Podcasts about see hebrews

Joseph's brothers return to Egypt in search of food, bringing Benjamin along. The brothers secure needed provisions and begin their journey home. However, they are stopped by Joseph's steward, who accuses Benjamin of stealing Joseph's silver cup. The brothers are distraught and return to Egypt, where Judah offers to take Benjamin's sentence so that he can go free. Join us for session ten as we explore how Judah's sacrificial offer foreshadows the sacrifice Christ would one day make on our behalf. Verses Used:Genesis 44:4-17Genesis 42:22Genesis 44:16Genesis 44:32-34Hebrews 7:22-25Discussion Questions:How do Joseph's brothers demonstrate repentance?Read 2 Corinthians 7:9-10. Why must sorrow precede repentance? What is the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow? Can you think of an example of each one?Judah becomes surety (guarantor) to his father on behalf of Benjamin. What does this mean, and how is this a picture of what Christ did for us?Explain the new covenant that Christ guarantees for us. See Hebrews 7:22, 9:15 and 10:10-18.How do we continue to celebrate and remember the enactment of the new covenant Christ became surety (guarantor of) for? (See 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Ephesians 1: Your Identity In Christ September 15, 2024 Session 5 Ephesians 1:1-10 Review: In Christ I am…. Blessed with every spiritual blessing Chosen; holy and blameless; loved and predestined to adoption; accepted in Christ; redeemed; forgiven Ephesians 1:10: God has made Jesus Christ the ultimate, consummate expression of Himself! (See Hebrews 1:1-3) Ephesians 1:11: Jesus has left us an inheritance (See Ephesians 1:1-10; John 16:15) All things that the Father has …. Christ's ultimate work for the Believer Ephesians 1:13, 14 The order: Hear the truth; the Gospel of Salvation; believe it (see also Ephesians 2:8, 9); the Spirit's seal, quarantee! The Prayer The revelation: The Hope The deposit of His Inheritance (John 16:15; Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3) His power and authority His Body: His Plan; If His Church Will Act as He Desires, NOTHING and NO ONE can Defeat it! (See Matthew 16:19)

https://rumble.com/v5a2mjd-cd-1641-discipleship-series-dare-to-be-or-to-make-disciples-week-5-fully-co.htmlhttps://youtu.be/-UtW7ePis4kCD 1641 Discipleship Series (Dare to Be or to Make Disciples)  Week #5  - “Fully COMMITTED ”  July 28, 2024  We are on the 5th week of our series on discipleship. A disciple of Jesus is a person who follows and learns from Jesus, seeking to model their life after His teachings and example of life. The word "disciple" (Greek: μαθητής, mathetes) means "learner" or "student"- to become disciplined by Jesus' example!  Jesus' disciples were those who left their previous lives behind to go in His name, all the while listening to His teachings, and helping to spread His message. Today, we are His disciples by studying His teachings, following His example, and sharing His gospel with others. Basically to be a disciple of Jesus means to make Him the center of your life and strive to live according to His will, even when it's not easy or even popular. With that being said,  let's remind ourselves  what Jesus taught us to do just before He ascended! Last Words are very important, so let's see the Heart of the Master:*Series Text: Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (to make disciples), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.Ok, that is enough of the review, let's read this morning's text please.*Luke 23:46 (KJV) And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I COMMEND (COMMITTED) my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.*See *Hebrews 10:18-20 (KJV)Jesus is “Fully COMMITTED” to you, no worries, now let's rest in that truth and be “Fully COMMITTED” to Him! Keep this question in your mind this morning: “What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus - a disciple?” We must understand that we live in a culture of instant gratification and comfort! In this lifetime in this world everyone has to make choices and become “Fully COMMITTED”!  Those decisions always cost you something. For Instance, you can make more money by working harder and longer hours but at the expense of family time or personal time! In our walk with the Lord we must understand it requires the same dedication!  With that being said we need to help each person understand they must learn to be “Fully COMMITTED”! The costs of following Jesus are highlighted in 3 areas. Today please consider: FORTRESS, FAMILY, FEARS:*Today's Text: Matthew 8:1 & 19-27 (KJV) When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. 23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye Support the Show.

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Exodus 16:2–15; John 6:24–35 Sermon Outline What are you working for? The lie of performance-based identity Do not work for perishable food! Christ the Wisdom and Weakness of God Sermon Questions What is the basic error of the Galilean crowd? Do you ever share their error? In what way does Jesus' saying, "I am the bread of life," capture his essential message? Before life group, watch the Lebron Nike ad (linked below). Consider the picture of God as a coach, hurling back at you yet another opportunity for — and yet another requirement of — victory. With what "image" of God does Jesus subvert this idolatrous picture? (See John 4:43, 5:20, 6:57). "The word of the gospel is not do, but done." What is it that Jesus has "done"? See Hebrews 10:11–14, 1 Peter 3:18. Of his life prior to conversion, the North African bishop, St. Augustine, wrote: "To possess my God, the humble Jesus, I was not yet humble enough. I did not know what his weakness was meant to teach... [Those who are willing to be made his subjects] see at their own feet divinity become weak by sharing in our coat of skin. In their weariness they fall down before this divine weakness which rises and lifts them up." Why was the ultimate manifestation of God's wisdom not in thunder and lightning but in humble human form? What did this achieve that a blazing revelation of divine power could not have? How does the image of the bustling family living room, full of craziness and song, offer a beautiful alternative to Lebron, alone on the court? In what concrete ways can we be cultivating this church family as a scene more like the former than the latter?

It's a question most want to ask, “what happens when I die and where exactly am I going?” A destination is referred to as the place to which a person or thing travels or is sent. There will be a day we all step into a final resting place and in preparation of that moment, we will need to know the truth of where we are headed. The reality is there is life after death.  The truth is our destiny is one with God or one without God. =====“TWO POSSIBLE DESTINATIONS”The Bible makes a clear distinction between those who have eternal life and those who do not.“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. “1 John 5:12How can you tell where you are going to go? In this informative and eye opening message from Pastor Ron Cathcart, we learn there is an answer to this question and though the distinction is clear, the how is really going to all depend. 1. TWO TYPES OF DEATH Physical - A natural question for most, what happens after I leave this earth?  See Hebrews 9:27 and Eccelsiastes 3:1-2Spiritual - Everyone is going to live somewhere forever, physical death is not the end. See Romans 5:12, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2: 1-5, John 3:3-7, John 3:16 and Matthew 10:28 2. TWO TYPES OF JUDGMENT As a believer or non-believer, everyone will face judgment. See Hebrews 9:27, Revelation 20:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 and 1 Peter 5:43. TWO TYPES OF DESTINATIONS There is Heaven and there is Hell. God sent a savior, will you accept this gift?See Matthew 13:49-50, Revelation 21:8, 2 Peter 3:9, Revelation 22:1-5, Revelation 21:224. TWO TYPES OF ROADS Broad is the road that is the most popular.  Narrow is the road not making any headlines.  Which place is better?See Matthew 7:13-145. TWO TYPES OF ADVENTS If He showed us once, He will show us twice, Jesus came and will come again!  If you died today or Jesus came back, are you ready?See Thessalonians 4, Ecclesiastes 7:2 and Ecclesiastes 7:42Rivers Church in O'Fallon, MO exists to help people become passionate followers of Jesus. Need prayer? Leave a prayer request here. Our team will pray for you: https://2rivers.churchcenter.com/people/forms/29709Ensure you don't miss out! Don't forget to hit that SUBSCRIBE button to stay updated with our content ⏩.LIKE ✔️, SHARE 

Judges 3:7-11 Sermon Notes:Judges outline from Ralph Davis:1:1-3:6 – The Failure of the Second Generation3:7-16:31 – The Salvation of a Long-suffering God3:7-11 – The Paradigm of Yahweh's salvation (Othniel) (Today's passage)3:12-5:31 – The Excitement of Yahweh's salvation (Ehud and Deborah)6:1-8:32 – The Weakness of Yahweh's salvation (Gideon)8:33-9:57 – The Antithesis of Yahweh's salvation (Abimelech)10:1 – 16:31 – The Strangeness of Yahweh's salvation (Jephthah and Samson)17:1-21:25 – The Confusion of a Depraved PeopleToday's outline:1) Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, 7-8a2) The Lord sold Israel into the oppressor's hands, 8b3) Israel served the oppressor for eight years, 8c4) Israel cried out to the Lord, 9a5) The Lord raised up a deliverer, 9b6) The Spirit of the Lord was with the deliverer, 10a7) The oppressor was subdued, 10b8) The land had rest for 40 years, 11Reflection questions:1. Why is “crying out” by itself not true repentance? See Judges 2:18-19 and 3:9; 2 Cor 7:8-11.2. What does it mean to enter God's rest? See Hebrews 3:7-4:11.3. Consider the following two quotes: “Yahweh's [The Lord's] wrath is the heat of his jealousy by which he refuses to let go of his people. He refuses to allow his people to remain comfortable in sin.” (Ralph Davis) “God never lets Christians sin successfully.” (Ed Hart)

Introduction--o The title-- Hebrew- b'midbar, -in the wilderness.--- Greek- arithmoi, -numbers.---o Outline-- Chronology-1-1-10-11-From year 2, month 2, day 1 to day 19-10-12-21-9-From year 2, month 2, day 20 into the 40 years of wandering 21-10-36-13-A five-month period during the 40th and final year of wandering-- Geography-1-1-10-10 takes place in the wilderness of Sinai-10-11-20-13 takes place around Kadesh-20-14-36-13 takes place in the journey from Kadesh to Moab-- Theology-1. 1-1-25-18-The old generation of rebellion-2. 26-1-36-13-The new generation of hope--o Theme-A BRIGHT START -CHAPS. 1-10- -o The Census -chap.1--o The Camp -chap.2--o The Priests - Levites -chaps.3-4--o The Consecration of the Tabernacle -chap.7- -o The Cleansing of the Levites -chap.8-5-22- -o The March -chap.9-15-10-36---THE SUN SETS ON THE FIRST GENERATION -CHAPS. 11-25- SEE HEBREWS 3-4- -o Complaints about Meat -chap.11--o Miriam - Aaron v. Moses -chap.12- -o The 12 Spies -chap.13--o Rebellion v. Moses - Aaron -chap.14- -o More Rebellion -chap.16--o Meribah where Moses Forfeits the Land Too -chap.20-2-9- -o More Complaints - Snakes -chap.21-4-9---GLIMMERS OF HOPE -CHAPS. 26-36--o Inheritance for Daughters -chap.27-1-11--o A New Leader -chap.27-12-23--o The Promised Land to Come -chap.34-1-15---Conclusion-

Introduction--o The title-- Hebrew- b'midbar, -in the wilderness.--- Greek- arithmoi, -numbers.---o Outline-- Chronology-1-1-10-11-From year 2, month 2, day 1 to day 19-10-12-21-9-From year 2, month 2, day 20 into the 40 years of wandering 21-10-36-13-A five-month period during the 40th and final year of wandering-- Geography-1-1-10-10 takes place in the wilderness of Sinai-10-11-20-13 takes place around Kadesh-20-14-36-13 takes place in the journey from Kadesh to Moab-- Theology-1. 1-1-25-18-The old generation of rebellion-2. 26-1-36-13-The new generation of hope--o Theme-A BRIGHT START -CHAPS. 1-10- -o The Census -chap.1--o The Camp -chap.2--o The Priests - Levites -chaps.3-4--o The Consecration of the Tabernacle -chap.7- -o The Cleansing of the Levites -chap.8-5-22- -o The March -chap.9-15-10-36---THE SUN SETS ON THE FIRST GENERATION -CHAPS. 11-25- SEE HEBREWS 3-4- -o Complaints about Meat -chap.11--o Miriam - Aaron v. Moses -chap.12- -o The 12 Spies -chap.13--o Rebellion v. Moses - Aaron -chap.14- -o More Rebellion -chap.16--o Meribah where Moses Forfeits the Land Too -chap.20-2-9- -o More Complaints - Snakes -chap.21-4-9---GLIMMERS OF HOPE -CHAPS. 26-36--o Inheritance for Daughters -chap.27-1-11--o A New Leader -chap.27-12-23--o The Promised Land to Come -chap.34-1-15---Conclusion-

Introduction:o The title• Hebrew: b'midbar, "in the wilderness."• Greek: arithmoi, "numbers."o Outline• Chronology1:1–10:11—From year 2, month 2, day 1 to day 1910:12–21:9—From year 2, month 2, day 20 into the 40 years of wandering 21:10–36:13—A five-month period during the 40th and final year of wandering• Geography1:1–10:10 takes place in the wilderness of Sinai10:11–20:13 takes place around Kadesh20:14–36:13 takes place in the journey from Kadesh to Moab• Theology1. 1:1–25:18—The old generation of rebellion2. 26:1–36:13—The new generation of hopeo ThemeA BRIGHT START (CHAPS. 1–10) o The Census (chap.1)o The Camp (chap.2)o The Priests & Levites (chaps.3–4)o The Consecration of the Tabernacle (chap.7) o The Cleansing of the Levites (chap.8:5–22) o The March (chap.9:15–10:36)THE SUN SETS ON THE FIRST GENERATION (CHAPS. 11–25; SEE HEBREWS 3–4) o Complaints about Meat (chap.11)o Miriam & Aaron v. Moses (chap.12) o The 12 Spies (chap.13)o Rebellion v. Moses & Aaron (chap.14) o More Rebellion (chap.16)o Meribah where Moses Forfeits the Land Too (chap.20:2–9) o More Complaints & Snakes (chap.21:4–9)GLIMMERS OF HOPE (CHAPS. 26–36)o Inheritance for Daughters (chap.27:1–11)o A New Leader (chap.27:12–23)o The Promised Land to Come (chap.34:1–15)Conclusion:

DAVID SAW into the throne room of God—a vision used by Jesus himself to reveal his divinity. Psalm 110:1 reads: [Yahweh] says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Jesus used this verse to teach that “my Lord” (Hebrew adoni) was not David, since David was the author of the Psalm (see Matt. 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, and Acts 2:34). The conclusion is that the Lord to whom David referred was the Second Power in heaven—Jesus, the Messiah. (The verse is also quoted in 1 Cor. 15:25 and Hebrews 1:13.) We also discuss “the order of Melchizedek,” which the author of Hebrews used to demonstrate the primacy of the priesthood of Jesus, our high priest before the throne of God, to the earthly Aaronic priesthood, and that Jesus was distinct and superior to the angels. See Hebrews 4:14–5:10 and 6:13–8:13. Our Build Barn Better project is nearly complete! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, along with a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. Wall paneling is going up and we're beginning to produce programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials!——————Join us in Israel! Our 2024 tour of Israel features special guest Timothy Alberino! We will tour the Holy Land March 31–April 9, 2024, with an optional three-day extension in Jordan. For more information, log on to www.GilbertsInIsrael.com.——————Subscribe to our new YouTube channels! Unraveling Revelation: www.YouTube.com/UnravelingRevelation These weekly studies and Derek's podcast: www.YouTube.com/GilbertHouse ——————Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org. For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.

DAVID SAW into the throne room of God—a vision used by Jesus himself to reveal his divinity. Psalm 110:1 reads: [Yahweh] says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Jesus used this verse to teach that “my Lord” (Hebrew adoni) was not David, since David was the author of the Psalm (see Matt. 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, and Acts 2:34). The conclusion is that the Lord to whom David referred was the Second Power in heaven—Jesus, the Messiah. (The verse is also quoted in 1 Cor. 15:25 and Hebrews 1:13.) We also discuss “the order of Melchizedek,” which the author of Hebrews used to demonstrate the primacy of the priesthood of Jesus, our high priest before the throne of God, to the earthly Aaronic priesthood, and that Jesus was distinct and superior to the angels. See Hebrews 4:14–5:10 and 6:13–8:13.

We progress through life by making a series of decisions and choices. These are all decisions of faith. it is an expression of our confidence in the potential gains of one option versus another, or one career path versus another, due to your confidence in the data, the trends or the prospects that career path presents. So we are always putting faith to action. The challenge is when we are confronted with a situation that requires us to uphold our confidence in the Word of God against the odds. then it appears problematic. But because our journey on earth is a "fight of faith" (See 1 Tim 6:12), we are encouraged to hold on to our faith and not give up inorder to win in life (See Hebrews 10:35-36, Ephesians 6:11-17). This message is a sequel to the series on 'Experiencing the Miraculous', and it challenges us to uphold God's Word and continue to walk in faith in all aspects of our lives. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Prayer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#GenerationP246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Ohio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#AthensOhio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#BobcatNation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#JesusGeneration⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#ohiouniversity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AthensOhio ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#LetsDiveIntoIT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#IndispensableTruth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#NanaBoadumPhD #GenP246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #PrayerWorks --- Stay Connected Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.generationp246.us/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠info@generationp246.us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fb.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ On the go wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/27fHtXivc0CiX1ekVnchBd?si=aNAM8VdUR2-OuYsbL6YMoQ   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-dive-into-it-indispensable-truth/id1556118786 This message is the first of the series on 'Experiencing the Miraculous', and it challenges us to make room in our daily lives, to experience the extraordinary work of God, to experience the supernatural. Get ready for a miracle, as this Word causes a shift in your thinking and your world. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Prayer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#GenerationP246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Ohio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#AthensOhio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#BobcatNation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#JesusGeneration⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#ohiouniversity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AthensOhio ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#LetsDiveIntoIT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#IndispensableTruth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#NanaBoadumPhD #GenP246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #PrayerWorks --- Stay Connected Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.generationp246.us/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠info@generationp246.us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fb.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GenP246 on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/generationp246⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ On the go wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/27fHtXivc0CiX1ekVnchBd?si=aNAM8VdUR2-OuYsbL6YMoQ   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-dive-into-it-indispensable-truth/id1556118786

Kingdom Encounters: Intersections Between Jesus and Us

Hebrews 11 is sometimes referred to as the "Hall of Faith," and gives us a list of prominent Biblical figures who demonstrated faith in various capacities. But what exactly is faith? How does it act, and why is it necessary? Join us for our opening message of "By Faith," as we examine Biblical faith and the heroes of the faith who serve as examples to strengthen and spur us on.Verses Used:Hebrews 10:38-39Hebrews 11:1-2Romans 5:1-2Romans 8:22-25Hebrews 11:3Psalm 19:1-2Genesis 1:1-2Discussion Questions:1. How does the Bible define faith? (See Hebrews 11:1)2. What does it mean to have an assurance of things hoped for?3. What does it mean to have a conviction of things not seen?4. What is the greatest challenge to your faith in God?5. How can we, and why should we believe by faith that God created the world? How does this impact our view of ourselves as created beings and not the Creator?

Join us for a captivating three-part podcast series that parallels the sought-after 'check mark' of social media accounts with the ultimate verification from our Heavenly Father. Discover how to break free from the need for human praise and embrace God's validation instead. As we grow in our calling and mature in our identity in Christ, learn to rely on His verification process, unlocking a life free from the chains of earthly validation. Tune in now and embark on an exhilarating journey towards finding true worth and fulfillment. Part 1: The Danger of Verification: Lessons from A Census (1 Chronicles 21:1-4) - Introduction: Highlighting the concept of verification in social media and its implications in our lives. Highlight the FOUR main checkpoints for an account to get verified. - Story of David's census: Examining the story from 1 Chronicles 21 and how David's desire to count his people led to disastrous consequences. - Drawing parallels: Discussing how the act of taking a census in the biblical context can represent our tendencies to seek validation and verification in the world. - Highlighting the dangers: Exploring the negative consequences of seeking worldly verification instead of relying on God's approval. - Key takeaway: Understanding the importance of prioritizing God's approval over seeking validation in the world. Don't take a census. We don't have followers, we have influence. Be careful how we manage our influence. Measure influence, not followers. They are the Lord's followers, not ours. Our victories should be counted to the Lord, not us. David got emboldened because him and his boys were destroying giants. Stay humble and keep stewarding.) Verification Requirements for Instagram: Authentic: Represent a real person, registered business or entity. (The Word of God tests the character and authenticity of earthly/heavenly characters. See Hebrews 4:12) Unique: Represent the unique presence of the person or business. Only one account per person or business may be verified, with exceptions for language-specific accounts. We don't verify general interest accounts (example: @puppymemes). (We are all unique, fearfully and wonderfully made by the Father. See Psalm 139) Complete: Your account ⁠must be public⁠ and have a bio, profile photo and be active when you apply. (Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. See Luke 10:20) Notable: Your account must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity. We review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and we don't consider paid or sponsored media content as sources for review. (Jesus is the Person or Brand we represent as God's children, the most Notable name in Heaven. See John 14:6) Welcome to the Alpha Talk Tuesday podcast! This is a weekly show which aims to connect, empower and inspire you to pursue a life of greatness. Tune in live via video and/or dial-in.  On this podcast, we cover topics ranging from faith, family, finances, business, entrepreneurship, relationships, etc. Our messages are presented in a straightforward, relatable way that enables you to apply the principles mentioned in your life on the same day.  This podcast is hosted by Hakim Taliaferro, founder of The Taliaferro which is a luxury fragrance brand that creates signature fragrances for clients all over the world. To learn more about The Taliaferro, visit www.thetaliaferro.com. Thanks for tuning in!  To learn more about Alpha Talk, please visit our website at www.thealphatalk.com! Tune In Live: Live Tune-in link: https://meetings.dialpad.com/room/thealphatalk Dial in number: 973-957-7115 (No PIN required) Message us privately to be added to our auto-dial out list so you won't miss a call. Connect with Alpha Talk on your favorite social platform! Instagram: @thealphatalk   Facebook: @thealphatalk TikTok: @thealphatalk Twitter: @thealphatalk --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thealphatalk/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thealphatalk/support

CD 1574 Becoming Conquerors by Colossians - session 14Sunday Morning August 6, 2023 "WORKING TOGETHER FOREVER BY BEING FAITHFUL”Is the Lord Jesus Christ faithful in all His House? Is He called “FAITHFUL & TRUE”Yes! (See Hebrews 3:1-6 & Revelation 19:11) We have a warning from the Bible that some shall depart from the faith in the last days (1 Timothy  4:1)! Faith only comes from hearing the Word of God ( Romans 10:17)! So this tells us in the last days people will leave the Word of God!Today is our last message in the book of Colossians. We have been working our way through this book together and learning what it means to live the Christ-centered life. A major source of frustration for pastors is what is called the 80-20 rule: 20% of people in the church do 80% of the work, while the 80% attend church, enjoy the service, and leave without ever getting involved.And in this final passage Paul closes out the letter by mentioning various people who have helped him with the gospel and who will receive this letter on the other end. And the message here is clear. We're all in this together. The truth is that no one can effectively do God's work all by themselves. In this closing message we see how important it is that Paul teaches unity in serving the Lord and how each person is needed and has needs!This morning we will see that the Apostle Paul is all about people learning how to serve and be served! He mentions over 100 people by name in his New Testament letters! In Romans 16 alone, there are 26 people listed. Here, in Colossians 4, he mentions 10 individuals. Paul understood that he could not survive in the Christian life alone. He was in many deep relationships with people in the churches.  Are you?*Text Colossians 4:7-18 (KJV) All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: 8 whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; 9 with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. 10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) 11 and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. 15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. 16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it. 18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen. Written from Rome to the Colossians by Tychicus and Onesimus.#1 Messiah's Messengers*Reread Colossians 4:7-9 (KJV) All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: 8 whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he m

Note: The time signatures [00:00] below indicate the start of a question if you'd like to skip to a particular one of interest in the audio file.Ice-Breakers:[01:08] - Q: What is your favorite color?A: Gray (Jeff), Royal/Navy Blue (Taylor)[02:19] - Q: What is your favorite book of the Bible and why?A: OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Romans (Taylor), OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Revelation (Jeff), James (Matt)[04:40] - Q: What Christian book has made an impact on you that you would recommend to others?A: See TBD - TBDThe Bible:[06:35] - Q: Does God still speak to us today?A: See Hebrews 1:1-2 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.[10:06] - Q: Do you guys know anything about why certain books were included and others weren't, such as other books found in Dead Sea scrolls? And what about books mentioned in Bible such as Enoch?A: TBDOld Testament:[12:22] - Q: Who was the third person on earth?A: Cain[12:45] - Q: If Cain killed Abel, who did Cain marry? How did humanity continue?A: His sister[14:05] - Q: Genesis 5:4 - The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. Who or what are the Nephilim?A: See TBD[18:25] - Q: What is your stance on Psalm 83? Is it a war, a lament? If you believe it to be a war, is it a past war or yet future?A: See TBD - TBDNew Testament:[19:55] - Q: In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus talks about narrow & wide gates, one that leads to destruction & one that leads to life. He indicates that there will be few who find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. Is Jesus revealing in these verses that proportionally speaking that most people born throughout the ages will go to hell compared to those that truly come to salvation through Jesus?A: See TBD - TBD[24:25] - Q: The Bible says “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt 7:1), but there are other places like I Cor 2:15 where God says “but he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one”. Can you explain the seeming contradiction between these two verses?A: See TBD - TBD[28:28] - Q: Can you discuss the Bema seat? I know it is a judgment for believers (good and not so good) that will take place post rapture for how we spent our lives on earth, but since God forgives our sins past, present, and future and wipes them from his memory once we confess our salvation in Him, why do we stand in judgment for things we did that are not so good?Or is it just situations where we could have shared the gospel or helped someone and didn't do anything that will be called out and judged?A: See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.Potluck:[31:05] - Q: With as flawed, hypocritical, & inconsistent as we are as believers, why would God choose to limit Himself in such a way to effectively share the truth of His message to the lost world?A: See - TBD[33:40] - Q: What does the Bible say about the use of Western Medicine example anti depressants, pain killers, medical marijuana, etc.?A: See Proverbs 31:6 - Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress...[35:15] - Q: Is drinking alcohol, using tobacco/ marijuana, or gambling all sins? Should a born again believer stop these activities?A: See TBD - TBD[On the Blog] - Q: Why does God allow trials in my life to test my faith, if in His sovereignty He already knows how I'll respond (positively or negatively)?A: See 1 Peter 1:6-9 - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.[On the Blog] - Q: Can you explain what Jesus means in Luke 14:26-27 where He says we can not be His disciples unless we hate our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children? This seems totally contradictory to His message for us to love one another as He has loved us.A: See Matthew 10:37 - Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.Any question that was missed due to time constraints during the service Pastor Jeff will address the answer on the blog.Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK Small Group Questions (Whole Group):Review the questions submitted above. Discuss any of these that stuck out to you, or that maybe your group finds particularly interesting.Breakout Questions:Pray for one another!

Focal passage: John 18: 28-40 See: Hebrews 13:13-16

Focal passage: John 18: 28-40 See: Hebrews 13:13-16

Acts 4:32-5:14 Sermon Notes:1) Great Power | 4:32-35 2) Great Grace | 4:33-37 3) Great Deception | 5:1-11 4) Great Gear | 5:5-14 Reflection questions:1) Why might it be easier if we were commanded as Christians to relinquish our private property? What difficult decisions could we avoid? (No, I am not suggesting we should or that the Bible says we should.) 2) Does this passage say why Ananias lied? How do you think Satan tempted him to lie? What reward was he seeking? (Cf. Matthew 6:2-4 for one possibility.)3) Is the great fear that fell upon the church an encouraging note to you? What does it mean to fear God? See Hebrews 12:18-29.

Main Point: Growing faith requires trusting God when we don't understand.Questions:What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about God's character through the study of Abraham's life?Read Genesis 12. What promise did God make to Abram? How old was Abram? What kind of faith would it take to do what Abram did?Why did Abram lie to Pharoah about his relationship with Sarai? What does this show us about Abram?Read Genesis 15. In this chapter, God made a covenant with Abram, and promised him a male heir. What do we read about faith in Genesis 15:6? Why is this significant? What is symbolic about the ceremony that takes place in this chapter? What does this reveal about the Covenant God makes with Abram?Read Genesis 16. Abram and Sarai grew impatient and took matters into their own hands. What happened? What were the consequences of Abram having son with Hagar?Read Genesis 18:1-15. God fulfilled his promise to Abram and sent messengers to let him know. What did the messengers say? How did Abram and Sarai respond?Read Genesis 21:1-20. What happened when Isaac is born? How were Hagar and Ishmael treated? How did God respond to their situation?Read Genesis 22:1-19. What did God command Abraham to do? Why do you think God asked Abraham to do this? Read the story carefully. How would you have felt?What level of faith would it require for Abraham to do what God called him to do? What did Abraham think God was going to do? (See Hebrews 11:17-19.) How did God respond to Abraham's faith? How did this incident change Abraham?What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?

Main Point: Growing faith requires trusting God when we don't understand. Questions: What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about God's character through the study of Abraham's life? Read Genesis 12. What promise did God make to Abram? How old was Abram? What kind of faith would it take to do what Abram did? Why did Abram lie to Pharoah about his relationship with Sarai? What does this show us about Abram? Read Genesis 15. In this chapter, God made a covenant with Abram, and promised him a male heir. What do we read about faith in Genesis 15:6? Why is this significant? What is symbolic about the ceremony that takes place in this chapter? What does this reveal about the Covenant God makes with Abram? Read Genesis 16. Abram and Sarai grew impatient and took matters into their own hands. What happened? What were the consequences of Abram having son with Hagar? Read Genesis 18:1-15. God fulfilled his promise to Abram and sent messengers to let him know. What did the messengers say? How did Abram and Sarai respond? Read Genesis 21:1-20. What happened when Isaac is born? How were Hagar and Ishmael treated? How did God respond to their situation? Read Genesis 22:1-19. What did God command Abraham to do? Why do you think God asked Abraham to do this? Read the story carefully. How would you have felt? What level of faith would it require for Abraham to do what God called him to do? What did Abraham think God was going to do? (See Hebrews 11:17-19.) How did God respond to Abraham's faith? How did this incident change Abraham? What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.Hinduism has taught reincarnation for many thousands of years. Sikhism, which derives from Hinduism and Islam, also accepts reincarnation (many passages in the Granth teach this doctrine).The Chandogya Upanishad 5.10.8 reads, “... those who are of pleasant conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Brahman, or the womb of a Kshatriya, or the womb of a Vaisya. But those who are of a stinking conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a stinking womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast.”Kaushitaki Upanishad 12 teaches reincarnation "... either as a worm, or as a moth, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a wild boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or as a person, or as some other in this or that condition, he is born again here according to his deeds, according to his knowledge."Status and the body you inhabit in the next life (canine, porcine, or “untouchable”) depend on your conduct in the present life. Karma (actions) determine the level at which you are reborn.Eventually all souls “graduate” until atman (soul) becomes one with paramatman (the world soul).Individual existence then disappears.And that means communal existence disappears, too. But we were created for community. Reincarnation ultimately negates the social dimension of humanity.John the Baptist reincarnated?In Matthew 17 Jesus says John the Baptist was the Elijah to come, yet in John 1:21 the Baptist denies it. Is this because Malachi only speaks of a prophet to come "in the spirit of Elijah," not Elijah himself?Was John's denial a way to steer his disciples away from the idea of an actual reincarnation? Yes, I think so. Many expected Elijah to return to the earth literally, and this notion persists in Jewish tradition even today, with the empty seat left for him at the Seder Supper. John does come in the spirit (and clothing) of Elijah, his ninth century BC counterpart (Malachi 3-4; Matthew 11, 16; see also 1 Kings 17-19), though he wasn't literally Elijah (John 1:21).Elijah appeared along with Moses at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), so how could he have he been "reincarnated" as John the Baptist? Worse for those advocating reincarnation, the classic belief requires the rebirth of a dead person, yetElijah never died (2 Kings 2:1-11).Thus there is no biblical basis for importing the popular eastern idea of reincarnation into Christianity, at least not based on the case of John the Baptist.ConclusionThe scriptures do not allow reincarnation. See Hebrews 9:27, Job 7:9-10.Reincarnation does not take seriously the biblical view of humanity as "spirit, soul, and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).Eastern reincarnation is something to be escaped, not desired. In contrast, in the West, where it has become fashionable to espouse reincarnation, this is viewed as something positive: a chance to start over. Probably few westerners have any idea about the real source of the idea, or why no one would desire the doleful cycles of reincarnation who really comprehended the doctrine.Reincarnation it is ultimately part of an impersonal worldview.To be fair, "Contrary to the popular stereotype of past lives fostered by the tabloid press, the vast majority of past lives are not those of Egyptian princesses or wives of Henry VIII. Most of the lives that are reported are barely identifiable within the known framework of history. We encounter African tribesmen, nomadic hunters, nameless slaves, Middle Easter traders, anonymous medieval peasants, and so on, from all times and places; often they can barely name their chieftain or lord, let alone place themselves upon some totally irrelevant time map of European or ancient history." (Roger J. Woolger, Other Lives, Other Selves: A Jungian Psychotherapist Discovers Past Lives [New York: Doubleday, 1987], 37-38)

Unless Jesus comes back soon, we will all die. Most people dont want to think about death, but failing to at least remember death keeps us from thinking about how we should live now. We will face the judgment of God and our names will face some judgement of history. (See Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:12 and Revelation 14:13.) When Abraham died, he died, in a good old age, an old man and full of years. One translation says he died satisfied with life. While we cannot control when we will die, we have some control over how we live, and whether our life is full and satisfying or not. Our death is certain, but a satisfied life is not. That is why we need to live intentionally. Our passage today highlights three aspects of a full and satisfying life.

Lesson 7 – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of GodFinally, we begin to get busy doing the ministry work! Right?! Well, not exactly. You see, we already have been this whole time. Preparation time is never wasted time and doing things in God's timing will take, well, time. Remember, a day to Him is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. And we are in this for the long haul, like an endurance athlete, the Bible encourages us to run our race with patience. (See Hebrews 12:1)When it comes to dealing with people, we should never be in a rush. Why? Because people are fickle and can be easily broken, hurt, swayed, and offended. How do we know this? Because we are people. Just look how long it has taken God to get us to this place! God loves people.He so loves people! And only He can change them. He possesses a remarkable, unfathomable amount of longsuffering and patience of which we are going to need heaps of when dealing with people.Therefore, it is imperative that we learn to view people in the same way God does, and so love them and value them. This is going to take a lot of preparation time and work behind the scenes, hence what we have been working on with Him up to this point and what He will continue to do in us for our entire lives.We never outgrow the process of refining and pruning. But now that we have finally arrived at this stage in our Christian journey, it is vitally important that we try and do as the Bible says and live peaceably with all people as much as possible and try not to offend in word or deed. This is what James describes as coming into perfection, so be encouraged we aren't going to be able to accomplish this entirely and the only way to come close is by staying close to Jesus through it all!If anyone knows what is like to deal with people, it's Him!After all, He created us. Plus, while in His earthly ministry, He had to deal with all sorts of people, including His own disciples.He knows what to do, so we should desire greatly to learn of Him!

REVIEW: “What did you take away from last time?” [Refer to the things you discussed last time.] "How did that go?” Sermon Summary: The Decalogue frees us from slavery for relationship. READ: Exodus 20:2 Discussion Questions: Truth: How does Exodus 20:2 shape how we are to read the Decalogue? What does the Decalogue precede Matthew 22:37-40? Repentance: In relationships, do you lean toward being legalistic or lawless? Give examples. Faith: How does the gospel shape how we relate to the Decalogue? (See Hebrews 7:18-19) RESPOND. Ask God, how can today's discussion further your relationship with God, one another, and the world? Pray together. [Record responses and prayer requests.]

In Christian Convictions, Chad Ragsdale lists 6 essentials of Christianity. These are elements that are the difference between salvation and lostness. Each belief written below is the bedrock of our faith. We cannot be a follower of Jesus if we do not believe these truths. 1. It is essential for a Christian to believe that God exists (and to earnestly seek him). See Hebrews 11:6. 2. It is essential that a Christian believes Jesus is Lord. See Romans 10:9. 3. It is essential that a Christian believes that Jesus is the risen Savior. See 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. 4. It is essential that a Christian is saved by grace through faith and not by human effort. See Ephesians 2:8-9. 5. It is essential that a Christian be born again by the Holy Spirit. See John 3:3. 6. It is essential that a Christian perseveres in a faithful faith. See Hebrews 3:14. You might be someone who has gone to church all your life. You might have even studied the Bible or taught it to others. But genuinely believing it is another question. Imagine if you begin to really, truly believe that Jesus is Lord. Imagine what might change if you let the truth that Jesus is the risen king sink into your heart to become its most bedrock conviction. Imagine believing with your whole self that you have a heavenly Father in heaven who loves you. If you know the essentials of the faith, it's time to really, honestly believe them.

“Jesus Sent Him Away…”by Joshua Scott ZeitzLuke 8:38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.God sees the end from the beginning. (See Isaiah 46:10, Revelation 22:13)He is the great I AM! (See John 8:58)He never changes! (See Hebrews 13:8)What does all this mean? He is not bound by time like we are. He created time, the moon, the sun, and the stars!He supersedes time!That is awesome news for us as believers. Why?Because He is able to see into our future, keeping us from danger and also providing opportunities for us, that should we obey Him, will benefit us greatly!Don't misunderstand however, God is not some genie in the sky, nor is He a fortune teller or soothsayer.He is however, Almighty! And because He supersedes times and loves us, He so desires to bring opportunities our way to obey Him and reap the benefits!The opening passage of scripture mentioned above recounts the man with whom Jesus cast the demons out of into the herd of swine. Before doing so, Jesus asked the demon what its name was and the demon responded, “Legion.” The man had many demons within him!It was a miraculous and marvellous feat that Jesus did to be sure. Later on the man is said to have come to Jesus, wanting to follow Him, to be with Him, like the disciples were with Him, but Jesus said no!Have you ever heard God say no to you about something?Listen, when God says no, it's not that He wants to be a control freak over your life or because He is some cosmic kill-joy!Rather, it's because He is trying to protect you and more often than not, trying to get something to you!Remember the Israelites? They begged God for a king. Time and again, they begged Him, desiring to be like their surrounding nations. God wanted to be their king however and told them no. He warned them what having a man for a king would bring them, nothing but trouble and a lifetime of servitude, but they wouldn't listen.So God gave them what they wanted. They forfeited the blessing of God for a counterfeit, for less than God's best for them!When Jesus told that man no to following Him, He didn't just leave him there. Instead He followed the no with a yes!Yes, do go back and tell all that has happened to you!Jesus gave him a ministry. He gave him something that He knew would be far more beneficial for the man and all those the man would impact after. The man could have gotten hurt or offended, went home and wallowed in self pity, but instead, He took Jesus at His word, trusted Him, and obeyed!The Bible says that when Jesus returned to that city later on, all the people were ready to receive him!Why? Because the man obeyed Jesus and went and told all that had happened to him.This was the same city where the Bible tells the amazing story of Jairus' daughter being raised from the dead and the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years being miraculously healed!Had that man followed Jesus instead of getting busy obeying Jesus, that town would not have been near as receptive and perhaps none of these things would have occurred.Life is connected and God sees the end from the beginning.Remember, His no is not like our no.His no is not like the other no's we have heard in our lives.“No, you can't have this job.”“No, you aren't qualified.”“No, you aren't good enough.”Whatever the case may be, or wh

At the end of the year, we often find ourselves tying up loose ends. Maybe it's taking the last of your vacation days, finishing up a 2022 project, or checking in to see if you completed your New Years Resolutions—you know, the one from January 1, 2022. For us, at OBC, we will finish the year (and start the new year) by looking at the last part of Isaiah.Since November, we've been seeing how the Lord promised to bring salvation to the world, and in the birth of Christ we have celebrated Salvation's arrival. Now, as we come to the first day of the new year (Sunday is January 1), we will finish Isaiah and its promise of a new creation. Indeed, Sunday we will start the new year with a focus on the new creation.In doing this, we will tie up some loose ends from Isaiah, showing how the whole book fits together and leads us to Christ and the New Jerusalem. What better way to begin 2023?To prepare for our last look at Isaiah, take time to read Isaiah 65–66. That's where we will be going on Sunday. As you ring in the new year, check out those chapters (or all of Isaiah 55–66) and pray that God would bless us as we gather to bless his holy name. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you Sunday.May the Lord be glorified as we begin the new year worshiping him.For His Glory and your joy in Jesus,Pastor David----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Discussion & Response Questions for Isaiah 55 – 661. What has been eye-opening in reading / studying Isaiah?2. What has been the most difficult part to grasp?3. The next time you read Isaiah, how will you read it differently? (Why can't you read Isaiah like John or Paul?)4. What is the main point of Isaiah 55–66? How does it relate to Isaiah 49–54? And the beginning of Isaiah?5. Who is the Spirit-anointed Savior? How do these “Spirit songs” anticipate the coming of Christ?6. What does Isaiah 55–66 teach you about God? About humanity? About God's plans for salvation and judgment?7. What is final vision for humanity—for Israel and the nations? How does Zion play a part of that vision?8. How is the church already experiencing Zion? See Hebrews 12:22–24.9. What is the new creation? Is the new creation present? Future? Or both?10. As you approach the new year, what promises of God are you hoping in?

Bible Verse: Psalm 18:46 | The Word of God teaches us to continually praise The Lord. See Hebrews 13:15

Isaiah 54 Sermon Notes:1) The Joy of Peace for the Barren, 1-6 2) The Covenant of Peace for the Unfaithful, 4-10, 13 3) The Security of Peace for the Shaken, 11-17 Reflection Questions:1. Can you think of examples (beyond Isaiah 54) where God provided or gave hope to those who were barren? Barren women who gave birth? Or other barren, seemingly-empty situations where He provided? Have you experienced His hope in your barrenness, as well?2. Can you think of any other religion or any other supposed god who makes covenants and promises to His people? What effect are God's covenants supposed to have on His people? See Hebrews 6:13-20.3. How do we live in between the giving of God's promise and the attainment of the promised reality? See Hebrews 11:8-16.

 Psalm 8 looks back to the original creation of humanity in Adam. It relates the language of God's command to Adam found in Genesis 1 and 2. Man was a glorious creature made in the image of the Creator God. He was a marvel in a perfect world that God had made for his habitation. But something happened, and Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  In the Fall man was cursed and cast out of the garden. Even the created order was affected by man's fall into sin. Although humans remain in the image of God that image is marred, distorted with a dead spiritual nature and a mortal body destined to perish. Psalm 8 can provoke questions since man does not currently have undisputed or full dominion over the earth. Even the flood with its judgment that cleansed the earth and in a way had a second beginning in Noah, humanity remains in a fallen state of sin and the curse of death. But there was hope given to mankind in the curse God put upon the Serpent that the Seed of the woman would one day destroy the Enemy and restore mankind to the full image of the Creator.  When we look in the New Testament we see that Psalm 8 is treated as a Messianic psalm. It looked forward to the coming of the Man Christ Jesus, the Second Adam who represents those whom the Father has given him. Thus Psalm 8 is treated by the author of Hebrews as speaking of the incarnate Son of God, the Son of Man. Although we do not currently see all of mankind enjoying the rulership of the original order we do see Jesus! See Hebrews 2:5-9. We see Jesus in his incarnation who suffered our curse of death in all of its dimensions now risen and glorified. Jesus in his whole dual nature  is crowned with glory and honor. He bears the perfect image of God, and humanity is restored in him to an even more surpassing glory than the original state of man. Redeemed humans, those connected in faith to the Lord Jesus, will be resurrected in his image and will exercise their God-ordained role on the new earth in the eternal state.

Proverbs presents to ways to be human: the wise way and the foolish way. Both paths are marked by a posture, pace, practice, person. In this sermon, Pastor Todd Gray highlights the posture and practice of the wise person when they find themselves under the discipline of the Lord. The wise person has a distinct perspective on God's discipline, namely, that they view it as loving instruction rather than punishment. Secondly, they delight in the Lord's discipline because they know that the Lord corrects those he calls son or daughter (See Hebrews 12:7-11). Finally, the wise person receives the discipline of the Lord because they know it is shaping them further in wisdom. None of this is easy, and in the midst of discipline, it is difficult to have the mind that God is for you and wants His best for you. Growing to the point where you can identity the Lord's discipline and thank him for it is proof of wisdom taking root in our hearts. Did you hear something in today's message that you would like to respond to or have questions about? We would love to hear from you! Please reach out at main@cogginchurch.org.

For ages, witchcraft, sorcery, and communicating with the dead have been ways of seeking answers about the future. In this passage, Moses presents us with a better way to live as God's covenant people. Sermon Outline: I. We Should Support Those Who Serve God and His People. II. As God's People, We Should Reject False Practices and False Prophets III. We Should Heed Those Who Speak for God to His People. Sermon Discussion Questions: 1. What do we lose when we forget how wide the gulf was that separated us from God? 2. Why is it important for the people of God to have those who are freed from ordinary work to focus on the ministry of the Word, sacrament, and prayer? What does the church lose when these ministers lose their focus for one reason or another? 3. What is the attraction of ancient and modern forms of divining the future or God's will? What do Christians have to offer the world that is so much better? 4. How can we discern true words from God versus false words? How should we respond to each? 5. How does Jesus fulfill the ministry of prophet and priest for us his people? (See Hebrews 1:1-2; 7:11-8:13; 10:1-25 for some ideas.)

Preach Jesus He is the Consuming Fire Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:28-29   The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24   Let's go on a Campfire Journey: (See Exodus 3) Jeremiah 23:29, “Does not my word burn like fire?”   Lessons at the fireside: #1–Don't tell me about your past. God's got your future #2–All you need to do, is make the first turn; God's got the rest  (See Exodus 19) Proverbs 17:3, “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”   #3–God's fire isn't to destroy you—but to refine you!  (See Deuteronomy 4)   Matthew 3:11-12, (NIV) “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, …. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…. unquenchable fire.” Luke 12:49-51, “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, … I have come to divide.” (See Hebrews 12)   #4–God's fire is calling you in; embrace the heat  (See Revelation 1:12-16)   “From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight, FIRE… —Blaise Pascal   “…I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…” 2 Timothy 1:6

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Preach Jesus He Is the Sacrifice Genesis 22:1-14, Hebrews 11:17-19   Sacrifice—giving up something you value for something you value more. Ever feel: “I am not enough”  A story in four parts … 1) Part 1: Something is MISSING Genesis 22:1-7. El-Olam­­—The Eternal God, The Enduring God. “God tested Abraham's faith”.   2) Part 2: Something is NEEDED. Genesis 22:7-12. See Hebrews 11:17-19.   3) Part 3: Something is GIVEN. Genesis 22:13. Hebrews 10:11, “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Romans 8:32, “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?” John 1:29, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”   4) Part 4: Everything CHANGES. Genesis 22:14. “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Hebrews 10:19, 23; “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.” “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”   “For God so loved the world, that he gave is one and only son (his son—that he loved so much); that whosoever believes in Him will NOT perish, but will have everlasting life.”

Jesus became human to fully identify with us. He experienced death on the cross so we don't have to! Jesus defeated the enemy and his fear. We can live free from fear now and forever. See Hebrews 2: 14, 15; 4: 12 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/KINGworldwide/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/KINGworldwide/support

with Pastor Chuck Ryan Faith Without Deeds is Dead Text: James 2:14-26 Thesis: A true “Faith” in Jesus Christ will naturally produce “Good Deeds a ” 1. James makes it clear that a person who “claims to have faith but has no deeds” his faith is worthless. See James 2:14-17 A. James gives a litmus test to a person's claim to have “faith” in verses 15-16. 1. He begs the question, “What is your response as a Christian when you see or hear of someone who has a genuine need?” “When James speaks of works, he is referring to good deeds which flow naturally from a heart filled with love to God and love to man.” BBC on James, Page 215 2. A “born-again” (John 3) believer will fulfill the two great commands. A. You will love your neighbor in a tangible way. B. James sums up this section by stating, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17 2. James also makes it clear that your “faith” must be more than mental assent. See James 2:18-19 A. James presents a diagnostic statement to the professed believer when he states, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that --- and shudder.” B. James is saying that you can have a cognitive understanding of God's existence and the entire Bible and not know God personally. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Matthew 7:21-23 1. The will of God is to invite Jesus into your lives. See John 3:16 & 2 Peter 3:9 2. The will of God is for every true believer to serve Jesus. “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Ephesians 4:11-12 C. James sums up this section by stating, “show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:18b 3. James further empowers his theological understanding of “Faith and Works” by using Abraham as an example of a righteous person, who was a man of action! See James 2:20-26 “Abraham was considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar.” James 2:21 A. Abraham's “Faith was made complete by what he did.” 1. Faith and deeds go together to produce righteousness. 2. James also highlights the Faith of Rahab. “This is what the ancients were commended for.” See Hebrews 11

0 (0s): And I'm so excited to worship with you all this morning. I'm in Psalm 104, the where it says I were to enter his gates with Thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise. So I want to take a moment and let's just, let's just thank God for what he's doing in our, in our, in our lives. Whether it's big or small, just 2 (4m 49s): and call. They fall to our lives. All the, all the things we did at first, you're clearing out your cleaning out We are your people. 2 (5m 27s): You see all the nation call to pray. 2 (6m 52s): 1 (7m 9s): Your 2 (7m 9s): Hearts. Oh Lord. Our shepherd. You to all things. 2 (8m 51s): We come in. We're not, oh God, we need your service. come in. Not walking. God, we need me servant. God, we need reserves. 2 (11m 18s): So we re surrender your car. We're coming or not. We're running that. We need research. We research. 1 (12m 1s): I see. 2 (12m 3s): When I lock eyes with 1 (12m 5s): You, I feel you. 2 (12m 10s): I love to get 1 (12m 14s): Your, 2 (12m 15s): My obsession when I log. 1 (12m 28s): I see . 2 (13m 56s): I see 1 (13m 57s): I don't care. 1 (15m 22s): I don't care what it does. 1 (15m 26s): is you just, you just, 0 (17m 14s): Yes, Lord. Let that be our prayer and our worship this morning. We just love you, Lord. We want more of you and always sees all we need is your all we need to in this life, you you're you're you provide every extra thing that we ever could need in Florida. Your provider, your, You are a salvation. You are a God. We worship you. Jesus. 1 (17m 59s): Thank you, Lord Jesus in Jesus name. Amen. 3 (18m 9s): All right. Good morning. Harvest church. I am. My name is Jeremy. I'm normally the announcement guy, but this week I get to bring the word, be the, bring the word guy I got promoted. Hey, I could definitely use your prayer, huge prayer requests. Next weekend. I'll be trapped on a bus with 39 youth headed up to the mountains. Now the youth group is next week is headed. Next weekend is headed to Heartland Christian camp, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or rented a 48 passenger bus. We got 39 students going six liters, be praying for us that the goddess just, just reaches those students. 3 (18m 55s): During that time up there, it's a really neat testimony is one of the junior high boys that's going. His dad went to Heartland Christian camp when he was in junior high and gave his Lord to give his life to Lord at that camp. So it's going to be a special time. We're really looking forward to it. Been planning for months. So it's, it's, it's really neat to see the fruit of that coming out. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. Steve's let me pick up right where he left off. I feel like the bases are loaded in a, in a sense. Everybody knows chapter 11, the hall of faith. So I'm going to bring, do my best to bring the word this morning, but let me geek out with you on a few things. 3 (19m 37s): I I'm a nerd. Okay. I used to be more of a math and science nerd, but lately it's been more literature nerd. I love these chapters. I love the word of God. I've grown in my just love of English, literature, poetry. And so let me just geek out first for a second with you. The word Smith there's wordsmithing that goes on in Hebrews is phenomenal. We know that it's God breathed. It's inspired by the holy spirit. God does use these authors to write this, but if you go back, think back really quickly to Jen, sorry. See Hebrews chapter 10. It starts out this way. Verse one for the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things that the law, the old Testament was a shadow of things to come. 3 (20m 30s): And so I think we read through that so quickly. We just think, oh yeah. Shadow. Okay. Yeah. Think about it for a second. You're out on a sunny day. Not now because it's cloudy, but John was saying, Hey, and you look down and you don't see a shadow either it's noon and the shot, the sun is directly overhead or something's wrong, right. That shadowed. But that shadows are always following us around. And yet there, they don't have an actual substance. It's an outline of our, our bodies that are laid out depending on whatever the sun is. But you can deduce a few things from a shadow. If you, if you went outside and just walk up strangely behind somebody and look at their shadow, but don't actually look at who it is. 3 (21m 13s): You might be able to figure it out by their shadow, who it is. Especially if you know a few people around here, you might be able to do this, but it doesn't give their exact skin eye, hair color. There's no, all the details are lost. One of my classes at UCFB was a class on photo interpretation. And that's where they, these, these airplanes from above would take pictures over the ground. And then often there were times farmers use them within their fields of, for looking at crops and stuff. But also we got to look at some unclassified photos of area 51, and it was really cool. Cause we had like over the decades, we got to see like area 51 from the fifties and the sixties and the seventies. 3 (21m 59s): And you get to analyze like what's changed over time. So you get to see the runways that were lengthened. Like why, why an extra 5,000 feet on that Renu? Why do you need, you know, that's interesting or you get to see where buildings are are, are, are either buildings were built or whether they're added onto the, in their elevation and what you could. The beginning of the details that emerge from those photo interpretations was if you knew what time and what date that photo was taken. And he knew the elevation of that airplane that took that photo, you could find out actually a lot of details depending on the angle of the sun, as myth from the date and time you could say, well, the sun was at this angle that way, this shadow from the building cast a 60 foot long shadow. 3 (22m 47s): And at that angle, well that means that building is six, six stories tall. And so then all of a sudden these do, you can pull out little details, which help when you're looking at your enemies and trying to figure out, well, what do you, why, why do you have a missile? That's nine. You know, all these different things. You can pull out some details, but you'll never looking at area 51. You'll never know what's inside those buildings. You can figure out the height. Then you can figure out a few things, but you'll never, the details are lost. And the same with the shadow, the shadow of the things to come in the law, the outline is there, but there's the details were somehow lost. They were, they were just darkened. Compare that contrast chapter 10, with chapter 12, the next chapter we'll be looking at chapter 12, starts out with this. 3 (23m 34s): Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. So when from a shadows to now clouds, I love that the word play that's going on. The clouds are interesting because clouds can cast a shadow, but clouds can also block the shadows from happening and in a sense clouds or something, that's kind of a theorial there. They're real, but they're not. They're kind of they're there, but they're not. And this is, this is from this morning, driving into work. I live in Santa Maria. I was crossing the Santa Maria bridge, a, a car going about 90 miles an hour with Arizona license plate flew by me. 3 (24m 16s): And right after the bridge, there was this big fog bank. I don't know if any of you experienced that. There's this big fog bank and this, this, this Arizona licensed plated car, all of a sudden you can just see him hitting the brakes. He didn't know what to make of this fog. And he put on his flashers, like he needed to do that. I guess Arizona drivers don't know what Tulley fog is. You know, for those of you who've ever driven the central California as because there's, this fog was so thick and it was about, I had a, maybe a hundred yard visibility. It was a, it was a thick cloud. Or maybe it's like this when you're flying in one of those small passenger airplanes, you know, like the Cessna, you know, those little four-seater airplanes had a chance a year, a few years ago to go with a pilot and we're flying. 3 (24m 59s): And on our course was going to take us right through a cloud. And as you're approaching the cloud, you want to, I wanted to like, Ooh, you know, like we're going to, we're going to hit the cloud. We're going to have to go. And then all of a sudden the cloud, we just pass right through the cloud. It's there, but it's not. It's the strangest thing. So that is the cloud of witnesses that are cheering us on. They're in a sense, they're there, but they're, they're not, you know, so between the shadow of the things that come and the cloud of witnesses, we find ourselves in the hall of face, this chapter 11, living by faith between the shadow and the cloud chapter 10 ends with how to live by faith. 3 (25m 39s): And that's going to give us a number of examples of how patriarchs and how people from the past are ancient heroes. Show us how to do that, how to live by faith. Let's pray this morning, heavenly father, we thank you Lord, for your word of God. That's open on our laps. Lord. It's living, it's acting active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword Lord. So will you cut to the joints? And the marrow is a division that only you can do through your scriptures. Lord illuminate your word of God to us this morning in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. There's a number of different chapter titles that have been given to chapter 11. 3 (26m 23s): I I'll refer to it as the hall of faith, as in like, you know, baseball hall of fame, the legends of the sports, those, those people are kind of like solidified in there. You know, he got babe Ruth, Pete rose was, but then he wasn't right. And all that drama, but the different titles titles that have come out of this chapter, I like, it's just interesting to follow. So the new king James version says titles. This chapter by faith. We understand by faith, we understand the NIV says just simply by faith, newly living translation says faith and action. I kind of liked that this is how they showed their lived out by living in action by faith and action, the way mouth and older translation. 3 (27m 5s): He's he called it faith and his ancient heroes kind of like that one faith in his engine heroes. Cause I like picture books. Anybody else? Like picture books, love, picture books, even reading to my daughters, the picture books. It's fun as especially the beautifully illustrated ones. There's this fun to follow along. But recently as my girls have been good, getting older, we've kind of trans, you know, we're, we're still reading some picture books, but we're starting to get into some novels. So I've been recently reading the Chronicles of Narnia with my daughters. And I think we're on book four or five and it's so fun. And so my girls will be up in their beds and they're kind of playing with their dolls and doing different stuff while I'm reading out loud to them every once in a while, you as you're, as you're opening through the book or you're reading through the book, there's a little black and white sketch. 3 (27m 53s): And my girls are always like dad. If, if there's a picture, we want to see it like stop. Like just, you have to stop reading. We have to take this and show us the page because they want to know if what they're hearing is is, is, is what the art, the artist or the writer was portraying. They want to see that it aligns up. And that's why I love the old Testament. And that's why the Hebrews that he author is pointing back to the old Testament patriarchs because the old Testament is a picture book of new Testament truths. The old Testament is a picture book. It's, it's how it's lived out of new Testament truths. It makes tangible, it makes faith a tangible thing. 3 (28m 34s): It shows us encouraged us of examples, of those who have gone before us and encouraged us to live in that way. Now faith is verse one. What faith is now, faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. This chapter starts out with almost a working definition of what faith is. It's the substance of things. Hope for the evidence of things not seen. And another definition of faith would be what can be believed in a state of certainty with regard to belief. And this definition that the book of Hebrews gives is, is twofold. 3 (29m 16s): In relation to one, in relation to the future, faith is the substance of things hope for, so the things that are yet to come and in relation to that right now, the invisible it's the evidence of things not seen. That is what faith is and that word substance. It's an interesting word. It's almost like substance is something that you're able to tangibly grasp a hold and different translators translated that Greek word. That's only used five times. The new Testament is called Hoopa. Stacy's it's only translated five times. It's only in the new Testament five times and it's translated a little differently. Sometimes it's translated to assurance or confidence or reality and the biblical usage. 3 (29m 59s): It has this, this picture of a steadfastness from resolute much like the, like the foundation of a home. That's, that's how this substance is used. The substance of our faith. It's this foundation. So over the years, I've, I've loved doing construction. Most of my jobs have been remodeling. So kind of fixing what's already there. But my dream is to someday build my own home. And you start out with a blueprint. You, you design your home on a blueprint and then you take that page and then you, then you have the concrete foundation poured and is from that foundation that then you can walk on. 3 (30m 39s): You can stand on that foundation, begin to see all my walls are going to go here. The window's going to open up to that viewpoint. Okay? This is, this is where the different things are we, and it becomes really it's this it's the substance that's there. It's the foundation it's underlying of all the building that's going to take place next. And that's what that word substance speaks to is tangible. It's the reality. And it's the reality of things yet. Hope for you walk onto that foundation. You begin to see the things that you're hoping for, that this house to turn out this way, you can begin to see it in your mind's eye. Second Corinthians says that this is how we are to walk. We walk by faith, not by sight, walk by faith, not by sight. 3 (31m 23s): And then first Corinthians 13 says this now and now abide faith, hope, and love. And these three, but the greatest of these three is love. Why is love the greatest of faith and hope? 'cause when you're standing on that finished house, inside the finished house, as dry walled and furnished, you don't have to have faith that this is how, how the house is going to turn out. You don't have to have hope that it's going to turn out this way. You are standing within a Fe finished house on the foundation that you placed because it's it's there. You just do. You love your house. Now you don't have to have faith or hope in these things. 3 (32m 3s): And that is the foundation of we're called in our Christian life. Someday, when we meet Jesus face to face, we won't have to say, well, I hope I get to see Jesus. No, we will see him face to face. We won't have to say, well, I have faith that this is going to happen. No, we will be in the presence of God. That's why those faith and hope are just going to pass away and there's going to be love. They won't be needed. So it's the substance of things. Hope for, and as the evidence of things not seen, it speaks to future award. It speaks to a furnished proof. It's it's a police officer takes evidence, takes substance from a crime scene stores away. 3 (32m 46s): And then at the court trial later, when bringing it to court, he would produce that evidence. But you don't take an empty bag of evidence and say, well, this is my evidence. Now you have to have firm evidence. You have to have some kind of substance. And that's our faith, our substances, the things hope for the evidence of things, not seen the way Mount translation translates this verse this way. He says now faith is a confident assurance of that, for which we hope a conviction of the reality of things we do not see. Do you have that conviction for the things we do not see this morning? Verse two says for by it, the elders obtained a good testimony and those elders that is speaking of our, that chapter 12, those in the Coliseum that are surrounding us and saying, go go, you can do this. 3 (33m 36s): We were able to do this by God's grace. You can do it. Go in there. They're encouraging us on by faith. They have a testimony. Now they're here to cheer us on verse three gives us now, but what faith does, what does faith do? Faith verse three says by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. So heavy verse faith understands is what faith starts with. Faith understands. Fifth understands that the worlds that all that we can see was framed by the world. 3 (34m 16s): God, that God created that. And if you've ever read the haul of this, this chapter and been like, man, I wonder if my story could fit in there or do I have the faith to be in Hebrews chapter 11? Guess what you do? Do you notice who that, that first, where it starts off the list, what faith does it says by faith, we understand who is that as us. If you believe that this whole universe, the ages that the worlds were made and created by God and for him that puts us right top and central into the hall of faith. I think that's amazing having not even been, been born yet when he rose was written, we, we are included in that list by faith because we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God, you and I, and that word worlds speaks of the Greek word, a on its universe, it's its ages. 3 (35m 16s): It's all that we can see. And it was all created in Quip. It goes back to Genesis one when God created the heavens and the earth, we are included in that list. And what I love about the Bible is it's not, it's not a science book, but when it speaks about science, it's a hundred percent accurate. No matter what the current thought is at the time of this was written. The understanding of what all matter was made of was very different and the different theories. And, and in fact, 500 years before the book of Hebrews was written, they said everything was one substance. That was their understanding 500 years before that everything was one substance. 3 (35m 59s): And then about 500 years before the book of Hebrews a philosopher came on the scene and he said, well, if you take a rock and you split that rock into, you have two halves, well, let's just take that half and split that in half. And then you have half of the half, and then, then you have that. And then all the way down until you have these small indivisible, polar particles, or little, little things, little tiny things that you can't quite see, but they're there. And that is an Adam. That's what we're made of these, the small indivisible particles. That was the thought. But if you dig into this, we in what we've come to know is that the Adam is not the smallest of things Adam's are made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and then those things are made of corks and matter. 3 (36m 52s): Anti-matter all of these crazy stuff. And yet at the core and Adam, if you, if you were to take an electron cloud of an atom, it has a radius 10,000 times greater than a nucleus nucleus follow me. I know you didn't, you weren't expecting a science lesson, but the electron has electron cloud, which is the electron is like the free floating negative charge. And that's floating around the knee, the nutrient, the nucleus, and the proton neutron to proton. And it has a thousand times greater radius than the nucleus. And that was according to Los Alamos national laboratory. So to make that into a tangible way, if the proton, if the center of the atom was the size of a basketball, the electron would be circling three miles away. 3 (37m 42s): That's a lot of space facts. There's more of nothing than there is actual substance in our world that we see. And we look at is what the Bible was saying. It has been saying all along, there's more of nothing than actual substance Genesis. One says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And he created that science says 13.7 billion years ago. There was a clump of mass that was so tightly compressed and it exploded. And that's what created all that we see. And it was some say the title, the size of a pinhead is what all that the universe would encompass if all that space was taken out. 3 (38m 24s): So the Bible says that all that we see is made from stuff that we cannot see, new living translation says this first it's translated by. It says, by faith, we understand the entire universe was formed at God's command. And that we now see, sorry, what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. ESV says by faith, we understand the universe was created by the word of God. So that it seen that what is seen is not made of things which are visible. Young's living translation from 1862 says this by faith. We understand the ages to have been prepared by a sane of God, in regard to the things not having the in regard to the things seen, having not come out of things that appeared Websters in 1833 S wrote this. 3 (39m 19s): He said through faith, we understand that the worlds were not framed by the word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things, which appeared that is us. That is what we believe that God created the heavens and the earth. And if you look up the word Bible and in the Webster's English language from 1828, he was an amazing man. It may surprise you. This is what he wrote about. If you, if you read the entry Bible, this is what he said. He says the Bible, the book by way of eminence, the sacred volume in which are contained the revelations of God, the principles of Christian faith and the rules of practice, it consists of two parts called the old and new testaments. 3 (40m 6s): The Bible should be the standard of language, as well as a faith. That's what no Webster had to say in his dictionary in 1828. And he was also often called the father of American scholarship and education. Webster took 26 years to complete his dictionary in the process of learning 28 languages, including Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. And he knew so much after writing his dictionary, that he wrote his own translation. And five years later, the Webster's Bible in 1833. And he wanted the difficult king James version to be understood by schoolchildren. And it's one of the reasons why he wrote the dictionary in the first place. 3 (40m 47s): He felt inspired by the holy spirit to write the Webster's dictionary so that people could read the Bible and understand it. And he, in his own words, he said, education is useless without the Bible. And I think, man, how far have we come from from that? And now we're going to get into the exciting part. Sh the examples of the faith, not only are we on the list by implication of believing that God created the heavens the earth, but now it's going to give out how some characters in the Bible actually respond to that examples of the faith verse four says by faith, Abel offered to God and more excellent sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained witness, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. 3 (41m 28s): And through it, through it, he being dead still speaks. So faith offers it's the Firth first encouragement is faith offers. And what did Kane offer Keene offered, but some of the fruit of the ground, and he'd worked for that. He'd worked for that fruit he'd toiled and pluck in the weeds and preparing the soil and all the hard work that went, that goes involved with farming, the sweat off his brow, the blood, and often his hands. You know, he has his, his labor, his work in his hand of his hands. His effort is what he offered to God as a sacrifice. And it wasn't accepted, but evil. 3 (42m 12s): What does evil offer? Well, he offered the first, the best in the bloodied. Why did evil offer sheep that time? Why was able even a keeper of the sheep at that time, man, it wasn't until after the flood that man be candy, eat meat. So why did Abel even keep sheep in the first place? Why did he spend all this time? Keeping sheep? Well, it would have been for covering you go back to Genesis chapter three, verse 21. We find this scripture that says this, you see, God had just laid out the consequences of the fall of man's sin and their choices thereof. 3 (42m 57s): And while they're still in the garden, it says, and also for Adam and his wife, the Lord, God made tunics of skin and clothed them. So they're in the garden before they had to leave the garden to protect them from eating the tree of life. God looks at their condition and they've sinned. They've messed up and they've done what's best. They took of some of the plant around them, the fig leaves. And they covered themselves with that. And fig leaves, if you know, they are scratchy and itchy, I could not imagine having fig leaf clothing, they would break apart. They would tear up, it would just be gone in no time, but that's what they use to try to cover their sin because they knew that they were naked. And so God says, I got something better for you, but God, in the garden of Eden says he made tunics of skin. 3 (43m 45s): I don't think God just called a tunic of skin and Vina. I think in that first temple on the garden of Eden, God took an innocent lamb and he sacrificed that lamb in a sense, and then took of the skin of that lamb and then covered Adam and Eve. So when Kane said, I need to make an offering for sacrifice, this is what God's called me to do. He knew the pattern already that the pattern of the bid set an Abel speaking, not only of the pattern that the covering of sin was, was made, that God had made the covering of skin and clothed them. That, that one days, someday soon he would look forward to the coming lamb of God that would come and sacrifice on his part. 3 (44m 28s): In honor of heart, he was looking forward to something and that still speaks. Abel looked forward to the sacrifice of the lamb of God. And we look back on it that still speaks back to Hebrews 11, verse five. We come to one of my heroes of the faith by faith. Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. And he was not found because God had taken him. And for before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God, faith, pleases God, that was his testimony that he pleased God. He was just this strange guy that he, he walked with God. 3 (45m 8s): And then he was not for God, took him. He simply continued his walk, his journey with the Lord, forgetting about his contemporaries, keeping his eyes on God, just continue that walk of faith until he was raptured up, he was caught up into heaven. You see, he was a prophet of righteousness. Jude would say he was prophesied to his generation of the judgment. That was to come namely the flood that he would never have to see because he was raptured out of it. He was, he was walking to be above the ways of his fellow man, the culture around. And he chose to walk with God, not with his friends as the how Enoch pleased God by faith for six says the ness is the necessity of faith. 3 (45m 55s): It says by without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. If you, if you take that into account, that's really serious. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, how do we please? God, only by faith, not our, at our works, not our attitudes, not the things that we can do towards or for him. It is by faith alone. Ephesians two eight says for by grace, you have been saved through faith and is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. So not only is it impossible to please God, without faith. It also, we come to God in a certain way. 3 (46m 37s): For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. And that of those who diligently seek him. So we believe that God is that he rewards and that we, he can be sought out. And as our God, maybe this morning, you want to be, you're building the foundation of your faith. If you're just starting to set that foundation. If you're reading the blueprint of the word of God and you say, I wanna, I want to start building that house of faith. A few resources, just from our church. Our provost wrote a 600 page book. He assembled it called what is your foundation for life? 3 (47m 17s): And in it, he pulls all these different science and mathematics and all these things to point that we have a good trader God and I have that available in my office. If anybody is interested, shin shin, Sharon Dutcher also wrote a book called new beginnings. She, she goes to our church and just on the foundations of faith, that's what you're building. Look, because God can be sought after so many atheists like CS Lewis, Lee Strobel sought to disprove God. They said, I'm going to disprove the Bible. I'm a disproved God. And in fact, they ha they ended up proving God and coming to God, love CS Lewis love his books. 3 (48m 2s): So we have these continued examples. Continue on in verse seven, we have the example of Noah. Noah listened. It says by faith being divinely warned of things, not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an Ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith, faith, and listens. And he surfers out there. You ever been in on the water and you hear somebody yell outside. It doesn't mean that you're out of doors and you're just enjoying the outside. Outside means there's you are in the set waves currently, but there is a wave that's breaking and it's bigger than any other wave. 3 (48m 49s): And it's coming right at you. So you yell outside. And the thought is to warn everybody else that there's this big wave coming out. And if you don't start paddling out, out in PA, try to get past that wave. Then it's going to take you out. So y'all outside. And that was what Noah was doing to his generation. At that time, no one had ever seen rain. It had never flooded. And so God is listening to God and God warning him a things to come. He moves with godly fear. He yells outside to his contemporaries and begins building an arc. And he began building his arc for not only himself, but his first household. 3 (49m 33s): It cost him. Everything cost him. His reputation. People would have called him silly, dumb. What, what are you? This thing? That's that's coming. Rain sucking, arranged or rained. We have the do that comes other ground at waters. The grass, no, that's not going to fall from the heavens. That would be ridiculous. Building large ships was not known as occupation before that. So it cost him everything. If you think of the timeline and this, this, this, this gives me a little bit of curiosity. But if you think of the timeline, the Bible says in Genesis seven, that the floods came upon the earth. 3 (50m 14s): When Noah was 600 years old, Noah's sons were born to him when he was 500 years old in Genesis five, but Genesis six, verse three, we find this verse. It says, the Lord said, spirit shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh. Yet. His days shall be 120 years now, does that mean the limits of us are only going to be 120 years old? I believe it was God speaking in 120 years because of the condition of mankind. I'm going to bring a flood. So if you do the math that puts the flood at when no one was that puts God warning, making that warning, making that call the prophecy that he was gonna be 480 years old. 3 (50m 57s): That's 20 years before his kids were even born. It was God giving him a prophesied. Noah, your don't have kids yet, but you are going to have kids. You're going to have sons. And if you want to prepare you, if you want to save you and your household, then begin building this arc begin preparing for the future. No heard that. And he moved with godly fear. He didn't wait. He didn't delay. Think we have an amazing example of how faith listens to God and moves. Verse eight says now Abraham obeyed, when he was called to go out of the place from which he would receive as an inheritance. 3 (51m 39s): And he went out not knowing where he was going. Abraham gives us the example of faith, obeys, faith, obeys, faith, obeys, the voice of God. And most likely he had an inheritance inheritance in his own land, in the land of earth, the Kaldi's and it was probably would have been a great inheritance. Early. The Kaldi's was known to be a place of a luxury living. It was a place where there's many temples to different gods. It was, it was a place where a lot was happening. It was a metropolis. It was a place where hot tubs were invented. God says, Abraham, I want you to leave your hot tub. And I'm going to bring you to this special place where you're going to live call to leave that place and go out faith, obeys and faith obeys. 3 (52m 27s): Even during that time, you don't leave a family. Moving was not something that was common in that culture. You would have to move away from your family, your land security, all those were tied up from where you were yet. Faith obeys, hearing the voice of God, not knowing where he was going. But once he was there, verse nine says by faith, he is an Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city, which has his foundations, whose builder and maker is God, what example? 3 (53m 11s): Faith lives it out. He had to live it out day to day. He had to live in a tent. The rest of his life, traveling around. I go backpacking from time to time. Living in a tent is not a comfortable thing. He had to leave his, the wealth land of earth. And didn't now live in tense, waiting for that promise that God was going to give him in 1859. The third hottest temperature on record that we have on record was recorded in Santa Barbara, 133 degrees. 3 (53m 51s): You can fact checks me 133 degrees in 1859 in Santa Barbara. according to documents. And at it began to blowing this warm, warm air off the off from, from Arizona. And by the time it was four or five in the afternoon, it was 133 degrees. You can imagine there's a pre air conditioning. So people are trying to get out of this heat. And that was recorded on a schooner ship out in the Harbor, 130 to three trees on the water. So you can only imagine how hot it was on the shores. 3 (54m 32s): And people did everything to try to escape the heat. They, they, they, they tried jumping down their Wells and some people died down there. The, the, the trees were scorched on one side from this hot wind cattle died out, out in the, out in the pastures. It was a ho. It was, it was called the day that hell came to Santa Barbara, 1859. But a lot of people were able to survive because they went into their Adobe homes and those Adobe homes helped buffer the heat. And they were able to survive because they had those thick walls. And that was the same thick walls that Abraham had to leave and earth that he went to now live in a tent. And if you've ever woken up in the morning, out in a tent on the backpacking, you know that the second that sun hits that tent is blazing hot. 3 (55m 20s): So there Abraham and his sons are sitting in the shade of their tent and they're have their fans out in the heat of the day. And they're talking and his son says Abraham or dad, why can't we live in a house like everyone else? Why couldn't we build a house? We have the resources we're rich beyond measure. Why can't we build a solid house? And Abraham would have to remind them, no, these are our promises. God has promised us this, that we have a foundation we're waiting for heaven. There's something greater than building our home here. God is making a city for us, which has this foundation to builder and maker is God. And I look at the way that I try to raise my own girls. 3 (56m 0s): And I think of all the times they said, dad, why can't we watch this movie? Or why can't we go this place? Or why can't we do that? I'd have to say, well, that's because we need to listen, obey God for his plan for our life. Sometimes there's things we can't do. There's sometimes it won't do because we're looking forward to our future home for seven, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged him. Faithful who had promised faith, receives faith, receives the promises of God. Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to Isaac. 3 (56m 42s): And yet she looked not to herself, but she looked to God as the promised her. So she received that, that, that blessing because she received that blessing. She was able to pass on to her husband and ultimately the world, therefore verse 12 from one man, and then him as good as dead were born. As many as the stars of the sky in multitude, in numerable is a sand, which is by the sea soar. He goes on to say in verse 13 and all these, they died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off. And they were assured of them, they embrace them and they confess them. How do you embrace a promise where you believe it? You embrace it by faith. 3 (57m 24s): They embraced them in the confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a Homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come, they would have had the opportunity opportunity to return. They're looking forward to this country, the promises that God has, if they had a chance like, like lot's wife to look back and with wishful thoughts to go back to that place. And she turned into a pillar of salt, no, they kept their eyes forward. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they kept their eyes forward. They said, no, there's a better place, verse 16. But now they desire a better. That is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for. He has prepared a city for them. 3 (58m 10s): Very much reminds me of a young missionary man named Jim Elliot, Jim Elliot, when he was 18 or 19 wrote in his journal, a quote. And I, my dad wrote in his Bible and I've since then re written it in mind, but it says this. It says he is no fool. This is from my dad's Bible. He is no fool who gives what? He cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim Elliot, as a, as a young man realized that there were things that in this world that he was not going to be able to keep. When you go to heaven, there's no limousine or all your, you whole stuff going with you, right? 3 (58m 51s): He's no fool gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He looked towards heaven and all that was there waiting for him. And he went to down to south America, to a head hunting tribe and lost his life for the Lord because he said, what I have on this earth is temporary. It's fleeting. But what heaven offers is much far greater. These all died in faith because they desired something better. Do you seek that Homeland? I guess I look my bookshelf and I'm like, man, I, my, my, my balance is so off. I have probably 500 books in my office and only two books are on heaven. And my first thought of heaven and forgive me. 3 (59m 33s): But I think of chubby baby angels floating on clouds. My friends growing up, his mom loved to have these little baby chubby baby angels floating on clouds in her house. And that was what just always stuck. Okay. That's heaven. Okay. Heaven's a eternal worship service and my arms are going to get sore. But yet all these patriarchs of the faith will looked forward to heaven because it was so far greater. What are your thoughts on heaven? I think that will shape how you live now. How real is heaven to you? Is it a tangible thing? Every once in a while, I feel like God gives us those little glimpses. 3 (1h 0m 14s): I, and I can remember randomly being in the garage with my brother as a kid. And we were just tinkering replaying. There was just, we were just having the best time. I'm like, man, I wonder if this is what heaven's going to be like, maybe it's outside hiking or maybe it's in the water. Like what is, is cannot be so good. But why do I only have two books at a 500 on this topic of heaven? All these patriarchs. They, they show us examples by faith. They understood by faith. They offered by faith. 3 (1h 0m 55s): They please God, by faith, they listened by faith. They obeyed by faith. They lived out by faith. They received by faith. We can live as strangers and pilgrims and that's expressed by their, by their will and by our will, by the choices that we make, do we have that heavenly hope? Pray. The Lord, give that to us in Jesus name, let's pray. Or we desire that heavenly hope Lord for a place whose foundations will not crumble for a builder that has been building for thousands of years, this eternal home for us Lord, where this, everything of this world that we seem to know is just going to fade away the sin, the death, that pain, the cancer, the, the hurt caused by others. 3 (1h 1m 51s): All that's going to fade away Lord until we are in the presence of you in your immeasurable love in our resurrected bodies, in a physical place, thorn eating the best of foods or God just give us that hope of heaven that these patriarchs have. Lord Jesus name. We pray. Amen. 1 (1h 2m 24s): Oh, I has gone. Bursey feels this coupon Tuesday walk with there will be a day when all about we saved through job and on that day, we joined the resurrection stand beside the heroes with one invoice 0 (1h 6m 43s): Thank you, God, that you are holy. And we just look forward to that day. When we get to stand face to face with, with Jesus who died and rose again for us, made her made our way so we could be there. So we have that hope, that constant assurance, Lord, thank you for just the truth of your word and the hope that it brings Lord to our lives. Very helpless to walk it out and walk in faith as we leave today. Thank you for all this in Jesus name.

with Pastor Chuck Ryan We Are All One In Christ Text: James 1:9-11 Thesis: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” - Matthew 3:26 1. In the Church there are to be NO social / class distinctions. A. Economic status has divided Christians throughout the ages. B. God's Word teaches us, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ.” Galatians 3:28 2. James seeks to elevate the status of the poor. (Vs. 9) A. James declares a profound mystery when he states, “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” B. Our personal value is not determined by the size of our bank account. 1. Everyone is made in the image of God. * “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 2. Our identity and worth is determined by God, not another person or even self. 3. Jesus reminds us of the widows offering. (Luke 21:1-4) 3. James reminds the rich of the true source of wealth. (Vs. 10) A. God is the one who is in control over life and death. 1. Wealth can produce a false sense of security. a. James is inferring in his statement of “low position”, to mean weak or powerless to prevent death even though you may have wealth. B. This is what Jesus was teaching in Luke 12:13-21 in the parable of the rich fool. 2. The wealthy can “take pride in their low position” if they realize they still need God. a. You can be wealthy and be an excellent Christian if it is surrendered to God. b. Whether rich or poor we all will die the first death and everyone needs the Salvation of Jesus Christ. * “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” See Hebrews 9:27-28

It's January 19th, and many of us have already given up on our commitment to "Be Healthy This Year!!!!" It's not that we don't want to be healthy. We do! We're just demoralized by the constant failures that go along with working on a be-healthy habit. So what do we do to get out of that slump? Pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make a commitment to try again tomorrow? I don't think so; I used to do that all the time and it didn't work. I didn't have enough self-control to make myself do the things that would lead me toward health or not do the things that kept me unhealthy. If we really want to be healthy--and we're not one of those people who love exercising and eating healthy--we need to renew our minds. The Bible tells us we're transformed by the renewing of the mind. This works for anything we do in life, including becoming healthy. The more we get God's perspective on life and food, the more we'll want to do things that will lead us toward health. If you'd like to become healthy this year, here is what I would suggest. 5 Steps to Becoming Healthy if You Don't Have Oodles of Self-Control Renew your mind about food 2-3 times a day by doing 1) the questions in I Deserve a Donut (app or book), 2) the questions in Renewing of the Mind Project, or 3) truth journaling. I would suggest renewing at lunch and again sometime between 3:00 and 5:30 to prepare you with enough truth to make it through the evening. Make a commitment to exercise. If you don't already have a habit, make this a really short commitment: 5-15 minutes or 3000 steps a day. Then increase it as you gain more self-control in that area. Renew your mind when you can't make yourself exercise. You can use the questions in Renewing of the Mind Project in the Starting a Habit section for this. Here are some of the thought in that section of the book that have corresponding questions and Bible verses: This is so boring. I really don't want to do this. I shouldn't have to do this. There's a good reason I can't do this again. This is no fun. I'll do it later. I'm too busy. Will this be worth all the work? Memorize a few Bible verses and meditate on them throughout the day. In the Bible we see Jesus use Scripture to battle temptation. If Jesus used Scripture to walk the straight and narrow, how much more do we need to use it? Here are a few suggestions of Bible verses you could memorize: Luke 12:15, Romans 13:14, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Timothy 4:7b, Philippians 4:11-13, Hebrews 12:11. JULIE - could you ad links to these maybe using the ESV translation?  Do a weight loss Bible study. Renewing will help you with the lies that make you overeat and avoid exercise. But it also helps to have a biblical foundation for the truths that will set us free from an unhealthy lifestyle. Bible study will help with that. People often ask me which of my Bible studies to do first. I recommend Freedom from Emotional Eating first if you struggle with emotional eating or entitlement. And Taste for Truth if you're more of an indulgent, careless, or bored overeater. If you like variety, I'd recommend doing the first six lessons in Taste for Truth, then switch over to Freedom from Emotional Eating and go back and forth between the two. But What If I Can't Make Myself Do Those Things? Now you may have noticed one tiny little problem. All the things I just mentioned also require discipline! This is where you need some friendship or group support--to make yourself renew your mind. Usually we use accountability to make us follow our eating guidelines or make ourselves exercise. This is nice, but it doesn't change the way we think about eating and exercise. And we need to change the way we think if we want to have lifelong change. So I would suggest finding a little group. In my last podcast episode with Dr. Melanie Wilson, called How to Achieve Your Goals - 10 Tips, we talked about how to gather a couple of people for the purpose of following through with goals. This would be the perfect thing to do to avoid getting discouraged about your attempts to be healthy. You could start a Bible study at your church (even though that might be scary) or just gather two friends and meet weekly or even monthly. You could do daily accountability for renewing. Let each other know what your goals are (I'll renew 3 times a day, for example), then each morning text each other and ask, did you renew? Just remember as you do this, though, that you will have bad days. We all do when we're working on a new habit. The key is just to get through those bad days and don't give up. Don't beat yourself up. Don't say mean things to yourself. And don't despair. Every single person on the planet has something they can't get over. Eating too much might be that thing for you. But... we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! We just need to keep going to Him to get that strength! In today's podcast episode, you'll get a chance to do that. Following are the questions we'll be visiting with God about on today's podcast: Tired of the Struggle Questions, Bible Verses, and Tips Note: The questions, Bible studies, and tips are all from I Deserve a Donut (and Other Lies That Make You Eat). Do you ever wish life were easier? Why do you think it's so hard to lose weight and keep it off? What do you usually do when you get discouraged about it? What will happen if you keep doing that? Do you want that to happen? How do you think God feels when He sees you suffering? (Hebrews 4:15) What do you think God wants to do for you in the midst of your struggle? (See Hebrews 4:16 and the other verses below for ideas.) What do you think He wants you to do in the midst of your struggle? (See verses below for ideas.) What will you gain if you go to Him for help with this struggle? When you think of all you'll gain, is it worth taking the time to fight the battle with spiritual weapons? Would it help to have someone hold you accountable to the renewing of your mind? If so, who could you ask? Bible Verses Psalm 30:5b Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.  Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me? Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Galatians 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Tired of the Struggle Tips Let's face it. It's hard to keep dealing with the same problem over and over. Sometimes we feel like throwing in the towel and just giving up. Don't do it. Spiritual battles are just what they're called: battles. And battles aren't easy. You can't enter into battle without entering into suffering. Here's a comforting thought, though. It's far better to suffer with God than without Him. Spiritual battles can be intense, sweet times of fellowship with God—so sweet it almost feels like it's worth struggling through the problem just to have those times with God. I want to encourage you to keep going to Him for help. Renew your mind. Take off those lies and put on the truth. Let the Holy Spirit work in you and minister to you and conform you to His image. The journey won't be pleasant, but afterwards, you'll experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). And that will be worth the struggle. Other Podcast Episodes Where You Can Renew If you'd like to listen to more podcast episodes that allow you to renew while you listen, check out these episodes: Renew: Indulgence Eating  Renew: I'll Start Tomorrow Renew: Vacation and Holiday Eating Renew: Entitlement Eating Renew: Failure Eating Renew: Careless Eating Renew: Sneakiness / Opportunity Eating Resources Mentioned on the Podcast Taste for Truth Bible Study Freedom from Emotional Eating Bible study I Deserve a Donut  book I Deserve a Donut App Renewing of the Mind Project "How to Truth Journal" blog post How to Achieve a Goal - 10 Tips with Dr. Melanie Wilson and Barb Christian Accountability Partner: A Beginner's Guide How to Listen to the Podcast:  Google: Click here to subscribe or listen on Google Podcasts.  Stitcher: Click here to subscribe or listen on Stitcher.  Apple Podcasts: Click here to subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts. (If you haven't subscribed to the podcast on Apple, this can sometimes take a few hours to update.)  Android: Click here to subscribe or listen on Android.  Spotify: Click here to subscribe or listen on Spotify.  Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Taste for Truth Podcast.”   

< Back to 1 Samuel IndexTALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANSSamuel's Farewell Address to Israel Printed Version BACKGROUND NOTESDOCTRINAL POINT(S)God's people need to be reminded about the proof of God's faithfulness.God's people need to be warned about the possibility of their own unfaithfulness.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONLet's not sin by failing to pray for others.Let's remember to remember!QUESTIONSWhy did all the people gather at Gilgal?Now that all the people affirmed Saul's kingship, what did Samuel do?Did Samuel retire from ministry at this point?What was the point of Samuel recounting the history of Israel from the Exodus until the victory of King Saul over the Ammonites?Did God's faithfulness to His people end because they wrongly desired a king?ANSWERSTo confirm Saul as the king of all IsraelSamuel stepped down from his recognized position as judge in Israel. This chapter is his farewell address.No, he continued to carry on his priestly and prophetic duties within Israel, but his administrative responsibilities as judge were relinquished.To show that God was faithful and righteous in all His dealings with His people.No, God continued to be faithful. He will never abandon His people.DISCUSS/CONSIDERSamuel recounted the history of Israel to remind the people of God's righteous acts and faithfulness. Believers today need to be reminded of this as well. Briefly recount your history. Does it testify of 1 Corinthians 1:9?Recall a time in your life that you were unfaithful to the Lord. How did God's discipline demonstrate His faithfulness to you? See Hebrews 12:7 and 1 Peter 4:17.CHALLENGEWe are a forgetful people, who quickly forget God's faithfulness to us. Set aside time this week to reflect on what God has done for you. “Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.” 1 Samuel 12:24KEY VERSES“If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God.” 1 Samuel 12:14“Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” 1 Samuel 12:23

< Back to Ruth IndexTALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANSNaomi Informs Ruth that Boaz is a Close Relative Printed Version BACKGROUND NOTESDOCTRINAL POINT(S)Boaz is a picture of Christ in his kindness.Boaz is a picture of Christ in his position.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONLet's glean only in the field of Boaz.QUESTIONSHow much is an ephah (of barley)? This doesn't seem like a lot for a full days work. Discuss.What was Naomi's reaction when she found out that Ruth had been gleaning in the field of Boaz?What is another word for kinsman or relative in the Old Testament? What does it mean?How is Boaz a picture of Christ in kindness?How is Boaz a picture of Christ in position?What were the three prerequisites for the kinsman redeemer?ANSWERSAbout half a bushel. This would be half a bushel of pure grain. Actually it is quite a bit, considering that Ruth had threshed the stalks and winnowed it so the chaff was eliminated.She was elated, exclaiming, ìBlessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead!î Boaz was a close relative. Naomi realized that God had not forgotten them.ìRedeemer.î The responsibility of the close kinsman was to help out and redeem what the impoverished relative had lost.Both Naomi and Ruth spoke about his kindness (Ruth 2:13, 20). Boaz provided water and food for Ruth. He provided and personally passed the roasted grain to her, and ate with her. She ate and was satisfied. This is a picture of the communion that we enjoy with Christ in His kindness. He invites us to dine with Him. In His kindness, the Lord not only provides the spiritual food that we need, but He wants to have fellowship with us.Boaz was a kinsman redeemer, and under the law the kinsman had several responsibilities. See Leviticus 25:25 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Christ is our kinsman redeemer.a. he had to be a close relative b. he had to have the means to redeem c. he had to be willing. The Lord Jesus, as our kinsman redeemer fulfills these requisites perfectly. See Hebrews 2:14-15 and 1 Peter 1:18-19.DISCUSS/CONSIDERHave you experienced some unexpected sheaves and grain from the Lord that sweetened your life?Do you know some unfulfilled and unsatisfied Christians? Where are they gleaning?CHALLENGEAre you gleaning only in the field of Boaz? What does the Lord say to us in 1 John 2:15-17 about gleaning in fields other than His?KEY VERSES“Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” Ruth 2:20

In this episode Tim continues the study on The Church, looking at how the bible defines “Church,” and understanding its marks and characteristics.As discussed in the first episode the Church in one sense, is the community of all genuine believers for all of time (including the genuine believers of the Old Testament, now enrolled in heaven. See Hebrews 12:22,23). There seems to be another way that the term “church” is used in scripture, and that is to describe specifically the gathering or assembling of believers for specific purposes. But what makes a church gathering “church?” What about Christian work places, missions organizations, or other casual gatherings? Should we consider these church? Or are there specific characteristics that help us to recognize a genuine organized church? Tim discusses this narrower definition of “church” and unpacks Acts 2:42-47, focusing on the first recorded expression of church in the bible. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more episodes to come!Tim 

16:16-26 The Israelites (and us!) are to trust the Lord DAILY to meet our needs. “Give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord's prayer.” 16:23-30 Sabbath rest. Do you set aside the day for the Lord? Mass attendance? What do you personally need to say “No” to on Sunday that you are doing. 16:33 Very Catholic! “Bread” in “tabernacle.” (See Hebrews 9:3-4) 17:6 Moses had to participate with his action for God's will to be done. WE must also participate with God! 18 God's leaders were APPOINTED, not ELECTED. (The Catholic Church is also not “Congregational.”) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/catholicbiblestudy/support

< Back to Judges IndexTALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANSEhud and Shamgar Printed Version BACKGROUND NOTESDOCTRINAL POINT(S)The flesh not held in check is not a pleasant picture.Cutting off the flesh is not a pleasant picture.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONGod can use you regardless of your differences.God can use you regardless of your background.QUESTIONSHow many judges were there in Israel during the time of the judges?Name the two judges listed in this section of the Book of Judges.Name the enemy in this sin cycle. How did they oppress Israel? How did they oppress them?Who was the judge designated by Israel to head up the delegation to bring tribute to the oppressor? How did this judge view this assignment?What happened with the judge after he killed the king?ANSWERSAnywhere between twelve and fifteen, depending on who is counted. If Barak is counted along with Deborah, if Abimelech (an evil ruler) is counted, and if you don't count Samuel, then there are 15. Remember that some of the judges overlapped in time, and judged in different parts of the land.Ehud and ShamgarMoab. Eighteen years. Requiring them to pay tribute in gold or silver to Moab.Ehud. He saw this occasion as an opportunity to overthrow the ungodly power of King Eglon of Moab.After Ehud killed King Eglon, he escaped to the mountains of Ephraim and rallied the troops of Israel to defeat the Moabites.DISCUSS/CONSIDEREven as Israel was commanded to drive out the enemy in order to enjoy the blessings of the land, so we have to drive out the enemy in order to enjoy our spiritual blessings in Christ. Satan is our enemy and he uses the world, the flesh, and even demonic forces to keep us defeated and to keep us from enjoying the spiritual blessings God has given us. King Eglon was a picture of the flesh not held in check. Do you have a problem in keeping your flesh checked? Do you have a problem in losing ground that has already been conquered?How do you cut off the flesh? By applying the word of God, the two-edged sword of the Scripture to your life. See Hebrews 4:12. Are you cutting off the flesh?CHALLENGEHow are you different from other believers? Remember, God can use these differences for His glory.What is your spiritual heritage? Even if you were not raised in a Christian home, you have been given a spiritual parent by the Lord. Whatever your background, God can use you. Make full use of Christian mentors and role models in your life. Then be one.KEY VERSES"The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened the king of Moab against them...But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up a deliverer...When Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel, the land had rest for eighy years." Judges 3:12, 15, 30"The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword..." Hebrews 4:12

Dear OBC Family, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As we hear these familiar words, we cannot help but think of our Lord's sufferings at the cross. Yet, as Jesus cries out, he is pointing us to the words of David in Psalm 22. As we continue in our series on the cross, this Sunday we will turn our attention to Psalm 22. We will consider David's sufferings, how this psalm is fulfilled by Christ, and what this teaches us about the sufferings of our Lord. I invite you to read Psalm 22 in advance of this Sunday, and consider how this Psalm speaks about suffering, deliverance, and all that is to come. I look forward to gathering with you for worship this Lord's day. Blessings in Christ, Pastor Ben ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion and Response Questions for Psalm 22 1. Where do you see the fulfillment of Psalm 22 in the cross of Christ? 2. How do the Gospels teach us to read Psalm 22? (Jn 19:24; Lk 24:44) 3. How does the author of Hebrews use Psalm 22 in speaking of Christ? (See Hebrews 2:12) 4. Notice how the psalmist alternates between suffering and faith (vv. 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11). What might we learn from this? 5. How does Psalm 22 describe God? 6. What does Christ's suffering and victory accomplish according to Psalm 22? 7. What might we learn from the concluding section of praise (vv. 22-31)? 8. How does this psalm call us to respond? How ought we to respond to these truths?

< Back to Joshua IndexTALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANSAchan's Sin and Judgment Printed Version BACKGROUND NOTESDOCTRINAL POINT(S)Believers must scrutinize their lives for the sin causing defeat.Believers must deal decisively with the sin causing defeat.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONDon't travel the Achan trail.QUESTIONSWhat is the meaning of the name, Ai?Have the ruins of Ai been located?Who caused the problem at Ai?How was the root of the problem uncovered?What was the problem?What was the judgment pronounced and carried out on Achan?Wasn't this a bit harsh?Didn't Achan repent?What was God's response after the judgment was carried out?ANSWERSIt means ruins.Not for certain, but an excavation for a possible location is planned.Achan.By a systematic examination by tribe, then family, then the individual.Achan disobeyed God by stealing and hiding goods that were to go into God's treasury, and he tried to hide the truth as well.He and his family were stoned to death, then burned.Not in light of what Achan did. Remember, he was directly responsible for the death of at least thirty-six men and he had robbed God as well as Jericho.No. Only when he was found out, did he confess to the sin, and he didn't show remorse.The anger of the Lord subsided.DISCUSS/CONSIDERGod selected a systematic method to give all of Israel time to examine themselves before Him. When we suffer defeat we must let our lives pass in review before the spotlight of God. See Hebrews 4:12 and Psalm 139:23-24.It is one thing to pinpoint sin, but sin must be judged before the believer can move on. Have you scrutinized, located and dealt with sins in your life?CHALLENGEWhat is the Achan trail? "I saw, I coveted, I took." (Joshua 7:21) Don't travel the Achan trail. See James 1:14-15KEY VERSES"There is an accursed thing in your midst...you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you." (Joshua 7:13)"Joshua said, 'My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him.' Achan answered, 'Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel." (Joshua 7:19-20)"When I saw, I coveted, and I took..." (Joshua 7:21)"Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you.' The Lord turned from His anger." (Joshua 7:25-26)