, similar to that of Jacob and Esau. And we see that Perez is chosen as the firstborn, despite the judgment of the midwife. And Perez is the grandfather of Jesus Christ. He is the progenitor of Jesus Christ, the ancestor of Jesus Christ.Remember Matthew 1, the chapter that everyone skips, you open a New Testament and you're like, "Ah, lots of names I can't pronounce. I'm skipping it." And we want to get to Jesus. But before you get to Jesus, you got to figure how did Jesus get here? Well, in Matthew 1:1-6, we see, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king."Tamar, the same one from our story, becomes one of the only women listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Perez becomes the grandfather, a grandfather of Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the... Jesus had the blood of Canaanites coursing through His veins. And what does this tell? Why does this happen? Because God, we worship a God that loves to turn evil, even the worst evil, to His own purposes, and bring blessing from curse, redeem that which deserves destruction. When we think of Genesis 38, by the way, don't just be so quick to judge Judah. As I was writing this, I'm like, imagine if the Lord included one of us in the Book of Genesis? Imagine if the Lord—a chapter on us— the worst of the worst that we've ever done. We are at rock bottom, a whole chapter. So that years will go by, and commentators will study that chapter, and they, at the bottom of their commentary, will say, "There's no homiletical value. Stay away from this chapter."Each of us deserves this. We all deserve, this is what the text is showing, we all deserve this condemnation. We are all sinners, just like Judah is. And if there's hope for Judah, that guy, there's even hope for us. And I want to show you just how incredible this story of redemption is. If you think of Genesis 38 and then read Revelation 21, you gain just incredible sense of how astonishing the world of divine grace is. In that text, we see a glimpse of the new Jerusalem. It's a vision of heaven.Revelation 21:9-12, "Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed."In other words, the name of Judah is inscribed at the gate of heaven, the city of God. This guy, Judah, ugly in many ways, a cruel, hateful... He becomes a sign of God's grace. A man who was loved by God so much, that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who came from Judah, to die for the sins of Judah, to redeem the story of Judah. And also, do you remember the marriage of Ruth and Boaz? Ruth was also from a pagan family, as Tamar was, but she cared about God. She cared about God's covenant and she joined herself to God's people, and she marries Boaz. And then the elders pray for Boaz a prayer of blessing.This is Ruth 4:11-12. "Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming to your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman."" So what we read, and we're like, "What? This incestuous relationship, the names of Judah and Tamar?" They become a blessing. Like, "May your house be as blessed as the house of Judah and Tamar and Perez." Incredible. This is a picture of God's grace and what God can do with His grace in our lives. Whatever our sins, however hidden, however polite, all of our sins will be exposed one day. What we'll do with... Well, we are to reckon with them now before they're exposed. And if we do reckon with them, we are forgiven, and we are restored.There's a doctrine in Christian spiritual theology that one rarely hears about, perhaps... If misunderstood, it's dangerous, but it goes by the Latin name, O, felix culpa. O, happy guilt. And it's the recognition of this chapter and of scripture, and part of the doctrine, perhaps the main part, is that if there had been no sin, if there had been no fall, then there would've been no need for atonement, there would've been no need for the cross, and we would've never known the love of Christ. As Augustine once wrote, "God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist."George Fox was so bold as to say that he thanked God more for his sins than for his good work. John Bunyan said the same thing, "The guilt of sin did help me much." Samuel Rutherford reminded one of his correspondents by saying the following, "Christ has a use for all of your corruptions." Well, isn't that encouraging? Isn't that true with you? Isn't that true with me? I know personally, it's my sin that has taught me to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ through thick and thin. It's my sin that, again and again, has humbled me and made my pride seem as ridiculous as it is. It's my sin more than anything that keeps me at work on my salvation. Work out your own salvation with fear and troubling, the Word tells us, through watching, praying, reading, obeying. It's the forgiveness of my sins, experienced time and again, that keeps the greatness of the love of Christ and the power of the cross alive in my heart.Would not David say the same thing? Would not Peter say the same thing? Lord, thank you that you exposed my sin. You brought me to a place where I couldn't but repent. That's all I could do. Well, friend, may God help you see your guilt and help you see your condemnation. That, apart from Jesus Christ, your condemnation's still on you. Apart from Jesus Christ, you will reap the wrath of God that you deserve for the sins that you have sowed. But thanks be to God that God didn't leave us in our sins, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, whom you know sin became sin. He became our sin on the cross, so that if we repent of our sin, we are forgiven, and His righteousness becomes ours.I love grace, because grace is God's unmerited favor. You can do nothing to earn God's grace. It doesn't come to you by joining a church, although you should join a church. This church in particular, you get more grace, graduate grace. But that's not how you're saved. It's not through joining a church. It's not just through praying a prayer. It's not through doing good works or religious works. No, we're saved of our sin the very second that we see our desperation, we repent, we turn from the sin, and we turn to Christ. So if you are not yet a Christian, come to Christ today. Put your trust in Him. Find deliverance and the forgiveness of sins. And if you are a believer, where are you sowing in your life to the flesh? And just know that, just know God is not mocked. He will not be mocked. You will reap the corruption. No, no. Do not sow that. Sow to the Spirit and you will reap eternal life. Amen. Let us pray.Heavenly Father, we thank you for this tremendous text. We thank you for this reminder that despite our greatest wickedness, your grace is powerful, to take it and redeem us, and to take the curse that we deserve and turn it even into a blessing. Jesus, we thank you that on the cross, when you hanged on that tree, you became our curse. And Lord, you went through all that to extend to us a blessing. And Lord, we pray that as we enjoy the blessings of grace, that you give us opportunities to share our grace with those around us, and the message of grace that's found only in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and in whose name we pray, amen.

In this episode, you'll also hear:Why it often takes first-time authors so long to finish their bookDifferent kinds of fears that hold us back from pursuing our writing dreamsHow to slay the “giant” and move past fearHow to be confident that you already have what you need to “Expect the impossible” and conquer your fearsThis episode is part of the Christian Authors Network global speaking competition, Speak Up. Click here to learn more and stay up-to-date on the competition!Lystra Wilson: Slay That Giant and Expect the Impossible!Writing a book is a huge task, and it can seem like an impossible dream at times, especially if it's your first book. After all, we tend to hold that first book like it's our firstborn child — it's so hard to let anybody see or touch it, and God forbid they say anything negative about it!! We take criticism of that first book so personally. So many of us authors are battling this great big giant called Fear. If I could go back in time and ask myself, “Lystra, why is it taking you two years to write and publish your first book?” my response would go a little something like this: “You know, I don't know why it's taking me so long to write this book. I mean, I'm a really good writer, and everyone is so excited for me to finally publish something they've been looking forward to. But when you write a book and publish it, those words are permanent. They're out there on paper for everybody to see, forever! So I guess, if I were being honest, I'd have to say I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what people will say or think about me when they read my words.” Fear is a thief of hope and expectation. Fear lies to us. But if we are going to expect the impossible, we're going to have to slay that giant. What Are You Afraid Of?You have been telling people for a really long time about that book that you're writing. So what exactly is it that you're afraid of? Is it a fear of success? After all, when you actually publish that book, there will be more expectations for you to bear. People are going to expect you to write another book, and you're going to have to do speaking engagements. You'll have to move on to the next thing instead of just talking about it. Is it fear of failure? Maybe, like me, you have a fear of the opinion of man. What are others going to think about you when you publish this book? Do you have self-doubt or low self-image? Are you someone who's self-critical? Maybe you've just been believing a lot of lies about yourself. Regardless of the source, all that fear leads to procrastination. The Key to Slaying Giant FearsConsider the story about the Israelite army and a shepherd boy named David. Goliath was an enemy to the reputation of God and who He created Israel to be. And now, that giant fear is causing the same issue for you. God has created you with a purpose, yet fear — that big giant — is standing in the way of your victory. Fortunately, a solution can be found in 1 Samuel 17:48. This verse says, “As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.” Isn't that amazing? David was just a boy. Very small compared to Goliath, especially. But as Goliath was moving into the battle, David actually ran quickly toward him. Is that something that you could do? Being afraid of something that seems so big, so ominous, and yet somehow you gain the courage to just run after that thing to slay it? Here's something pivotal I've learned: Perspective is critical to how you perceive things. That giant is standing between you and your purpose and destiny. The world is waiting to experience your greatness. You must leave behind the mindsets, people, and practices that are going to crush your hope and steal your faith. It really does take courage and perseverance to accomplish the impossible and to move past your fear. It's Time To Move ForwardSo what does it take to expect the impossible? You must have:A positive perspective. An understanding of your identity in Christ and who you are.Faith in God and the purpose for which He created You. A made-up mind to crush those limiting beliefs. Courage and perseverance. If you find that you've been lacking those things, start with asking God to forgive you for any procrastination or fear that you've been dealing with. Then, you need to forgive yourself. Many times, feelings of guilt over our procrastination and how long we've waited in fear make us feel embarrassed. So forgive yourself. Remember Matthew 19:26, where “Jesus looked at [the disciples] intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” You already have everything you need to expect and accomplish the impossible. So run toward that fear, and slay that giant!  BIO:Lystra is the best-selling author of “Get Real: Healing Your Identity and Unlocking Your Purpose” and just released the highly impactful “Five-Fold Females Study Journal.” She accepted Christ at the tender age of four and is passionate about helping others to heal and thrive! She is a country girl at heart who loves horses, butterflies, and transparent conversations. GET CONNECTED:Website: lystrawilson.com/Facebook: facebook.com/lystra.wilsonInstagram: instagram.com/lystrainspires/Twitter: twitter.com/lystrainspires THE CHRISTIAN AUTHORS NETWORK SPEAK UP COMPETITION:The Speak Up Competition, sponsored by the Christian Authors Network, is a powerful source of hope and light for people all over the world. This year's theme, “Expect the Impossible,” is a reminder that no matter how dark our situations may look, we always have hope because we know that all things are possible with God! The inspirational messages featured in this series are from the round two finalists. Stay tuned for updates as the competition progresses, and please pray with us that God will use this competition to bless and encourage His people. We know that the speak up community has the power to make a difference in this world, and we can't wait to see what God does through us!

Do you remember what happened to Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming? I do. It was actually one of those pivotal moments for me... one that marked me. Actually, it plays a role in my atheist journey... not my Christian walk. Listen in to see why we need to remember Matthew right now, at this moment in history. Let us not repeat these atrocities again and again. Let us learn from the past, folks. Sign up for my newsletter to get THREE FREE DAYS of my devotional: A Devotional for a Divided Nation! https://gainingmyperspective.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=75242c7ce4be002f6563954be&id=9e40dd5e5c Or just grab the entire 30 day devotional: https://gainingmyperspective.com/product/a-devotional-for-a-divided-nation-volume-1/ Check out my book about going from an atheist to a Christian: https://www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/803126-what-if-youre-wrong Or the audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/What-If-Youre-Wrong-Audiobook/B09BH55ZFD?qid=1644038459&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=9YMFMYF2DND71XKN7T92 Email me your thoughts, topics, questions, concerns, or speaking requests: Wendycunningham@protonmail.com Find my blog and everything else at Gainingmyperspective.com Follow me on GETTR and TRUTH social: @wendycunningham --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app