Podcasts about that jesus

Introduction: Psalm 115:8 – Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. Ephesians 5:1 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Hebrews 10:28 - Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. John 8:1-11 I Want to Be Like God (John 1:14–18) Grace without TRUTH = Not like Jesus. Truth without GRACE = Not like Jesus. GRACE and TRUTH = Like Jesus. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead John 1:14-18What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Define “glory” (John 1:14). What did John actually see when he says “we have seen His glory”?Do you tend to lean more towards “grace” or “truth” when dealing with someone's sin? Why? What do you need to do to be “full of grace and truth” like Jesus?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 1.While you're turning there,just going to ask,we pause for a second and I would ask that you wouldplease pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.I will pray for you to have a heart open to receivewhat it is God is telling us here tonight in this passage.All right? Let's pray.Father, we thank you for your word.It's easy tonight to get so caught up in,I guess the decorations and the sentimentality and all of that.But God, this is really no different to what we normally do.We come to worship you, come to know you,come to hear from your word.I just ask Father that your spirit be at work with your word today.In a profound way,make us into the people that you've called us to be.We pray in Jesus' name.And all of God's people said,"Amen, you become like that which you worship."It's a true statement."You become like that which you worship."You know, it's really obvious in children.I mean, just looking back at my life,if you would have found me in the late 70s, early 80s,I would have been walking around with torn pantsand a torn shirt because I was the Incredible Hulk.Remember that show, "Lufa Rigno"?That was me."Aah!"Oh, then you go forward just a couple of yearsand I would have been running around the housewith a sword fighting Skeletor.By the power of Grayskull, I was he-man.Right?And then you go forward a few more years,early 90s, grunge.Ironically, I once again had ripped pants onand the flannel shirt, the mop hair.And you can laugh and make fun of me all you want,but I know some of you got hammered pants in your closet.Some of you ladies back then had a Debbie Gibson haircutbecause you become like that which you worship.It wasn't even my idea, actually.The Bible says this.Psalm 115 verse 8 says, "Regarding idols,it says those who make them become like them.So to all who trust in them,you become like that which you worship."And then we come to church.We come to church and the truth is still the samebecause Ephesians 5:1 says, "Therefore,we imitators of God as beloved children."Like, well, how do we imitate God?By worshiping Him.That's how.It starts with worshiping Him.You're like, "Okay, all right, but how in the world,even worshiping Him, how can I imitate God?"And you know, I think that's one of the most awesome thingsabout the incarnation of Jesus Christ.What we're celebrating at Christmas, God became a man.And I think that's one of the most awesome things.One of the most glorious things is that we get to seewhat God's holiness and love looks like in a humanon this planet interacting with other humans.It's not conceptual. We've seen it.Yeah, the Christmas story. It's a familiar story, right?You know, you've got the manger and the shepherds and the light.But that's Matthew and Luke's version.Matthew and Luke in your Bible give the historical version.But we're looking at John this year.And John gives the theological version.That God became something He's never been without ceasing to bewhat He's always been.It's the miracle of Christmas.God entered the world through childbirth,becoming a real human being while remaining God.So, what do you want for Christmas?When we started this series, we said, "I want to know God."The only way you can know God is through Jesus.Jesus is the revelation of God.He is the living Word of God, right?Then on Sunday, Pastor Taylor gave a message,"I want to belong to God."The only way you belong to God also is through Jesus Christ.It's through Jesus, through His death and His resurrection,that our sins can be forgiven,that we can have the promise of eternal life,that we can be adopted children of God.Tonight, I want to be like God.What do you want for Christmas?Really, all I want is to be like God.This section we're looking at talks about the glory of Jesus Christ.Those who received Him get to know how glorious our God is.And when we worship Him, we do become like Him.Look at verse 14 in John chapter 1.It says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,and we have seen His glory,glory as of the only Son from the Father,full of grace and truth."Mark that.Grace and truth.Full of grace and truth.Verse 15."John bore witness about Him and cried out,'This was He of whom I said,'He who comes after Me ranks before Me,because He was before Me.'"And from His fullness,we have all received grace upon grace.I love that last phrase, "Grace upon grace."It's just waves and waves and waves of grace.That's Jesus.He's not stingy with His grace.And He tells us in verse 16 thatwe've received from His fullness.We've received from the fullness of grace.You know what that means?We're always in,if you belong to Jesus,you're always in the waves and waves of His grace.Meaning, I can't say,"Well, I came to Christ in 1995.Boy, you should have seen me back then.I really needed His grace back then.I need His grace just as much todayas I did then.And if I live tomorrow,I'm going to need His grace just as much tomorrowas I do today and as I did then."But that's the good news.He says, "Grace upon grace upon grace,that if you're in Christ,you're always in it."He just keeps on giving it to us."On your best day, you're in His grace.On your worst day, you're in His grace."Look at verse 17.He says, "For the law was given through Moses.Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."There it is again.Grace and truth.Grace and truth.The law though, he mentions the law.The law came through Moses.There was no grace in the law.Like you read your Old Testaments.There's only judgment.You break the law.You're guilty.In fact, the New Testament talks about thatin Hebrews chapter 10.Anyone who has set aside the law of Mosesdies without mercy in the evidenceof two or three witnesses.There's no mercy.Just guilt.That's what the law does.The law kills.The law only shows you that you are a sinner.Yet, through Jesus comes...Did you see it again?Grace and truth.What's showing us is that there's a stark contrastto the law with what came in Jesus Christ.Verse 18 kind of sums up the whole passage.It really sums up everythingthat we're celebrating at Christmas.Here it is.No one has ever seen God.The only God who is at the Father's side,He has made Him known.God the Son has made God known.One is saying, "We saw everything that is God.We saw that in Jesus Christ."So what's He like?What has God shown usof His character in Jesus Christ?I mean, what's He like?Well, you notice in this passage,He said it in verse 14,and He said it in verse 17.If you were to say,"Describe God in two words."He does.He says, "Here's what God is like."Two words.Grace and truth.Those two words exemplifiedwho Jesus Christ is,who is the perfect expressionof who God is.Grace and truth.I want to talk about grace and truthfor a few minutes.What is grace?Well, grace is compassion.It's mercy.Grace is kindness and patience.Grace is forgiveness.Read your Bibles.Jesus always manifestsjust a tender, loving grace.So He's full of grace,but it also says He's full of truth.Truth.Jesus always spoke the truth.Read your Bibles.Jesus always upheld the authorityof God's Word.Jesus never told half truths.Jesus never minimized the truth.Jesus never downplayed Scripture,contradicted the Old Testament.Jesus never sugar-coated it.He never watered it down.And He never, not once, ever did Heapologize for what the Bible says.I want to be like God.And when we look at this character of Jesus,it is astounding, full of grace and truth,simultaneously, full.And we could have this temptationto just kind of step backand admire that like, "Wow, isn't that awesome?Isn't that an awesome representation of God?"But you know, and we should do that, yes.But the Bible doesn't tell usthat we should just admire the character of Jesus.The Bible tells us that Jesus' characterisn't something just to impress us.The Bible says that we should imitate His character.I mean, so many times, right,we are called to imitate Jesus.Matthew 11, Jesus says, "Learn from Me."John 13, He was washing the disciples' grimy feet.And Jesus said, "I'm doing this to show you an examplethat you should do the same."Philippians 2, Paul says, "Have this mind,which is yours in Christ Jesus."1 Peter 2, 21 that Pastor Rich just read,says that Jesus is an example,and we should follow in His steps.And then we turn to John 1 here,and it says, verse 16, "From His fullnesswe have all receivedthat we don't worship a distant God.We worship a God according to thiswho is to be received."You see, I can stand up here,and I can talk for hours about Grace and Truth.Don't worry, I know it's Christmas, I'm not going to.But I could.But unless you've received Jesus Christ,this isn't going to matter.Because the Bible tells us that when we truly receive Him,God puts His Spirit in usso that we are able to imitate His character.So that we can truly be His image-bearers.That Jesus was full of Grace and Truth,perfectly full of both 100% Grace and 100% Truth.And this is the profound thing.Jesus was never one or the other.Never lopsided, never compromising one over the other,never wanted the expense of another.John makes it clear, he says,"This is what God is like, Jesus Christ."And if there are two words that sum upthe kind of God we worship, it's Grace and Truth.And we have to get that,because if we're to worship Godand therefore imitate God,if we're to represent God to the world,we have to imitate Grace and Truthas displayed by Jesus.So you know what our problem is.Our problem is we are not perfectly full of Grace and Truth.And the reality is each of us have a tendency to leanmore towards one than the other.Some of you are more Grace people.And some of you are more Truth people.And I just want to show you tonight thatyou can't be content to lean in one direction or the other,because that's not like Jesus at all.Like, well, can you give me an example?Yeah, there is an example I want to show you.Look at John 8.He just turned over in your Bibles a few pages.I want you to see.We're just going to read this and reference this.But if there's one story from Jesus' lifethat demonstrates this full of Grace and full of Truthat the same time, character,if there's one story that would show that, it's this one.John 8 says,"They want each to his own house,but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.Early in the morning, he came again to the temple.All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them,the scribes and the Pharisees brought a womanwho had been caught in adultery.And placing her in the midst, they said to him,'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.'Now, in the law, Moses commanded usto stone such women.What do you say?'This they said to test himthat they might have some charge to bring against him.Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them,'Let him who is without sin among yoube the first to throw a stone at her.'And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground.But when they heard it, they went away one by one,beginning with the older ones,and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.Jesus stood up and said to her,'Woman, where are they?Has no one condemned you?'She said, 'No, Lord.'And Jesus said,Look at this.Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you.''Go, and from now on sin no more.'So if you have an outline,and you're taking notes which we always encourage you to do,I want you to jot a couple of things down here.I want to be like God.Number one, grace without truth is not like Jesus.Grace without truth?That's not like Jesus.Grace without truth is weak enabling.Never holding people accountable.You ignore the transformation power of the Holy Spirit.You disregard the truth that God says in His Wordthat we are called to righteousness and holy living.People who lean more towards gracecare more about being liked than they care about what's right and wrong.But I want you to see in this account in John 8,Jesus wasn't just grace.He didn't say to the woman,'I affirm you.You do you, ma'am.'And look, don't worry about what the Bible says.I mean, they're quoting the Law of Moses.That was a long time ago.That's not really for us.'I affirm you, ma'am.'He didn't say that.He wasn't just grace.You see, Jesus brought truth into it.Jesus says, 'Go, and from now on sin no more.'What Jesus said was,'Adultry dishonors God.'Hey, stop living like that.Okay?Stop living like that.And church, when we are content to overlook sin,when we're content to avoid the hard conversations,when we're ready to affirm people in their sin,that's not like Jesus.And now the truth people are like,'Yeah, give it to Him.Give it to the grace people.Hang on, truth people,because truth without grace is not like Jesus either.'Now look, I know the truth people.We've been around some truth people, haven't we, Aaron?Right now the truth people are like,'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.'How in the world could it be?Like, I thought Harvest Bible Chapter,I thought Bible was your middle name.Like truth is all that matters, right?Truth.It's truth that matters.How in the world could you have truth without grace?We realize in John 1.17 he told us.He told us again, John 1.17,'For the law was given through Moses.'Do you know what that is?Do you know what the law is?It's truth without grace.So let me ask you, was the law truth?This is a shouted out verbal reply question.Was the law truth?Yes, it was.It is.No, it was, it is.The law is truth.100% every letter of God's law in the Old Testament is truth.But there was no grace in the law.We referenced this earlier.This is how the law works.Oh, you broke the law.You're guilty.Now it's time for your punishment.Next, that's how the law worked.And truth without grace leads to cold, detached transactions with other people.That's truth without grace.You messed up.You're done.You're done.It leads to harsh judgment.Truth without grace leaves no room for mistakes.There's no second chances.There's no invitation to repent.There's no encouragement to turn it around.Listen, people who lean more towards truth than grace usually care more about their convictionsthan they care about actual people.And that is a problem.But you see in this John 8 account with the woman caught in adultery, do you notice Jesuswasn't just truth with her?Do you notice that?I mean Jesus didn't say to the woman, they bring the woman before Him, Jesus didn't say,"Hey lady, you know what the law says.You're guilty.There's nothing to discuss."He showed her grace when He says, "Neither do I condemn you."No good lived differently.That's grace.In church when we condemn people, when we are one striking you out, when we refuse toallow people the opportunity to change, that's not like Jesus.So we imperfect people tend to fall on one side or the other.So now that you've heard, I just want to ask you just for fun, which way do you lean?Show of hands.Many of you would say that you're more grace people.Put your hands up if you're more of a grace person.All right?Now raise your hand if you're more of a truth person.I have a note written from the first service.When I asked you the truth people were, they were a lot more bold to put their hands upthan the grace people.I think there's something to that.That'll be a sermon for Easter.Anyways, grace people, look, I love you, but you typically care more about the relationshipthan any sin issue.And that's not good.And truth people, you care more about upholding God's Word than loving someone in the relationship.And that's not complete either.And you know, I've been thinking about this a lot the last couple of weeks.While you do what you do at work, this is what I do at work, I was thinking so much,like what is it that causes people to lean one way or the other?And I was thinking about that, like whether you sit down with a grace person or you sitdown with a truth person, either way.But I was just thinking, like, if you set them down and said, what makes you lean inthe direction that you lean, what would they say?And then it hit me.Do you know what it is?And I'm sure of this.They think they're being loving.I mean, think about it.You sit down with the grace person.Why do you lean more towards grace?Because it's love.I'm loving.That's why my heart is so full of love.I'm so full of love.That's why, and you can't just discard the relationship just because of something theBible says, I'm just so full of love deep in my heart of heart of hearts.I'm so full of love.That's why I'm more of a grace person.But then, you know, if you sat down with the truth person and said, why do you lean moretowards the truth?Do you know what they'd say?It's love.Because what is more loving than giving people the word of our Lord?I mean, come on, Pastor Jeff, you're a pastor.You know this.The most loving thing you can do is tell somebody the truth, right?So that's what I do.I don't mince words.I tell them the truth.That's how I show love.That's how I love them.That's nothing more loving than that.I'm more true because that's the loving thing to do.There's a huge mistake in that line of thinking, isn't there?It's a mistake to think that grace is love because it's not.And it's a mistake to think that truth is love because it's not.You know what is love?God is love.And as a man, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, showed true love by being full of grace andtruth both.Well, that's number three.What do you want for Christmas?I want to be like God.Well, grace and truth is like Jesus.And see, that's the point of the story of the woman caught in adultery.Jesus showed her grace and truth at the same time.Grace, he forgave her.He says, "Neither do I condemn you."That's grace.Truth at the same time.Jesus said, "Your lifestyle is wrong.Go and sin no more."Jesus gave both.He says, "I forgive you.Now let's do better."In church, we need to learn this.We need to be people who represent Jesus accurately, full of grace and truth.Not a group of people that enable in the name of love, not a group of people who condemnin the name of upholding the Word.We need to be a people who demonstrate acceptance and accountability at the same time.Whereas John Piper put it, people who say, "I love you, but this is wrong."Parents, you're going to get that with your kids.Some of you parents need to sit down with your kids and say, "Look, I love you.I accept you, and nothing will ever change that.But this habit you have is wrong, and you need to stop this, and I'm going to help you stopthis because I love you."Do you see that?That's grace and truth both.Some of you have family or friends that are stuck in a sinful lifestyle.Maybe it's an addiction.Maybe they're in an unbiblical relationship regarding marriage and sexuality.You need to sit down and say, "Look, I care about you, but what you're doing is dishonoringthe Lord.Come on, let's get on a better path here.Let's get on track."For some of you, maybe it's even in church.Maybe it's in your small group.Maybe flagrantly in sin, and you're like, "I don't know what to do here.I don't know how to handle them.Here's how you handle them."You pull them aside, and you sit down with them, and you say, "Look, what you're doingis wrong, but I'm going to do everything that I can to help you get on track because I careabout you so much."You see, it's grace that refuses to beat people down, but it's truth that refuses to overlooksin.But what do you want for Christmas?I want to imitate God.The only way to imitate God, to demonstrate a love for God's Word and a love for God'speople is being like Jesus.And according to the Bible, it's full of grace and truth.Our worship team would make their way back up, and our candlelighters would come forward.We're going to close our service by singing to candlelight.Why on Christmas Eve do we sing by candlelight?Because it's pretty, right?It's so pretty.And it's a tradition, but this year, there's another reason that we're doing this.This year, thank you, Ashley, this year, it's also an illustration.In anticipation of this service, you know, I was looking at the order of service andthinking about this moment actually right now.And I was thinking about this flame.I thought, you know what is that flame?But two things perfectly.The flame is light and heat.Right?You can see the light.You'll just have to trust me on the heat.You can try it out if you like, but it's hot.But you see that flame?It's not one or the other.It's light and heat.It can't be one or the other.If you're going to have the flame, you're going to have light and heat both.You could say it is full of both aspects, light and heat.And as we sing, I just want you to look down at that flame and recognize how perfectlyfull it is of both light and heat.Then as you sing, I want you to think about grace and truth.It's like the flame imitating Jesus.You are to be full of both at the same time.We want to thank you for coming out and worshiping our Lord.And it is my prayer that your worship is genuine because then your imitation of Him will alsobe genuine.

THE DEVIL'S RELIGION (Acts 8:5-25) In today's lesson, we will be talking about false religion.  The title of the lesson is The Devil's Religion” for the simple reason that all false religion comes from the Devil.   I want you to recall that the general heading of our study of the book of Acts is “That Old-Time Religion.” For that is exactly what we are learning about, that Old-Time Religion that so many of our parents, and grandparents, and great grandparents worshipped in.  However, in many churches, that Old-Time Religion has not been carried forward into the worship services of today.  Today, progressivism and social ethics have infected many of our churches and denominations.   So, what do I mean when I use the term “Old-Time Religion?”  I mean a religion that is based on the inerrant and infallible Word of God.  Where the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, and the bodily, physical, resurrection of our Lord, and what it means to us, is preached regularly.  That Jesus is the Son of God, and that salvation can only by obtained through Jesus Christ, and your sins are forgiven because God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  That your sins are redeemed by the washing of the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  That salvation is given by grace and grace alone, not by works.  Now, I could go on, but that is the general idea of what I mean when I talk about that Old-Time Religion that so many churches have pushed to the wayside in favor of the Devil's religion, which is based on selective parts of the Bible, ignoring the parts they don't like, and being deceitful about the parts they do like.  You see, if you don't teach the whole Word of God, then what you teach is a false religion, or the Devil's Religion.   Click on the link below to hear a message where we ask the question, Do you know God? I'm not asking you, are you a member of this church or any other church. I'm not asking you how religious or upstanding you are. Simon the sorcerer was religious, and he was in bondage, and in bitterness. He didn't know Jesus. If you want to live a victorious Christian life, then beware of the devil's religion, and come find the truth of God's Word and promises found in that Old-Time Religion, that Bible religion. This is a live recording of The Master's Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

The story of Christmas is not just a baby in a manger, the star Bethlehem, and wise men. The story of Christmas is actually the good news of the Gospel itself. That Jesus was born a man to save us from our sins to give us the greatest gift of all... justification by faith.

Dave Brisbin 12.14.25 Christmas is our biggest cultural holiday, but even among those still celebrating Jesus' birth, what do we really know about it? Only Matthew and Luke relate any birth narratives, but Matthew tells only of the visit of the Magi, leaving Luke to give all the birth details we have. And there aren't many. Luke tells us Jesus was wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. That's it. In any good story, details are critical, never random, always set with purpose. So what do these details tell us? That Jesus' birth followed ordinary Hebrew practice—so unremarkable that those in the house where Joseph and Mary were staying, most likely relatives or friends, didn't even make room for them in their living space. That's what the word mistranslated as “inn” means. Not a hotel, but the interior living space of every Hebrew home that was separate from the cooking space and that reserved for animals. Luke goes on to say that local shepherds are caught up in spectacular sights, and Matthew tells of astronomer-priests who travel a thousand miles to worship at the feet of a poor child they believe is king. How did those right in the house with the holy family miss all this? Truth is, every one of us can only see what we're prepared to see. Confirmation bias eats up the rest. The point these few birth details make is that our God is an unassuming God, a humble, vulnerable God who must be believed to be seen. To see significance under an unremarkable exterior is the preparation, the goal of spiritual formation. If you're already poor and marginalized, it's easier to disregard facades, but no guarantee. The genius of the Magi is that they were wealthy, powerful, educated, and yet still humble, vulnerable, willing to make fools of themselves on a long, risky journey with no guaranteed outcome. If we're to understand Christmas, it will be through the Magi's eyes, because we are wealthy and educated too. To let that go, sell all we have is the only way to see the promise of our star in an unformed child. We will always find our God as a child. Unformed and forming. Are we prepared to see?

Dave Brisbin 12.14.25 Christmas is our biggest cultural holiday, but even among those still celebrating Jesus' birth, what do we really know about it? Only Matthew and Luke relate any birth narratives, but Matthew tells only of the visit of the Magi, leaving Luke to give all the birth details we have. And there aren't many. Luke tells us Jesus was wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. That's it. In any good story, details are critical, never random, always set with purpose. So what do these details tell us? That Jesus' birth followed ordinary Hebrew practice—so unremarkable that those in the house where Joseph and Mary were staying, most likely relatives or friends, didn't even make room for them in their living space. That's what the word mistranslated as “inn” means. Not a hotel, but the interior living space of every Hebrew home that was separate from the cooking space and that reserved for animals. Luke goes on to say that local shepherds are caught up in spectacular sights, and Matthew tells of astronomer-priests who travel a thousand miles to worship at the feet of a poor child they believe is king. How did those right in the house with the holy family miss all this? Truth is, every one of us can only see what we're prepared to see. Confirmation bias eats up the rest. The point these few birth details make is that our God is an unassuming God, a humble, vulnerable God who must be believed to be seen. To see significance under an unremarkable exterior is the preparation, the goal of spiritual formation. If you're already poor and marginalized, it's easier to disregard facades, but no guarantee. The genius of the Magi is that they were wealthy, powerful, educated, and yet still humble, vulnerable, willing to make fools of themselves on a long, risky journey with no guaranteed outcome. If we're to understand Christmas, it will be through the Magi's eyes, because we are wealthy and educated too. To let that go, sell all we have is the only way to see the promise of our star in an unformed child. We will always find our God as a child. Unformed and forming. Are we prepared to see?

Sermon Summary Title: Fall on Your Knees Speaker: Nick Lugg Context: A Christmas message exploring the true cost and response required by the coming of Jesus. Overview: In this message, Nick Lugg challenges the congregation to move past the sentimental traditions of Christmas and confront the reality of who Jesus is. Referencing the line "Fall on your knees" from O Holy Night, the sermon asks a central question: "What is Jesus worth to you?" Key Themes: Response is Mandatory: Just like the Shepherds, Wise Men, and King Herod, no one can remain neutral to Jesus. His presence demands a response—either worship or resistance. Worship as Surrender: True worship isn't just singing songs; it is a life posture of "falling on your knees." Nick uses the imagery of the 24 Elders in Revelation casting down their crowns to illustrate surrendering our status, identity, and security to God. Jesus is Central, Not an Add-on: The sermon warns against treating Jesus like an "interior decorator" who just enhances our existing lives. Instead, He often comes as a "wrecking ball," dismantling our wrong priorities to rebuild us on a better foundation. The Call to Re-evaluate: Listeners are urged to identify what "crowns" they are holding onto—career, reputation, comfort, or sin—and to determine if those things are worth more to them than Jesus. Audio Transcript [00:00] Nick Lugg: Good morning. Congregation: Good morning. Nick Lugg: Happy Christmas. Not quite there. We, um... Oh look, it's there. Because it's Christmas we are going to do PowerPoint. Now, this is not my primary skill set, so it's a bit like rubbing your stomach, patting your head, and standing on a beach ball all at the same time. So I'm hoping to remember to press the button at the right time. [00:26] Our prayer and our desire all the time—and always has been every Christmas—is to enjoy the Christmas season, to enjoy the atmosphere, to enjoy all that Christmas is to us. But at the same time, by God's grace, crack it open and get to the reality of what God is wanting to say to us each and every time. We can't be reduced to people that just do traditions. That just do, um, repeat—you know, we just get on rinse and repeat every year. Same thing: bring out the same songs, do the same things, go through the same motions. Because God has always got something fresh to say to us. [01:05] And that's why we've had this mini-series over Christmas where we've, uh... the eagle-eyed amongst you will know that it's been related to the carol O Holy Night. The first one—I think they were slightly in the wrong order, but it doesn't matter because we've got grace—but the first one Johnny spoke was "A weary world rejoices." And then I think Andy, uh, last week was speaking on "The thrill of hope." [01:32] And it's just those... just those lines have so much relevance and so much resonance for us in the world that we live in and the lives that we are leading. A weary world rejoices. But yet, and behind everything that we seek to do as a church, and everything we seek to begin, is to bring that thrill of hope. But as the curtains open, and as heaven is drawn back, and as we begin to see all that is going on behind Christmas, there is also the response, which is: Fall on your knees. [02:07] And the question this morning: What is Jesus worth to you? What is Jesus worth to me? That if we don't come out of Christmas with a greater sense... You know, we've sung these majestic carols—Adore, come let us adore, let's worship Him, and all the other lines that I've forgotten. You know, they—but they are majestic, honestly. But... you know, we adore Him. But if we don't actually adore Him, if we don't actually wrestle with the question: What does, therefore, it mean that He's worth to me? How does His coming—Christmas, the coming of Christ—how does His coming impact my life? How does it change the shape and the way that I think and the way that I act and the way that I live this life that He's given me? [02:54] What is Jesus worth to me? Oh look... [clicks clicker]. So the real story of Christmas, we say it every year, it's not sentimental, is it? But it's one of humility. Anonymity. Struggle. And the telling and the retelling of the story of Mary and Joseph and all that they went through doesn't really ever quite connect and communicate what it must have been like for them to experience what they experienced. [03:22] There was pain. Discomfort. Fear. Anxiety, no doubt. Stress. Uncertainty. Tears. Maybe there were short tempers. There were... there were all sorts of things going on that we would instantly relate to, and yet we don't see on the Christmas cards. But it's into that world, not the Christmas card world, that Jesus came. Jesus came to our world. We might think, "Well, it was all right, you know, Christmas was just so lovely and everything was just so beautiful and there was like shining tinsel and angels and shepherds and it's all so peaceful and everything else on the Christmas cards." But what about us? What about Sheffield? What about Jordanthorpe, Batemoor? What about where I live? What about my background? What about my world? Jesus came into that world. [04:15] And everyone who encountered Jesus had to respond. And the question for us today is the same. As we ask "What is Jesus worth to me?", how do I respond to Him? How do I respond to the fact that He has come? Not just come to the world, not just come to all people—He's come into my life. How do I respond, therefore, to this majestic appearance? [04:42] He's the Son of God. [Struggles with clicker] Is that the one? This is where it all goes wrong, you see. Anyway, it don't matter... [Adjusts slides]. He comes on the margins of society. He's ignored by society. He's unnoticed by society. He's born away from comfort and privilege. The Bible tells us in Philippians that He, though being in very nature God, He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but He came down, took on the very nature of a servant. He took the opposite of what we would think somebody of His power and authority had. [05:22] I was... saw an article or a video report about Air Force One—the President of the United States' plane. You know how when it flies around, all the preparations and all the protection that it has, you know, fighter jet escorts and all of that. None of that for Jesus. But even as a baby, before He ever taught anything, before He said anything—He just cried like babies do—before He healed anyone, before He performed a miracle, He provoked profound responses. [05:54] You know, the first miracle we read about was when He turned water into wine at a wedding. He was an adult. But before all of that, the story of Christmas is about the responses that people made to who He was. Not what He did. Who He is is what makes a difference in our lives and causes us to respond. [06:14] And so we have the Shepherds. Ordinary people. Caught in their routines. But shaken awake by God to say: "Good news of great joy for all the earth, a Savior is born." Pointing the way to Him. And so they got up from their routine, they got up from their humdrum existence, and they left everything to go and see Him, to go and worship Him. [06:37] The Wise Men. Men of influence and education. They were willing to travel hundreds of miles and bring costly gifts because He was worth it. That's not an easy thing to do. It's not easy to travel. You might think it's easy... you know, even traveling these days, going to Zambia or going to Nepal, it's a... it's a consideration. Even just sitting still doing nothing on a plane. Let alone getting on a camel and going hundreds and hundreds of miles. But they considered that they needed to respond to what they had heard and what they had seen. [07:11] There was King Herod. He was a king with wealth and power and influence and all the things that the world could give him. And yet he saw Jesus as a threat and said He's worth eliminating. He wanted... he responded to Jesus. There's no neutrality. One baby, three responses, but everyone responds. There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. When He comes into our world, there is no neutrality for us today. When He comes into... we have to respond. We have to ask: What does His coming demand of me? What is He worth to me? What do I do... what do I do about His coming? [07:51] Jesus demands a response. His very presence draws a response from our hearts. Or it should do. Because there is no neutral. No matter how much we want to live in neutral gear. No matter how much we want to be observers and spectators of all of this and just say, "Oh well, you know, we'll see how it goes." Jesus demands a response. And His very presence forces a collision with our priorities. He comes into our hearts. [08:19] I remember that experience. I've given my testimony before, but I remember how I was like a spectator. I was somebody who was beginning to think, when I was 17 years old, and thinking, "Oh yeah, I think I believe in Jesus. I think He's real. I think..." and I went through all of that process for a year. But at that moment that I asked Him to come into my life—BANG—there was that explosion. Things happened. Everything changed shape in my life, in my priorities, in my understanding, in the values. All of that had to be reassessed. [08:50] When Jesus comes into our world, everything has to be reassessed. When He steps into someone's world... when He steps into your world... you cannot carry on as before. I cannot carry on just as before. Everything that we hold dear. Everything that we love. Everything that shapes our identity, that makes us say, "Well this is who I am." Jesus confronts it. He collides with it. Causes it to change shape permanently and forever. [09:20] Not just an emotional moment where we just say, "Oh I think I believe in Jesus now." But actually He physically comes... and He comes into our hearts, He changes the shape of everything from the inside out. Everything that commands our time, our energy, our attention has to be reassessed in the light of Jesus coming. All of it challenged by that one question: Is it worth more to me than Jesus? [09:44] I remember when I was on a mission trip one time in Russia—in the old Soviet Union actually, I can say it now, we had to keep it secret in those days. But, um, we went and there was somebody that was really taken with the Gospel message and they were listening to it all. And they were saying to the person who was sharing with them, they said, "But if I become a Christian though, do I have to... do I have to stop smoking?" And the person was like getting into a bit of a twist, you know, "Oh well, you know, God understands us and God doesn't judge..." and trying to explain it all. [10:14] And then there was this evangelist guy that was with us who was much more to the point. He just came in and said, "Yes. You do." He said, "And if you ask me if I believe in Jesus, do I have to stop wearing blue jeans? I tell you: Yes, you do." He said, "Because it's not about the smoking, it's not about the blue jeans, it's not about the whatever. But the very fact that you're asking that question means that there is a confrontation with what you want. With what you hold dear. Is it worth more to you than Jesus? Give it up! Change it! Change shape!" That's what happened at Christmas. Jesus came into our lives. And so those little questions that come in the light of Jesus... they should become irrelevant. "Can I still do this? Can I still do that?" Why are you asking those questions? Jesus is worth more than all of it. [10:59] And so we have to reassess our priorities. That's what happened at Christmas. So the Shepherds left their livelihood. They left... presumably they left the sheep... couldn't have taken all the sheep to see Jesus, could they? The Wise Men gave their treasure. Herod protected his throne. And we do the same. When Jesus comes, we have to respond. Either we worship, or we resist. There is no neutrality. [11:27] Worship is more than a song. "For a song in itself is not what you have required." And the rest of it. It's not just what happens on a Sunday, is it? We enjoy it. We enjoy the worship. We enjoy our singing. But we call it "worship," we label it "worship," and yet there is so much more to worship. Worship is not an event. Worship is not 30 minutes. Worship is a life posture. It's a life position. It's a life decision that says: "Come what may, Jesus, you are worth it. You are worth my life. You are worth everything I have, everything I can give you." [12:02] I remember a friend of mine who was on mission in India, and he took a team to India. And these sort of young, enthusiastic people that were there, and they encountered a church that was quite different to the type of lively, charismatic church they were involved in. And yet this church was full of people that had been imprisoned for their faith, had been beaten up for their faith, had been through all sorts of struggle. And this bright-eyed young evangelist person said to the guy who was leading the team, he said, "They don't seem to know much about worship, do they?" [12:35] And he said, "Well, it depends what you mean by worship. If you mean music and singing and songs, then maybe they don't know... you know, all of that. But there's an awful lot that they do know about giving their entire life for Jesus and saying: You are worth everything that I can give you." Worship says you are more than anything else in my life. The old carol says: "What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what can I give Him? Give Him my heart." [13:12] So there isn't anything we can give that impresses Jesus. There isn't anything that He says, "Oh, I think I quite like..."—whether it's our blue jeans or our cigarettes or whatever. It's not about what we give up in that sense. But what we give Him. We give Him our trust. We give Him our obedience. We give Him our love. We give Him our hearts. And that is a whole life thing. That's something that brings a change from the start, and it goes through year after year after year. It's where Christianity is not a flash in the pan. It's not something that we do for a season and then we move on to something else. It's that if truly Jesus has come into our hearts, things have changed. Our priorities have changed. Our vision has changed. Our values have changed. Everything changes and it can't change back. [13:58] But our hearts are shaped, aren't they, by our culture. By comfort. By self-protection. And so we're tempted to use Jesus as an add-on. As a "life enhancer." Someone who fits in with our lives. Instead of someone who rearranges our lives. We treat Him a bit like an interior decorator. Comes in and, you know, tells us what color curtains to have and how to enhance the arrangement of our furniture to give us the best energy and all of that sort of thing. And yet, when He turns up with His hard hat on and a crane with a wrecking ball to come and knock the whole thing down, we don't like that. [14:38] His arrival demands more. And so the only response that we can give Him is to fall on our knees. One day in eternity, scripture says, the 24 Elders fall down and worship. They lay their crowns before the throne. They lay their crowns. In many translations, they take their crowns and they cast them. They throw them. They throw them down at the feet of Jesus. Why do they do that? Why the crowns? Because the crown is a symbol. The crown is a symbol of their identity. Their status. Their achievements. Their authority. Whatever gives their life value in the eyes of others. [15:20] We love it, don't we? Medals and gongs and crowns and uniforms and achievements and things that we can say about who we are and what we've done and what we've achieved. All of that constitutes our crown. And yet when they were in the presence of Jesus, they fell down and worshipped and they lay their crowns before the throne. Say: "Everything that I am, Lord God... have it. Whatever I think I am, You take it, Lord. Because it's... YOU are worth more than that." [15:52] Fall down on your knees. Nothing I have. Nothing I achieve. Nothing that defines me comes close to the value of Jesus. And that's what falling on our knees means. So we let Him question what we hold onto. We let Him reorder what we value. Rather than let's have a discussion about it—"Lord, I think, you know, do a trade, do a deal. Maybe I can keep some of this... you can have this, but I'll have that." It's a complete, radical reorganization, reordering of everything that is valuable to us. [16:26] There are things that define our lives wrongly. Things that we would say about ourselves if somebody asked us, "Well this is what I am. This is why I am like I am. This is what has made me to be like I am." And we settle into that because we think, "Well, this is me. This is just how I am made. This is how I am wired." What if Jesus comes in and dismantles the things that wrongly define us? What if He wants to reshape and rebuild and change our outlook and change our vision of ourselves and change our vision of others and change our vision of the world? He can do that. And He does that as He comes into our hearts. [17:03] Let Him replace our plans with His purposes. What is it that You want, Lord, in my life? What is it that You want in our life? What is it that You want for us as a church? Jesus. Because You are worth it. Whatever we think that we might be or we might achieve or we might... what status we might have... we lay it all before Jesus and say we fall on our knees before You, Lord. Have Your way among us. Fill us, God, with Your Spirit. Not only just to give us an experience that blesses us, but an experience that changes us from the inside out. That reshapes us. That demolishes us and rebuilds us. [17:42] Let Him confront our comforts. The things that give us security. The things that we hold onto. All of those things. Like I said, He's not an interior decorator. Someone making suggestions to make life better. But our worship says: "Do whatever You need to do, Lord, because I am Yours." [18:02] And so, as we fall on our knees, we re-evaluate what we treasure. Ask yourself a question: What in my life currently holds a higher value than Jesus? It's a tough question. And it's not coming from the pulpit saying "Ask yourself!"—pointing back at me—ask yourself. There's so much that takes place in our lives, so much that is established in our lives that is... takes the place of Jesus. So re-evaluate what we treasure. Our comfort. Our time. Our reputation. Our resources. A career. Relationship. Control. A painful identity I don't want to let go of. A sin that I cling to. [18:50] All of that can form a crown. That Jesus demands a response. That we know that we are holding onto those things, but when we come into His presence, we know there has to be a response. There is no neutrality. There's no "Oh, well I think I'll take it or leave it" or "I think I'll wait until next month and see how I feel then." No. When we meet Jesus, there has to be that change. There has to be that response. There has to be that worship. [19:14] And so, take one thing today that has become a crown you hold tightly and consciously place it before Jesus. What is it in your life this morning that you know... Ask God to reveal to you, to show you, what is it that you hold that you can actually... that you need to throw before Him? You need to surrender it. And tell Him: "Jesus, You are worth more than this. All my life I've held onto this thing. All my life this has defined me. All my life this has been the one thing that I don't want to let go of. But Jesus, You are worth more than all of that. And I lay it before You today." There's an opportunity today to lay these things before the feet of Jesus. [19:54] Secondly, reorient our priorities around Him. What are our priorities in life? Does our lifestyle reflect the value of Jesus? The one we adore? The one we sing about? What about the application of that worship? Do we adore Him so much so that our decisions honor Him? Our schedule and our priorities reflect His importance? Our giving, our serving, our obedience demonstrate that He is worth it? Not only to Him, but to anybody that looks at our lives, they say, "No, this person values Jesus more than anything." [20:30] Does our worship cost us anything? Or is it just convenient? Those who responded to Jesus right back at the beginning, in the beginning of the Christmas story—their worship cost them. It took something out of them. It tired them. It stressed them. It pained them. But it was worth it because they were coming to Jesus. [20:53] And so think about an area of life where Jesus has been an add-on. Where we've just invited Him and said, "I like the fact that You're in my life, Jesus, and perhaps You can help me. Give me a little bit of power here and there just to help me through a few things, over a few humps. But don't get too much involved. Don't get too nosey into what's going on. Because I think... I think You know Your place, Jesus." Is He an add-on? Or is He central? [21:18] That's the challenge as we go forward. Not about "Can we raise enough money for 146?" or "Can we, you know, what do we do about this or that?" What's the practical things to do with the growth of a church? It's about as we grow as a community, will we actually have Him in the center of everything that we are and everything that we do? Will He be our first and our last thought in every decision that we make? How does this honor Him? How does this reflect His worth? How does this reflect His value? Because then the church will grow with people that will also know that Jesus is the priority. Jesus is the center. Jesus is the focus. [21:55] And thirdly, reopen our heart to encounter Him. Some of these questions can be at the first stage of our faith... you know, "What's Jesus worth?" But in actual fact, you can have that radical encounter with Jesus, you can have that moment where you know that you've given your all to Him... but five years, ten years, fifteen years down the line, things can look different. You can get jaded. You can get settled into "routine Christianity." Familiar. Predictable. Safe. Christmas is familiar, predictable, safe. But Jesus is coming. Jesus comes into our lives and challenges our priorities. [22:38] And so He's calling us to meet Him again. And for those of us that have become dulled and routine and predictable and safe, there is still that call from Jesus to say: Will you actually reorient? Will you actually re-evaluate? Will you actually reopen your heart to encounter me again? Not emotionally or artificially, but deeply. Pray: "Lord, show me Your worth again. Disrupt me if You must. Call me out of my routine and lead me back to worship." [23:09] And so there's a challenge. Will you worship Him now—today, this morning—and will you worship Him forever? Because it's not sentiment, it's transformation. Christmas is sentimental. It pulls at our emotions. It pulls at our nostalgia. If you ever spend any time on Instagram, these videos come up of what it used to be like in the 80s... I know some of you are thinking "What's the 80s?" But they were good. Christmas was good. It was sentimental and it was emotional and you've got all sorts of childhood memories from there. Probably go a little bit back before the 80s as well, but we won't go there. [23:49] But Christmas is sentimental. But Jesus is transformational. The coming of Jesus transforms. He didn't come to give us sentiment. He didn't come to give us emotion. He's not Father Christmas. But He did come to change everything. And so when the Shepherds saw Him, they ran to Him. When the Wise Men saw His worth, they knelt before Him. When the Elders see His worth, they throw their crowns down in front of Him. And when we see Him, what do we do? Fall on our knees. [24:26] And so today the question isn't simply "Do you believe in Jesus?", but "What is He worth to you?" Will you worship Him not just now, but forever? Will you lay your crown before Him? Will you allow His presence to rearrange your life? Reshape you. Not just now, but forever. For the rest of your life. And into eternity. That Jesus will be worth it. What a terrible thing to just touch the surface of what it means to know Jesus and then arrive in eternity and think, "Oh, that's what it was all about." That we would know Jesus now. This Christmas, may we truly see Him. And when we see Him, fall on our knees. Amen. [25:12] Nick Lugg: Jonathan, are you there? Oh, you're there. The worship team can come back, please.

John 12:1-8,Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”And the Lord, in verse 7, defends the way Mary of Bethany expresses her devotion to him.What Mary does in verse 3 is good and right, and I think we can learn from her. So that's the goal of this sermon. All last week, my prayer for today has been that through Mary's example in John 12, the Spirit would reawaken in us Mary-like devotion to Jesus. I want us to learn from Mary how to be more like Mary for the glory of Jesus. To that end, this morning I want to show you seven truths of Mary-like devotion.1. Mary-like devotion is surprising. Verse 1 opens with the setting: we are six days away from Passover, and Jesus has come back to Bethany. Now remember that Bethany is where he raised Lazarus from the dead in Chapter 11, verse 43, but then when the Jewish leaders plotted to kill Jesus, John tells us in verse 54 that Jesus “no longer walked openly” among them, because they were looking for him. The Pharisees wanted to arrest him. So Jesus left that area and went to Ephraim, which gave him more distance from Jerusalem. (Bethany was 2 miles outside Jerusalem, Ephraim was about 15 miles). So by the end of Chapter 11, Jesus is laying low.But Chapter 12 opens here and he's back in Bethany, where news travels quickly to Jerusalem, which means this is dangerous — why would he do it? Why would he come back to Bethany now? It's because Passover is six days away. Remember Jesus has a purpose to accomplish in Jerusalem, and now he's getting closer. But since Jesus is in Bethany they throw a special dinner for him. And because it's Bethany, we would expect our favorite Bethany family to be there. We saw these three siblings in Chapter 11 — Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now, John knows we'd expect their attendance, so he takes roll in verse 2. Look what he says:“So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served [check her name off — she's there], and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him as table [check his name off — he's just happy to be in the room].And right away that's Martha and Lazarus. Which sibling is missing?Mary. Now look at verse 3 (verse 2 was just a build up to this):“Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.”The first thing I want you to see is that this was not expected. This is a dinner! People are sharing a meal. Martha is staying busy like she does. Lazarus is at the table (you know he's getting seconds). And then Mary, finally, enters into this dining room with a bottle of ointment (or perfume) and she does this extravagant display of worship.Most of us had big dinners a few days ago. Imagine for a minute if something like this happened! It was not on the menu. It's never happened before. This was a surprise! That's the first thing to know about Mary-like devotion. This is not what most people would expect — because it responds in the moment to the glory of Jesus regardless of the context.2. Mary-like devotion is costly.We can see in verse 3 that this perfume was expensive. John tells us that plainly. But he also gives us two details that explain why. It has to do with quantity and quality.First, with quality, this perfume was made from “pure nard.” That's a plant that's grown in India. The root of this plant produced an oil that was collected to make this perfume.So it's a product derived from nature, created by a process, imported from far away — that sounds expensive. (This is why many scholars believe this Bethany family was well off — this perfume would have only been owned by the luxury class of the Mediterranean world.)Second, notice the quantity. John tells us it was a pound — and that's a Roman pound. The Greek word is litra — and it's equivalent to about 12 ounces. So imagine the American pop can. (I don't know the last time you turned a can of pop upside down to pour it out, but it takes a little longer to empty it than you might think.)Twelve ounces is not a little bit. And Mary doesn't have pop, it's perfume — 12 ounces of perfume — that's a lot of a really nice thing. And to give us more of an idea of how precious it is, John tells us the number value in verse 5. Judas says it's worth 300 denarii — which is about a year's wages.So to draw a parallel to our day, this is what we'd call an annual salary, and the average annual salary in the Twin Cities, Google says, is between $80,000–$90,000. So translate this in your imagination... Picture this: Someone at dinner this past week walks into the dining room and pours out $90,000 on somebody else's feet … Again, this is stunning. And the costliness amplifies the surprise! Those two things go together in Mary-like devotion. It's surprising because it's costly.3. Mary-like devotion is humble.Now, for our imagination's sake, it helps to know how people ate together at this culture and time. They didn't use raised tables and chairs like we do, but they used low tables, and sat on cushions on the floor. They “reclined” on the table, like verse 2 says, and their feet were stretched out behind them, away from the table. So Mary approached Jesus, verse 3, while he was sitting like that, and she anointed his feet.This is a key detail. Because with the extravagance of her gift, we might imagine Mary's actions to be surrounded by pomp. Like maybe Mary enters the room and first clears her throat, and makes sure somebody's getting the video, and then she does it. But it's just the opposite.Mary comes into the room, and stays at the feet's distance away from the table. She's not the center of attention. Nobody was probably even looking in her direction, and then she pours the perfume on Jesus's feet and wipes his feet with her hair. This is borderline undignified. She definitely looked a little silly. To everyone's surprise, with likely the costliest thing she's got, she humbles herself at the feet of Jesus in worship — but then the most vivid display of her humility is the use of her hair.In the ancient world, a woman's hair was her glory. It was her honor. This was Mary's strength, but here she turns her strength into a servant's towel … Her radiance into a rag. Her splendor into a sponge. Her crown becomes a cloth. … to wipe feet.Which means, Mary gives the best part of herself for the least part of Jesus. The highest aspect of her presentation (hair) is submitted to the lowest aspect of his (feet).This is profound humility.Mary is not even audacious enough to pray here: “Jesus, take my utmost for your highest.” She just says, “Jesus, take my utmost!” — And I don't care what anybody else thinks. I'm not concerned about appearance. It doesn't matter what people might say. This is all about Jesus. Mary shows us a marvelous self-forgetfulness. Mary-like devotion is humble.4. Mary-like devotion is fitting.This is #4 of 7, and it really is the central truth in Mary's example.So far we've seen that Mary-like devotion is surprising, costly, and humble, but here's where we need to be clear that the only reason any of this makes sense is because of Jesus. And Jesus doesn't just make Mary's actions make sense, he makes them right. Because of who he is, what Mary does is fitting. John calls her act an “anointing,” which is something done to set someone apart for a certain office. The examples we have in the Old Testament are individuals anointed as a priest or king, and we should think especially of kings in the Gospel of John. If you remember, way back in Chapter 1, when Nathaniel first met Jesus he confessed right away that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel (1:49). Then in Chapter 6, verse 15, after Jesus fed the five thousand, the crowd wanted to take him by force and make him king.So we've seen a kingship theme already.But then right here in Chapter 12, the very next day after Mary anoints Jesus, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a young donkey, and the crowd paves the way for him with palm branches, and they say — in verse 13 — “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”So we have every reason to see that Mary's anointing of Jesus is anointing him as King.Because that is who he is. It'll be explicit and public tomorrow in this story, in Jesus's ‘triumphal entry,' but tonight, at this dinner, with Mary, it's implicit and private. In the moment, even Mary doesn't know the full extent of what she's doing, but we as readers can see it. In Chapter 11, we saw her fall at Jesus's feet in grief, here she bows at Jesus's feet in worship.Last chapter she came to Jesus needing his help; now she comes to him just giving him glory.This doesn't mean we ever stop coming to Jesus for help — we do! We always need his help! But sometimes we can also just come to him in simple worship.This is when we come to him, not to ask him for things, but to give him whatever we can because he is worthy — just because he's our king and he's a good king! It is fitting to worship him!Think about this: When was the last time your heart moved toward Jesus, not for what he gives, but for who he is? When was the last time you were simply compelled by the worth of Jesus?The Little Drummer BoyMary's devotion here in Chapter 12 actually reminds me of what used to be one of my least favorite Christmas songs. “Santa Baby” is dead bottom, but not far from there used to be “The Little Drummer Boy.” And the reason I didn't like the song is because for years it didn't make sense to me, and it was kinda irritating. The pa-RUM-pa-pum-pums are distracting. But if we can get rid of that part and focus on the real words in the song, it's actually beautiful. It's a song about a boy who is invited to meet the newborn Jesus (and it's fictional; didn't really happen; we're supposed to use our imaginations). The boy starts the song by saying:Come, they told meA newborn king to see, Our finest gifts to bring,To lay before the king,So to honor himWhen we come You get it? The boy is invited to come meet Jesus, so he does. And in the second stanza he's at the manger, and he speaks to the infant Jesus:Little baby,I am a poor boy tooI have no gifts to bringThat's fit to give a KingShall I play for you on my drum?See, I imagine that's what Mary of Bethany thought. While Martha was busy serving and Lazarus was sitting at the table, Mary thought: The king is here. He's in the room. What do I have that's fit to give a King?And the technical answer is nothing. Nothing we have is enough to match the glory of this King, but Mary thinks I've got that bottle of perfume — just like the boy thought, I've got this drum. And the boy says, “Shall I play the drum?” Mary thinks, “Shall I pour the perfume?” So the boy plays his best, and Mary pours it all. I don't have enough to give you, but I'll give you my best because you're worthy.That's what the song is about. That's what Mary does here. And it's fitting because of the King!And John tells us that the fragrance of her worship fills the entire house. Which means: her personal reverence and self-forgetfulness in recognizing the glory of Jesus becomes uncontainable. Everybody around her can literally sense her devotion for Jesus.5. Mary-like devotion is criticized. This is verses 4–5: But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”Apparently, Judas caught the aroma, but instead of recognizing Mary's act as a surprising, costly, humble, and fitting act of devotion, he criticized her. He immediately liquidated the value of the ointment in his head, and he corrected her decision. That could have been used for something better! That could have been a lot of money to help poor people! Mary is being unwise!Now, before we look closer into the criticism, I just want to note that it happened, and right away, because that's just how things go — even things as wholesome as Mary's devotion.The Bible gives us no impression that devotion to Jesus will be easy — it actually ensures the opposite. There's a Forest Frank lyric my younger boys love. It goes: Jesus promised that the bad would come along, ‘Cause if life is always easyProbably doin' something wrong.That's true. I want everybody to know: when your devotion to Jesus meets difficulty, that's a good sign. The question for us is about our willingness to endure difficulty. Are we willing to be criticized? Are we willing to express devotion to Jesus that others would call wasteful but Jesus calls beautiful?6. Mary-like devotion is vindicated.Let's look closer at what Judas said in verse 5.At face-value, we might think Judas is onto something, because what he says is not untrue. That perfume was worth a lot of money — three hundred denarii/$80–90K — that's a lot of money you can do a lot with. Judas names one possibility. The problem, though, is that he's thinking about it all the wrong way. See, he's thinking about gifts from the giver's perspective, not from God's perspective. He's thinking about everything from earth looking around, not from heaven looking down.In his mindset — the ‘Judas mindset' — all value is monetary, and all that is monetary is a zero-sum category: which means I'm always thinking, “whatever I give here is what I cannot give there.” And see, Judas is so caught up in this mindset — he cares so much about the optimal management of the gift — that he's blind to the One the gift is for. That is what is most striking about verse 5 — it's the absence of anything to do with Jesus. Judas says nothing about him. So Judas not only rebukes Mary here, but he also registers how little he thinks of Who she worships.And if that wasn't clear, John adds in verse 6. He wants us to know that Judas said what he said:“…not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”Judas was part of a program called ‘Feeding Our Future' …Greed is an ancient sin — it's the root of all evil, and it ruined Judas. (And it's behind the ruin of our state. God help us.)In verse 7, Mary doesn't say anything back to Judas, but Jesus speaks up on her behalf, and he says, first, “Leave her alone.”Which is amazing. Jesus doesn't argue with Judas. He doesn't explain why his mindset is wrong, he first just tells him to stop. Jesus defends Mary, and he makes the issue about himself, because it is!With this perfume Mary has prepared Jesus for the day of his burial, because, verse 8:“…the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”And it's clear now, with the mention of his burial and that he won't always be here, Jesus is talking about his death. Which raises the question for us: Was Mary anointing Jesus as king or preparing him for his death? And the answer is Yes.Again, Mary is doing more here than she realized. She is anointing Jesus as King — it's just that he's a king who will sacrifice his life for his people.He's a King who has come to die. His reign will conquer the grave for good — remember Lazarus — but first Jesus's reign will come through the grave. Our triumphant King will also be a slain Lamb. And John wants us so badly to get this! He gives us hints here in Mary's devotion, but then later in the Book of Revelation he tells us about a vision when saints and angels together pour out their praise to Jesus, and they say, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)Listen: I want you to know that the final vindication of our every sincere act of devotion to Jesus will come on that day when we see him. If it's Mary-like devotion, it is never wasted. Jesus is worth it. And this brings us to the last point.7. Mary-like devotion is instructive. We're gonna finish how we started: I think we can learn from our sister Mary. It is a gift to us to be able to see her gift to Jesus, and I want us to be more like her. That's been my prayer: that the Spirit would reawaken or awaken in us Mary-like devotion to Jesus.Devotion that is surprising because it responds to Jesus in the moment, even if it doesn't fit the setting. Costly because it brings Jesus our best, humble because it doesn't worry about what others might think, fitting because Jesus is the King and nothing given to him is too much, criticized because it's not supposed to be easy, and vindicated because the King who Mary worshiped is the Lamb who was slain and one day we will see his worth with our own eyes.Mary's devotion is instructive because it shows us what it looks like when a heart is overcome by the worth of Jesus.And what's incredible for us, is that we know more about Jesus's worth than Mary does here. We already know the end of the story! That Jesus who has come will die, will be resurrected, and will come again.So in closing, I want to invite you to ask yourself this: For Advent, in this season of waiting, what is Jesus calling you to do that would simply reflect his worth?That's what brings us to the Table.The TableWe come here to this Table to rest in the worth of Jesus Christ. Let his glory be your comfort by taking refuge in him. That's what it means to trust in Jesus, and that is who this table is for. If you're here and you have put your faith in Jesus, we invite you to eat and drink with us and give him thanks.

We have so much to be grateful for, and most of all we can give thanks for Christ Jesus leaving the heights of heaven and coming to dwell among us, taking our sin, destroying death and making eternity in heaven possible to thise who call upon His name. Chad meditates on this most wonderful hymn from Paul's letter to the Phillipians and calls us to be ever grateful for the finished work of our Saviour. Jeff Anderson sings "You Took the Way Down". Hidden Streams: Show Notes: Support 1517 Podcast Network 1517 Podcasts 1517 on Youtube 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 Events Schedule 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education What's New from 1517: Coming Home for Christmas: 1517 Advent Devotional Face to Face: A Novel of the Reformation by Amy Mantravadi Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of Psalms by Chad Bird Remembering Your Baptism: A 40-Day Devotional by Kathryn Morales Sinner Saint by Luke Kjolhaug More from the hosts: Chad Bird We have the mind of Christ We have the mind of Christ    Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be exploited,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Salvation's story You took the way down The Lord of glory You took the way down You came down to earth So we can enter Your rest And wait for the day Every knee shall bow Every tongue confess That Jesus is Lord We have the mind of Christ We have the mind of Christ

For more than 1,400 years, one question has divided the world's two largest faiths: Did Jesus Christ truly die on the cross?Video Version available immediately upon release at 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT athttps://youtu.be/evsqZ8Q_0s0In this groundbreaking episode of The Last Christian Radio Show, hosts JD Williams and David Paxton take you on a deeply respectful, fact-based journey through Scripture, science, and history to uncover the truth behind one of the most important claims ever made. That Jesus, peace be upon Him, was not crucified, but that it only appeared so.Drawing from the Qur'an, the Bible, medical science, archaeology, and eyewitness history, this powerful episode carefully examines every aspect of the question with sincerity and reverence. Not to attack, but to enlighten.Viewers from the Islamic faith are invited to explore evidence that transcends culture and tradition:• The historical records of Roman executioners, Jewish witnesses, and early Christian scribes, all agreeing that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate.• The medical details of crucifixion proving beyond doubt that the man on the cross died from asphyxiation and cardiac rupture — fulfilling exact prophecies written centuries earlier.• The forensic evidence of the burial cloth, revealing physical wounds matching biblical descriptions, and a mysterious burst of radiant energy that no scientist has ever explained.• The undeniable resurrection appearances. Eyewitness accounts by more than 500 people, recorded not as myth, but as testimony sealed with their own lives.With humility and deep respect for Muslim viewers, JD and David open the Scriptures alongside the Qur'an. Not to argue, but to ask a simple question: If God is truth, can He contradict Himself?This episode is not a debate, it is an invitation. An invitation to search the evidence honestly. To compare revelation with history. To look at the cross not as a symbol of shame, but as the moment when divine mercy met human sin.You'll hear why the Bible's account of Jesus' death and resurrection is not only historically verified, but prophetically consistent from Genesis to Revelation. And how the Qur'an's claim of substitution, written six centuries later, cannot withstand the test of time, witness, or truth.This program speaks to all who love Jesus. Christian and Muslim alike and who sincerely seek to know the truth about His life, death, and destiny. Because if Jesus truly died and rose again, then His words, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” must be taken seriously by every person on earth.Come with an open heart. Search without fear.The evidence will speak for itself.And the truth, as Jesus promised, will set you free.For more information about our International Ministry. Please visithttps://www.lastchristian.net/

For more than 1,400 years, one question has divided the world's two largest faiths: Did Jesus Christ truly die on the cross?Video Version available immediately upon release at 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT athttps://youtu.be/evsqZ8Q_0s0In this groundbreaking episode of The Last Christian Radio Show, hosts JD Williams and David Paxton take you on a deeply respectful, fact-based journey through Scripture, science, and history to uncover the truth behind one of the most important claims ever made. That Jesus, peace be upon Him, was not crucified, but that it only appeared so.Drawing from the Qur'an, the Bible, medical science, archaeology, and eyewitness history, this powerful episode carefully examines every aspect of the question with sincerity and reverence. Not to attack, but to enlighten.Viewers from the Islamic faith are invited to explore evidence that transcends culture and tradition:• The historical records of Roman executioners, Jewish witnesses, and early Christian scribes, all agreeing that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate.• The medical details of crucifixion proving beyond doubt that the man on the cross died from asphyxiation and cardiac rupture — fulfilling exact prophecies written centuries earlier.• The forensic evidence of the burial cloth, revealing physical wounds matching biblical descriptions, and a mysterious burst of radiant energy that no scientist has ever explained.• The undeniable resurrection appearances. Eyewitness accounts by more than 500 people, recorded not as myth, but as testimony sealed with their own lives.With humility and deep respect for Muslim viewers, JD and David open the Scriptures alongside the Qur'an. Not to argue, but to ask a simple question: If God is truth, can He contradict Himself?This episode is not a debate, it is an invitation. An invitation to search the evidence honestly. To compare revelation with history. To look at the cross not as a symbol of shame, but as the moment when divine mercy met human sin.You'll hear why the Bible's account of Jesus' death and resurrection is not only historically verified, but prophetically consistent from Genesis to Revelation. And how the Qur'an's claim of substitution, written six centuries later, cannot withstand the test of time, witness, or truth.This program speaks to all who love Jesus. Christian and Muslim alike and who sincerely seek to know the truth about His life, death, and destiny. Because if Jesus truly died and rose again, then His words, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” must be taken seriously by every person on earth.Come with an open heart. Search without fear.The evidence will speak for itself.And the truth, as Jesus promised, will set you free.For more information about our International Ministry. Please visithttps://www.lastchristian.net/

In this solo episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Jesse Schwamb explores the profound depths of Jesus' Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. While this parable might seem unassuming compared to others, Jesse reveals how it serves as the "granddaddy" of all parables—offering a God's-eye view of salvation through the ordinary imagery of farming. The episode examines why different people respond differently to the same gospel message, and challenges listeners to consider what kind of soil their own hearts represent. Through historical context and theological reflection, Jesse unpacks how this parable prepares believers for the mixed responses they'll encounter when sharing the gospel and reminds us that the efficacy of salvation depends not on the sower's skill, but on God's sovereign work in preparing hearts to receive His Word. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Sower provides a framework for understanding the various responses to the gospel message, serving as preparation for disciples who would face both acceptance and rejection. Jesus' parables, particularly the Sower, demonstrate how God uses ordinary, mundane things to express profound spiritual truths about His kingdom. The efficacy of salvation doesn't depend on the skill of the sower but on God's sovereign work in preparing the soil of human hearts. God's Word never returns void but always comes back "full" of either acceptance or rejection—it accomplishes exactly what God intends. Historical context matters: Jesus' audience had high expectations for a Messiah who would establish an earthly kingdom, but Jesus was revealing a different kind of kingdom. The Parable of the Sower shows that the kingdom of God isn't received equally by all—some receive it with joy while others reject it outright. Having "ears to hear" is a gift from God through the Holy Spirit, not merely intellectual understanding but spiritual receptivity. The Word That Never Returns Void The power of God's Word stands at the center of the Parable of the Sower. Jesse highlights Isaiah 55, where God declares that His word "shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose." Unlike human words that often fall flat, God's Word always achieves its intended effect. This doesn't mean universal salvation, but rather that God's purposes are never thwarted. When the gospel is proclaimed, it always returns to God "full" of something—either acceptance or rejection. The parable illustrates this reality by showing the various responses to the same seed. This should encourage believers in evangelism: we are simply called to faithfully sow the seed, while God determines the harvest according to His sovereign purposes. Our success is not measured by conversions but by faithfulness in proclamation. Kingdom Expectations vs. Kingdom Reality The historical context of Jesus' ministry reveals a profound disconnect between what people expected from the Messiah and what Jesus actually delivered. Jesse explains how the Jewish people anticipated a conquering king who would overthrow Roman oppression and establish a visible earthly kingdom. Instead, Jesus announced a kingdom that begins in the heart, dividing even families according to their response to Him. The Parable of the Sower anticipates this mixed response, preparing disciples for both acceptance and rejection. This teaches modern believers an important lesson: the gospel will not be universally embraced, even when perfectly presented. Some hearts are like paths, others rocky ground, others thorny soil. Yet we continue sowing because God has appointed some to be good soil—hearts prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the Word and bear fruit. This reality should both humble us and embolden our witness. Quotes "The power of this message is in the message itself, but the medium by which it is delivered... it does pierce the heart. It does pierce through bone and marrow. It does divide because it always returns full of either acceptance or full of rebellion and denial." - Jesse Schwamb "We find ourselves humbled. We find ourselves rushing in, coming into the kingdom, fighting to come into it because God has impassioned us with that same zeal that has accomplished this very thing. He implants it in our hearts, in our minds, in our guts, so that we would come before him and worship him." - Jesse Schwamb "Consider what it means that this good news... that God's word is his deed. This is why... it's such a blessing to live in this period of time where we have such easy access for most of us to the word of God, and that we ought to be zealous about getting that word out to all people because behind it and within it and around it is the full power of the Holy Spirit." - Jesse Schwamb Full Transcript Welcome to episode 463 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse, and this is the podcast for those with ears to hear. Hey, brothers and sisters, so I am just one half. Of the Reform Brotherhood squad. Tony, of course, wanted to join us on this episode, but it sometimes happens in life. Our schedules were a little bit crazy this week, and God gave us responsibilities that put us in opposite directions for part of the time. And so that means that today on this episode, I thought. You and I, we could just hang out and Tony will be back to join us in the next episode. [00:01:20] Solo Episode and Parable Series Overview But for now, this is one of those solo or formed brotherhood episodes. And if you have been tracking with us, we just started this great and amazing journey on going through all the parables that our Lord and Savior gives to us in teaching us about the kingdom of God and its power. And we just started by talking about the parable of the sower, in fact. In the last episode, we just covered basically the first two soils, the first half of that amazing little story, and I thought it would be really, really great to camp out in that for just a little bit more because even though Tony's not here, the podcast goes on and we, Tony and I never really. Thinking about these things and when we start a series in particular, we always find that we just gotta keep going back on it in our minds ruminating on what we said and what God was teaching us and the conversations like all good conversations that draw your mind back to the things that you talked about, which I should say maybe before I begin in earnest, that is also my denial, which is saying things like, let's camp out in this text now to be. Sure. There's no wrong reason why, or there's no bad reason to say words like that. It's just when I hear myself say them, I think about all the things that Christians say, like saying like, we should camp out in this text, or Let's sit in it for a while. And I think maybe it's because I'm just not into camping or maybe because I think most of the time when you use the phrase like, sit in, it's not. A happy or blessed or joyful thing that you're describing. So I always find that funny, and yet here I am saying it because I just couldn't think of anything better to say except, you know what? We should pause and maybe ruminate a little bit more. On all of this good stuff that's in Matthew chapter 13, where Jesus gives us the parable of the sower, so you can join me in sharing which little Christian phrases maybe you think you hear, we say too much or just become rote or part and parcel what it means to talk. The best way for you to do that is do me a. Go to your favorite internet device and in the browser, type T me slash reform brotherhood, that will just take you that little link to a part of the internet using an app called Telegram where a bunch of brothers and sisters who listen to the podcast are chatting about the podcast, their live sharing prayer requests, and there's even a place for you to share, Hey, what are the things that Christians say that you think. Why do we say that? Why are we always talking about hedges of protection? Why are we always talking about camping out in a text? So that's a place that you can come hang out. So go to t.me/reform brotherhood. [00:03:56] Deep Dive into the Parable of the Sower But enough of that, let's talk a little bit more about this incredible parable that our Lord and Savior gives us in Matthew chapter 13. It's so, so short in fact that I figured. The best parts of any conversation about the Bible is just hearing from God in his word. So let me read just those couple of verses. It's just eight verses beginning in Matthew chapter 13, the parable of the sower. That same day, Jesus went out from the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no roots, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seed fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears let him hear. [00:05:09] Personal Reflections on the Parable I have to say that of all the parables, and we mentioned in the previous episode that this one is kind of the granddaddy of them all. It's a god's eye view on salvation told in this lovely kind of encased way about horticulture and farming and growing plants. But to be totally transparent, I never really got into this parable. It was never really my favorite one. Like of all the things that Jesus says, of all the creative and wonderful terms of phrase, this one for me always just seemed to be lacking That stuff. You know, it doesn't have really strong characters. It's about a sower, seed and soil, and compared to some other things that seems kind of unassuming and. Not very exciting, quite honestly, to me, and it's not as exciting, I think, as stories about, I don't know, losing something of value and then suddenly finding it and rejoicing and having the characters, feeling yourself in those characters as they go about experiencing all the emotions. That Jesus expresses and keyed in these lovely little riddles called parables. And so for this one, it's always been a little bit kind of like a, okay. It's interesting and the point seems fairly straightforward and it just doesn't captivate me as the others. And I've been thinking about about that, how even in this, it just seems like a really normal, mundane, kind of pedestrian expression of a life in that time. And it's all wrapped up in gardening. And throwing seeds into the ground, not even having control of their outcome. And then in this way, though, expressing and explaining this grand narrative and arc of salvation from God's perspective. So it is, again, another lesson in God using ordinary, normal, almost seemingly mundane things to express his power, to express our lack of control and to show so that he does. Did I just say so to, so that he does all things and certainly we get so much of that in this parable, and so it made me think this week after Tony and I talked about it a little bit. Just how it raises a question in this really normative, kind of unassuming, almost boring, if I can say way, this really profound question, which is, will we be this fruitful, fertile soil? Will we be fruitful followers? Of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't just raise this question, I suppose it also gives us some hope, but it also does so with a warning. It is a maybe a little bit of law and gospel even embedded in these simple means of, again, talking about what it means to plant something and to entrust the planting, the acy of the growth there to the soil and the seed, and there's hope. There's warning and there's so much of that that's in this context of the parable, and that's what's led me to wanna talk to you all a little bit about that as we kinda process together more of what this means. [00:08:00] Historical Context and Expectations of the Messiah I was thinking that when Jesus began his ministry, when he's coming forward, he's really announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God. And it's helpful, I think, to meditate as a second on how profound that is, that he comes again, not just as the message, but the messenger and the medium of that message. I was just kinda ruminating on the fact that. Everybody had high expectations. There was no one, I think, with kind of a low opinion of what was about to happen or of what the Messiah was going to bring or what he was going to do. And here you have like explicitly Jesus' hearers, their ancestors would've been taken into exile and captivity because they had broken the covenant with God. And the prophets had made this case for God's punishment because of their idolatry and their injustice. But that message, and you get this especially in in books like Isaiah. Where there's this mixture that's bittersweet. There is not only an exclusive message of woe for the people, but there is at the same time up against sick, almost running parallel. This promise of a day when God, by his own effort in Zeal, would bring about a restoration where he'd set up visibly an earthly reign through his anointed Wanda Messiah. And so I can only imagine if I could. Even partially put myself in the place of these people who are hearing this particular parable, that there is all this sense that we have strayed from God, that we're covenant breakers, but that he has promised to make a way and that his own zeal will very much accomplish this, but it will be visible and earthly, not just spiritual in the sense that we believe these things and we internalize them in the sense for our being, and therefore we speak about them in these kind of grandiose and ephemeral terms. But more than that, that God was going to come and set up an earthly reign, purely manifested in the world in which we live and breathe and have our being. And so two things would happen. Israel's oppressors would be defeated. And God would institute a pure worship and a reestablished pure worship. And so I can't help but think maybe there was some of this expectation. They're, they're seeing this Messiah, this Jesus, the one who speaks with a different kind of authority, come into their midst. And there I think all these things are somewhere in their minds as their processing. Maybe they should be in ours as well. And so there's this portrait that's being painted here of the prophet saying there's gonna be. Restoration and this image of a seed being sown. And then of course you have these metaphors that Jesus is employing in his own time. Very reminiscent of passages like in Isaiah 55, where you find the prophet saying, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and I shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. What an amazing, glorious promise of God that there is no suboptimal nature. In his expression of who he is and what he's accomplished, that the very thing that he intends to do, he always does, and this word comes back. I think what really strikes me about this passage in particular is the fact that it does not return to God empty. I mean, think about what that means. It's strange in a way. That. In other words, it's full of something. And here I think it's full of response. It's full of anticipation. It's full of this. Like what? What has gone out is now received by the individual and then returns with either acceptance or denial, very much in the same way that we're about to receive it in this parable before us. And in fact, even our ability to understand the parable. This if you have ears, he has ears. Let him hear that itself is an expression. So in other words. The power of this message is again, in the message itself, but the medium by which it is delivered, it does pierce the heart. It does pierce through bone and marrow. It does divide because it always returns full of either acceptance or full of rebellion and denial. And so when we think about the people of Israel. They exactly in that way. They return from exile under Ezra Nehemiah. But even those returns, even those improvements or some of that remediation seems to me like to come short of expectations. You know, Ezra rebuilt the temple, but it paled in comparison to Solomon's original, in fact. If we go to Ezra chapter three, there's like so much honesty as the people are seeing this rebuilt temple. Their response is, is like tragic in a way. So this is Ezra chapter three, beginning verse 12. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers houses, old men. Who had seen the first house as the temple of God wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people cannot distinguish the sound of the joyful from the sound of people's weeping for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away, even in just the setting up the foundation, the base layer. There are those saying this is. This is not like it used to be. Even this is just far piles in comparison and falls very far short of the original. And of course you have Nehemiah's rebuilt wall around Jerusalem. Couldn't even ensure the holiness of God's people. And so everything up to that point. All of it was still just a shadow. It was like a big, giant disappointment, a blemish as it were, on God's people. Even as there was an attempt to restore, there was still this longing from the inside to have the real McCoy to everything made right to have the true Messiah come, not the one that was the type. Not the thing that was the shadow, not the the poor replacement or the analog, but the real thing. And so you have in response to this, you know, some of God's people move into the wilderness and pursue holy living. Some accommodated to Roman occupation like the Sadducees, some retreated into kind of individual individualistic piety or rule keeping like the Pharisees. And then there's all kinds of accounts of God's people in rebellion. Like Simon, the Zealots. There were some who even located themselves under the legitimate, yet Roman endorsed leadership of Herod, you know the Herodians. So you have all of these people you can imagine literally in the same audience. Jesus pushes back and he begins to teach them. And he starts by talking about horticulture. He starts by saying, A sower goes out and he throws all this kind of seed. And it's not difficult to imagine that all of the seed, all the soil, everything is represented in what he's saying right there. And then it's not a story as if like, well, you take this away and try to process it in such a way that you might come to terms with it later on. It's happening in the here and now. Even what he's saying. Even the message that he's communicating is being man made manifest right there in their midst, and it's not returning a void to him. The one who wrote it to begin with is the one who's speaking it, and it's having its desired effect, even as we read it now, and it reads us today. [00:15:13] Jesus' Ministry and the Kingdom of God And so it's amazing that it's on this stage that Jesus steps out and he stands, especially in the synagogue when he reads from the Isaiah scroll. And he announces that the true jubilee has now arrived and it's arrived in him. You know, by the way, what's interesting there is we have, we have no real reason to think that Israel ever really practiced Jubilee as it was outlined in the scriptures. So we have this beautiful instruction for a reset, a pure reset, and one that is liberty and freedom in so many ways, but especially demonstrated in this economic reality. And Jesus commences his public ministry proclaiming the good new. News that the kingdom of God has arrived. I feel like we have to go there, right? Because this is just so good. So in MOOC chapter four, Jesus stands up. He asks for the scroll, and this is what he reads. Loved ones. These are fantastic words. I mean, hear them from the mouth of our Savior. Again, Jesus reads this, the spirits of the Lord is upon me. Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. It's such incredibly strong and powerful news. We're getting this sense that there are those who are poor that need. To hear that something will be different. That they are her, that they're seen that all of the straining in life and all of their labor is not in vain, but here is one who's come to rescue them and that those who have been set in prison, those who are chained and under duress and find themselves locked up. That here he has come to proclaim liberty to the captives, and then for those that cannot see, that have lost their way entirely, that are groping in the dark, here is one that's coming to recover the sight. Hear that word, not to give it brand new, but to restore that which was originally present to begin with. Imagine the horror of having your sights and then having it taken away that. Knowing that there was something there that was beautiful in your midst, something that was precious to you, and now to have that restored, in fact, like Blind by de MEUs the Greek, there is more when God says, or Jesus rather, says, what do you want me to do for you? The Greek is very clear, just says, sight again, sight again. And I think we like our ancestors and Israel here before us. We ought to be always clamoring and crying. Then I tell God like, son of David sight again. Would you help me to see truly not as the world appears to be, but we spiritual eyes, to know the truth, to understand how much you love me, and would you gimme the strength to love you? Me back love you back by way of giving, yes, this sight. And then for all those who are downtrodden. Where, wherever, and whatever that means, physically, emotionally, spiritually, that here's the one who has come to, again, set you at liberty and then to say, do you know what this time is? This is the time of the Lord's favor. Why? Because the son of man is here and where the son of man is. There is freedom and restoration. There is a new king over all things. There's one who super intends over all of the earth. Who has been given control over all things and has come to win literally the day for those who are rebellious before God, for those who have sinned, who are covenant breakers, who are gospel abusers, while we were at yet enmity with God at the right time, Jesus and his son for us. And so we find that it's like the pretext, it's the context for all of this, and especially this parable. And of course, rather than. Everybody listening to what Jesus has to say here and just being one over being filled with some kind of winsome logic of what's being said here, of being thoroughly convinced. We know that of course it's not just a matter of evidence, but unless the Holy Spirit comes the same spirit, which is upon Jesus, the sin of God, to change us, to open our ears, that we do not hear these things, we don't hear them as we ought to. We do not give them heed. We do not internalize them, and we cannot understand them. And so because of that, rather than of course meeting with universal acceptance, Jesus, of course, he encounters a host of reactions. Some opposed him. The crowds sometimes were way more motivated, like people in our day by novelty or curiosity or by presume rewards or blessings. You can imagine this is what makes, of course, something like the Blat and grab, its kind of gospel, the prosperity of some of our modern evangelical expression, so incredibly dangerous. Because of course people will say, well, if I can get that blessing, of course I want Jesus. Or if I'm gonna be made, well, yes, I'll, I'll find, I'll take Jesus. If I'm gonna get wealth and riches and a 401k, that's gonna suit my every need. Well sure I'll take Jesus. And of course, the blessing, the reward of getting Jesus is getting the son of God, getting the one who restores us first and predominantly. With God the father himself, that all of those blessings are already ours in the spiritual realm because of Jesus. In fact, we've, we've already been placed with him in the heavenly realms. That is the reward. And so sometimes the gods were a little bit more motivated by, this guy's given us bread before. Let's see if there's gonna be another buffet, rather than he says We ought to eat and drink his flesh. That in that is eternal life, and so we get distracted. And so sometimes novelty and curiosity just win the day. And then of course, on the other hand. Some of the most unlikely unseemly, most sinful were responding with incredible joy and embracing Jesus and his announcement. Tenaciously like voraciously, the ones who were humble, who knew that they needed a savior, they needed a reconciliation that was alien and outside of themselves. Something powerful that could defeat even the sin that was within them and bring about a pure and unbridled atonement, unreserved in its ability to clean. These were the ones who were saying, come, Lord Jesus, these were the ones crying out, saying, have mercy on me, son of David. And we like them. Ought to follow that example. And so throughout Matthew's Gospel and Luke's gospel. There's a mixed response throughout the entire ministry of Jesus. And again, what's unique about this parable, I think, is that Jesus comes setting the stage for that unique response. All of those different kind of options and how people will perceive him, how they respond to him, what they will say to him. And so whether as you go through the narratives in the gospels, you look to. The Samaritan Leopard or the blind beggar, or the Chief tax Collector, or the impoverished widow, all of these were those who were forcing their way into the kingdom in response during the good news. There's really something I think that's beautiful about that, that God allows for us to force our way as it were. When we are convicted of this kingdom, that he is the kingdom and that he brings it to us. That we come headlong, rushing in, falling over ourselves to get into that kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's why I think, why, why Luke writes in chapter 16 of his gospel. The law in the prophets were until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it. What a amazing and lovely thing that God allows us. Which is the truth, to force our way into that. So these were the ones who proved to be the fertile soil for the word of the kingdom, not the ones who chose the places of honor or the privilege, or we saw Jesus one of many important priorities to be managed. What we have here is the ones who forced their way in. These were the ones who proved to be the fertile soil, and I'm not gonna steal. Any of our thunder, because Tony and I are gonna talk about that in the next episode. But I bring that up merely to say there's so much that's rich here. When we think about are we as Christians fruitful and fertile? In our following, after the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's Matthew's great theme of reversal, like beginning in the birth narratives of Jesus and continuing through the very end of his gospel count. Even like in his final parable, Jesus forced the confrontation with his opponents by declaring that God would give the kingdom to those who had produce a harvest for God in honor. His son. That's the truth. And so he was more than simply this messenger in these cleverly created stories announcing the arrival of God's reign. He was the one who brought the kingdom. And actually, in fact, Jesus embodies the kingdom because he was the king, not only of Israel, but the royal son of God who would rule the nations. And because of that. He did represent a threat to overthrow to some just as much as he was meant as a salvation and a blessing to others. He is divisive. In fact, what's interesting is if you track Jesus standing up in the temple. And he comes forward and reads from Isaiah. It's interesting where he stops reading. This is really before kind of the, all the language about the second coming back, him really coming not to bring just salvation, but to bring retribution, to bring justice and punishment for those who are God's enemies. And so really this first coming. Jesus is all about this. It's it's all about having the message of God go out in that return void. It's returning full of the response of God's people, full of the response of God's enemies and therefore. This parable, an ex explanation to his inner circle would be understood as an accounting for the surprising range of responses. And even more than I think like an ex explanation, like explicitly it would be this kind of preparation. This kind of, again, setting a table or opening up a pathway for this hard road that lay ahead for those who would remain true to Jesus. These would be the ones who would serve the ultimate purpose of God's great act of sowing in his son to produce a great harvest. And of course. That is partly what lies the hope for us. I mean, I think I said last time we spoke about this, what I appreciate about this teaching is not only that it doesn't pull any punches, but it's just so. Real, it's so resonant because Jesus already gives us some of the breadth and scope or the continuum of the responses so that when we go out and we should so unreservedly that that is by proclaiming Jesus as the king who has come as the kingdom already ushered in as here, but not yet. When we do this, we can expect already that there'll be various responses. So one for us, it takes away the surprise. The second is it does prepare us. That these things might in fact happen. And three, it gives us a sense that, again, the efficacy of salvation. And we're getting, by the way, this view of salvation from, from God isn't again dependent on the skillset of the sower. Instead, it is God's prerogative. It's always God's prerogative. And here as loved ones, you've heard me say again, I must invoke the phrase, we have God doing all the verbs, right? He's the one walking in the field. He's the one reaching in into the seed bag, as it were. He's the one casting it liberally across the ground. He's the one making it grow. All of this is what God is doing. The preparation of the soil, the casting of the seed, the being present in. Farmland. All of this is what God is doing now. We emulate that by design. So now the call is to do what Jesus has done here in Mala for us, and that is that we also go out into the world and we proclaim this good news because what is unequivocally true is that the good news of Jesus Christ. Is for all people. Now, this does not mean that all people will accept it. That is abundantly clear in the message that Jesus gives to us. It does not prevent though us or him from casting it out to all people. We see that really, really. Vividly. Some will be given ears to hear. We ought to pray that our neighbors, our children, those in our churches and our communities, our politicians, we ought to be praying that all would be given ears to hear, and the seed of God's word will accomplish exactly what God intends and Jesus' word, a proclamation announcing the good news of the kingdom of God. We see vividly the point that God's word is. Deed that this word that he spoke speaks is his action. It's not simply that God says what he will do, but that his very act of speaking is the means by which he does that very thing. When we hear God speak to us, it is proof that we are alive. Not only do like dead men tell no tales, I think I've just inadvertently like quoted from Disney's. Um. Pirates movie, but they hear no tells as well. You know, you have been born again, not a perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. Incredible. Isn't it? Loved ones like it's incredible this story that to me on the beginning seems like so kind of. Boring and not particularly catchy and maybe not as interesting as some of the others contained within. This is literally all the words of life in the seed that we've seen thrown and in. It is like the continuum we find, not that it emulates the Old Testament, or that it somehow compliments New Testament, but within all within this parable is all of the scriptures and all of the full plan of God and all of his great love for us. That again, while we were at his enemies, he came and on this path, as he walks among the field, he casts the seed. To all, and he, by his power, gives to some these ears to hear. We find ourselves humbled. We find ourselves rushing in coming into the kingdom, fighting to come into it because God has impassioned us with that same zeal that has accomplished this very thing. He implants it in our hearts, in our minds, in our guts, so that we would come before him and worship him, fall down and find. The one who is our savior, who ushers in the visible kingdom of God, the one that is not built merely on political theories, on good rules. The kind of gospel that didn't come to make bad people good, but came to make dead people alive again. And I think that that is the absolute. Untouchable, unfathomable, almost completely un understandable, if you will, truth of this particular parable. I think this is why the Westminster confession describes the word of God, and particularly the preaching of the word as a means of grace. The word is powerful in itself by the spirits of God. I had to quote the Westminster, of course, at least in honor of Tony, so. [00:30:02] Call to Action and Final Thoughts That's my little challenge to you on this short little episode. It's just you and me and I'm saying to you loved ones. Consider this parable again. Consider how palpable this parable is. Consider what God has for us in it. Consider this soils. And then think about what it means that this good news, we see this within it, this vivid point again, that God's word is his deed. And so this is why though we do not create any kind of legalistic, conscription, or prescription around something like daily Bible study. Why? It's such a blessing to live in this period of time where we have such easy access for most of us to the word of God, and that we ought to be zealous about getting that word out to all people because, because behind it and within it and around it is the full power of the Holy Spirit that is always going out into the world and returning full with response and that when God. Speaks his word. He's always accomplishing his act in that very deed. And so it should be a blessing. We should be compelled to find ourselves in it as much as often as we can because what we're finding there is the power of God for us, in us speaking, administering to us to produce in us a great harvest. That's the promise it's coming, and we're gonna get there in the next. Episode, but what I'll leave you with is just those first two soils thinking about if you have ears to hear, if you have been made alive together with Christ, then consider that there was a time when you are one of the other soils and God who's being rich in mercy has rescued you. Not because of work done in righteousness, not because you've come forward and. Elevate your place to the, to elevate your state to the place of deserving poor. Not because like you came forward with, with empty hands and somehow convinced God that you are worthy enough, or sorry enough or contrite enough. But because of his great mercy, and it's that mercy, I think that compels us to say things to Jesus like Son of David Sight again. Son of David, have mercy on me, son of David. You are the real arrival of the Kingdom of God and your word bears testimony and your Holy Spirit has in a great work in my life. And to that end, I want to follow you and I want to ensure that this word that you've given to me is given to all people. So there's work to do, loved ones. And there's a lot there to process. I hope that you will take some time. Think about this in your own way, and as you are processing this as God is speaking to you, as you are joining together with loved ones from literally all over the world who are hanging out and listening to Tony and I chat about this stuff, that again, you would share your own voice, the best way to do that. Why do you make me beg you? Come join the Telegram chat. You'll have a great time. It's super fun. T me slash Reform Brotherhood. I would also be remiss if I didn't on behalf of myself and Tony, thank everyone who does hang out there, everyone who sent us the email, everyone who shares prayer requests or has prayed for us, and as well everyone who makes sure that this podcast. Is free of charge. It comes with its own expenses. It's not free to produce. And so we're so thankful that those who've said, listen, I've been blessed by the podcast, or It's just been important or special to me. God has done something in it. Or God has renewed a different kind of desire and passion to talk about the things of God or to encourage me in my life. I'm so happy if other things have happened. By the way, it's not because of Tony or me. It's because God is good to us. I mean, can I get an amen? I see that hand. In the back, God is good to Tony and me and we're just so thankful that we get to do this. And so if you'd like to join in supporting financially. Every little gift helps. You can go to patreon.com/reform brotherhood patreon.com, reform Brotherhood, and there you can find a way to give one time or reoccurring all of those gifts together. Make sure that there's no payrolls on this bad boy that you're not gonna get any super weird ads in the middle of it. You're just gonna get us talking. We want to em, I would say be emblematic of what we've talked about here, which is. Freely we've received freely want to give. And for those who join and say, I wanna make that possible so that no one has to be compelled to pay for this kind of thing, I love that we are here for that every day of the week and twice on the Lord's day. So next episode, Tony and I are gonna continue in this parable. We're probably, you know, gonna get together. We'll set up our tents, we'll just camp out here for a little bit. So until we get the tents out, we get the s'mores. And we start camping. Honor everyone love the brotherhood.

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 5:1-11Peter knew these waters. He'd fished them his whole life. But then Jesus shows up one day with what sounded like a bad idea: ‘Push out into the deep water and let down your nets.' Against all logic, Peter did it—and everything changed. This morning we explore what it means to trust Jesus when He calls us to venture out into the 'deep waters.' That Jesus isn't interested in shallow relationships; rather, Jesus wants to invite us to go deeper with Him, to discover more about who He is and also the potential He sees in us.

Matthew 27 starts with Judas hanging himself when he saw that Jesus would not take his kingdom then, but would wrongfully suffer and submit to death. Then follow six sham trials - three before Jewish authorities and three before Roman officials. The marvel of our Lord's submission, his care and compassion for others is evident in the brief record of his crucifixion. Our Lord Jesus was totally in control of his mind despite being brutally scourged by the Romans - scourging was called the intermediate death for many a man died under the flaying of his flesh. Pilate may have hoped that the Jews would have pity on Jesus when he said: "Behold the man". But sadly they did not. Then our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. On the stake he spoke seven wonderful sayings - each of these from the holy Scriptures. Note our Lord Jesus' incredible submission to his wrongful treatment and contemplate the lessons that Peter draws for us in 1 Peter 2 verses18-25. That Jesus had mastery over himself as well as triumphing over his foes the Apostle Paul tells us: Colossians 2 verses 11-15. Jesus was buried in the unused tomb of Joseph of Aramithea, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53 verse 9. A guard of four temple soldiers was placed at the mouth of his tomb. This would contribute to the incontrovertible evidence that would accompany our Lord Jesus' resurrection.

Are you just a fan of Jesus, or are you a true follower? In Week 5 of our "Summer Bible Stories" series, Hope Collective friend, TJ Poisl delivers a powerful message on what it means to follow Jesus through the inevitable storms of life. Discover how to trade your panic for peace and find strength when circumstances feel overwhelming.This message dives deep into the story of Jesus calming the storm from Matthew 8 and Mark 4, revealing profound truths about faith, trust, and discipleship. If you're going through a difficult season or want to deepen your walk with God, this message is for you.In this message, you will learn:- The crucial difference between being a "fan" of Jesus and a true "follower."- Why God sometimes leads us directly into storms and what He wants to teach us there.- How to find unshakeable peace by trusting God's control.- That Jesus always keeps His promise to get you to the "other side."We are so grateful to TJ for sharing this incredible word with us! You can find TJ at Soul Revival Church.

Matthew 13 is the greatest chapter of parables in all Scripture, containing in all seven parables. Four are centred on "seed" and the other three about understanding, valuing, and teaching others of, and encouraging them to seek and prepare themselves for the Kingdom of God. The parable of the Sower is said by our Lord to be the greatest of, and key to, all parables. The parable of the Sower, called by many the parable of the soils - for in each case the seed sown is identical; the characteristic of the soil is tested and determined on the basis of the individual response to the Word of God - and this parable, together with that of the 'tares', or weeds are the only two explained. That Jesus would use the parable as the foundation of his teaching method, and the reasons for this, were prophesied in Isaiah 6:9-10 and Psalm 78 verses 1-4. Matthew quotes both Isaiah 6 and Psalm 78; and tells us that the predicted response was forthcoming, verses 14-17 for the citation from Isaiah and verses 34-35 for the Psalm. All these parables were spoken in Galilee, by the sea; and they too invariably led to his rejection among his own folk at Nazareth. One of the high points of the chapter are the verses 45-46 where the disciple discovers that in understanding the gospel the pearl of immeasurable price has been found. What are we prepared to sacrifice for this great treasure? Hopefully everything!

How do you convince someone that God is real? That Jesus actually rose from the dead? In this episode, I sat down with Dr. George Barna, one of the top researchers on faith and worldview, to talk about how we can confidently share the truth about Christianity. We're diving into why Jesus is the only way to heaven, how to answer tough questions with grace, and what the data actually shows about our culture's shifting beliefs. This one will fire you up to defend your faith

June 27, 2025Today's Reading: Acts 8:26-40Daily Lectionary: Joshua 2:1-24; Acts 8:26-40“And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.” (Acts 8:38)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Ethiopian Eunuch was missing something. He had worship; He had the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 53), and yet it did not make sense to him.Now, to be clear, Philip is not the pastor who can unlock the secrets of Scripture with his wicked interpretation skills. Philip is the pastor who gets to proclaim the key to all the scriptures—the key that opened up the scriptures to Philip and all the disciples. This key, of course, is that perfect Sunday School answer type of key. I'm talking about Jesus!Philip, brought by the Spirit, had to be ecstatic when he saw he could talk to this guy about Jesus. The eunuch hears the Gospel. He hears of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was led to the slaughter and did not say a word. That Jesus who died for sinners by taking their sin and making them His own. The Lamb Jesus who silently takes our punishment that brought us peace, and by His wounds, we are healed.This Gospel, the Good News that God justifies sinners by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, is that Word of the Lord that does not return empty. The Holy Spirit, through Philip, the pastor, preaches the Gospel that creates faith in the Ethiopian Eunuch.Then, water comes into the scene. Faith and Baptism go hand in hand. The Holy Spirit works faith by the hearing of the Word, and the Word that works faith is joined to the waters of Baptism. The eunuch understood and was brought to faith by the work of the Holy Sp,irit who called him by the Gospel. That faith in Christ saves, and he wanted to be united to the Word made flesh that went like a lamb to the slaughter to save Him. Philip, the pastor, baptizes him, and the rest is history.Rejoice in the daily reality of your Baptism, where the Holy Spirit created faith in you, and in those words and promises of God in and with the water, you were united to Christ, your Savior. Surely as He died, you died. Surely as He has risen from the dead, so you also will rise again. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.It sets the Lamb before our eyes, Who made the atoning sacrifice, And calls the souls with guilt oppressed To come and find eternal rest. (LSB 580:2)- Justin Chester is a seminary student at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus' farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ's promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: http://family-bible-church.org/2025Messages/25Jun22.pdf * Two weeks ago we turned to the final day of Jesus the Messiah's earthly life and ministry with the consideration of Judas' decision to betray the Messiah. * Last week, we examined the Passover Seder that He held with His disciples. This was event which He declared for which He had passionately desired. * John begins his account of this event by stating, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." (John 13:1) * As we continue to consider this important event, we need to consider the "Mind of Christ" which Paul declares Jesus revealed through this moment, and His time on earth. That Jesus, being in the very nature (morphae) God emptied Himself and took on the nature of a servant in order to meet our need (Philippians 2:3-8). * Today, we are challenged to follow His example to have a Servant's Heart ... and to continually ask ourselves, "Who is Greater?" * This message was presented by Bob Corbin on June 22, 2025 at Family Bible Church in Martinez, Georgia.

Study 12 - Luke 9: 1 - 50 The end of the ministry in Galilee This is an important chapter for at least 3 reasons: it contains the important question ‘who is this’ 9: 9 the even more important answers ‘the Messiah’ (v 20) and ‘the Son of God’ (v 35). That Jesus calls himself ‘the Son of Man’ (v 22) is also important. it ends the second and long section of Luke’s Gospel Chapters 3 to 9: 50. Telling us that Jesus sets out for Jerusalem in verse 51 indicates the end. This whole section is about Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee. Read verses 1 to 9. Jesus gives surprisingly detailed instructions about how the apostles were to go on the very first mission in the first 6 verses. Of course the culture in which they were to operate was very different from today’s – anywhere in the world. We might wonder if he sent us on mission what Jesus would forbid today. Would it be car, mobile phone, ipod, radio, credit card, bottle of spring water? Would we survive without these things? Question 1 - Under what circumstances should we ‘shake the dust off our feet’ as Jesus told his disciples to do if they were not welcomed? This is a tricky one to answer. Perhaps Paul did this in Philippi. It says ‘they went to Lydia’s house. Then they left.’ The locals could not be said to have welcomed him. It says ‘the crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas’. But there are stories in the history of the church where people have worked and ministered in a new area for a very long time before anyone has come to faith. When that has finally happened there has often been a real movement of the Spirit. It is hard to say the workers should not have waited. The next story is of the feeding of 5000 people. We read that in v 10 - 17. The account of the feeding of the 5000+ (v 10 – 17) is written so as to remind us of the last supper. It includes the words: taking bread – giving thanks – broke – gave to. Question 2 - What do the statements ‘Jesus said “you give them something to eat” ‘ and ‘the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over’ mean as comments on the Lord’s Supper? We meet at the table of our Lord to receive grace and renewal from him as we remember the most significant event in history. Yet we bring food to the table – we have a part to play in the ceremony. Such is the grace of God that we have much left over afterwards. For all the wonder of the simple ceremony we have a part to play. By the order Luke puts things in he suggests that in the eating of bread they recognized the Messiah. In the eating of bread on the way to Emmaus they recognized the Lord (24: 30, 31 which says: When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Question 3 - How does that thought, whether taken from this story of the feeding of the 5000 or the event on the Emmaus road, translate into our communion service? It is his ceremony, not ours. We are to see, beyond the bread and the cup that he is there and blesses us. Read verses 18 – 27. Herod asked ‘who is this’ earlier in the chapter. Peter answers here, as Jesus prayed and talked to his disciples in a way that was completely meaningful in that culture. Question 4 - Peter said that he was the Christ or the Messiah of God. What is the best and most accurate way to answer the question ‘who is this’ in your culture? The answer will depend on where you are. To many people to say he is the Christ is only to give him a name, so that is not very meaningful. The Son of God is one possibility, but that can be misunderstood in some cultures. The Saviour is another possibility. The title Jesus used of himself ‘Son of Man’ is difficult and puzzling, which is perhaps why Jesus used it. It meant no more than ‘a male human being’ but is used almost as a title in Dan 7: 13 of a person who seems to represent the people of God (Dan 7: 22, 27). Jesus may have used it as a clean sheet of paper on which he was able to write a meaning himself. The question ‘who is this’ receives a further answer in what we call the transfiguration, that is the event when the whole appearance of Jesus was radically changed. Read verses 28 – 36. Question 5 - We must try to think of what this would have meant to the 3 disciples who witnessed what happened. What will their first reaction have been to the presence of the 3 figures? What will the brightness of Jesus’ clothes have meant to them? And then what will they have thought when they heard the voice from heaven? There are really 3 questions there. Seeing the 3 figures they will have thought Jesus was of the same importance as Moses and Elijah. Then seeing how changed he was in appearance they will have decided he was the most important of the three. Finally the voice will have said to them that he was fundamentally different and important in a completely different way than Moses and Elijah, who represented the Law and the Prophets and therefore the whole of the OT and Judaism. The voice that told them to ‘listen to him’ also tells us ‘to listen to him’. Finally we read verses 36 – 50. We will stop there and not at the end of the chapter because the next verse says ‘Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem’ and there are many statements that he was ‘on his way’ in the next 11 chapters. Luke has written a journey documentary in those chapters. This is the end of his ministry in Galilee, the northern province of that area, and the furthest from Jerusalem. These 2 episodes both remind us that the Christian way is not one of human strength and power. Not only are the disciples unable to heal the boy with the evil spirit and required to start acting in a more childlike and less assertive way but Jesus is going to be betrayed and killed as we read further back in the chapter. This has been well summarized in the phrase ‘the way up is down’. Question 6 - when we kneel before Jesus and confess our sins we say we are down. He will then lift us up. That is the Christian way. Have you set out on that way for yourself? Only yourself and the Lord know the answer to that question. I hope it is the right one! May the Lord be with you. Right mouse click to save/download this as a MP3 audio file

Pastor James teaches from Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23; and Luke 1:26-33Tacking the subject of the virgin birth is a tough one, but that is the next stop in our Apostle's Creed Series. Pastor James teaches on believing in the virgin birth by revealing how the breath of god breathes life. That Jesus' life needed to be free from original sin, in order for salvation to work. YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/VHznxHfDcBQThank you so much for joining us today! We also have a Podcast Link: www.lakewoodgrace.com/podcast Please connect with us by filling out a communication card here: www.lakewoodgrace.com/connect

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 2 Sam 6; 1 Chorn 13; Ps 68; Matt 17 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome, friends, to another episode of the Daily Radio Bible. It's April 30th and we've reached day 121 in our journey through the Scriptures—a milestone marking the close of another month together in 2025. Today's episode takes us through powerful passages in 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 13, Psalm 68, and Matthew 17. Hunter, our host, invites us to pause from the rush of life and soak in God's Word, letting it speak deeply into our hearts. This episode delves into the dramatic story of moving the Ark of God, David's uninhibited worship, and the consequences of disregarding God's holiness. We reflect on the blessing that follows reverence and obedience, and the ways God's presence transforms lives and communities. In the New Testament, we ascend the mountain with Jesus, Peter, James, and John for the Transfiguration—a breathtaking vision of God's glory and the Father's resounding call to “listen to Him.” Hunter shares moving insights on how Jesus is the final and living Word, the One who remains when all other voices fade away, and how God is drawing all humanity to Himself for true transformation. We'll close, as always, with prayer—asking God to make us instruments of His peace, to renew our minds and hearts, and to carry us forward in the strength of His joy. So grab your Bible, settle in, and join us as we listen, reflect, and pray together on today's Daily Radio Bible. TODAY'S DEVOTION: The pathway to real transformation is seen here on this mountain. This story is about far more than Jesus' clothes being transformed, made dazzling white, whiter than snow. It's about you and me. It's about the world and all things being transformed. In this story, we are offered a vision and a voice. The first thing we see is that Jesus—he's the final word. He's the one we're told to listen to over and above all else. Not Elijah. Not Moses. Not the writings. Not the Torah. Not Peter. Not me. Not you. Peter witnesses this amazing moment—there he is. Suddenly, Elijah and Moses are speaking with Jesus on the mountain, and Peter, out of fear or pride or probably both, shouts out, “Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish, I'll make three tabernacles here. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” Peter thinks somehow he's going to have some final say here. And so we hear him say those words: “I will make a tabernacle.” Other translations render it, “let us build.” But “let us build” is not the final word. No. Those words are often born out of fear and pride, but they will never be the final word. Individuals and kingdoms and churches are always offering this as the final word—let us build. But fear, which makes us cower, and pride, which puffs us up, will all be subsumed in the end by God's voice, by God himself, the living word. And we see that here. Suddenly, a cloud envelops them, and a voice comes from the cloud. The voice they hear is the Father, saying: “This is my son that I love. Listen to him.” At the sound of his voice, they're terrified. They fall face down to the ground. It's at this point that Jesus comes and touches them, says, “Get up. Don't be afraid.” When they look up, nobody is there but Jesus. Moses, Elijah, gone. Only Jesus remains. No more voices. No more conversations. Only Jesus. The one who is the final word. He's the one that remains, and he—the living word—will envelop all of our fearful pride. His voice will break through all things, and he will make all things new. So let's hear the father's voice on this mountain today. He's pointing us to his son. And not just on this mountain, but on a different mountain. This whole episode is pointing us to Calvary's mountain. And not just Peter, James, and John are being drawn to Calvary's mountain—no, he's drawing all of humanity there to himself. When the Son of Man is lifted up, he will draw all humanity to himself, that he might transform all things—including you and me. And the prayer of my own heart today is that I'll hear the Father well. That I'll see what Peter, James, and John saw. That Jesus is the final word. He is the living word. And through him, he's making all things new. That's a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

What happens when someone who's been teaching the Bible for 50 years sits down to talk about gospel clarity, gender dynamics in preaching, and why justification still needs explaining?In this episode, Mike Neglia is joined by Elyse Fitzpatrick—author, speaker, and theologian—for a deeply honest and theologically rich conversation. They discuss the subtle ways a “soft prosperity gospel” sneaks into evangelical preaching, the heartbreaking lack of gospel clarity among many churchgoers, and how male preachers can better represent the women in Scripture and the women in their churches.Elyse shares stories from decades of ministry, opens up about teaching through pain, and gives a practical challenge to pastors: listen more. Ask for input. Especially from wise women. And never assume you've taught the gospel enough.Whether you're a pastor, teacher, or church leader, this episode will challenge you to preach Christ more clearly, teach more thoughtfully, and love more deeply.Elyse holds a certificate in biblical counseling from CCEF (San Diego) and an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary. She has authored more than 25 books on daily living and the Christian life. Elyse loves to proclaim the good news of the gospel: That Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, perfectly obeyed all the Law in our place, suffered in isolation and agony as punishment for our sin, died, and then rose again, all for our justification.A frequent speaker at national conferences, she has been married for over 50 years and has three adult children and six really adorable grandchildren. Along with her husband, Phil, Elyse attends Grace Bible Church in Escondido, California.Resources Mentioned: Unloved: The Rejected Saints God Calls Beloved by Elyse FitzpatrickAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unloved-Rejected-Saints-Calls-Beloved/dp/1683597826Faithlife eBook: https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/305973/unloved-the-rejected-saints-god-calls-belovedBecause He Loves Me by Elyse FitzpatrickAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Because-He-Loves-Me-Transforms/dp/1433519518Faith Resources (eBook): https://store.faithlafayette.org/bctc-feb-12-19-2022/because-he-loves-me-ebook/Rid of My Disgrace by Justin & Lindsey HolcombAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Disgrace-Healing-Victims-Crossway-Paperback/dp/B00DWYWQYOCrossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/rid-of-my-disgrace-tpb/Ligonier: https://store.ligonier.org/rid-of-my-disgrace-paperbackDr. Pamela MacRae – Professor of Ministry to Women, Moody Bible Institute (future guest on the show, author of "How Women Hear the Sermon." In The Moody Handbook of Preaching, edited by John Koessler. Chicago: Moody, 2008)https://www.moody.edu/academics/faculty/macrae-pamela/Step Outside - Crass  https://open.spotify.com/track/1IA4hjxvmyuZVSqS7stEuw?si=bf6a23810ed14d27 Recommended Episodes: Josh White on if it is possible to be too vulnerable in the pulpit: https://cgnmedia.org/podcast/expositors-collective/episode/is-it-possible-to-be-too-vulnerable-in-the-pulpit-josh-white Trevor O'Keefe on vulnerablility in leadership and in preaching https://cgnmedia.org/podcast/expositors-collective/episode/not-a-crowd-to-be-feared-nor-an-audience-to-be-entertained-but-a-family-to-be-loved-trevor-okeefe Justin Holcomb on ministering to victims of sexual assault: https://cgnmedia.org/podcast/expositors-collective/episode/preaching-gods-grace-to-the-disgraced-with-justin-holcombFor information about our upcoming training events visit ExpositorsCollective.com The Expositors Collective podcast is part of the CGNMedia, Working together to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, and plant churches. For more content like this, visit https://cgnmedia.org/Donate to support the work of Expositors Collective, in person training events and a free weekly podcast: https://cgn.churchcenter.com/giving/to/expositors-collective

261. Edible Theology with Kendall Vanderslice   Kendall's Website   John 6:35 NIV "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."   **Transcription Below**   Kendall Vanderslice says "Yes, before you ask, that is my true name."   Kendall is a baker and writer whose best thinking occurs as she works dough between her hands; scribbles down thoughts on pieces of parchment dusted in flour, until she can parse them out later before her keyboard. When she embarked on a career as a pastry chef, she found that her love of bread transformed the ways she read Scripture. Fascinated by God's use of food throughout the arc of the Gospel, she merged her work in the kitchen with academic study of food and theology.   As a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois (BA Anthropology), she began engaging questions of food and faith. Interested in commensality—or, the social dynamics of eating together—she studied food at Boston University (MLA Gastronomy). Her thesis on church meals sparked a range of theological questions, leading her to Duke University where she wrote a thesis on the theology of bread (MTS). In 2018 she was named a James Beard Foundation national scholar for her work on food and religion.   She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her beagle, Strudel, her sourdough starter Bread Astaire, and her brood of hens: Judith Jones and the Three Gourmands.   Questions and Topics We Cover: You've studied so much about food and theology . . . are there any favorite lessons or resources that you still think about today? Is there any other science in the bread baking that is fascinating because it also has a richer, deeper spiritual meaning? What's one recipe in the book you're especially excited about?   Other Episode Mentioned from The Savvy Sauce: 47 Relationships and Opportunities that Arise from Using Your Gifts with Founder of Neighbor's Table, Sarah Harmeyer   Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce: 15 The Supernatural Power Present While Gathering at the Table with Devi Titus Practical Tips to Eating Dinner Together as a Family with Blogger and Cookbook Co-Author, Rachel Tiemeyer Experiencing Joy, Connection, and Nourishment at the Table with Abby Turner Fresh Take on Hospitality with Jaime Farrell   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Dream Seller Travel, Megan Rokey   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   **Transcription**   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:22) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Do you love to travel?   If so, then let me introduce you to today's sponsor, Dream Seller Travel, a Christian-owned and operated travel agency. Check them out on Facebook or online at DreamSellerTravel.com.    We were one of those families who joined in the COVID trend of baking our own bread.   And so, I was fascinated even years later when I came across my guest for today, Kendall Vanderslice. She's an author and the founder of Edible Theology. And I've always appreciated different verses being brought to life, even things that we interact with every day, such as salt and yeast.   But God has richer meanings for all of these. And so, I can't wait for Kendall to unpack these in our conversation today. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Kendall.   Kendall Vanderslice: (1:20 - 1:22) Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.   Laura Dugger:  (1:23 - 1:30) Would you mind just starting us off by sharing a bit about your background and what led you to the work that you get to do today?   Kendall Vanderslice: (1:31 - 3:46) Sure. So, I have always loved baking. I always, you know, when I was a child, but especially once I was in middle school and high school, I had a lot of anxiety.   And so, when I just ever, anytime I needed to work through any sort of scope of emotions, I would always turn to the kitchen. Working with my hands became this way to sort of ground me and help me find calm in the midst of sort of my mind just buzzing. I was also one of five kids.   So, it was like after everyone had gone to bed and the kitchen was silent, was the only time there was quiet in my house. And so that was kind of always became the source of calm and grounding for me. And so, then when I graduated high school and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, once again, I turned to the kitchen as a way to try and process what I should do.   And long story short, over time, I realized, oh, maybe actually this work of baking is the work that I am called to do. And so, I ended up taking a very circuitous path to get there. I took a gap year after high school.   I went to undergrad and studied anthropology in college. And in that time, learned that I could, my love of food and my love of the kitchen, I could examine not just in the practice of cooking, but through an anthropological and historical lens, looking at how food shapes community and shapes culture and how culture shapes the foods that we eat. And so, from there, I went and worked in professional kitchens.   But I had all these historical, cultural, theological questions kind of buzzing around at the same time. And, you know, I would go from my work at the bakery on Sunday morning. I would rush from work to church and I would receive communion each week with bread dough still stuck to my arms.   And I started to question, what does this bread that I spend my whole morning baking have to do with this bread that I receive at the communion table? And so that just unlocked a whole new path of what I could do with bread and with my baking beyond just in the kitchen and larger understanding how it shapes our awareness of who God is and how God is at work in our lives and in our communities.   Laura Dugger:  (3:47 - 3:58) Wow, that is incredible. And even today, do you want to share a few of your offerings? Because edible theology was a new concept to me, and it's just fascinating what all you have going on.   Kendall Vanderslice: (3:59 - 5:31) Yeah, absolutely. So, my primary program is that I teach a workshop called Bake and Pray. And so, this is a workshop where I teach people how to bake bread as a form of prayer.   So, we look at the ways that bread is at play throughout the narrative of Scripture, kind of what it is that God is using, why it is that God is using bread as the storytelling device in the narrative of Scripture, and why Jesus would give us bread at the center of Christian worship. But then at the same time, we're learning how the actual practice of baking bread can be a way to connect with God, to find rest and to understand God's presence with us in a very tangible form. So, with that, I also have a handful of books.   Most recently, I released a book called Bake and Pray. It's sort of this workshop in book form. It's a collection of recipes, but also a collection of liturgies, so that you have the tools you need to make your time in the kitchen a time of prayer. I call it a prayer book meets cookbook.    But I also have a handful of other resources, a Bible study or a small group study called Worship at the Table, where it's actually helping people gather around the table and understand how God is at work through the table. And I have a podcast that it was a limited run.   There are 30 episodes called Kitchen Meditations. They are short meditations to listen to while you cook, while you're in the kitchen. So, you can understand the food that you eat more fully and also understand how your time preparing it can be a time of worship.   Laura Dugger:  (5:31 - 5:50) I love that. And there's so much to unpack. But let's just start here with all the things that you've studied with food and theology and gone to school for years and put this into practice.   Are there any favorite lessons that stand out and are maybe ones that you still think about today?   Kendall Vanderslice: (5:51 - 6:57) Well, you know, one of my favorite books that helped shape my understanding of food is a book that was written in the 1960s by an Episcopal priest named Robert Carr-Capin. It's a book called The Supper of the Lamb. This book is just a delightful book to read.   I think everybody should read it. Robert Carr-Capin was he was an Episcopal priest, but he was also a food writer and he also was a humor writer. He and his wife wrote a satirical column together.   And so, The Supper of the Lamb is kind of the culmination of all three. It is this beautiful reflection on a theology of food in the table, but it is hilarious as well. And so, it is written as instructions to host a dinner party that is all built around preparing lamb for eight people in four different ways.   And so, it's reflections on kind of, you know, this revelation, the imagery in the book of Revelation on the marriage supper of the lamb, But then taking that to be a very liberal dinner party that he hosts in his home. And it will forever change the way that you think about food and think about the table and think about how God cares about food.   Laura Dugger:  (6:58 - 7:13) Wow, that's interesting. And even a piece of that that you had highlighted before is community, that food draws us together in community. Are there any lessons or reflections you have on that topic as well?   Kendall Vanderslice: (7:14 - 9:03) Yeah, I mean, so I spend my days traveling the country and visiting churches and eating meals with strangers all the time. This is such a central part of my work. So, my first book was a study of churches that eat together as their primary form of worship.   And so, I had the opportunity to research 10 different churches across the country and look at how does this practice of eating together regularly shape their understanding of community, but also shape their understanding of church and shape their understanding of worship. And what I saw in that practice of traveling and eating with all of these churches was that communities that were built around the table, where their primary rhythm of gathering was this practice of eating together and talking together and dialoguing together. It created such resilience within these communities as they faced conflict and tension within them that their commitment to eating together, but then their understanding of these community meals as being intrinsically connected to the communion table, the meal of bread and the cup that they also shared, it shaped their ability to have conversations and wade into hard topics that communities might otherwise try to say, you know, kind of avoid, because what they believed was that, you know, the table that we gather at regularly is a place that can kind of manage and hold on to those tensions.   And it's a place where these hard conversations can arise. But also at the end of each of these meals, we remember that we are going to share the bread and the cup together and that God has told us that we have been made one in the body and blood of Christ. And so, we have a responsibility to care for one another, even as we argue and disagree and have a really, you know, dig into these hard conversations.   Laura Dugger:  (9:04 - 9:58) That is beautiful. And I think of so many things when you say that. I'm in the book of Acts right now, my quiet time.   And so, the early churches, they were breaking bread together daily. You see that as part of the impact, the outflow that came from that. And then just, I think, gratitude as you share, because I wasn't a follower of Jesus growing up.   Our family went to church. And by the time I was in high school, all of my family were believers, including my siblings. I was the last one.   But the church that we went to, we shared a meal together every Sunday. And those relationships are long lasting. Then you hear about what people are actually going through.   It's such a natural way to dive deeper into that fellowship. And so, I love that you've traveled around and studied this. And I'm also curious if you've connected with one of my past guests, Sarah Harmeyer with the Neighbors Table.   Kendall Vanderslice: (9:59 - 10:03) I am familiar with her work, but I have never actually connected with her.   Laura Dugger:  (10:04 - 10:09) OK, you two. I'll link her episode in the show notes, but I think you two would have a lot of fun together.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:09 - 10:14) Oh, great. Great, great. I know I've seen some of her tables on.   She's the one who builds tables. Is that right?   Laura Dugger:  (10:14 - 10:15) Yes. Yes.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:15 - 10:19) Yes. OK. I have seen her tables on Instagram, and they look just absolutely beautiful.   Laura Dugger:  (10:19 - 10:37) I love it. Well, I'd also like to talk about your most recent book, because there's one part where you talk about the sacred language of bread. And I'd love for you just to walk us through some significant scriptures that highlight bread throughout the Bible.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:37 - 19:43) Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the reasons that I love to think of bread in terms of a language itself is because so often we think of our faith as being something that happens predominantly in our minds, that it is the things we believe about God and the words that we say to God. And it becomes this very sort of mental exercise of worshiping God in our heads.   And we forget that the rest of our bodies and the rest of our lives are a part of how we know God as well, that we were created in these human bodies with all of these senses. And it's only through these senses that we get to know the world around us. And it's in getting to know this creation around us that we get to know our creator as well.   And so when we think of our faith as happening something predominantly in our minds, then when we have these moments where we don't feel like God is present, or we feel like we don't hear from God, or we just don't have the energy to, you know, to read scripture every day, or we feel like we, you know, I'm just like praying and praying and praying, and I've just exhausted the words I have to say. Then it's easy for us to feel like we've been abandoned by God, that we're in this sort of spiritual dark place. But Jesus, he calls himself the word, but, you know, Jesus is the word that was present with God in the beginning.   But Jesus also calls himself the bread of life. And Jesus identifies himself as something deeply tangible. And he offers his own body to us in the form of bread at the communion table.   And so, Jesus is telling us that Jesus is present with us in this very tangible form, something that we can mix together with our hands, something that we can taste on our tongues, something that we can feel in our bellies as we digest it. That Jesus is telling us, like, I am with you in this deeply tangible way. And if you don't feel my presence, and if you don't, you know, hear what I am telling you, or you don't feel like I am listening to you, know that you can eat this bread and have this very tangible reminder that I have promised to remain present with you and to remain faithful to you.   And so, the ways that we see this at work in Scripture, once we understand that, you know, bread is not just a metaphor, that bread is actually something very physical and tangible, a way that God speaks to us, I think it changes the way that we see bread show up in Scripture. That it's not just a handy metaphor that shows up every, all over the place in the Bible, but that Jesus is actually, that God is actually doing something through bread itself.    So, the very first place that we see bread appear in Scripture is as early as Genesis 3:19, “It is by the sweat of your brow that you will eat your bread until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken, from dust you come, and to dust you will return.” So, prior to this point in Genesis, we have the creation accounts, we have, you know, that God has created the garden, placed humanity in the garden to tend to this creation, to care for it. And they are intended to, you know, they are nourished by the fruits of these trees, they delight in God by delighting in God's creation.   And God gave them just one restriction, which was a restriction on what they could eat. And so, in Genesis 3:19, we know that they have failed to honor this restriction that God has given them. And we are now learning the ramifications of that fall.   And one of those ramifications is that the soil is going to sprout forth thistles and thorns. That we will no longer just be nourished by the fruits of the trees, but that we will have to labor in this soil. We will have to labor against a creation that works against us in order to have our nutritional needs met.   But at the same time, God offers us this gift, that it's by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread. Our bread, you know, doesn't just grow from a tree. The humanity was probably not eating bread in the garden.   But in this offering of bread, that it's by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread. Humans are being told, yes, we will have to labor in the soil in order to nourish ourselves. But also, we are being invited to participate with God in the transformation of creation into something really delicious as well.   So, bread is, at the same time, both this picture of the brokenness of creation and yet also the goodness of God. This blessing, this gift from God in the midst of a broken creation. The production of bread, historically, has required a lot of work.   It requires months and months of laboring in the soil to grow wheat, harvest wheat, thresh it, and then grind it into flour. Turn that flour into dough, gather firewood to heat up an oven, and then turn that dough into bread before finally being able to eat it. So, humanity has long known that it is, you know, there is this deep, this incredible amount of labor required to make bread.   And yet also, bread contains almost all of the nutrients that humans need in order to survive. We can live off of just bread and water alone for a very, very, very long time. And in fact, many humans throughout most of human history have lived off of just bread and water for a very, very, very long time.   So then when we see bread show up in other places in scripture, we see it show up as this picture of God's miraculous provision for God's people. We see it show up as a sign of God's presence with God's people. And we see it as a sign of God's promises to God's people that God will continue this work of restoration until we have this imagery of this renewed creation in the book of Revelation.   So, one picture of that is in this provision of manna for the Israelites in the desert. You know, I think oftentimes for us, we read this story and we think the miracle is like, well, I don't know about you, but I've never opened my front door and had bread strewn across my lawn that I could just go out and gather. But we can still picture just walking into a grocery store and having a whole aisle of bread to choose from, right?   For us, the miracle seems like it just appears out of nowhere, but it doesn't seem all that crazy to just have a bunch of ready-made bread available to you. But for the Israelites, the work of making bread would have been nine months or more of labor between growing wheat, harvesting it, turning that wheat into flour, flour into dough, dough into bread. That's work that was not possible while they were wandering in the desert.   And so, when God is providing this miracle of manna, all they have to do is go out every single morning and gather, and they have to trust day after day after day that God is going to continue to provide. So, then we see a mirror of this in the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Once again, I think the miracle to us oftentimes feels like, you know, well, I've never seen five loaves capable of feeding 5,000 plus people.   But still, we can picture a Costco aisle of bread that probably has enough bread to feed 5,000 people. Just the presence of bread enough for that size crowd doesn't seem all that miraculous. But for the crowd who was gathered on the hillside with Jesus, they would have had a much closer awareness of just how much work was required to grow enough, in this case, barley.   One of the accounts says that it was barley bread. So, to grow enough barley to make enough bread to feed this crowd. And at the very least, in Mark's account of the gospel, we see a very direct link to work and how much work would be required to feed this crowd.   Because in the gospel of Mark, it says that it would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread to feed this crowd. So, this distinct connection between labor and hard work in order to feed, to provide the bread for these people. But Jesus circumvents that labor required to either make the bread or buy the bread and just miraculously provides these five loaves to feed 5,000 plus people.   So then on the night before his death, Jesus takes, I think, this imagery one step further. It is not just the labor of making bread that Jesus circumvents in his provision of bread for his disciples. He offers bread to his disciples and says, “This is my body that is broken for you.”   Jesus is circumventing the very work of defeating the curse of sin and death. He has taken the labor of defeating sin and death onto his own body. And he's offering that body back to his disciples and onto anyone who remembers Him in this meal of bread and the cup.   But he's offering to us His body as in the form of bread, as this picture of the labor that Jesus has taken on, the curse that Jesus has taken on so that we can then live in freedom. And so, we're still currently living in this sort of in-between time where we know that Jesus, that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, and we are still awaiting the day when Christ will come again. We're still awaiting this imagery in the book of Revelation where creation is restored.   And I believe our relationship to bread will purely be one of delight and joy and freedom. But right now, we do still experience that brokenness of creation in relationship to bread. But also, bread is still a way in which we can know God, in which we can trust God's promises to us in this very tangible form in which we can believe that God is with us, even when we don't feel it.   Laura Dugger: (19:43 - 22:17) Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Do you have a bucket list of travel destinations? Or maybe you have a special event coming up like a big anniversary, a honeymoon, or even just that first trip to Europe?   If so, you need to call Dream Seller Travel. Dream Seller Travel is located in Central Illinois, but works with clients all across the USA. 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Let them deal with the problems that arise while traveling so you can just enjoy the trip. Dream Seller Travel has been planning dream trips since 2005 to amazing destinations such as Alaska, Italy, Hawaii, Canada, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, South Africa, Iceland, and more.   Where do you dream of going? You can reach out to Dream Seller Travel at 309-696-5890,  or check them out online at DreamSellerTravel.com. Thanks for your sponsorship.   In line with your brand of edible theology, I'd love to go further into the scripture. That was so fascinating. I feel like you're so succinct in the way that you put that all together.   So, I kind of want to do a deeper dive into a couple of the key ingredients of bread and then have you share their significance both in contributing to food, but also their significance for our own lives. Absolutely. Let's just begin with salt.   Will you share the scripture and insight into salt?   Kendall Vanderslice: (22:18 - 23:20) Yeah. One of the things that I love about salt, I think oftentimes, especially here in America, we have a sort of distorted understanding of the role that salt plays in our food. Oftentimes, we treat table salt.   We usually have table salt that you just add onto your food after cooking it. Maybe you add a little bit of salt while cooking, but for the most part, you just sprinkle on table salt after. And it almost is treated as this kind of added flavor.   But salt actually should not be this added flavor at the end. Salt should be incorporated into the cooking process because salt opens up our taste receptors on our tongues, and it opens up the flavors in the dish. So, salt actually should not be the predominant flavor that we taste.   Salt should be the thing that allows us to taste everything else. And I think when we understand salt in that form, it should reframe our understanding of what it means to be the salt of the earth or to be salt and light in the world. What does it mean that salt is not the thing that itself gets tasted, but salt is the thing that opens up the flavors of everything else around us?   Laura Dugger:  (23:20 - 23:30) Kendall, can you take that even a step further? What does that practically look like for believers really living as salt of the earth?   Kendall Vanderslice: (23:34 - 24:26) I think one of the great joys of the ways that these metaphors at work in Scripture is that we get to continually explore and see what that means for us and where God might be calling us. But I do think that being aware that to be the salt of the earth is to help pull out the best in the communities around us, to pull out the best in the people around us, is just this really beautiful picture of how I think God asks us to work in community. But our job is not necessarily to be the strong presence.   Our job is not necessarily to make sure everyone knows that we are present, but instead our job is to identify and build up and pull out the best parts of the people around us in the communities that we are in.   Laura Dugger:  (24:27 - 24:56) That's so good. I love how you shared that because for me, as you were unpacking it, I was just thinking that we as the salt, when you taste it, you don't want to think, oh, that's salt. You want, like you said, to open it up to others.   And so that's our purpose is to reflect and glorify Jesus and to point to him. So, I'm sure there's countless meanings. Will you also do the same thing and share the significance of yeast?   Kendall Vanderslice: (24:57 - 29:44) Yeah, sure. So, yeast is, you know, also a fascinating, fascinating thing. And we are only really just beginning to understand sort of the microbial world and the role that it plays in our lives, in our bodies, in our world.   And so, it's opening up entirely new understandings of how yeast is at work in scripture. One thing that we have to bear in mind is that the writers of scripture did not actually know what yeast was. We were only able to identify the microbes that are yeast and bacteria in the last 150 years.   And so, prior to Louis Pasteur, humans didn't know what yeast was. They only knew the reactions of yeast. You know, you saw if I mix together, you know, this, if I let this flour and water sit, it comes back to life and I can mix that into more flour and water and it can become bread.   You know, I can mix it in with a lot of water and a little bit of yeast and some hops and it becomes beer. I can mix it in with grapes and it becomes wine. So, we see the reactions, but don't necessarily know what it is that is responsible for those reactions.   So, it is fairly new that we have this, you know, in the scope of human history, it's fairly new that we have this understanding of what are the actual kind of little critters that are involved in this process. And so, I have a really dear friend who she studies theology of the microbiome. So, a lot of her research is all based around, you know, how does this emerging research on yeast and bacteria shape our understanding of what it means to be human?   And so then how does that shape the ways we read in scripture, both passages about yeast and also about what it means to be human? And so it is, I think there's just, it's a field that is ripe for exploration and we are only beginning to scratch the surface of all the beautiful imagery that's at play here. But one of the things that I find most fascinating is that leaven or yeast, it is used as a metaphor for two different things in scripture.   In one passage, it is used as a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven, the parable of leaven, the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed into three measures of flour until it leavened the whole batch. But apart from that, yeast is always used as an image of sin, the ways that sin works through community. We have the passage about the leaven of the Pharisees.   I believe there are a few others as well. So oftentimes leaven is used as this picture of sin and the ways that sin sort of multiplies and works through communities. But at the same time, it's this picture of the kingdom of God, that it's this little bit of yeast that slowly multiplies and through its multiplication, it transforms the entire community.   It seems like a strange sort of tension that why would we use the same thing as a picture of both the kingdom of heaven and a picture of sin? And I think it makes more sense when we understand a sourdough culture. So, a sourdough culture is a culture of bacteria and yeast that is used to leaven bread, to raise bread.   So, we all have wild yeast and bacteria living in the air, on the surface of our skin, on the surface of everything around us. This wild yeast and bacteria is what makes the world go round. It's what makes our brains function.   It's what allows our bellies to digest food. It is what sort of makes everything work. And there is always this presence of both pathogenic bacteria and also beneficial bacteria.   That is true within our bodies. That's true sort of all around us. It's true in the sourdough culture that there is always the presence of pathogenic bacteria, but there is also the beneficial bacteria.   And so, to maintain a healthy sourdough starter, you have to feed it regularly. And as long as you feed it regularly and maintain its health, that good bacteria is going to keep the pathogenic bacteria in check. It's when you start to starve that starter that the pathogenic bacteria gets stronger and it overtakes the good bacteria and your sourdough starter goes bad.   And so, I think that's a really beautiful way to think about both how the kingdom of God works and also how sin works in our communities. We live in a broken creation. Sin will always be present.   But when we are digging ourselves, like when we are staying grounded and rooted in scripture, when we're staying grounded and rooted in church community and worship and prayer, when we are maintaining these healthy communities that are rooted to God, then we're able to help keep that pathogenic bacteria, that sin in check. But it's when we do not that it can start to take over and it can spread through a community just as quickly and easily as the kingdom of God can also spread through a community.   Laura Dugger:  (29:45 - 29:58) You just have brilliant answers. Is there any other science in the bread baking that is also fascinating to you because it has a richer, deeper spiritual meaning?   Kendall Vanderslice: (29:58 - 32:22) One of the things that I love, I oftentimes lead these bread baking workshops for groups of leaders, especially church leaders or faith leaders who are oftentimes having to manage just large groups of people where they're constantly facing internal conflict. I don't think anyone who leads a group of people has managed to bring together the people that never have any kind of disagreement. One of the things that I love about bread is that inherent to the structure of bread is tension.   The backbone of bread is this protein called gluten that is made up of two different proteins called gluten and gliadin. Gluten and gliadin have two opposing qualities to them. One likes to stretch and stretch and stretch.   It's what's called the elastic quality. One likes to hold its shape, what's called the plastic quality. When these protein strands unravel, they begin to form bonds with one another and they create this network, this protein network.   That protein network is what captures the carbon dioxide that the yeast releases and that allows the dough to both grow while also holding its shape. The strength and the structure of our bread is fully reliant on tension between these two opposing qualities, these two opposing needs. In order to build that tension in a way that brings strength to the bread, it has to be constantly balanced with rest.   The gluten will let you know when it's starting to get tired. If you don't give it time to rest, then it will just fall apart. It will start to break down on you.   This is something that I think so many of our communities really can learn from right now. That tension is good, that our differences, that diversity in our communities is our source of strength. When these differences rub up against one another and they help expand our understanding of the people around us, our differing needs, our differing convictions, our differing desires, our differing hopes, that can be a source of strength in our communities.   Also, we need to understand when it's time to step away and take time to rest before leaning into those differences even further. I love that bread then is itself this element that Jesus gives us as the sign of our unity in Christ, because it is this picture of our differences coming together and making us one even in our difference.   Laura Dugger:  (32:23 - 32:39) All of this from bread, it's just incredible. Then I even think you write about temperature and scoring the bread. Is there anything else?   We won't get to cover all of it, but any other scientific findings that have been really exciting?   Kendall Vanderslice: (32:40 - 33:33) I think there is so much in bread. I like to say that bread is incredibly simple and infinitely complex. It's made of four basic ingredients, but it can be mixed together in myriad ways.   A baker can commit their entire lives to learning about bread, and they will still have more to learn. We'll never be able to cover it all. I think there's room for endless exploration as far as digging into all that bread has to teach us.   My hope is that this book, Bake and Pray, helps to start to illuminate some of the ways that we see God teaching us through the many different steps in the bread-baking process. I also hope that others will start to get into this practice of baking, and through the practice of baking, they themselves will be able to start to see some of the beauty that God reveals through bread.   Laura Dugger:  (33:34 - 34:38) I just wanted to let you know there are now multiple ways to give when you visit thesavvysauce.com. We now have a donation button on our website, and you can find it under the Donate page, which is under the tab entitled Support. Our mailing address is also provided if you would prefer to save us the processing fee and send a check that is tax deductible.   Either way, you'll be supporting the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and helping us continue to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ. Make sure you visit thesavvysauce.com today. Thanks for your support.   Well, and Kendall, you also have a unique take. You spent years as a ballet dancer, and even with your books, you're just writing about the connection beyond, like you said, just our intellect and our minds to the Lord, but using our whole bodies to glorify God. Can you share some more ways that we can use our bodies to bake and pray and glorify God?   Kendall Vanderslice: (34:38 - 39:09) Yeah, so one of the things that I love when I'm first teaching people about this idea of praying with your body, it is ironic. The whole concept of praying with your body is to try and get us out of our minds and into our bodies. But the idea of praying with our body can feel like a very sort of cerebral or like, you know, the sort of thing that doesn't quite make sense.   And so, the way that I like to help people first get started is through the practice of a breath prayer. So, a breath prayer is a practice of repeating a line of scripture or poetry with every inhale and every exhale. And so, one of the ones that I love to start with is my soul finds rest in God alone, drawn from the Psalms.   And so, as you inhale, you repeat my soul finds rest. And as you exhale in God alone. And so, when I'm guiding others through this bake and pray practice, I have a start by just closing our eyes and I will lead us in this rhythm of breathing and of repeating this line again and again and again.   And then from there, I encourage the group to start to mix up their dough while repeating this line with every inhale and exhale. And I think it helps us to see how our breath, our breath itself becomes, you know, these words of scripture so ingrain themselves in our breathing that we then understand our breathing itself as an offering of prayer to God. And then the movements of our bodies through this rhythm of breathing becomes an offering of prayer to God.   And then we realize that the words themselves are not even necessary, that we can offer, you know, the movements of mixing bread dough, but also of gardening, of knitting, of cooking, of playing with our children, of raking leaves, that all of these things can be ways to offer our movements to God as prayer and to invite God into this practice with us and to pay attention to how God is present in these practices. So, I do hope that, you know, people will take bake and pray and actually bake with it and learn to bake as a form of prayer. But I also love when I hear from potters or I hear from gardeners or I hear from other people that work with their hands regularly who tell me, I read this and I don't think I'm going to start baking, but it has reshaped my understanding of my own, you know, craft and my own vocation.   So, I am excited to hear from others who maybe will take this and say, like, this is how I see this work being a form of prayer. But I first started learning about embodied prayer and practicing it when I got to college. I was in a dance team at my college.   I had grown up as a ballerina. I left the ballet world in high school, and it was a really, really hard. My experience was really wonderful in many ways and really hard in many ways.   I was in the pre-professional ballet world, which is, you know, very, very rigorous, very mentally draining, very physically demanding. And when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it professionally, it was just absolutely devastating. It was like my whole world was wrapped around this.   And so, then when I got to college, I was invited to be a part of this dance company. But the dance company was for women who had experienced sort of the ballet world in the way that I had, and who were looking for healing and to understand that our dance could be a form of worship and a form of prayer. And when I first started, I thought that the whole concept was really strange.   You know, I was I did not understand. I was so grateful to have this very just affirming community that I was dancing with. It was really it was the first time that I had been, you know, affirmed in my body and affirmed as a dancer and not just, you know, told all the things that were wrong with me.   But still, I was like, this is a really strange concept that as we're dancing, we're somehow praying. And it really was something that I had to practice again and again and again to understand and to really feel. And so, if someone is listening to this and thinking like this sounds like a really strange concept, I encourage you to just try it.   And it might take a few tries. Maybe try using the liturgies that are in the book to help get you into that practice. And then I hope that as you practice, either praying through baking or through gardening or what have you, that you will just get to experience the ways that God's present with you.   And then that will transform your understanding of your craft.   Laura Dugger:  (39:09 - 39:20) Thanks for sharing that. It's important for us to understand that we are embodied beings. And that points to that awesome truth that God with us, that Jesus was embodied.   Kendall Vanderslice: (39:21 - 39:22) Absolutely.   Laura Dugger:  (39:22 - 39:31) But then, OK, so in your most recent book, Bake and Pray, what's one recipe that you're especially excited about?   Kendall Vanderslice: (39:31 - 41:04) You know, we are just emerging from the season of Advent and Christmas, and those are some of my favorite recipes in the book. One that is so delicious, that is it is a Christmas recipe. It is the Moravian sugar cake, but Moravians do eat the sugar cake all year round.   So, it is kind of a classical Christmas recipe. But here at the Moravian bakeries here in North Carolina, you can get them all year round. So Moravian baked goods are an early Protestant tradition. They actually were Protestants before the Protestant Reformation, they like to say. And they're a pretty small denomination here in the United States.   But they're largely focused in here in North Carolina, where I am, and then a little bit in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. But the Moravian baked goods are known for all of their breads have potato in them. And so, some people, you know, there are other recipes that have like a potato, a potato bread or potato rolls.   When you add mashed potato into baked goods, it makes it really, really moist and tender. It holds on to moisture in the baked good much longer than just flour alone. So, the Moravian baked goods all have mashed potato in them.   But the Moravian sugar cake is one where it's this very rich potato bread. And then you put it into a pan, and you poke holes in it, sort of like if you were dimpling focaccia. And then you pour butter and cinnamon sugar on top and bake it.   And it is like it is a mix between sort of coffee cake and bread. And it is so, so, so delicious. I love it.   Laura Dugger:  (41:04 - 41:09) And there is also just a cute little story in there with the history.   Kendall Vanderslice: (41:09 - 41:28) Oh, yes, absolutely. It is, you know, there's this lore that apparently when men were looking for wives, they would look for women that had thick fingers. Because if they had thick fingers, it meant that they would have bigger dimples in their Moravian sugar cake that would hold bigger pockets of cinnamon and sugar.   Laura Dugger:  (41:28 - 41:42) I love that. I thought that was so funny. Well, Kendall, what are some of the most creative ways that you've been able to pair bread and generosity together to minister to others?   Kendall Vanderslice: (41:43 - 43:24) Yeah, one of the things that I am doing right now is, you know, I'm on the road several weeks of the year leading bread baking workshops in churches all over the country. And I love, love, love that part of my work. But in the last year, I started to really crave a closer connection with my community here in Durham, North Carolina.   But I am traveling the country and telling other people about how to connect to home and how to connect to their communities. And that work keeps me from being able to connect to my own home and community. And so, I decided that when I am home, I want to have a more intentional way of feeding the people immediately around me.   And so, I have this practice on Fridays of bread for friends and neighbors. And so, I'll tell, I'll send out an email to friends and neighbors on Monday and tell them, you know, here's what I'm baking this week if I'm in town. And then they let me know what they want.   And on Fridays, I have this shed in my driveway that I open up and it's got this whole like really fun armoire and that I that I've sort of decorated to be a bread pickup area. And so, on Fridays, my neighbors and my friends all walk over, and they come pick up their bread. And it's just been such a gift to be able to feed my immediate community through bread.   But then also to see and hear them sort of connecting in the driveway as they all come pick up their bread at the same time. And folks who either didn't know one another are starting to connect and find and meet one another. But then also neighbors to realize like, oh, you can get kindle bread, I get kindle bread.   And, you know, it's just so fun to have that very simple point of connection, because it can be feel very easy to feel disconnected from the neighbors that you maybe see all over the place. But just that that time of connection and picking up bread, I think, goes a long way beyond just that particular moment.   Laura Dugger:  (43:26 - 43:36) Generosity is always inspiring. And where can we all go to learn more about edible theology online or all of the other things that you have to offer?   Kendall Vanderslice: (43:37 - 44:05) You can learn more at my website, kendallvanderslice.com. The website is currently sort of under construction. So, I've got a makeshift website up right now where you can find everything.   And eventually I will have more links to all of the edible theology resources. But you can find everything you need at kendallvanderslice.com. You can learn about my workshops. You can learn about my books. You can learn about curriculum, about retreats that I lead. All of it is right there.   Laura Dugger:  (44:06 - 44:24) Wonderful. We will certainly add links in today's show notes so that it's easy to find. And Kendall, you may be familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge.   And so is my final question for you today. What is your savvy sauce?   Kendall Vanderslice: (44:25 - 45:13) Well, I think for me it is allowing myself to use even the simplest moments in the kitchen as a time for prayer rather than trying to rush through the practice of just seeing food as something I have to eat three times a day and something I have to make for myself. To realize that even something as simple as heating up a pot of soup or slicing some bread and smearing it with butter is still an invitation to thank God for this gift of food and the ability to prepare it. And so, I think that small practice alone can transform the way we relate to food and our bodies, but also to try and slow down and have a moment in our day where we avoid just rushing through and take a little bit more intentionality to appreciate the gifts that God has given us.   Laura Dugger:  (45:14 - 45:31) Well, Kendall, I was so intrigued from the first time that I heard about edible theology. And I really appreciate how you shed light on God's profound spiritual truths that are around us and that we can interact with in everyday life. But you also have such a charming personality.   Kendall Vanderslice: (45:32 - 45:38) So, thank you for being my guest. Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a delight to be here.   Laura Dugger: (45:39 – 49:21) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

John 5:30-47,I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?These last few Sundays we've been slowly walking through the scene from John chapter 5, which takes place at a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda. There, a man who'd long been paralyzed began to walk again. Not thanks to medicine or machinery, but a miracle. Jesus, the God-man, had simply spoken, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” … And the man did.Well, the Jewish religious leaders didn't like it, because the day on which he healed the man was the Sabbath. And then they really didn't like it when Jesus defended his action by saying, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” In fact, his words so enraged them that, verse 18, they were:“seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”Faced with the religious leaders' anger, Jesus did not retreat. Instead, the remainder of chapter 5 captures Jesus' response to these leaders in which he makes some of the most stunning claims in all the gospels:Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise (v. 19).The Father loves the Son, and shows the Son all that he's doing (v. 20).As the Father gives life, so the Son gives life (v. 21).The Father desires people to honor the Son just as they honor the Father (v. 23).Notice these claims of Jesus don't only concern him, but God the Father as well. His claims, in other words, are not merely about him as an individual, but about him and God and how they relate to one another.So it's for that very reason that, when he gets to verse 31, he concedes:“If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.”Not meaning that his words couldn't be trusted. But that since his words concern him and the Father, we should expect them to be backed not only by him, but the Father as well. And through the rest of this chapter, Jesus is ultimately going to show that they are. So what we're going to do this morning is trace Jesus' argument, and see two things: reasons and roadblocks. Reasons to believe Jesus' claims, and roadblocks to believing Jesus' claims.Reasons to believe, roadblocks to believing.Let's pray, and ask for God's help once more….ReasonsSo, reasons and roadblocks. We'll begin with reasons, and Jesus gives four of them. The testimony of (1) John the Baptist, (2) Jesus' own works, (3) God the Father, and (4) Moses. Let's start with that first one, John the Baptist. Turn to John 5:33. This is Jesus speaking.John the BaptistJohn 5:33,“You sent to John [ie. John the Baptist], and he has borne witness to the truth.”Borne witness — testified, spoken aloud, audibly confirmed — the truth of what Jesus himself was claiming. And when did John bear such witness? Well, in chapter one, where he said: That Jesus, though he'd come after him, actually ranks before him because, “He was before him” (1:15). That Jesus, in fact, ranked so high above John, that John was unfit to even stoop down and untie his sandals (1:27). That Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29). That Jesus is the “Son of God.” (1:34).Jesus says,“You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.” Now, lest we get the wrong idea here, Jesus quickly clarifies why it is that he's saying this. It's not because he feels insecure and needs John to back him up. Nor because he feels attacked, and wants to defend himself. Often, those are our reasons for responding. Someone confronts us, challenges us, and our immediate impulse is to pounce and defend. That's not what Jesus is doing here. Rather, as we see in verse 34:“Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.” So that you may be saved. How remarkable? I mean, think about it: Who was he saying this to? The very religious authorities who, according to verse 18, were actively seeking to kill him! I mean, Jesus knows the heart of man. He knew all about Nathaniel in John 1. All about the Samaritan woman in John 4. Jesus knows the heart of man, and Jesus knew these people were wanting to kill him. To destroy him. To put him in an early grave. I mean, how much do you have to hate someone to actually want them dead? And not only dead, but to be the one who causes his death? And yet Jesus, knowing all of that, looks them right in the eyes and says, “Just so you know, the reason I'm saying these things to you is so that you might be saved.” He'd already told them back in verse 24,“That whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.”And now here he is, trying to get them to hear it. Trying to get them to believe it. We asked: How much do you have to hate someone to actually want them dead? How much more do you need to love someone to actually want to save those who want you dead?Friends, isn't Jesus wonderful? Isn't he magnificent? Don't skip over verses like these. Linger long over the heart of God as its revealed in the pages of Scripture. Allow yourself the time to be made glad as you see, “My Savior, is just so good!” He seeks to save his would-be persecutors. So, first reason to believe Jesus' claims is the testimony of John the Baptist. Here's the second reason: Jesus' own works. WorksVerse 36,“But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John [Note: “Greater,” so he's ratcheting up his argument]. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.“Works like, in John 2, when Jesus turned about 150 gallons of water into wine, without even lifting a finger. Or later in John 4, when Jesus healed a man's son who was deathly ill, without even being in the same town as him. And just recently, in John 5, when Jesus told a paralyzed man to stand and the paralyzed man did. The feeding of the 5,000, the walking on the water, the giving of sight to a man born blind — all of these works are still to come. Yet, even now, Jesus says: my works act as words. They proclaim: God has sent me.So, first reason to believe is testimony from John, and second the testimony of Jesus' works. Third, is the testimony of the Father himself. GodVerse 37,“And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.”This of course is the heaviest hitter in the argument. Should the Father affirm the Son? Well, we need no other evidence. And Jesus is saying that he, in fact, has “borne witness.” But the question again is, when? When did the Father bear witness about the Son?Well at least one place was at Jesus' baptism. There, when Jesus had come up out of the water, the Father's voice rang out from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:11). And look, God tells no lies. God calls something good, he means it. God calls something evil, then that is what it is. God calls someone his beloved Son; with whom he is well pleased. Well, you better believe he is.So, we have the Father's witness in Jesus' baptism. And, I believe we're meant to see we have the Father's witness in all of Scripture as well.Look with me, verse 37,And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures [(ie. God's word) So I see a connection between God's witness, God's voice, God's word, and the Scriptures — all getting at this concept of the Father's witness of the Son] because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” The Scriptures at that time, the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi — “They're about me,” Jesus says. The Father's word is about me. And that's why in Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus interprets all the Old Testament as things concerning himself (Lk. 24:27). The Old Testament is about Jesus.So, believe the testimony of John, the testimony of Jesus' works, and the testimony of God the Father both at Jesus' baptism and in the Scriptures. Last, believe the testimony of Moses. And this actually signals our transition from reasons to believe, to roadblocks to believing. We've got three reasons to believe. Here's a fourth — it's Moses — but it's at this point Jesus puts his finger upon the roadblock to believing.RoadblocksMosesLet's begin by considering the fact that Jesus has just called all of Scripture to account. Saying the Scriptures, which would've already included the writings of Moses, bear witness about him. So, Moses has already been counted as witness, yes? So, why is it that Jesus references him here specifically? Why does he, as it were, set Moses in the spotlight before them, and say “You know, Moses, he too has borne witness about me”?Verse 45,“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”Why the emphasis on Moses? Well, it's because these religious authorities had prided themselves upon their obedience to Moses. They, in fact, had built their entire lives around following the Laws of Moses. In their minds, they were set apart, and far greater than everyone else, because of their diligent study and expansive knowledge of Moses. Moses was, in this way, their one major stepping stone to self-worth, social rank, and salvation. And Jesus, is going to take a hold of it. You ever watch Charlie Brown as a kid? Charlie Brown, the well behaved, inquisitive, yellow shirt with zig zag stripe, cartoon young boy? If you did, then I want you to imagine the religious leaders right now as Charlie Brown. Jesus is Lucy. And the writings of Moses are the football. You guys remember what Lucy used to always do with Charlie as Charlie ran up to kick the football? She'd hold it, “Hey Charlie, here's the football.” And then just as Charlie ran up and was about to kick it she'd pull that thing away and Charlie's leg would swing on up into thin air carrying his whole body with. Jesus knew these religious leaders. He knew the confidence they had in their grasp of Moses and ability to follow the Laws of Moses. So, Jesus takes Moses' writings, and says, “Religious leaders, this is Moses. You think you got a hang on Moses. You're kicking into thin air.”Jesus puts the writings of Moses right down in front of them and says: You don't even believe his writings. You don't even understand his words. You think that if he were here today, he too would be pointing a finger at me, and yet it is he who wrote of me. And should you continue in your disbelief, it is also he who will stand as your accuser, on the last day.” Again, verse 45,“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.” And so we've got to ask the question: what's gone wrong here, so as to lead these religious leaders to not even believing the one in whom Moses wrote? What's gotten in their way? What's their roadblock to believing Jesus?Was it merely intellectual? A problem from the neck up? Read Jesus' indictment:You have not heard God's voice (v. 37)You don't have God's word (v. 38)You do not believe the one whom he has sent (v. 38)Therefore, verse 40, “You refuse to come to me that you may have life”And then, verse 42: “But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.”What a daring indictment!“You don't have the love of God within you.”It's like he's saying, “You who accuse me of breaking God's Sabbath, don't even love the God who gave you the Sabbath. You don't love him. You know things about him. You teach things about him. You've convinced others that your life is all about him. And yet if we were to put your heart under the microscope and scour its every corner for signs — what you most enjoy in this life, what you most savor in this world, what your treasure really is — at no point and in no place would we find even a hint of love for the God you claim to worship.”That's what it means for a person to not have the love of God within them. To not have it is to not have it. And why? Why is there no love for God in their heart? Because there's already a love for something else in his place. What is it? What, at bottom, is the roadblock to belief in Jesus? We need everyone in the room, myself included, to ask this question. What, at bottom, is the roadblock to belief in Jesus?Ask it for your unbelieving neighbor, your non-Christian co-worker, your sibling or parent who has walked away from the faith. And ask it for yourself lest you too make shipwreck of your faith in Jesus. What is the ultimate roadblock to belief in Jesus?It's this — uncontested thirst for your own glory. Uncontested thirst for your own glory. That, brothers and sisters, is at the root of unbelief. Not a problem in your mind, not a problem with your upbringing, not a problem with God's so-called lack of evidence. No, no, no. When it really comes down to it, when all is truly laid bare — the reason for man's refusal to bow the knee to Jesus is owing to man's thirst to have others to bow the knee to themselves instead of God.Jesus asks, Verse 44:“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”Answer, you can't. You cannot seek to glorify yourself and God simultaneously. Why? Because God's glory contests all others. God's glory outshines all others. God's glory makes our glory look small, and we, in our sin, don't like looking small.Think about it: The painter who wants to think himself the greatest in the world, will detest the museums where Da Vinci is celebrated. Just as the writer who wants to think herself the greatest in the world, will avoid the conversations in which Shakespeare is honored. The singer, the actor, the architect, and the salesman; the mother, the teacher, the doctor, and the lawyer — should they prefer the belief that they are the world's greatest — will intentionally and aggressively shield their eyes from the masters of their field so as to not look small standing next to them. They'd rather be blind and think themselves greatest, than open their eyes and realize they aren't. Friends, God is the ultimate Master. The Holy one. The eternal one. The sovereign, glorious, and omniscient one before whom we don't hold a candle. Should you prefer project “increase self-glory,” how could you love, pursue, praise the God who says, “My glory, I will not give to another”?Jesus' question is one we must regularly ask ourselves: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”So, hear the warning: Belief in God is impossible where praise of self is preferred. Hear that warning, and, now, hear the good news. If you are here today and you take joy in the thought of God being God — being radiant in splendor, held high and celebrated, praised and adored and enjoyed in the heavens…If you know that Jesus is wonderful, and are glad that he's wonderful…If you have tasted how good it is not to have to incessantly labor for even an ounce of momentary worshiped, but to simply delight in worshiping the one whose truly deserving of it anyway…If you treasure being loved, forgiven, and brought near to God, so as to gaze upon his beauty all the rest of your days…If it pleases you to say, “Oh, Father, not to us, but to you be the glory”…Well, it would seem that God has begun a work in you. And your life now as a Christian is a life of simply asking, “God, grow my heart in greater enjoyment of your glory, and greater distaste for my own.” Really, all of the Christian life simply comes down to those two corresponding realities: greater enjoyment of God's glory, greater distaste for your own.ApplicationFor Christians: Ask God, right now, “Search my heart for where uncontested thirst for personal glory still remains. Show me the places, the people, the things in which my prayer of my heart has not been, ‘Hallow be thy name', but ‘hallow be my own.' Convict me, change me, give to me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Turn my inborn impulse away from self-glorification, to the happy life of glorifying you. For Non-Christians: Remember, Jesus said what he did in John 5 “so that people might be saved.” His desire this morning, in other words, is not to be your accuser, but your Savior. Ask him to show you, right now, for the very first time, that his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, is actually that one great thing for which your heart has been craving all along. To show you that it will only be in your celebration of him that everything in you will finally be made whole. God made you to revel in his glory, not rival it. God made you to commune with him, not compete with him. Rest — your real, full, deep, lasting rest can be had if you are willing to throw in the towel of project “increase self-glory,” and take up the song of the glory of God. Do it now. Say: “God, make yourself great in my life now.” And then, enjoy God's glory, to your soul's delight.The TableWell, what brings us to the table this morning is the fact that the Scriptures that bear witness to Jesus — to his glory, his majesty, his identity as the Son — bear witness also to his death. Death on behalf of those who, by nature, scorned him, mocked him, and considered him smitten by God. Death as a piercing for our transgressions and crushing for our iniquities so that by his wounds we could be healed.

Thank you for joining us for Christian Faith Center's Sermon of the week. This message is from our Nampa Location.We are here to celebrate the greatest truth in human history! That Jesus is alive! It's the reason we are saved today! It's the reason we are gathered today with billions of other believers around the world! Christianity is not a religion built around a man that claimed to be God then died.... No, our Jesus proved it and rose from the dead!

Throughout his entire earthly ministry, Jesus taught his followers that the kingdom of God had arrived that and now was the time for them to choose which kingdom they would serve, God or humanity. That Jesus was crucified tells us that he was executed by the rulers of the Kingdom of Rome, and that he was resurrected tells us that he was vindicated by God. . We invite you to join our Loft community in the Sanctuary for an Easter Sunday Celebration featuring the Singers of Soul Gospel Choir as we reflect on the hope we find in the resurrection of Jesus. Children are welcome in The Loft gathering as Easter is an especially meaningful time to worship together. We will have kids worship activity kits that you can pick up on your way in, just in case they need a little distraction during worship. Additionally, there will be a kids area in the back of the sanctuary for those who need a little more space to wiggle or parents who want to sit on the floor with their kids. On-site childcare is also available for children from birth through age 4. www.TheLoftLA.org

The cross is more than a symbol – it's a diagnosis and a cure. It's not just where Jesus died; it's where our deepest wounds and sins are exposed and where healing begins. On Good Friday, we reflect on the outrageous truth of the cross:

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 3 of the BE ENCOURAGED! podcast — and let me tell you, this one is something special. Although there was a short break between episode 2 and now to episode 3, I appreciate the grace in getting this out to you later than usual. I assure you, though this will be worth the wait! Today, we're diving deep into the believe series. Believe, is not just as a thought, a feeling, or a hope — but as our guest speaker today puts it, it's an action. As a daily decision. As a powerful, faith-filled posture that shifts how we show up in the world. And to help us unpack this life-giving theme, we are honored — truly honored — to welcome the one and only Carol McLeod to the conversation.Carol is known and deeply loved by readers, television audiences, and other Christians across the country, especially women who have been uplifted by her raw honesty, biblical wisdom, and unshakable hope. She's the President and CEO of Carol McLeod Ministries, a powerhouse speaker at women's conferences and retreats, and the author of more than a dozen books. But more than her titles, it's her testimony that speaks the loudest.In this episode, Carol shares what it really looks like to believe — when the diagnosis is bad, when the healing hasn't come, when life feels like it's falling apart. She doesn't sugarcoat her journey. She talks about fighting cancer, battling through painful seasons, and waking up each day making the bold decision to believe that God is still good. That Jesus is still enough. And sometimes? That's the belief that gets us through.We're also excited to highlight the book, Today is a Verb: Open the Gift of Now in Every Ordinary Moment — because believing isn't just about someday; it's about today. Right here. Right now. In the middle of the ordinary, the laundry folding,l and unchecked to do lists, we're invited to live with expectancy, courage, and unwavering belief in who God is.So if you're struggling to hold on, or just need a fresh reminder that believing is the action that will get you through the hard places you might find yourself in — this episode is for you. Grab your cup of coffee, get on your walk or run, or wherever you are — Let's believe and be encouraged— together.Learn more about our guest speaker: website: https://www.carolmcleodministries.com/Follow host, Jackie Brindle on Instagram@be_encouraged_podcast Subscribe, follow, and write a review today! :)

This Holy Week, as Jesus, "the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3), walks toward the cross, we ask what it might be to proclaim this as good news. An older evangelism might ask, Where will you go when you die? But in our age of anxiety and despair, maybe we need to shift to: What do you do with your sorrow as you live?  That Jesus walks with us in our sorrows is really good news. That's what we are talking about today with Dr. Andrew Root. He is the Carrie Olson Baalson professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations.  And most recently has written about Evangelism in an Age of Despair: Hope Beyond the Failed Promise of Happiness.Join Attaching to God Learning Cohort: Quieting an Anxious and Avoidant Faith.Starting April 29 (2025), with the live calls on Tuesdays, 4pm (EST). Link: https://www.embodiedfaith.life/attaching-to-god-cohortStay Connected: Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort. Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources. Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Join us for Week 6 in the sermon series, “Made for More” as we continue on our path to Easter. Looking to Luke 19:28-40 Pastor Jeni preaches on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the controversy it created.Palm Sunday is here… Jesus has come…““Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!””Luke 19:38Things to consider as you listen:THREE PERSPECTIVES#1 The Disciples/Followers of Jesus: Jesus IS King!#2 The Pharisees/Skeptical Onlookers: Jesus CANT BE King!#3 Jesus - The Messiah: I am King, but not like THAT…Jesus is KING!

What must you know to know peace? That Jesus rules with absolute authority, and Jesus rules with life-giving love.

Introduction: John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28) You Are. (Romans 3:21-23) But God is Totally Satisfied by the Cross. (Romans 3:24-26) Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord. Exodus 23:7 – Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. Acts 17:30 – The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. And Justification is a Gift to Be Received By Faith. (Romans 3:27-28) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Audio Transcript Our next four messages, including Good Friday, which I just found out is on a Friday,will be talking about one of the most profound statements Jesus Christ ever made.And it was on the cross when he cried out, "It is finished."So we're going to be examining the question, "What is finished?"Think about finishing things, right?From a very early age, hopefully we've all been taught the importance of finishing things, right?Didn't you hear that growing up?And maybe some of you now parents are saying, "That's your kids."Hey, finish your supper. Finish your chores, right?Finish your homework.And we're taught that there are consequences when we don't finish.Well, the glorious reality that we're going to be looking at over these next four messages is this.The Son of God came to this earth to do something, and he finished it.So the question is, what is finished?Now let's go to the scene, John 19, verses 28 through 30.It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said,"to fulfill the Scriptures, "I thirst.A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hissy branchand held it to his mouth when Jesus had received the sour wine.He said, 'It is finished.'And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."What was finished?Well, today we're going to look at one thing of many that was finished.Today we're going to talk about the work of justification.Meaning our guilt is gone.I'd like you to buy your heads with me, please, and I just want to take a moment.If you would please pray for me to accurately communicate the Word of God as I should.And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today from His Word.Alright? Let's pray.Father in heaven, as we turn to Your Word, it's a thought that makes us tremble to think that right nowwe are about to talk about the most important thing anyone will ever hear for their entire lives.And Father, we recognize that as no overstatement whatsoever.We can't begin to fathom how important this message is.This message has just been so distorted and twisted and changed,and we just want to get back to what Your Word actually says.See what You said, God, and we want to not align our lives with our concept of You, God,but we want to align our lives with what You actually said.So I'm asking, Father, You would open our hearts up this morningand that You would bring much glory to Yourself through the straightforward understanding of Your Word.We pray in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said,"Amen! What is finished, the work of justification, the guilt is gone."Do I have to sell anybody on guilt?We've all struggled with guilt, and some of us might be struggling with guilt right now.What is guilt? Well, guilt is just that bad feeling that we get when what I did was wrong.There's another word that's often connected to guilt, and it's the word shame.And shame's a little different.See, shame is the feeling of guilt that I have when people know what I did wrong.You know what I mean? Like, you could have a secret sin that nobody knows about,and you might feel guilt over that, but you don't feel shame because nobody knows.But if that secret sin gets made known, if people know about it, now all of a sudden,people must think of me differently. That's what shame is.How I think people think of me now because of my guilt.The point is this, my friends, we have both of those before God.We have guilt. I disobeyed. We have shame. God is surely disappointed in me.I want you to look at verse 24. We're going to back up here and get to context.I just want you to look at this first phrase in verse 24.This is Romans chapter 3, right?He says, "We are justified by His grace as a gift."That's what we're talking about today. Justification. What is that?It's the most important thing you will ever hear.Justification is God pronouncing a guilty sinner as not only being not guilty,but being perfectly righteous instead. It's a legal term.It's the opposite of condemnation.But listen, it's more than pardoned.So when you pardon someone, you're just taking away the penalty of what they did.Penalty for, excuse me, what they did wrong.Justification is so much more than that.It's not just canceling the penalty, but actually making righteous.Think of it this way. In God's justification, it's not just you won't be punished.God says you can't be punished because there are no grounds whatsoever for punishment anymore.Do you see the difference?But even as Christians, we still wrestle with guilt, don't we?I mean, look, if you've done something wrong to somebody else,you need to take steps to make that right.And Pastor Taylor did an amazing job last Wednesday at our latest workshop.So we're not talking about that today.But today we're talking about guilt before God.Am I really forgiven?Have you ever wrestled with that?Am I really a child of God?Or is God disappointed in me?Well, from God's Word today, I want you to jot some things down.Here's three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.And if you don't feel guilty now, you will.I mean, like, eventually, I didn't mean like...In 30 seconds, you're all going to be bowing your heads.We all struggle with it from time to time, don't we?Is it just me?Okay, alright.Three things.Look, we're not trying to pile on here, okay?Here are three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.Number one, you are.Like, wait, wait, wait, wait.I came here to feel good, Pastor Jeff.Look, listen, it has to start here.Because if you don't really think that you're guilty before God,Jesus won't really mean anything to you.Look at verse 21.He says, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifestedapart from the law."Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.So up there, the Old Testament law was to teach us that we are sinners.That was the purpose of the Old Testament law.It was to teach us that we have broken the law of God.And even if you just reduce the Old Testament law to the Ten Commandments,just looking at those shows us adequately that we are really law sinners.I mean, let me ask you, have you always made the worship of Godand your walk with God the absolute most important thing in your life?Has it always been number one?No.Well, if not, then you've broken the first couple of commandments.You should only have one God.You shouldn't have worshiped anything else other than God.You're guilty.Have you always honored your parents perfectly?Like, no, there are times I haven't.Well, you've broken the fifth commandment,which says honor your father and mother.Have you ever hated someone?According to Jesus, you've broken the sixth commandment,which says you shouldn't murder because it starts in here.Have you ever lusted?Jesus said that's the same thing as committing adulteryand you've broken the seventh commandment.Have you ever stolen anything?That's breaking the eighth commandment.How we doing?How we doing?You're like, I'm doing pretty good.Okay, have you ever told a lie?You're like, I think maybe I just did.Well, if you've ever known the truthand intentionally said something else,then you've broken the ninth commandment.Have you ever wanted something that God gave somebody else?Like, what's the big deal?I'll tell you the big deal.That's breaking the tenth commandment.That's called coveting.So you see, that's the purpose of the law was to show us,oh, I'm not a righteous person on my own.We need to be made right with God,but the law shows us that we're sinners.We're sinners.It can't make us not guilty.The Old Testament law can't do that.Look at verse 22.He goes on.He says, "The righteousness of Godthrough faith in Jesus Christfor all who believe."Stop there for a second,because we have to make a key distinction here.Because if you miss this,you're going to be really lost here in a second.He's talking about the righteousness of God.He says it twice.That's the theme of this passage.What is the righteousness of God?Hang on.There's a distinction.In verses 25 and 26,he talks about God's righteousness.Listen, God's righteousness is differentthan the righteousness of God.Those are two different things.And it's going to be crystal clear in the contextso long as you stay tuned in to what God is saying here.Like, what's the difference?Here's the difference.Listen, God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.The righteousness of God is the righteousness God givesto believers.So he's saying -one other run at that one -God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.That's just another way of saying God's holiness.God is holy, He's perfect.That's what God's righteousness is.But when the Bible talks about here,the righteousness of God,it's talking about the righteousness that God gives to believers.And again, that's going to be very clear in the context.But I don't want us to get tripped up on the terms.So, Paul is claiming here that God makes us righteous through faith,implying that we need to be made righteous,implying that we're guilty.You see that?Look at verse 22, he goes on.He says, "For there is no distinction,for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."Look, when we talk about being guilty before God,he says there's no distinction.It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian home.Or if you grew up in a home that didn't even have a Bible in it.It doesn't matter.It doesn't matterif you're the most rebellious sinner in the world.Or if you're just a pretty good person.He says we all have fallen short of the glory of God.Like, what glory of God? What is that?That's God's image.That's God's intention for man.We all failed to live up to being the peoplethat God has created us to be.We've all fallen short.Listen, it doesn't matter how short we've fallen.Because we've all fallen short.Imagine, we're standing on the shore of New Jersey,facing the Atlantic Ocean.And there's me.And there's my man, Max.And there's the Steelers quarterback.Who's the quarterback for the Steelers now?Oh, I'm sorry.I pushed a hot button.Let's just say Ben Rothlessberger.So let's say we're all standing on the shore of New Jersey.All right, me, Max, and Ben Rothlessberger.And we're each given a football.And we're told that we need to throw that football and hit England.I can do that. I mean, how far is England?And I -- everything that I got, I throw it.And it goes 10 feet into the ocean.And Max was like, "Pastor Jeff, step aside."Whoo!Tight spiral, 100 feet.Whoo!Into the ocean.Ben Rothlessberger steps up.And he's like, "I'm going to show you I still got it."And whoo! He throws it 200 feet into the ocean.Which one of us hit England?Right?We all fell short, didn't we?You're like, "Well, Jeff, you fell way shorter than Ben."Okay.But we all fell short. Do you see the point?It doesn't matter how short you've fallen.We all fell short of God's glory.And that's a big deal.Listen, church, we can't minimize that by saying,"I'm not really that guilty."We can't compare to say, "Well, I'm not as guilty as other people."And we can't trivialize it to say, "Yeah, okay, I'm guilty."So what?We need to confess it.I -- and by that I mean me --I am guilty of breaking God's law by my disobedience.So if you're struggling with guilt,this is just your friendly reminder that you are guilty.But number two,but God is totally satisfied by the cross.You are guilty, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.Look at verse 24 through the first part of 25.He says, "Okay, for all of us who fall short of the glory of God,a lot of us probably have that verse memorized, right?"But He says, "And are justified by His grace as a giftthrough the redemption it is in Christ Jesus,whom God put forward as a propitiationby His blood to be received by faith."Look, the cross of Jesus Christ is God's meansof making sinners righteous.Now, there's a word here in these verses we just read.You need to underline in your Bible right now.And we're going to have people at the door handing you an Easter devotionaland checking your Bibles to make sure that you underline this.But it's one of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.And it's the word "propitiation."I think John uses it in 1 John as well.It's a beautiful word.Like, well, what is "propitiation"?Propitiation literally means to placate anger.I know some theologians try to dance around that.Like, almost to soften the blow.But no, that's what it means.It means God is furious over sin.Propitiation means He's not angry anymore.It means that Jesus' death satisfied God.Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, God saw that.And He said, "The full penalty has been paid.My wrath has been fully poured out.Punishment has been fully doled out."God says, "I am satisfied."You know, when we talk about salvation,sometimes we say, in our evangelism mindset,we say, "How do we get men to accept God?"And that's really not the question we need to ask.The question is, how do we get God to accept men?Because, listen, God was the one who was offended.Not me.God was offended.So any talk about salvation and being righteousand any talk of that has to satisfy God.And you see, that's where every other religion in the world,besides Christianity as presented in God's Word,straightforwardly, every other religion teachesthat there are things that we have to do to satisfy God.There are religious works or some kind of actionthat we have to take to make God satisfied.The Bible says we can't do it.Nothing we do can satisfy God.Look at verse 25 again.It says, "Whom God," talking about Jesus,"put forward as a propitiation by His bloodto be received by faith."Look at that.The Bible says, "God put Jesus forward."Do you see what's happening here?We sinned against God.We deserve God's wrath.And God took His Son and put Him forward.That means He demonstrated some things.He put Jesus on display.God showed us something on the cross.What did God show us on the cross?Well, later in Romans 5, verse 8,it says that God demonstrated His love on the cross.So love for sure.Here, specifically, He's saying that on the cross,God showed that His Son fully paid the penaltythat the law demanded.So now, God says, "Because of my Son..."Look, I'm showing you this.I'm showing you.This is what my Son did.Now, I'm satisfied.Propitiation.Propitiation.This is where theology is important, my friends.Christian, listen.I want you to listen real close, Christian.God is not mad at you.He's not.Because of Jesus,God has no wrath left for you.And to think that He doesis to minimize what Jesus accomplished on the cross.But some Christians think thatGod poured out His wrath on Jesus.They believe that.But they think that God's still mad at them.Like, God is just like,"Yeah, I know that you received my Son,but I'm so upset with you for what you did."He's not.That's what that word "propitiation" means.There's no wrath leftfor the one in Christ Jesus.God is satisfied.Look at the end of verse 25.This gets a little technical, so look.It says,"This was to show God's righteousness."Because in His divine forbearance,He had passed over former sins.It was to show His righteousnessat the present time,so that He might be justand the justifierof the one who has faith in Jesus.We define this term in the outset,but two times here,He says that the crosswas to show God's righteousness.Do you know what He's saying?The cross provedthat God is righteous.Wait, wait, wait, wait.Time out, time out.Time out.Hang on.Why would anyoneaccuse God of not being holy?What do you mean?What possible grounds would someone haveto point to God and say,"God, you messed up here.God, what you didor what you didn't do here,that's not holy, God.That's not righteous."What grounds would somebody have for that?Listen very closely,because this is what Paul's talking about.We're going to do a little theology herefor a couple of minutes,and I know what's the point.You're going to see here in a couple of minutesthat this will change your lifeif you really understand this.So here we go.What's Paul talking about here?When he talks about his divine forbearance,passing over former sins.What's he mean?Listen, in the Old Testament times,which was before the cross, right,God justified wicked people.And that is controversial.You're like, "Why?Why is it controversialthat God would justify the wickedin Old Testament times?"Oh, I'm so glad you asked.I'll tell you why.One reason is,He forbid us to do that.Look at Proverbs 17-15."He who justifies the wickedand he who condemns the righteousare both alike in abomination to the Lord."Do you see that?Do you know what abomination is?In my Bible, I put a little exclamation pointin the margin every time I see that word.That's like something that is so wicked,it like makes God sick.God's like, "I hate that."And here God says,"I can't stomach when the wicked are justified."You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.You're saying that we can't do that,but you did that, God,before the cross."Hmm.Is that righteous?Well, actually,it gets even worseif we're barking up this tree,because earlier in your Old Testaments,God actually saidthat He would never justify the wicked.Exodus 23-7,it's pretty self-explanatory.And God says, "I will notacquit the wicked."Do you see the problem?Somebody would say,God in the Old Testament times didwhat He forbid us to do,what He swore He would never do,what He would never do.And we're talking about God being holy,God being perfect, God so righteous.How can we say that?And Paul doesn't -I love this becausehe doesn't shy away from that.He runs right at itwhen he says this was toshow God's righteousnessbecause -look at this again -in His divine forbearance,He passed over former sins.Again, it was to show His righteousness.In other words,He's saying in the Old Testament timesGod tolerated sin.Like, whoa, whoa, whoa.How can we say God's righteous?I mean, in the Old Testament,there was no perpetuation.There was no cross of Jesus Christ yet.So when somebody sinned in the Old Testament,if God is the holy judgethat you say that He is,why didn't He immediately just judge sinners?They didn't havethe blood of Jesus Christ to proclaim.I mean, you look at the guys in the Old Testament -Abraham, Moses, David -I mean, pick one -all sinners.And yet, when you readGod's interaction with them,over and over,we see God giving them the promise of eternal life.Was that really a righteous thing to dofor people that couldn't put their faithin Jesus Christsince He hadn't come yet?How could God give them that promise?Somebody would say,"Oh, that was the Old Testament sacrifices."Couldn't do it.They covered sin,but they didn't take away sin.And somebody else might say,"Well, it was their good works."It was their good works.That's how God was able to...No.Nowhere does the Bible sayyou can earn your salvation.So what's He saying?He's saying in verses 25 and 26 here,"And God's forbearance,"another word for patience.He passed over former sins.And that word "pass over"doesn't mean forgive.It literally means He overlooked their sin.God's patiencecaused God to not punish their sin immediately.This is exactly what Paul was talking about.Very curious verse in Acts 17, verse 30,on Mars Hill,exact same thing he's talking about.The times of ignorance,God overlooked.And now He commands all peopleeverywhere to repent.So how was God able to do that?See, this is what Paul's talking about here.It was still, even in Old Testament times,it was still because of Jesus Christ.You're like, "Well, how can they believe in Jesusif they don't know about the cross?"Look, God is outside of time.And if you study your Bibles like Revelation 13.8,Jesus Christ was always the Lamb of God.That wasn't some radical ideathat God dreamed up one dayabout 2,000 years ago.Like, "Oh, I got an idea."Now, that was always the plan.So here it is.Listen close.Even before the cross happened,God overlooked sin based on what was already determinedthat His Son was going to do.So what He's saying is this,the cross of Jesus Christ reaches backto the Old Testament saints.They were pronounced righteousbecause of what Jesus was going to do,just as we are pronounced righteouslooking back based on what Jesus did in our past.And kids that haven't even been born yetthat eventually will receive Jesus Christ,their sins are already forgiven in Christ.You're like, "Okay, so what's the point?"What's the point?Well, there's two points actually.Number one, it answers one of the most commonly asked questionsthat I get as a pastor.People ask me all the time,"How are the people saved in the Old Testament?"Because if Jesus is the only means of salvation,and I believe that,then how were they saved in the Old Testament?The answer is still Jesus.Their faith was based on what God was going to do.That's why God was overlooking their sin, so to speak.But listen, here's why this theology is so important for you.What were we talking about today?Guilt, right?See, this answers the guilt question.As a Christian, when I sin,and I will,is God mad at me?No.Do I have to ask for forgiveness?Do I have to plead the blood of Jesus over my sinevery time that I sin as a Christian?The answer is no.Or how about this one?What if I sin and then I die?Can I go to heaven since I sinnedand I didn't ask for forgiveness for that particular sin?I have known,pastors, I have known pastors that have taught that,that you better die on a good day.Because let's say you're living this perfect walk with Jesus' life.And let's say you have a blow-up with your wife on the way out the door.And you sinfully speak to her.And you get in the car and go to work,and you die in a car accident, you're going to hell.Because that sin wasn't confessed and repented ofand covered under the blood of Christ.I know pastors that teach that.That is completely wrong.That's why this theology is so important.Listen, when Jesus Christ was on the cross,do you realize all of your sins were yet future?Do you realize that?All of your sins were paid for,even the sins that you haven't committed yet.So if you are in Christ,and if you sin and you will,you don't need to ask for forgiveness.Because you already have it.So listen, somebody is going to misconstrue this.So just grab the shoulder of the person next to you and shake them.And tell them to pay attention.Thank you.Because somebody is going to misconstrue this.Listen, when you sin, church,you need to confess your sin.Then you need to thank Godthat He has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.And you need to turn from your sin.Because you don't want to do anything in your lifethat would dishonor the name of your Lord.But it's not as if God just keeps forgiving you over and over.He forgave you once when you received Jesus Christ.And that lasts for all of eternity.Do you see the security in that?So listen, whether it was Moses' sinor a sin that you are going to commit tomorrow,all sins have been taken away.God is satisfied because of the one-time sacrifice of Jesusthat covers all sins of all believers.There is incredible freedom in that.Three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.Number one, you are.Number two, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.Number three, justification is a gift to be received by faith.Look at verses 27 and 28.He says, "Then what becomes of our boasting?It is excluded by what kind of law?By a law of works? No.By the law of faith.For we hold that one is justified by faithapart from works of the law."In this passage, faith has come up,have you been counting?Six times.And yes, I'm counting when he used the word "believe"because that's what he meant.Verse 22, including the word "believe," he says it twice.Verse 25, 26, 27, 28.Faith, faith, faith.And then he's like, "So what does that do for our boasting?"Pretty dumb, right?To have the audacity to think that you have anythingto contribute to your salvation at all?What could you possibly boast about?What do your works have to do with the death of Jesus?You realize when Jesus was on the cross,when Jesus was actually on the cross,most of you weren't even born yet.I was going to say all,but I don't know how old all y'all are.So I think it's safe to say when Jesus died,most of you weren't born yet.So what did you contribute to that exactly?See, the cross of Jesus Christ eliminateseven the very possibility of salvation by human works.Faith. Faith is the only way.Faith isn't one way to be saved.It's the only way.And don't think that faith is some sort of merit.Like, okay, God did His part in salvation,and now I'm going to do my part in salvation.It's not even really like that,because earlier he was talking about grace in verse 24,and grace by its very definition is non-contributory.Do you know what that means?If you put forth anything to contribute towards it,it's no longer grace at all.So what is faith?I like how one writer put it.He says faith is simply the eye that sees.He said faith is simply the mouththat drinks from the living water.And he said faith is the hand that receives the gift.I like that, because by the way, in verse 24,he calls it a gift.It is a gift.Imagine that it's my birthday today.It's not.My birthday is September 23rd.I don't see a lot of you writing that down.I can wait. September 23rd.But we're - for today,we're pretending that it's my birthday.And imagine this afternoon,you showed up at my houseand you had a gift for me.Something you went out and you boughtand you wrapped it,and you were so excited to give me this gift.And you come to my houseand you ring the doorbell and I open it upand you say, "Happy birthday."There's four ways that I can respond to that.Right? First way is,I can slam the door in your face and say,"I don't want your stupid gifts."I wouldn't do that.But that's an option, right?I mean, I could do that.Second option is you ring the doorbell,open it up, "Happy birthday."And I look at the gift and I say,"That's awesome. Where's my wallet?"Like, "How much do I owe you for that?"Let me see how much cash I have.I can probably pay you for that right now.Or can I write you a check?How would you feelif I offered to buy the gift that you got me?Pretty lousy, huh?That's another option.Or a third option is you ring the doorbell,I open it up, "Happy birthday."And I take the gift and I'm like,"Wow, you know what?This looks great."Thank you. This looks fantastic.And I set it down by the door.And then you come to my house.Six months later, and that gift is still sitting there.Except now it has an inch of dust on it.And you would think to yourself,"You know, Jeff actually seemed excitedwhen I handed it to him,but he didn't really receive it, did he?"He didn't really do anything with it.He just kind of set it aside.Or the fourth option,you ring the doorbell, "Happy birthday."I got you a gift.The fourth option is I take the giftand I say, "Thank you."Thank you so much for this.And I receive it, and I use it.And you realize those are the same four waysthat you can respond to God's gift in Jesus Christ.You have those same four options.That God says, "I am satisfied."I have paid the price of your sinwith the blood of my son.Here is a gift.And for some people, they take the first option.They slam the door and say, "No.God, I'm not interested in your stupid gift."Some people take that option.Some people take option two,and they think they can buy it."Oh God, that's so wonderful what you did for me in Jesus.Now, let me earn that.And I'm going to start doing this at the churchand I'm going to work at the soup kitchenand they think that they have to earn the gift.And I would suggest to you that Godis probably just as insultedat that notion as I would be,or as you would be rather,if I tried to pay you for the gift that you got me."It's insulting to try to buy a gift.The third option,and I think this is the most taken option in churches, honestly.That's what most people do with the gift of Jesus Christ.They're like, "Yeah, that you're sitting hereand worshiping the Word,and you're just like all into it.You're like, "Yeah, yeah, I need this.Yeah, that's fantastic."And you set them aside.And you never really receive them.You just sort of discarded them.Not flagrant rejection, but,shall we say, practical rejection.The option that the Lord wants you to takeis that you receive the gift.To understand why you need it,and you thank God that He gave it.That Jesus bore God's wrath on the cross.God is satisfied with what Jesus did.The guilt is gone by the gift of God.Did you receive that?So worship team makes their way back up.I'd just like you to bow your heads.And I'm sure sitting here today,there are some Christians that have wrestled with guiltthat have needed to take a fresh lookat what exactly Jesus accomplished on the cross.He didn't accomplish opportunityfor us to earn favor with God.Jesus accomplished our salvation in full.Jesus accomplished the full removal of our guilt and shameby bearing God's wrath on our behalf.But there might be somebody herethat's really hearing this for the first time.Whether it's somebody sitting here,listening to this podcast,or watching the stream.Today's the day that you need to stop setting the gift aside.And receive what it is that God has for you.Father in heaven.Father, this to me is the most mind-blowing conceptin the entirety of your Word.God, I've never really wrestled with creationor the trinity or eternity, things like that.But God, the fact that you can pronounce a sinner righteousis mind-blowing.God, we thank you for the work that you accomplished on our behalfthrough the death of your Son.Father, if there's anyone herewho needs to take that step,who needs to receive Christ,who needs to make their public profession of faith and baptismhere in a few weeks.Father, I pray that you would give them the faithto not put it off,to not talk themselves out of it,but to see the value,the incomparable value of Jesus Christ.What He's done, and in so doing, Father,they would run to you.So just now, Father,we've heard from you,and now we're going to express back to youlove and thanksgivingfor what you've done on our behalf.So Father, might this worshipbe a pleasing aroma,may it be a sweet sound in your earas we revel in your love and grace.We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Small Group DiscussionRead Romans 3:21-28What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Why do you think many Christians still struggle with guilt and shame?Explain the term “propitiation” (Rom 3:25). Why is this such an important aspect of the Gospel? What does it mean for a Christian in practical terms?What does it mean that God “passed over former sins” (Rom 3:25)? How could a Holy God just overlook sin (see also Acts 17:30)?BreakoutPray for one another to be salty and bright.

How can a guilty sinner be declared righteous—forever? In this heartfelt episode of Words From The Word, Pastor Roderick Webster reveals the unshakable truth about justification by God and God alone. Drawing from Romans 8:33 and other key Scriptures, he explores the eternal impact of God's declaration over a believer's life.

Today is day 68 and we are in the section on the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed on Jesus Christ the Son of God. Today we are on the eighth line: “was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead” and studying question 68. 68. What does the Creed mean by saying that Jesus descended to the dead? That Jesus descended to the dead means that he truly died and entered the place of the departed. (Psalm 16:9–10; Acts 2:25–32; Ephesians 4:9–10; 1 Peter 3:18–19) We will conclude today with the Second Collect for Holy Saturday found on page 578 of the Book of Common Prayer (2019). If you would like to buy or download To Be a Christian, head to anglicanchurch.net/catechism. Produced by Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Madison, MS. Original music from Matthew Clark. Daily collects and Psalms are taken from Book of Common Prayer (2019), created by the Anglican Church in North America and published by the Anglican Liturgical Press. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Catechism readings are taken from To Be a Christian - An Anglican Catechism Approved Edition, copyright © 2020 by The Anglican Church in North America by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I met a woman full of grief. She had just lost both her mother and father, and she told me her heart was broken. And she said to me, "I need healing; this grief is too heavy for me, and I don't want to live this way any longer." I shared with her the words from the prophet Isaiah. In chapter 53, he says that it was our weakness that Jesus carried on the cross. And our sorrow that weighed Him down. That Jesus is familiar with grief. That He knows it. He understands it. And because of the cross, the sorrow that we carry can be lifted. She responded. She asked the King of the world to comfort her and heal her. Are you weighed down by grief? He'll carry it for you. He'll take it. Will you ask Him today? Always remember there is hope with God. radio.hopewithgod.com Find out more at https://hopewithgod.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

So, our whole family had to go for blood tests. It was time to check everyone's cholesterol levels, we were told. Now, as our son's blood was being drawn, he suddenly said, "I'm feeling a little weak." Well, that's unusual, because this son was probably the strongest member of the family. But this actually had to do with chemistry not strength, and he proceeded to suddenly go limp and then he passed out. When he came to just a few moments later, his first words were of course, "What happened?" He later said that all he remembered was his eyes opening and seeing a mother's concerned face. Yep, there was Mom! And then that made him think back to a post-operative situation he had had once. Right after surgery he was in the recovery room and he said, "All I remember is opening my eyes and seeing this really old nurse." Well, it's kind of funny how strong those like just waking up impressions are. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Best Part of Waking Up." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 17, and I'm going to be reading verse 15. David says, "And I - in righteousness I will see Your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness." Now, I think he's talking primarily here about physical resurrection after he dies. You know, "After I die, I'm looking forward to seeing You." But this can also be applied to a lifestyle like this - waking up and seeing His likeness. There's a coffee company, you might remember, that had a commercial that said, "The best part of waking up is...in your cup." You know? We don't do commercials. Well, rather than their kind of coffee in your cup, I'd like to rewrite that a little bit. The best part of waking up is Jesus in your room. That's what David's saying, "I'm satisfied when I wake up with seeing Your likeness." The early moments of your day kind of set the tone for the day. Is it going to be a stress day, is it going to be a worry day, a dirty day, a negative day, a go-for-it day? So much depends on whether or not you consciously spend your waking moments with Jesus. And let me tell you, that takes discipline. As soon as you've got any control of your thoughts, you come out of that fog and you're starting to be able to think, that's the time, before anything else, to acknowledge Jesus. "Lord, You're here aren't You? Lord, I'm Yours." And in those groggy, getting up and getting ready moments, talk to Him; thank Him for something from yesterday, turn over to Him whatever you know will tend to be dominating your day today. Isaiah put it this way, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You." In the morning it's like 20 different characters are trying to get on center stage in your head, including the devil probably. The night before, make the choice that Jesus Christ is going to be the only one on center stage in the beginning of your day, the beginning of your morning. "Seek first the kingdom of God." Remember that? Maybe that includes seeking Him before you talk with or think about anyone else. Don't check your emails, don't turn on the television, and don't answer the phone. Get up early if you have to, but don't be in anybody else's presence until you've been in His. Seek Him first in your day, in those early groggy moments. That Jesus focus can set your course for the whole day. And after a day begun with the Lord of the universe, you're ready for anything. See, the best part of waking up? Yep, it's waking up to Jesus.

John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. That Jesus is life and has the power to give life and that His life is the light are major themes in John's gospel. Let me show you what I mean. John 5:21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. John 6:33. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 14:6. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 1:9. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 8:12. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” John 9:5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. It makes sense then that in John's introduction to the gospel, he would declare that in Jesus was life and His life was the light of men. We will also see that the light that His life radiates is love. He alone is life. He alone is light, and He alone is love. The natural man can't hold a candle next to Him. We have no light in ourselves. If we are ever to have life, light, and love, we must receive it from God through Jesus Christ. We are born dead. We come into this world with no spiritual life, light, or love. John spoke of this condition when he wrote in his first epistle, 1 John 3:14. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” Can you see it? The proof that we have Jesus' life is His love flowing in and through us. If we don't have his life and love, we abide or remain in a state of death. That's why I have simplified my purpose in life to living to love with Jesus and inviting you to intentionally join the adventure. In believing in Christ, we receive His life. In receiving His life, His life becomes our light, and that light is His love shining forth through our lives. The way we know we are in Christ is that we have His life shining the light of His love in this world. To God be the glory. Let His light shine. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of “giving it forward,” so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson are one of my favorite mother-daughter pairs of all time. Both of these women are writers, speakers, and leaders in their own rights, but they also joined forces to write the book we'll discuss today. If you are a parent or grandparent of kids of any age, an auntie, uncle, nanny or teacher or have any interaction with children you love, this episode is for you. It sure was for me. If you want your home and relationships to be drenched in freedom and grace and joy instead of shame or guilt or holy-catfish-how-will-we-possibly-survive-this-season-with-this-child, this episode is for you. A parenting experience rooted entirely in the scandalous grace of God? SIGN. ME. UP. Jessica Thompson is a pastor at Risen Church in San Diego. She has her Master's in Biblical Studies from Redemption Seminary. She is a mother of three adult children and loves the Padres with her whole heart.Elyse holds a certificate in biblical counseling from CCEF (San Diego) and an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary. She has authored more than 25 books on daily living and the Christian life. Elyse loves to proclaim the good news of the gospel: That Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, perfectly obeyed all the Law in our place, suffered in isolation and agony as punishment for our sin, died, and then rose again, all for our justification.A frequent speaker at national conferences, she has been married for over 50 years and has three adult children and six really adorable grandchildren. Along with her husband, Phil, Elyse attends Grace Bible Church in Escondido, California.Follow Elyse: @Elyse_FitzFollow Jessica: @revjesslouVisit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

T'was an OUTRAGE! An Illinois-based company was working on a film about Jesus Christ. The problem? The film would portray Jesus as a drunk bank robber, a “swinging homosexual,” and a big fan of Hitler. Oh, and he'd also be depicted as having an affair with Mary Magdalene. … wouldn't the affair with Mary Magdalene make him bisexual, you ask? DON'T ASK QUESTIONS. In fact, don't bother fact checking any of this! This is all about rage, baby! Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Will Jesus Be Portrayed as Homosexual in an Upcoming Film?” By Barbara Mikkelson for Snopes.com “That Jesus sex movie never existed,” by William Simbro for The Des Moines Register “‘Jesus Sex Film' rumor draws letters from 200,000 people,” by Carol Armstrong for the Dayton Daily News “Crusade revives war on non-existent sex film,” by William Simbro for The Des Moines Register “Jesus sex movie rumor hits state,” by Bernie Schoenburg for The Pantagraph “‘Sex life of Jesus' hoax snares Lodi mayor's paper,” by Rod Leith for The Record “Censor receives complaints about non-existent film depicting Christ as gay,” by Glenn McConnell for Stuff.com “The Jesus sex film scandal,” by Wayne Dean for The Sydney Morning Herald “No U.S. producer found for blasphemous movie,” by Stan Hastey for the Associated Press Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts! Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you'll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90's style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin's previous podcast, Let's Go To Court.

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany St. John 2:1-11 by William Klock On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.  Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.   “On the third day.”  All through the first week of John's Gospel he tells us, “On the next day…on the next day,” but now it's not just the next day, but the third day.  That should resonate with us.  John knew that a Christian can't—or shouldn't be able to—hear “the third day” and not think of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  John's Gospel is a story of the birth of God's new creation and it culminates on the third day after Jesus was crucified, the day when Jesus burst from the tomb, triumphant over sin and death to inaugurate God's new world.  Already here at the beginning of the story John wants us to anticipate, to be looking forward to Jesus' resurrection.  God, in Jesus the Messiah, is going to do something amazing this day—something will show a bit of his new creation and reveal his glory. So Mary and Jesus are invited to a wedding in Cana and Jesus' disciples along with him.  Cana was small village just a few kilometres from Nazareth.  The people of one town would have known the people of the other.  Many of them would have been related, which explains why Mary and Jesus were invited.  One Second Century extra-biblical source says that Mary and the groom's mother were sisters.  Another fairly early source claims that the groom's mother was Mary's sister, Salome—which would make the groom none other than John.  It's hard to say how reliable these traditions are.  They're not inspired scripture.  But if they're true they certainly make sense of the details in the story.  John tells it as someone who was an eyewitness. Weddings in that world were a big deal.  Way more of a big deal than even the biggest weddings are in our culture.  The whole thing would begin with a feast.  The actual ceremony would follow later in the evening.  Once married, the guests, carrying torches, would parade the couple to their new home.  They would wind their way through the town, taking the longest route possible so that the guests could wish them well for as long as possible.  But that wasn't the end of it.  The bride and groom didn't go away on a honeymoon.  Instead, they would keep an open house for the rest of the week.  They'd dress like a king and queen while they entertained their guests.  You can imagine how big a deal and what a time of celebration and happiness this would be in a time and place when people were poor and spent their lives in hard work. Picture the festivities.  People eating and drinking, celebrating the bride and groom, and enjoying themselves.  It was a reminder for them of what the Lord had promised it would be like on the day when he would finally return to set his world to rights.  The Prophet Isaiah had written: On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all the peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. (Isaiah 25:6-8) The world was not as it was supposed to be, but a wedding gave the people an opportunity to look forward to the day when the Lord would visit them, wipe away their tears, and defeat their enemies—even, somehow, death itself. Now as we're picturing this great celebration, John writes that the wine ran out. This was bad.  Really, really bad.  There was no such thing as teetotaling in Jesus' day.  The rabbis said that without wine there is no joy.  You couldn't have a feast without it.  That doesn't mean they were all drunk.  The Bible condemns drunkenness and so did Jewish society, but they nevertheless enjoyed their wine as one of God's great gifts.  So to run out of wine at a wedding was a party killer.  More than that, it was a disgrace to the groom.  Hospitality was a big deal and the groom was responsible for being hospitable to his guests.  But where did all the wine come from?  The groom's family provided some, but so did the guests.  Depending on their relation with the groom and whether or not they were married or unmarried, there was an expectation amongst the male guests of reciprocal gifts.  An unmarried relative might bring ten dinars worth of wine to the feast with the expectation that when it was his wedding day, the groom would return the favour with ten dinars of wine himself.  For others, the groom's generous hospitality at this wedding was in return for the hospitality they had once shown to him.  If the wine ran out, it wasn't just a social disgrace for the groom—it could heap financial obligations on him that would be hard to repay.  Remember, these weren't wealthy people.  Cana was a small country village. So the wine ran out.  Maybe it was even Jesus' fault.  It's hard to say whether or not he would have been expected to bring his own gifts of wine.  That sort of thing was probably beyond his means.  But regardless of that, he shows up at the wedding with his disciples.  How many is also hard to say.  Up to this point, John has only told us of four, but John tells the story out of order, so that doesn't mean all twelve—or even more—weren't there with Jesus.  In a situation where people would have taken great pains to make sure there was enough wine for everyone, the presence of Jesus and his disciples may explain why it ran out. The worried servants went to the hostess, the groom's mother to tell her disaster had struck.  Mary—possible her sister—was there with her.  Maybe—again, I'm speculating—but maybe that's why they went to her first: “Your son and his friends were guzzling away despite having brought no wine themselves!”  And so, John writes, “Mary, Jesus' mother, said to him, “They have no wine!”  Whatever the case, it's clear that Mary told Jesus because she expected him to do something about it.  And by do something about it, I don't mean ducking out for a quick stop at the Cana liquor store to grab a case of wine.  Getting more wine wasn't nearly that easy.  I think it's pretty clear that Mary was expecting some kind of miracle even though, by all accounts, this would be Jesus' first.  But Mary knew who he was, she knew that he'd finally begun his ministry, she knew he'd been baptised by John and had heard all about that whole scene with the heaven's being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  She'd met these men he'd been calling as his disciples.  Mary knew: it was time for the Messiah to start doing Messiah things and what better opportunity—and especially so if Jesus and his disciples were the reason why the groom was in this awful spot. And yet, John writes, Jesus replied, “Oh woman!  What's that got to do with you and me?  My time hasn't yet come.” What does Jesus mean?  He responds to Mary with a phrase that's found quite a few times through the Old Testament.  Specifically, though, I think Jesus is deliberately recalling an episode from the ministry of the Prophet Elisha.  In 2 Kings 3 we read about the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom.  They were on their way to do battle with Moab.  Their armies had been travelling for a week and had run out of water.  They were thirst—just like the wedding guests were about to be thirsty.  The King of Israel was wailing that the Lord had sent them out only to be defeated by the Moabites, but King Jehoshaphat—the King of Judah—told them that the Prophet Elisha was nearby and they should go to him and inquire of the Lord.  Elisha wasn't keen on Jehoshaphat's request.  “What's that got to do with you and me?” he asks the King.  (Those are the same words Jesus says to Mary.)  But Jehoshaphat insists.  The Lord had sent them to battle Moab, but without water Moab would defeat them.  So Elisha finally relents to the King's request and the Lord speaks through him: “You shall see no wind or rain, but the streambed will be filled with water…and he will also give the Moabites into your hand.”  And, sure thing, the next morning a nearby stream was filled with water.  Not only that, they defeated the Moabites just as the Lord had promised. That Jesus adds that it wasn't yet his time, I think highlights that what Mary is asking of him runs a very good chance of getting him into trouble.  Jesus hadn't yet officially launched his public ministry, but doing what Mary was asking him to do would get him noticed and being exposed as Messiah—well—it was bound to spark opposition.  But I have to think that Mary knew her Bible and recognised Jesus' echo of Elisha.  She knew he would do something and so she turns to the servants—again, this suggests that she was an insider to this family and was involved with the preparations for the feast—she turns to the servants and she tells them what to do with her own quote echoing the Bible: “Do whatever he tells you to do.” Those were the words of Pharaoh to the Egyptians when he put Joseph in charge of Egypt.  Remember Pharoah's dreams about the grain and the cows and how Joseph interpreted them to mean that Egypt was about to experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  Pharaoh was impressed with Joseph's wisdom and put him in charge of Egypt.  For seven years the crown would store up as much grain as possible for the famine to come.  Pharaoh presented Joseph to the people and said, “Do whatever he tells you to do.”  And Joseph, because the Lord was with him, saved Egypt.  And now Jesus, because the Lord is with him, will save the wedding.  Like Joseph saving the Egyptians.  Like the Lord causing that dry streambed to run with water. So, John writes, “Six stone water-jars were standing there, ready for use in the Jewish purification rites.  Each held about twenty or thirty gallons.” Big stone jars.  This was the water used to wash people's feet when they came in from the streets and it was the water they used to wash their hands before a meal and between courses, so that they would be ritually pure.  The jars were big and there were so many of them, because the water was usually poured into a mikvah—like a big bath that could be used for immersion.  Presumably these had already been emptied into the mikvah and were standing empty.  John writes: “‘Fill the jars with water,' said Jesus to the servants.  And they filled them, right up to the brim.”  This was no small thing for them to do.  Did they have to carry the water to the jars or the jars to the water?  Whichever it was, there would have been a lot of heaving and grunting and it would have taken time to fill those six big, heavy jars.  But they obeyed.  Then Jesus said, “‘Now draw some out and take it to the chief steward.'  They did so,” writes John. Surely they could see and smell the wine as they drew it out and you can imagine them running excitedly to the chief steward.  He was sort of the ancient Jewish equivalent of a wedding planner and head waiter for the wedding.  He had no idea that the wine had run out.  He was just wondering what had taken the servants so long to bring more.  John goes on, “When the chief steward tasted the water that had turned into wine (he didn't know where it had come from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bride-groom.” The chief steward is confused.  This wine was good.  Really good.  Better than anything they'd served so far.  I'll go so far as to say that since Jesus made it, it was probably the best wine anyone has ever tasted in the history of the human race before or since.  And so the steward went to the groom.  It was too late now, but he had to say it: “What everybody normally does,” he said, “is to serve the good wine first, and then the worse stuff when people have had plenty to drink.  But you've kept the good wine until now!” I can only imagine the groom's confusion?  What's this guy talking about?  We did serve the best wine first.  And then he took a sip and was even more confused.  The steward was right.  This was the best.  In fact, it was better than any wine he'd ever had—certainly better than any wine he could afford, better than any wine made in Cana or even the whole of Galilee.  And what they'd find before too long wasn't just that it was the best wine ever, but that there was no danger of it running out.  If you do the math, those six stone jars full to the brim with wine work out to about 900 modern bottles of wine.  Jesus never skimped, because God's new creation is all about abundance.  Like the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, there was always plenty left over.  It pointed to the new thing God was doing in Jesus.  These miracles reminded people of God's provision of manna in the wilderness, but whereas there was ever only enough manna for the day and anything left over would spoil, in Jesus God's abundant provision was a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.  Brothers and Sisters, that's God's amazing grace. John then wraps up his telling of the wedding saying, “This event, in Cana of Galilee, was the first of Jesus' signs.  He displayed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.” He displayed his glory—that's kind of the theme of John's whole Gospel.  And seeing his glory, the disciples believed.  I have to think others at that feast believed too.  The quality and the abundance of the wine—imagine the people of that little village scrambling for skins to hold all that wine so it didn't go to waste—they saw the promises of God, the words of the prophets beginning to come true.  As it turns out, it was indeed Jesus' time.  In the very next episode John tells, Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and throws out the money-changers and the merchants and announces the coming destruction of the temple and a new one that he will build in three days.  There's John reminding us about those three days again. But the disciples.  Jesus had just been calling them.  First, Andrew and Peter, who had been disciples of John the Baptist, and then Philip and Nathanael.  And here, John says, they believed.  Just the day before Nathanael had said to Jesus, “You're the son of God.  You're the king of Israel.”  “Wait a minute,” Jesus said back to him, “Are you telling me that you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree?  You'll see a lot more than that!  In fact, I'm telling you the solemn truth.  You'll see heaven opened, and God's angels ascending and descending on the son of man.”  And see he did.  I wonder if Nathanael had any idea he'd see such great things so soon.  Again, John says that the disciples saw the sign and they believed. That was the purpose of Jesus' signs.  With each one he planted another signpost pointing his people towards God's new creation.  This time the wine was the signpost, pointing to that feast for all the peoples, the feast of rich food, the feast of well-aged wines the prophet had foretold.  In Jesus the God of Israel was on the move—turning famine into feast, sparing his people from disaster, saving the day—leading the people towards God's new creation. Again, when John gives us details, they're always rich with symbolism.  Those six stone jars for the rites of purification are one of those symbols.  The stone jars are symbolic of the law and of the old covenant.  Jesus doesn't ignore them or smash them.  They served a good purpose.  Just as the old covenant was God's way of preparing his people for the new, Jesus fills those jars with his wine.  He made them useless for their original purpose in order to serve a new and better one—to usher in a feast where no one would ever again have to worry about being unclean, because the son of God has shed his own blood to make us clean once and for all. That's the final sign in John's Gospel. At the end—after Thomas has examined Jesus' wounds—on the third day—John writes that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which aren't written in this book.  But these are written so that you may believe that the Messiah, the son of God, is none other than Jesus; and that, with faith, you may have life in his name.”  Jesus' resurrection was the final and ultimate signpost.  Follow it in faith and you become part of God's new creation yourself, washed clean by Jesus and filled with God's Spirit. And that brings us to a final point.  Those words of Mary, quoting Joseph: “Do whatever he tells you to do.”  Brothers and Sisters, believing—faith—produces obedience.  Obedience isn't always easy.  Think of those servants and the big stone jars and 120 gallons of water.  It was through the faithful obedience of those servants that Jesus manifested God's new creation at the wedding.  And so it is with us.  Brothers and Sisters, we have seen his glory.  Now we follow—we obey—in faith.  Kingdom work is hard work, but it is joyful work.  It's work that wipes away the tears of the people around us.  It's work that brings God's abundant grace to the lost.  It's work that reinforces our hope.  God will surely set this broken world to rights as the good news of Jesus, crucified and risen, goes out—light spreading in the darkness.  But remember, it doesn't go out by itself and more than that wine made it to the steward and the guests all by itself.  That's why God's called us—just as he called John to tell his story.  He's forgiven us by the blood of Jesus and made us his own; he's equipped us by filling us with his own Spirit, and he's given us—he's made us stewards of—the story, of the gospel, of the good news.  We're the servants joyfully carrying Jesus' wine to the wedding guests that might rejoice and be glad and see his glory. So come to Jesus' Table this morning.  The Lord's Supper is another of his signposts pointing to his kingdom.  Come and feast.  Eat his bread and drink his wine, then go out in faith to do whatever he tells you.  Go out to live and to proclaim the good news of Jesus the Messiah that all the world might see God's glory. Let's pray: Heavenly Father, in Jesus you have shown us your glory.  Strengthen us now that might be faithful stewards of your good news, going out in faith to make your gospel of glory known to the world.  Through Jesus our Lord we pray.  Amen.  

Tonight, my special guest is Rev. Barry Downing who's here to discuss why he believes aliens pulled off some miracles mentioned in the Bible.At Mysterious Radio, we're on an exciting journey to create a space fully supported by our amazing fans, moving away from advertisements altogether! We're thrilled to offer our content exclusively to our wonderful community of Patreon members and Apple Subscribers. You'll get to enjoy every episode without any pesky ads, and we can share our shows with you without any censorship. Plus, joining us unlocks over 900 bonus segments and episodes that will blow your mind! While the price is set to rise to $9.99, you can jump on board right now for just $5, and that's forever! Come be part of The Brain Trust now.Follow Our Other ShowsFollow UFO WitnessesFollow Crime Watch WeeklyFollow Paranormal FearsFollow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle StoriesJoin our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradioFollow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio]   The Reverend Barry Downing's credentials are impressive, adding scholarly weight to his theories regarding anomalous and miraculous events as portrayed in the Old and New Testaments. Downing holds a Ph.D. in the relation between religion and science from the University of Edinburgh of Scotland. He also has a bachelor's degree in physics from New York's Hartwick College as well as a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Downing has studied the Bible most of his life. . .  Not unusual for a pastor, but what makes his evangelistic career unique is that he has also studied the UFO phenomena since the mid-1950s. The combination of both pursuits resulted in the 1968 publication of his controversial book, “The Bible and Flying Saucers,” which would lay important groundwork regarding the blending of the divine with the theory that earth has been visited by extraterrestrials in ancient times and that these visitations continue to this day. This work is his long awaited sequel in which he expands upon the polemic issues previously put forth, including that the –  ** Parting of the Red Sea in the Bible's Exodus was accomplished by a cylindrical UFO, a cigars haped ship whose kind is still reported.  ** That Jesus was an extraterrestrial sent to earth to rid the world of sin and wickedness, quoting Biblical text to support his claim.  ** That Jesus left earth in a spaceship to another planet, or perhaps another spatial dimension.  ** That angels were actually aliens and that the “angelic aliens” spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai where he boarded a UFO to receive the Ten Commandments and specifications for the construction of the Tabernacle. It was aliens who guided the ancient Israelites, providing them with manna in the wilderness.  ** In the modern world, Downing contends with mainstream religion's refusal to take the subject seriously. Christian liberals don't want to hear the miracles of the Bible were real and Christian conservatives don't want the miracles credited to simple aliens in flying saucers.

Dave Brisbin 1.12.25 I'm often asked about the big words... The words of Christian doctrine that seem to contradict the nature of God that Jesus called Good News, love itself. Degreeless and indiscriminate love that can't be altered or avoided, showering on everyone equally—just and unjust alike. Yet Christianity feels exclusive…acceptance withheld unless we believe in an orthodox Jesus, declare him as Lord, obey church rule and ritual. There is heaven for those who perform, the eternal torment of hell for the rest, and at the center of it all stands the cross. Ironically, the ultimate dividing line. Here's a big word: propitiation. An English word used to translate the Greek and Aramaic words used by John and Paul to describe Jesus' death on the cross. It means to appease wrath, regain favor, change the mind of an angry God. In 1611, the King James bible translated the Greek hilasmos and Aramaic husaya as propitiation, but this has become controversial. Later translations use expiation instead—atonement, the extinguishing of guilt. The ancient words can mean both, so which? If you're a hammer, the world looks like a nail. Our concept of life determines what we see and understand, so if our focus is justice, we see propitiation—if love, expiation. Propitiation defines God's nature as angry and apparently incapable of mercy without the mechanism of a perfect sacrifice. Expiation defines our nature, our need to extinguish “original sin/guilt,” the illusion of separation of which our minds are capable once we become self-aware as children. To extinguish that illusion is the true meaning of the cross. That Jesus could overcome his human sense of separation, remain one with the Father's love even on the cross, is the salvation we seek. There is only reward and punishment in propitiation. In expiation, we find the degreeless and indiscriminate love that is never withheld. None of the big words mean what we think when placed back in the language Jesus and his followers spoke and wrote. We must re-know what they knew. Jesus was laser-focused on love… The meaning of any big word that contradicts that love is a mistranslation.

Dave Brisbin 1.12.25 I'm often asked about the big words... The words of Christian doctrine that seem to contradict the nature of God that Jesus called Good News, love itself. Degreeless and indiscriminate love that can't be altered or avoided, showering on everyone equally—just and unjust alike. Yet Christianity feels exclusive…acceptance withheld unless we believe in an orthodox Jesus, declare him as Lord, obey church rule and ritual. There is heaven for those who perform, the eternal torment of hell for the rest, and at the center of it all stands the cross. Ironically, the ultimate dividing line. Here's a big word: propitiation. An English word used to translate the Greek and Aramaic words used by John and Paul to describe Jesus' death on the cross. It means to appease wrath, regain favor, change the mind of an angry God. In 1611, the King James bible translated the Greek hilasmos and Aramaic husaya as propitiation, but this has become controversial. Later translations use expiation instead—atonement, the extinguishing of guilt. The ancient words can mean both, so which? If you're a hammer, the world looks like a nail. Our concept of life determines what we see and understand, so if our focus is justice, we see propitiation—if love, expiation. Propitiation defines God's nature as angry and apparently incapable of mercy without the mechanism of a perfect sacrifice. Expiation defines our nature, our need to extinguish “original sin/guilt,” the illusion of separation of which our minds are capable once we become self-aware as children. To extinguish that illusion is the true meaning of the cross. That Jesus could overcome his human sense of separation, remain one with the Father's love even on the cross, is the salvation we seek. There is only reward and punishment in propitiation. In expiation, we find the degreeless and indiscriminate love that is never withheld. None of the big words mean what we think when placed back in the language Jesus and his followers spoke and wrote. We must re-know what they knew. Jesus was laser-focused on love… The meaning of any big word that contradicts that love is a mistranslation.

December 24, 2024Pastor Matt KendrickChristmas EveLuke 2:1-20Christmas is much more than a tradition. It's the very moment that everything changed. That hope became real. That JESUS the CHRIST was born to set us captives free.Thank you for listening!For more info on Redemption City Church check out our website. If you'd like to connect with us further, please fill out a Connection Card and one of our staff will get in touch with you.Follow us on on social media: Instagram, Facebook and YouTube

That (Jesus) was the true Light which gives light to every man

Jesus is real! We have a living, powerful, loving advocate in the person of Jesus Christ. This study gives us a reminder of what's important: That Jesus isn't dead, He conquered death, and He has all the power needed to provide us with what we need.

Exploring the birth stories of John and Jesus. How our suppositions about Zechariah's doubts seem to be upheld at the birth of John. That Jesus' birth is one we all know well, and yet it means so much.

In this week's episode with Jen Wilkin, we talk about the beauty of an oft-misunderstood and feared book of the Bible: Revelation. Jen reminds us that although the book is filled with symbols and images that might first be hard to understand, that it actually pulls from the rest of Scripture and tells us what we already know! That Jesus is coming back to dwell with his people forever. Jen reminds us that the theme of this book is not condemnation, but comfort. We pray this episode leads you to praise as you remember who is seated on the throne of heaven. FULL SHOW NOTES SERIES RESOURCES DISCUSSION QUESTIONS How does seeing Christ in Psalms excite you to look for him in all of Scripture? How might you take what you've gained from reading Psalms this summer and allow it to open your eyes to see Jesus on every page of Scripture?  What psalms have stood out to you most as you've read through them this summer? Perhaps write a few down to use as prompts for prayer. Perhaps select a few to try to store in your memory. How might you take what you've learned in Psalms this summer and share it with someone? Maybe inviting someone in to read Psalms again with you? Maybe memorizing a psalm to use as you pray for friends?  What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week's episode? FOR MORE Give to Journeywomen Ministries  Listen on Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify Follow Us: Instagram | Facebook Leave a rating & review Interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.  On the Journeywomen podcast, we'll come alongside you in the seasons and challenges of life to help you know and love God through his Word, to find your hope in the gospel, and to invest deeply in your local church as you go out on mission for the glory of God.

Have you ever doubted that the Bible is true? That people could rise from the dead? That Jesus is really God? Today on the Live Like It's True podcast, Dr. Michelle Bengtson and I are talking about a wounded doubter named Thomas, and how Jesus responded. Find out how Jesus offers you both assurance and a challenge as well. Guest: Dr. Michelle BengtsonBible Passage: Jesus Appears to Thomas - John 20:19-29Get your Freebie: 99 Truths from God's Word to Speak Over Your Life to Combat the Lies of the Enemy from Dr. Michelle BengtsonFalse Narrative Watchlist from Shannon PopkinResound Media Network: www.ResoundMedia.ccMentioned ResourcesThe Hem of His Garment by Dr. Michelle BengtsonSacred Scars by Dr. Michelle BengtsonControl Girl by Shannon PopkinYour Hope Filled Perspective Podcast with Dr. MichelleMusic: Cade PopkinDr. Michelle BengtsonDr. Michelle Bengtson is a hope concierge! Her passion is to share hope and encouragement with others, whether as a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, host of the award-winning podcast Your Hope Filled Perspective, or the author of several award-winning books including Hope Prevails, Breaking Anxiety's Grip, and The Hem of His Garment.Her newest release is Sacred Scars: Resting in God's Promise That Your Past is Not Wasted. She loves all things teal, spending time with friends and family, taking long walks, or sitting by quiet shores, and it's a bonus when any of those are accompanied by sea salt caramel chocolate! You can find her and her hope-filled resources at DrMichelleB.com.Connect with Guest:WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedInInstagramPinterestYouTubePodcastLive Like It's True is part of the Resound Podcast Network. For more gospel centered resources visit ResoundMedia.cc . Visit www.shannonpopkin.com/promises/ to learn more about my six-week Bible study with Our Daily Bread, titled, "Shaped by God's Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith." Learn how you too can be shaped by the promises of our faithful God. Learn more at ShannonPopkin.com.