Podcasts about this good news

What would you call the Bible, fact or fiction? We continue our journey through the book of Romans. Today, Stephen looks ah howv2 - This Good News isn't 'new' news and was featured in the Old Testament.v3-4 We see that Jesus really lived, died and rose againv5-6 If we believe Jesus we have obedience and a relationship in him.Join our family morning service every Sunday at 11am.New Life HaydockPhythian StreetHaydockWA11 0AH

On today's Quick Start podcast: NEWS: President Trump delivers his first major speech of his second term, outlining his vision for the "Renewal of the American Dream." FOCUS STORY: Famed YouTuber Tyler “Ninja” Blevins shares the Gospel on a livestream—what he said and the reaction. MAIN THING: 70 Christians were murdered in eastern Congo, and now children are under threat. CBN's Gary Lane has the details. LAST THING: Romans 1:16-17 – “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.'” SHOW LINKS JESUS AND THE PROPHECIES OF CHRISTMAS : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jesus-and-the-prophecies-of-christmas/id1783607035 NEWSMAKERS POD: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/newsmakers/id1724061454 DC DEBRIEF POD: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/d-c-debrief/id1691121630 CBN News YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CBNnewsonline CBN News https://www2.cbn.com/news Faithwire https://www.faithwire.com

The Gospel is not good advice.  It is not a seven step plan to healthy living. It is the power of God for salvation.  The Apostle Paul knew it first-hand and it made him unashamed to share it and believe it.This Good News changed everything for Paul and for many like him.

11. Messiah's Proclamations Isaiah 61:1-11; Isaiah 63:1-6 In this passage from Isaiah 61 through to Isaiah 63, we have two contrasting certainties. They can be found in Isaiah 61:2. The two certainties are "the year of Yahweh's favour, and the day of vengeance of our God". There will be the year of favour and the day of vengeance. The year of honour, as we shall see has already started. We don't know when it will end, but we know that it will. The day of vengeance will be in the future sometime. Again we don't know when that will be either. But we know it will all happen quickly, suddenly and without warning (Isaiah 60:22). Therefore people need to be ready and alert! The time of when it will occur is not known, but it is known who will end it - Almighty God. Messiah's Good News The Servant Messiah speaks without being introduced this time, and is the preacher in the year of the Lord's favour. This preaching is probably a referral to the rams horn that ushers in the Year of Jubilee as established in the Mosaic Covenant (Leviticus 25:8-55). The Servant Messiah's preaching will usher in a time of grace, justice and freedom - just as the ram's horn introduced the Year of Jubilee. The phrase to "proclaim liberty" is used in both the year of Jubilee and in this the year of the Lord's favour. This proclaimed year of the Lord's favour starts when the Messiah comes the first time and will cease when He returns again. The word year, is not a fixed period of time as we know it, but is rather symbolic of an extended period of time. This Servant Messiah is anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. This Good News was to be preached to the humble, the poor and poor in spirit - the Good News is news of freedom, liberty, grace and justice! The comfort they will receive should the offer be taken up, is one of being released from condemnation for sin through the Messiah's offer of forgiveness - that is grace! Because of this grace, three things will be occur for these people who have accept the offer, here referred to in Isaiah 61:3 as "trees of righteousness" : they will display or reflect the Lord God's glory and splendour; they will be priests of the Lord God service; and will inherit all things! Messiah's Grace & Justice What is the outcome and result of grace? We see it in Isaiah 61:7-9. Almighty God's grace, available only through the Messiah, will bring bountiful blessing, ecstatic joy and a rich inheritance instead of shame, dishonour and exile. Grace may well be free but it is not cheap. What was the price? The relationship bridge to God that is the Messiah, is only through the Messiah's suffering atonement as described in Isaiah 53. Isaiah moves to justice quite naturally therefore, for grace and justice are like twins - they go together naturally. Justice is grace in action just as much as it is the judging of those in sin (Isaiah 61:8). Liberating people from sin freely (grace) is as much a part of justice as punishing those who reject the gracious offer of pardon and continue to live sinful lives. Grace and justice are also available, because God is always full of grace and justice and this is seen in the new covenant He makes with those who have heard this Good News proclaimed by the Messiah and responded by taking up His free offer. This Good News of the twins Grace and Justice brings an offering of thanksgiving and praise (Isaiah 61:10-11)! Clothed with salvation from and through God's Messiah, robed with the righteousness of God's Messiah! And because God has done it for this one man, He will ensure that all those who respond from all nations will also be like that in a responsive praise and Godly righteousness. Messiah's Vengeance We have been warned in Isaiah 61:2 that not only will the Messiah usher in the year of the Lord's favour, but He will also bring vengeance with him. People today don't like the word vengeance because it conjures up images of maliciousness and vindictiveness. This vengeance is wrought by Almighty God as punishment for people's personal sin against Him. His anger is a righteous anger and a wrath borne of holiness. His judgment will be final and also universal - every people of every nation of all time. In particular, however, those who would persecute, mock, abhor and reject those who have taken up God's free offer of grace through the coming Messiah. How is Jesus this Messiah? In Luke 4:16-20 at the beginning of His public ministry at a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus quotes this passage from Isaiah 61. This tells us that the year of the Lord's favour has commenced. But note from the passage in Luke, that he doesn't quote the full scripture. He stops in the middle of reading a sentence, just as soon as He says "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour", rolls the scroll back up. Why does he do that? It can only be because while now until He returns, is the year of the Lord's favour, the day of judgement and vengeance will wait until that day in the future - when those who are His followers will enter the City of God and those who rejected Him will have vengeance wrought against them. Jesus went around, as we know, proclaiming the same Good News Isaiah writes about (Matthew 9:35, Luke 8:1). Jesus proclaimed in his words and his life about God's love, grace and justice. When he healed the sick, forgave sins, gave compassion on the poor, spoke and ate with the outcasts, Jesus Christ embodied this message of grace, justice and freedom. When, as we saw on a previous day, death on the cross was the act of atonement required by God in order to punish the sins of the world, Jesus Christ did not shirk back from doing that. As for the day of vengeance, nobody talked about hell and God's judgement more than Jesus. But God is always reaching out, coaxing people to accept His free offer of grace, if people will only humble themselves and ask for it. God's offer of freedom is still available in this the year of the Lord's favour. But one day, the day of judgement will come and then it will be too late. That is why Jesus commanded with some urgency that His followers would tell all nations of this Good News, Isaiah wrote about. A Good News of salvation, grace, justice and freedom. Jesus, reinforcing what Isaiah ahs said, tells us that the day of vengeance is for those who reject the Good News he preaches and lives (Matthew 10v14-15). God's Day of Judgment is coming said Jesus (Matthew 12:36). What's more, Jesus said in John 5:22-23 "For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who doesn't honour the Son doesn't honour the Father who sent him." Jesus claims here to openly be the Messiah, the long awaited for chosen One! An even more overt statement by Jesus on judgment can be found in John 9:39, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind." Jesus tells us that the punishment will be both physical (Matthew 5v29-30), and in the soul (Matthew 10v28). This vengeance will consist of everlasting fire and punishment (Matthew 25v41-46) and will be Constant and outer darkness (Matthew 8v12). In other words, those rejecting the Messiah Jesus Christ, will face a lonely, impersonal God-less void. All this will happen when Jesus comes again, not as a baby like last time, but in glorious splendour. But for all those who accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and have grasped hold of the Good News message of grace, justice and liberty, there will be another place. According to Jesus, this heavenly city of God is only for those who are righteous (Matthew 5v20). In doing so, he concurs with Isaiah. This righteousness is not their own, but the robe righteousness declared upon them through the Messiah. This heavenly city of God, Jesus proclaims to us is a place of ecstatic Joy (Luke 15v7-10), total peace (Luke 16v19-25) and a reward (Matthew 5v11-12) - all themes we have heard in these books of Isaiah and Zechariah. We celebrate Jesus Christ coming to earth as a baby. Yes, His incarnation whereby God took on human flesh in the human form of Jesus Christ is important. That is when the year of the Lord's favour commenced. But that is only half the story, because this Jesus Christ is coming back again in splendorous glory, in order to gather all those who have responded obediently to the Good News of God's grace, justice and freedom. For those, the heavenly city of God awaits. But for those who reject Him now, He will reject them and the day of vengeance proclaimed in Isaiah will be a terrible day. That is why even as it is now the year of the Lord's favour; it is not too late to respond obediently to God's free grace. It is also not too late for you, if you are already counted as one of the Lord's followers to tell others of this free offer and the rewards of acceptance and consequences of rejection. Right mouse click or tap here to save this Podcast as a MP3.

In Nazareth, Jesus made the radical claim that He was the Anointed One who had come to bring freedom to the captive. This Good News was met only with scoffs and anger. Centuries later in a small French village, an unlikely duo of troubled men wrote "O Holy Night" - a song that proclaims freedom is made possible through the Miracle of Christmas. What does this Good News mean for our hearts seeking Justice? How can we join the Chain-Breaker in His Righteous mission of Mercy?

Join my newsletter here: https://shanemelaugh.com/newsletter/ I've been having fun creating non-branded, non-niche and non-marketing content on this channel. This is an experiment in progress, but I do have a hunch that this is the way forward. Today, I talk about my idea about building an intentional audience and about what it means to be an intentional content creator. We live in an era of increasingly competent AI generated content. Soon, it will be possible for anyone to create virtually unlimited, generic, AI content in any medium. What does this mean for the future of content creators. And maybe more importantly: what does it mean for the future of content consumption? Let's dive into some bold predictions about people getting zombified by algorithmic content and a potential golden age for authentic, human content. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:01 The Death of Generic Content 02:30 ChatGPT came just in time 03:37 How it This Good News?! 04:44 Compulsive Consumption 06:44 The New Wealth Gap 07:42 A Golden Age for Human Content 09:08 The Business Case for Intentional Audience Building 14:56 Information Diet 16:03 How I Curate My Feed 22:11 Conclusion Links: James' video about abandoning his huge YouTube channel The Dopamine Nation video Me and my wholesome Twitter feed

WHAT CATCHES THE EYE AND THE HEART OF GOD Faith “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 FAITH IS NOT HOPING THAT GOD CAN! IT IS KNOWING GOD WILL! And faith is SEEING what the human eye cannot see. 1. Even Small Faith Can Have Huge Impact “Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20 “If You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:22-24 2. The Reward of Your Faith is Directly Tied to the Reliability of Where You Place Your Faith “He is the rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is.” Deuteronomy 32:4 3. The BEST Investment of Faith is Being Made Right with God Romans 1:17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. Romans 3:27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. Romans 4:5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. John 20:31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. If you can trust Jesus with your eternity, you can surely trust Him with your today and your tomorrow. “God said, Look, I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on, whoever believes need not be shaken.” Isaiah 28:16 4. To Build an Unshakeable Faith, I Must Have My Faith Shaken “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” James 1:2,3 “Sometimes our only way through is a leap of faith.” “Psalm 78:9-12 “The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle. 10 They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his instructions. 11 They forgot what he had done, the great wonders he had shown them, 12 the miracles he did for their ancestors…” “They did not believe God or trust Him to care for them.” Psalm 78:22
 “But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.” Psalm 78:32 “For it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Preaching for Easter Sunday, Dr. C. Vanessa White offers a reflection on the power of women's voices proclaiming the Good News then and now: "If women doubt their value, this telling and retelling of the resurrection story reaffirms the power of a women's voice  - for it was Mary's voice that first testified to the Resurrection and whose story continues today...On this day, can we, like Mary, run and share the news of Jesus' presence in our world?  In spite of our doubts and fears, do we have the strength, the fortitude, the faith to go out like Mary and the disciples and share the news that Jesus has risen? This Good News can change our hearts and change the world, if only we believe." Dr. C. Vanessa White is Associate Professor of Spirituality and Ministry  as well as the Director of the Certificate in Black Theology and Ministry at Catholic Theological Union.  She received her Doctor of Ministry and Master of Theological Studies degrees from Catholic Theological Union, with additional post-graduate work at Xavier University of Louisiana and Loyola University Chicago.  She is also a member of the faculty for Xavier University's Summer Institute for Black Catholic Studies in New Orleans where she teaches in both the Master's degree and Continuing Education and Enrichment Program.   Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/03313024 to learn more about C. Vanessa White, to read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

*Not really EVERYTHING but it sure made you look! Disclaimer: Any views or opinions presented in this podcast are personal and belong to the content creator. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company or individual. Disclaimer: The passage of Scripture read out loud in the beginning of each podcast episode will be in Hebrew followed by the direct translation in English from the Complete Jewish Study Bible. Come listen to something different. Welcome Honduras!

March 10, 2024 @ 10:00 a.m. Core 52: The Gospel is Good NewsMark 1:1Easter is just 3 weeks away! We would love to have you join us for all of our gatherings during Holy Week. But really there is no need to wait, come join us this week and get a head start!Holy Week GatheringsThursday, March 28th7:00 p.m. Maundy Thursday Communion ServiceFriday, March 29th6:00 p.m. Good Friday Dinner7:00 p.m. Good Friday ServiceResurrection Sunday10:00 a.m.Where did the word Gospel come from? Why is this “good news”? Who is it for? What does it mean? We will show you the answers to all these questions and more this week. Jesus has always been the Good News. Even in the Old Testament, His coming was referred to as Good News. But this Good News does more than just bring a smile to your face. This Good News brings justification by faith. It brings forgiveness of sins, freedom from guilt, salvation from Hell, deliverance from pain and suffering, a personal relationship with the God of creation and so much more! Please, join us this week to hear the Good News.We are in the middle of a series called Core 52 series. This series challenges us to examine the scriptures. We are on a journey not just to know the Word of God but to learn to love it and then live it out. Our family would love to have you join us this week! Please come as you are. God wants to love you right now, right where you are at. Join us this Sunday at 10. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/escape-urself-podcast/support

Romans 1 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. 2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David's family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. 6 And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 8 Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. 9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. 10 One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. 11 For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. 12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. 13 I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. 14 For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. 15 So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. 16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. 28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and[...]

They say you can summon great strength when it's needed, hear how that was true in THIS Good News story!

The message this week comes from Luke 2:8-21. It is the Good News that God gave to the shepherds. Luke points out that God gave signs to the shepherds so they would know that this was the messiah, Jesus that was coming for the whole world. The shepherds heard the Good News, went and found Jesus, then worshipped Jesus by telling others about Him. This Good News of Great Joy is for all people evrerwhere!

In this episode we investigate what is Grace and how it relates to us today.Romans 1:16-17For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”Genesis 15:6And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.Mark 9:23And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes.Hebrews 10:38But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”2 Corinthians 5:7For we walk by faith, not by sight.Romans 14:23:Whatever is not from faith is sin.Ephesians 6:16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;Ezra 9:8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.John 1:14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.Titus 2:11-14For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. 12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.Romans 5:17For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one, how much more will those receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!Ephesians 6:16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;Ephesians 2:8-9For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.1 Peter 5:10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.2 Corinthians 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.1 Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”Hebrews 10:35-36So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.1 John 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faithSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/622a9079e8fb640012cb94f3. I pray that God would "give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18I, pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance" https://plus.acast.com/s/blueprint-of-faith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Good News (Luke 1:5-25)This Good News...1. Silences Unbelief2. Takes Away Reproach3. Turns Hearts Around

The ____________________ is the Good News that we have victory through Jesus. [Romans 1:16-17] For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--the Jew first and also the Gentile. [17] This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Every person was created to be ____________________ and ____________________. God loves you because He ____________________ to. [1 John 4:16] We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. God doesn't love you because of who _____________ _________, He loves you because of who ______________. Our ___________________ does not make God love us less. [Ephesians 3:18-19] And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. [19] May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. God knows ____________________ about us and He still loves us. [Romans 5:8] But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Your ____________________ do not change your ____________________ to God. [Romans 8:38-39] And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. [39] No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Every Word 2022 day 115: What most people don't know about Bible translations Hi there, and welcome to this bonus podcast! I will be discussing the two main types of Bible translations I recommend for most people. As a Bible translator since 1983, I feel that most Christians in the USA are not given enough information about why Bible translations differ in wording, and which kinds of Bible translations will be better for different kinds of readers. This is an important topic, so I am surprised at myself: I can't believe that I haven't released a dedicated podcast about this topic every year since 2014. ALSO, please stay tuned for the end of the podcast, because I want to recommend a fantastic new real-book Bible. Because of more difficult content in this podcast, if you are not driving a car, it would be a great idea to open the episode notes so you can visually follow along and make sure you don't miss something important. Look especially at the words I have made bold. There are actually five types of Bible translations, but I will mainly discuss the two most-used types in this podcast. But let's start with showing the two types with a translation example that is not from the Bible. Consider this sentence: Jill looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she heard Jack's proposal. Now let's imagine a word-for-word translation for some language in Africa. Since we don't know a language like that, let's pretend we do and make a word-for-word translation into English. Here is my suggestion for that: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light upon hearing Jack's desire. What we have in this example (caught in the headlights) is a figure of speech. Americans rather frequently use this figure of speech. But a word-for-word translation for the hypothetical African audience would very likely be tricky for them to understand. They might not know what a gazelle would do if a bright light shone upon them. (For that matter, I don't know if gazelle's act like deer do when meeting with bright lights.) I think an African might understand “Jill appeared like a gazelle trapped in bright light” to be a gazelle trapped with a metal trap, in pain, and struggling to get loose when the bright light suddenly shines upon it. Our hypothetical African listener will probably get a very different idea about what is meant. For our second hypothetical translation, let's try giving the plain meaning like we would if we were explaining to an 8-year-old child. We might translate, “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” Or we might say, Jill was caught off guard and totally surprised by Jack's offer.” In this example, I've dropped the figure of speech entirely and gone straight for the meaning. These are the two main translation types that I want to explain: The first was what we call a literal translation, or a word-for-word translation. And the second is what I will call a meaning-based translation.  Literal: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light … Meaning-based: Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal. Which translation is ‘right'? Actually both translations can be considered right. But the word-for-word translation is difficult to understand for our hypothetical African listeners, because there are cultural factors involved in interpreting the figure of speech in this example. The listeners would likely come up with various interpretations about the poor, defenseless gazelle being trapped. Whereas, if Jill likes Jack, she may be thrilled at his proposal. The meaning based translation is right too: “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” That translation is easy to understand, but if you remember the original sentence, you will miss the richness of the figure of speech. The two main types of Bible translations have exactly the same problems as what I have shown in the two examples above. The advantage of a literal, word-for-word translation is that it mirrors the form of the original text. The disadvantage of a literal translation is that it cannot always clearly give the meaning in the target language. The meaning-based translation is just the opposite: The advantage of a meaning-based translation is that it shows the meaning clearly. The disadvantage of a meaning-based translation is that it cannot mirror the form of the original text. Every Bible translator starts out thinking, “I will be able to translate word-for-word and still clearly enough show the meaning.” For two languages that are strongly related to each other, a literal translation can often still be clear. But if we are thinking of translating ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern English, there is a huge gulf between the ancient and modern languages and cultures. My first example involved an English figure of speech. But let me give you a chance to experience decoding an Indonesian figure of speech: Yakobus adalah kacang yang sudah lupa kulitnya. A word-for-word translation is this: Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell. Now it is your turn to wonder what that could mean. You won't guess, so I will tell you. Here's a meaning-based translation of “Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell.” That means, Jack left his rural village to get an education in the city, and now has a good job with a high salary, but he has forgotten his humble beginnings. He never helps any of his friends and relatives in his home village. There are many literal (or word-for-word) Bible translations in English. That kind of translation is easier to make. And not all literal translations are equally literal. Some fudge to be slightly more meaning-based. But for the purposes of this discussion, I will choose what I think is the most popular literal translation today: It is the ESV (English Standard Version). It is the translation that would translate, “Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light.” It is great at showing the word-for-word form of the original text, but not so good at giving you the meaning clearly. A literal translation I like better than the ESV is the WEBBE (World English Bible British Edition). Meaning-based Bible translations are much rarer, because they require the translator to work much harder to accurately translate the meaning. For English language readers, I recommend the Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech of 1901, The Good News Bible (TEV 1966), and the New Living Translation. There are a few more, but those are my favorites, and I will focus in this podcast on the NLT. The NLT would translate our example as “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.”  The KJV is a literal translation, and an unfortunate part of the continuing legacy of the KJV, is that pastors often prefer using literal translations from the pulpit. But unfortunately this means that many ordinary people in the pew wind up using something like the ESV for their daily Bible reading at home. This means that many Christians who read their Bibles at home often struggle with hard-to-understand passages. If you normally read the ESV Bible and think you understand everything in it, well, I bet you haven't yet read all of it! Here is one of my most important recommendations for you: Make sure you have access to both kinds of translations. In other words, use both an ESV and an NLT Bible. That way you can quickly see the meaning (in the NLT), and you get a window into the word-for-word shape of the original text with the ESV. My Daily Bible Reading podcasts have only been of two meaning-based translations. Why? Because they can be understood by people just listening to the recordings. It would be useless to record the ESV, because listeners would often miss the meaning.  Now I want to illustrate what I have been saying with a Bible passage. I wish I could spend an hour doing this, but I feel I must limit myself to only one example. I have chosen the topic statement for the book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17. In the ESV verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. If I had all the podcast listeners in front of me as a  group, I would say to you, “Raise your hand if you are a Jew.” Usually in my audiences, no one raises their hand. At that point I say, “Raise your hand if you are a Greek.” Usually again, no one raises their hand. But then my question is, “Where do you fit in to Romans 1:16?” This verse says that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Sounds like you people who didn't raise your hands are not able to be saved! So which one are we?” The answer is that Paul is contrasting Jews with everyone else. Greek was the universal language of culture and commerce at that time, even under the Roman government. Now let's compare the same verse in the NLT: For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes— the Jew first and also the Gentile. Now let's look at verse 17 in the ESV: For in it (referring back to the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” No English reader will suspect that there is anything kind of strange about the phrase ‘the righteous of God'. The problem is that ‘of God' is a genitive in Greek, and genitives have a dozen different options for the meaning. ESV nearly always uses the word ‘of' to translate genitives. But in this verse, ‘righteousness of God'  will mean that the Gospel is about revealing that God is righteous. Wait a minute! If God is righteous and I am not righteous, that is not Good News. He will punish me. Rather, in this verse, the genitive is one showing source. Just wait a moment and I will read the NLT. A second significant problem in verse 17 is a grammatical construction that forms an idiom in Greek: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So the literal translation has zero meaning or leaves the reader to guess at meanings, which will probably be wrong. Finally, because of the first two problems I just mentioned, it seems like the final quote from Habakkuk 2:4 doesn't fit with what came before it. So we ask, why did Paul quote, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now let me read the NLT to you: 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Many years ago, I had a phone conversation with a woman who was a new believer. She liked reading her KJV, and I used Romans 1:16-17 to try to show her that she would be better off reading the NLT. The KJV has the same problem in v.17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” So I asked her what that means, and she quickly replied, “Oh, you know, the Catholic faith, the Mormon faith, the protestant faith.” Hello! None of those things existed when Paul wrote Romans. I give that story to show that a dangerous thing that happens when many people read the Bible: If we don't understand something, we may just make up a meaning that sounds plausible to us. And as time goes on, we can get more and more convinced that our guesses are true. Going back to the advantages and disadvantages of the two translation types, the ESV has made a very good literal translation of 1:17. The ESV closely mirrors the form of the Greek text, but the problem is that readers won't grasp the meaning, unless perhaps there are study notes to guide them. On the other hand, the NLT has the disadvantage that it doesn't match the word-for-word form of the Greek, but it nails the meaning. God is the source of our righteousness. NLT translates: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. And the Greek idiom ‘from faith to faith' means, “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.” Finally, if you take the time to read verse 17 again, you will see that the quote at the end of the verse supports what Paul claims about the Good News about Christ. I am passionate about people having access to at least one Bible that is a literal translation, and one that is a meaning-based translation.  Recently an elder in our church shared that he was struggling hard to read and understand Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. He was rather bitter in his complaints, saying, “Why did Jeremiah write like this? I can't penetrate this stuff!” This is just one example of many I could share. Normal Christians like you and me who try to use a literal translation for devotional reading, and attempt to read every book in the Bible, will not enjoy the experience. This can clearly be seen in Indonesia, where the people have only had wide access to one literal translation since 1974. Indonesian Christians have been discouraged from reading their Bibles for too long, and that has seriously weakened the church throughout that country. Now, with our Plain Indonesian Translation, thousands of people have discovered that they enjoy reading the Bible. But now, through our 90-day Bible reading challenge, teenage kids and adults are rejoicing to find that they enjoy reading the New Testament, finishing it in 90 days, and many immediately start over to read it again. Any Christian who wants to glorify God should read the whole Bible. And if we really want to glorify God, then we should read a translation that we understand. Reading a translation that you don't understand fully will not help you or encourage you. I need to give two important clarifications: Some people think that the NLT is a paraphrase because the first edition still contained some words or phrases that sounded like the Living Bible. The Living Bible deserves to be called a paraphrase, because it occasionally adds ideas not found in the original text, or fails to translate other things. But the New Living Translation is a highly researched and revised meaning-based translation. My second clarification is that The Message is an extreme paraphrase. Please don't think it is a faithful translation. Please don't quote it. Please don't give it to a new Christian to read. Here is the information about real-book Bibles I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. I want you to know that no one at Tyndale House asked me to promote their products, and I am not getting paid anything for giving out this information. Gale decided to give NLT Bibles to members of her Bible study groups, and I decided to give them to my small group. It has been a long time since we bought Bibles, and so we made some delightful discoveries. Tyndale House has several cool NLT Bibles right now. The NLT Illustrated Study Bible is incredible! Beautifully illustrated with maps and charts and many study notes and supplemental information. The hardcover edition is only $36.66. You might like the leather-like edition which is a bit more. However, at more than 2,500 pages, you won't want to carry this Bible around.  Here's what I am giving to some young people in our church, including our grandkids: There is a new kind of Bible developed by Tyndale House, called a Filament Enabled NLT Bible. This real-book Bible comes without study notes and maps, making it practical to carry and providing an uncluttered reading experience, but it has a companion cell phone app that gives you all the stuff you would get in a study Bible and even much more. You download the Filament app for your phone or tablet, and then you can take a picture of the page number or type in the page number for which you want to get more information. The app then gives you study notes, charts, timelines, and devotional material, including videos and even worship songs. There is a premium-value edition with a leather-like cover for just $15. For the person who wants to make notes, there is a beautiful wide margin edition available for $38. A large print Filament enabled Bible is about that same price. A genuine leather thin-line edition of the NLT Filament Bible is only $35.  I highly recommend an article linked at the very end of the episode notes entitled How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best by Andy Naselli.    And may the Lord bless you ‘real good'.   LINKS: https://sites.google.com/clarinetpages.net/read-the-bible-in-a-year/read/start-with-a-good-plan See the second part of this page: Recommended Bible translations for devotional reading   Fantastic article: How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best June 13, 2017  |  Andy Naselli  

Every Word 2022 day 115: What most people don't know about Bible translations Hi there, and welcome to this bonus podcast! I will be discussing the two main types of Bible translations I recommend for most people. As a Bible translator since 1983, I feel that most Christians in the USA are not given enough information about why Bible translations differ in wording, and which kinds of Bible translations will be better for different kinds of readers. This is an important topic, so I am surprised at myself: I can't believe that I haven't released a dedicated podcast about this topic every year since 2014. ALSO, please stay tuned for the end of the podcast, because I want to recommend a fantastic new real-book Bible. Because of more difficult content in this podcast, if you are not driving a car, it would be a great idea to open the episode notes so you can visually follow along and make sure you don't miss something important. Look especially at the words I have made bold. There are actually five types of Bible translations, but I will mainly discuss the two most-used types in this podcast. But let's start with showing the two types with a translation example that is not from the Bible. Consider this sentence: Jill looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she heard Jack's proposal. Now let's imagine a word-for-word translation for some language in Africa. Since we don't know a language like that, let's pretend we do and make a word-for-word translation into English. Here is my suggestion for that: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light upon hearing Jack's desire. What we have in this example (caught in the headlights) is a figure of speech. Americans rather frequently use this figure of speech. But a word-for-word translation for the hypothetical African audience would very likely be tricky for them to understand. They might not know what a gazelle would do if a bright light shone upon them. (For that matter, I don't know if gazelle's act like deer do when meeting with bright lights.) I think an African might understand “Jill appeared like a gazelle trapped in bright light” to be a gazelle trapped with a metal trap, in pain, and struggling to get loose when the bright light suddenly shines upon it. Our hypothetical African listener will probably get a very different idea about what is meant. For our second hypothetical translation, let's try giving the plain meaning like we would if we were explaining to an 8-year-old child. We might translate, “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” Or we might say, Jill was caught off guard and totally surprised by Jack's offer.” In this example, I've dropped the figure of speech entirely and gone straight for the meaning. These are the two main translation types that I want to explain: The first was what we call a literal translation, or a word-for-word translation. And the second is what I will call a meaning-based translation.  Literal: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light … Meaning-based: Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal. Which translation is ‘right'? Actually both translations can be considered right. But the word-for-word translation is difficult to understand for our hypothetical African listeners, because there are cultural factors involved in interpreting the figure of speech in this example. The listeners would likely come up with various interpretations about the poor, defenseless gazelle being trapped. Whereas, if Jill likes Jack, she may be thrilled at his proposal. The meaning based translation is right too: “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” That translation is easy to understand, but if you remember the original sentence, you will miss the richness of the figure of speech. The two main types of Bible translations have exactly the same problems as what I have shown in the two examples above. The advantage of a literal, word-for-word translation is that it mirrors the form of the original text. The disadvantage of a literal translation is that it cannot always clearly give the meaning in the target language. The meaning-based translation is just the opposite: The advantage of a meaning-based translation is that it shows the meaning clearly. The disadvantage of a meaning-based translation is that it cannot mirror the form of the original text. Every Bible translator starts out thinking, “I will be able to translate word-for-word and still clearly enough show the meaning.” For two languages that are strongly related to each other, a literal translation can often still be clear. But if we are thinking of translating ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern English, there is a huge gulf between the ancient and modern languages and cultures. My first example involved an English figure of speech. But let me give you a chance to experience decoding an Indonesian figure of speech: Yakobus adalah kacang yang sudah lupa kulitnya. A word-for-word translation is this: Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell. Now it is your turn to wonder what that could mean. You won't guess, so I will tell you. Here's a meaning-based translation of “Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell.” That means, Jack left his rural village to get an education in the city, and now has a good job with a high salary, but he has forgotten his humble beginnings. He never helps any of his friends and relatives in his home village. There are many literal (or word-for-word) Bible translations in English. That kind of translation is easier to make. And not all literal translations are equally literal. Some fudge to be slightly more meaning-based. But for the purposes of this discussion, I will choose what I think is the most popular literal translation today: It is the ESV (English Standard Version). It is the translation that would translate, “Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light.” It is great at showing the word-for-word form of the original text, but not so good at giving you the meaning clearly. A literal translation I like better than the ESV is the WEBBE (World English Bible British Edition). Meaning-based Bible translations are much rarer, because they require the translator to work much harder to accurately translate the meaning. For English language readers, I recommend the Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech of 1901, The Good News Bible (TEV 1966), and the New Living Translation. There are a few more, but those are my favorites, and I will focus in this podcast on the NLT. The NLT would translate our example as “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.”  The KJV is a literal translation, and an unfortunate part of the continuing legacy of the KJV, is that pastors often prefer using literal translations from the pulpit. But unfortunately this means that many ordinary people in the pew wind up using something like the ESV for their daily Bible reading at home. This means that many Christians who read their Bibles at home often struggle with hard-to-understand passages. If you normally read the ESV Bible and think you understand everything in it, well, I bet you haven't yet read all of it! Here is one of my most important recommendations for you: Make sure you have access to both kinds of translations. In other words, use both an ESV and an NLT Bible. That way you can quickly see the meaning (in the NLT), and you get a window into the word-for-word shape of the original text with the ESV. My Daily Bible Reading podcasts have only been of two meaning-based translations. Why? Because they can be understood by people just listening to the recordings. It would be useless to record the ESV, because listeners would often miss the meaning.  Now I want to illustrate what I have been saying with a Bible passage. I wish I could spend an hour doing this, but I feel I must limit myself to only one example. I have chosen the topic statement for the book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17. In the ESV verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. If I had all the podcast listeners in front of me as a  group, I would say to you, “Raise your hand if you are a Jew.” Usually in my audiences, no one raises their hand. At that point I say, “Raise your hand if you are a Greek.” Usually again, no one raises their hand. But then my question is, “Where do you fit in to Romans 1:16?” This verse says that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Sounds like you people who didn't raise your hands are not able to be saved! So which one are we?” The answer is that Paul is contrasting Jews with everyone else. Greek was the universal language of culture and commerce at that time, even under the Roman government. Now let's compare the same verse in the NLT: For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes— the Jew first and also the Gentile. Now let's look at verse 17 in the ESV: For in it (referring back to the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” No English reader will suspect that there is anything kind of strange about the phrase ‘the righteous of God'. The problem is that ‘of God' is a genitive in Greek, and genitives have a dozen different options for the meaning. ESV nearly always uses the word ‘of' to translate genitives. But in this verse, ‘righteousness of God'  will mean that the Gospel is about revealing that God is righteous. Wait a minute! If God is righteous and I am not righteous, that is not Good News. He will punish me. Rather, in this verse, the genitive is one showing source. Just wait a moment and I will read the NLT. A second significant problem in verse 17 is a grammatical construction that forms an idiom in Greek: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So the literal translation has zero meaning or leaves the reader to guess at meanings, which will probably be wrong. Finally, because of the first two problems I just mentioned, it seems like the final quote from Habakkuk 2:4 doesn't fit with what came before it. So we ask, why did Paul quote, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now let me read the NLT to you: 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Many years ago, I had a phone conversation with a woman who was a new believer. She liked reading her KJV, and I used Romans 1:16-17 to try to show her that she would be better off reading the NLT. The KJV has the same problem in v.17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” So I asked her what that means, and she quickly replied, “Oh, you know, the Catholic faith, the Mormon faith, the protestant faith.” Hello! None of those things existed when Paul wrote Romans. I give that story to show that a dangerous thing that happens when many people read the Bible: If we don't understand something, we may just make up a meaning that sounds plausible to us. And as time goes on, we can get more and more convinced that our guesses are true. Going back to the advantages and disadvantages of the two translation types, the ESV has made a very good literal translation of 1:17. The ESV closely mirrors the form of the Greek text, but the problem is that readers won't grasp the meaning, unless perhaps there are study notes to guide them. On the other hand, the NLT has the disadvantage that it doesn't match the word-for-word form of the Greek, but it nails the meaning. God is the source of our righteousness. NLT translates: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. And the Greek idiom ‘from faith to faith' means, “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.” Finally, if you take the time to read verse 17 again, you will see that the quote at the end of the verse supports what Paul claims about the Good News about Christ. I am passionate about people having access to at least one Bible that is a literal translation, and one that is a meaning-based translation.  Recently an elder in our church shared that he was struggling hard to read and understand Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. He was rather bitter in his complaints, saying, “Why did Jeremiah write like this? I can't penetrate this stuff!” This is just one example of many I could share. Normal Christians like you and me who try to use a literal translation for devotional reading, and attempt to read every book in the Bible, will not enjoy the experience. This can clearly be seen in Indonesia, where the people have only had wide access to one literal translation since 1974. Indonesian Christians have been discouraged from reading their Bibles for too long, and that has seriously weakened the church throughout that country. Now, with our Plain Indonesian Translation, thousands of people have discovered that they enjoy reading the Bible. But now, through our 90-day Bible reading challenge, teenage kids and adults are rejoicing to find that they enjoy reading the New Testament, finishing it in 90 days, and many immediately start over to read it again. Any Christian who wants to glorify God should read the whole Bible. And if we really want to glorify God, then we should read a translation that we understand. Reading a translation that you don't understand fully will not help you or encourage you. I need to give two important clarifications: Some people think that the NLT is a paraphrase because the first edition still contained some words or phrases that sounded like the Living Bible. The Living Bible deserves to be called a paraphrase, because it occasionally adds ideas not found in the original text, or fails to translate other things. But the New Living Translation is a highly researched and revised meaning-based translation. My second clarification is that The Message is an extreme paraphrase. Please don't think it is a faithful translation. Please don't quote it. Please don't give it to a new Christian to read. Here is the information about real-book Bibles I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. I want you to know that no one at Tyndale House asked me to promote their products, and I am not getting paid anything for giving out this information. Gale decided to give NLT Bibles to members of her Bible study groups, and I decided to give them to my small group. It has been a long time since we bought Bibles, and so we made some delightful discoveries. Tyndale House has several cool NLT Bibles right now. The NLT Illustrated Study Bible is incredible! Beautifully illustrated with maps and charts and many study notes and supplemental information. The hardcover edition is only $36.66. You might like the leather-like edition which is a bit more. However, at more than 2,500 pages, you won't want to carry this Bible around.  Here's what I am giving to some young people in our church, including our grandkids: There is a new kind of Bible developed by Tyndale House, called a Filament Enabled NLT Bible. This real-book Bible comes without study notes and maps, making it practical to carry and providing an uncluttered reading experience, but it has a companion cell phone app that gives you all the stuff you would get in a study Bible and even much more. You download the Filament app for your phone or tablet, and then you can take a picture of the page number or type in the page number for which you want to get more information. The app then gives you study notes, charts, timelines, and devotional material, including videos and even worship songs. There is a premium-value edition with a leather-like cover for just $15. For the person who wants to make notes, there is a beautiful wide margin edition available for $38. A large print Filament enabled Bible is about that same price. A genuine leather thin-line edition of the NLT Filament Bible is only $35.  I highly recommend an article linked at the very end of the episode notes entitled How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best by Andy Naselli.    And may the Lord bless you ‘real good'.   LINKS: https://sites.google.com/clarinetpages.net/read-the-bible-in-a-year/read/start-with-a-good-plan See the second part of this page: Recommended Bible translations for devotional reading   Fantastic article: How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best June 13, 2017  |  Andy Naselli  

The Good News is all there is. This Good News is Jesus Christ. He is the Good News because He brought redemption to mankind. His birth is just the beginning. The Good News has brought us eternal joy, believing and accepting this Good News will give you life. Happy Holidays.

There is a visceral sense of diminished passion & contentment in our culture. Any sense of joy seems muted, which may be due to lack of trust created by the obscuring and alteration of truth. That's why the message of the angel to the shepherds about Jesus is so powerful--because God is openly declaring the truth about His mercy and plan for mankind, to an unlikely of common people. This "Good News of great joy" brings exceeding gladness and calm delight that is only found in a right relationship with the Lord through Jesus. As we trust Him and live for Him, He continuously restores our joy and gives us an abundant life.  Video of this message is also available:  youtube.com/watch?v=DQs4VNJ8CsQ

Notes to my Graduate Self Stop forcing the future: When I was a senior, I was dating a girl who was a freshman in college. My entire senior year was wasted on wanting to get out of high school and start my journey at college. Going back, I wish I just lived in the present with all of my relationships and events I participated in. As now a 40-year-old man, I know this to be true today. Being present is a gift to everyone you are with now. Too many of us live in our past or looking to much to our future. Therefore, my advice would be to just be present, learn from the past, and have a vision for your future. Work on yourself today and those who you are with and the future will take care of itself. Outside Noise: You will be surrounded by voices from television, social media, and friends and family who will try to take your mind and change it. Unfortunately, most of this noise will be negative and much doom and gloom. Therefore, be very selective what and who you listen too. I wish I learned to only surround myself with positive people and read and listen to experts in their field who would help me become a better person. You can filter what enters your mind and heart from others, therefore tune down the negative noise and turn up the positive. Love: This is the single most important ingredient in life. Without love, you will feel empty, irritable and uneasy. To feel love and share it with others you have to spend time with God. In the Bible, John wrote, “Whoever does not know love, does not know God, because God is love”(1 John 4:8). If God is the source of love, then we must try to understand His heart by reading the Bible and listening to preachers who share the truth of the Good News. This Good News is Jesus came down to save us from ALL our sins so that we can be saved by God's grace. This grace confirms that we will be loved for the rest of our lives and for eternity by being with our creator. What greater joy is to know this to be true. Once you accept these truths, you will begin to understand how to imitate God's love to everyone you encounter. You truly will be more happy, joyful and will have peace beyond all understanding if you know this truth. Vision: Having a vision for your future will help you feel a sense of purpose. I was blessed that I knew I wanted to be a teacher and coach when I was in 8th grade. Many people don't know what they want to do as a profession or in life because they don't spend time figuring out the gifts which God gave them and what job would allow them to feel fulfilled. If I didn't know the vision for my future, I would have spent time taking personality tests and experiencing different jobs by visiting or shadowing as many as I could. We don't know what we don't know, therefore go out and explore all of your options before you or your parents spend thousands of dollars in a degree that you pursued for money and status instead of living out your daily passion in a profession. Habits: My last piece of advice I wish I knew was how important it is to have small wins. I used to get wrapped up in the end result instead of enjoying the journey in each adventure I was a part of in my life. I would not have placed so much weight on the end result: if it went my way, being happy or if it didn't, then feeling like a failure. Therefore, learning to enjoy the process and being disciplined to do something small each day has allowed me to gain success in all areas of my life. Remember, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” (Lao Tzu). Start small, be consistent and build a future for your life and for those around you! Follow me on Instagram @jgrdina04 If you would like more information in regards to the show or my platform go to: johngrdina.com

This Good News is Worth Sharing | Ps. Tom Sardella | 11/06/22 by Redeeming Love Church

Praying Colossians 1 freebie   Well hey there, hello to ya today. So thankful you are listening to the show today. We're talking about prayer, which is a hugely important aspect of the Christian life and is incredibly needed in this era in which we find ourselves living. And there is tremendous promise in prayer. The Bible has so much to say about prayer, it's hard to overemphasize how much hope we have when we stand in prayer.   Paul, in his epistle, Colossians chapter one, that's our text for today. I'm going to read from the NLT and then I am going to pray this passage for you. And in the show notes for this episode I'm going to attach a link for a pdf you can download that has the prayer I'll be sharing on the episode, so you can access it on your phone or print it out and keep it with your Bible study items, use it in any way that would be a blessing to you and the people that you are praying for. I'll put that link at the very top of the show notes so that it will be easy to access no matter what app or podcast player you use to listen to podcasts. I'm really honored to be able to pray for you today, and for the 125th episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, this seemed like a super fitting topic to focus on. Let's jump into this passage.   You're listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. This is episode number 125.    So as I look at Colossians chapter one, I am going to read aloud verses three through fourteen, and I'm a quick reader so don't get too worried that it's gonna take me a long while to read this. I want to read it and then pray it. So as I read, would you listen closely, with some intentionality, and think about who you can pray these verses for? Who might God want you to stand in prayer for today?    We want to be disciples who in turn make disciples. A key aspect of the Great Commission, right? Prayer is one excellent way to focus on discipleship. Because you and I, we will grow in our walk with the Lord as we pray for others. And those others for whom we are praying are also going to grow in their life. It is actually a WIN-WIN. And we want as many wins as possible, especially when it feels like life kind of kicks us around a bit, knocks us down. Let's get some wins, you know what I mean. Right here, this is a big WIN-WIN for us.    I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Colossians 1:3-14   3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. 7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.[b] 8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,[c] 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom[d] and forgave our sins.   Okay, this is quite a passage. Really so much here for us to believe God for in prayer.   Paul saying that they always pray for the recipients of this letter, can you even imagine what comfort that brought them? You know, when we pray for others, in a committed kind of way in particular, it really has an impact on them. It shores them up, it can steady them where they may not quite be feeling their sea legs ya know, kind of shaky and quaky. It is so good to know that we are not alone and somebody who loves Jesus is praying for us on the regular. It's a really big deal, and my personal desire is honestly that we all have somebody or several somebodies who pray for us. It's part of being in the body of Christ, and I really would love to see us get all sorts of fired up about praying for one another. What might change if we really leaned into that? Uh, yeah I actually think everything could change.   And when you pray for others, give thanks to the Lord as you pray. Like, the ability to pray and have our prayers heard by God is huge, so thank Him. And thank Him for your church body, thank Him for your praying friends and family, thank Him for all the things really. I could go on and on about what we should be thankful for.    Verse 4 - Paul is thankful for their faith in Jesus and their love for God's people. Can the same be said of us? Does anybody see evidence of my faith in Jesus? Is it apparent that I love God's people? I hope so. And does my love and my faith stem from my confident hope of what is coming for me in the future. Confident. Key word in this passage. Confident hope does not sound like, “Gee I sure hope so.” In Revelation, in His letters to the churches, Jesus said they'd forgotten their first love. When we remember what it was like when we first really got it, what this relationship with Jesus was really all about, man what a moment. Did we have an expectation of what would come in the next life back then? Yes indeed. That can still be our expectation and the source of our hope. God has things reserved for us in heaven. Isn't that exciting? Hang on to that first love. Jesus is always, always worth it, my friend.   Let's also pray that the Good News will continue to spread around the world. I have a shirt that says “Make Heaven Crowded” and I'll be honest, I have some shirts that remind me to pray (and a lock screen for my phone that I created to remind me to pray), a hoodie that reminds me that making disciples and being a good disciple myself, those things matter. I have a shirt to remind me that Esther 4:14 is true, and one to remind me that the work I do in my writing and podcasting, it needs to be handled with care, if you will. Like not flippant, but really focused and prayed up as I do the things I do. Make heaven crowded - three words that might be kind of cheesy in the way that only Christian tshirts can at times be cheesy. But it's important to me. I wear that shirt when I'm writing, when I'm recording audio content like this podcast. It's for me, to remind me of something really important. People matter. And where they spend eternity, that matters to Jesus and so it should matter to me.    Now I also have a shirt that mentions it being too people-y outside and a sweatshirt that says homebody. I'm telling you, if you know you know. I love people, but the way God made me, I don't refuel or recharge with all the peoples. I need to have time alone, and you know what, that's the time I use to write, to craft out podcast content, to work on things for my next prayer retreat in my private Facebook group. To pray for dozens of people (and I have a prayer list with dozens of names on it) If God had not wired me to be okay, to even be in my sweet spot, without loads of people around me all the time, I don't know that I could get done the things I do. So, how God wired you is part of how He will accomplish the good works He planned for you to be doing. Don't get annoyed by the gift (cuz sometimes that's a shady way of being annoyed at the gift giver). Pray and ask how this gifting fits in with how He made you and His good works that He prepared in advance for you to do. It's really that simple. I used to think I was a really cruddy Christian because I got worn out by too much people-y stuff. Now, I understand it so much better because I prayed about it and the Lord showed me some stuff. He'll show us some stuff if we pray and talk to Him about whatever it is we need to talk about.   This Good News about Jesus is bearing fruit everywhere and it is doing that by changing lives. Look, I've said it before and this here today won't be the last time I say this. The Word of God is life changing. God is in the life changing business. So, why are we so surprised when a life is changed by the Lord? Why should that surprise us? It's His way, so we should expect to see lives changed all the time. And hey, why shouldn't one of those lives be your life? You cannot possibly give me a good reason why not you. Why not you? Let God change your life and let your changed life bear fruit.    In verse 7 Paul mentions the person who told them the Good News. We are coworkers with every other Chrsitian who is sharing the Good News of Jesus. It's not a contest or a competition. We're working toward the same goal. Be a faithful servant of Jesus, yourself personally, and pray for others to be the same. And then, don't let competition get in there. God's got a crown for you and He's got a crown for them. No need to compete because what are you competing for? You can't obtain their crown and they can't somehow work really really hard and get your crown in place of their own. Let's pray for one another, and for the Kingdom to advance and take more and more ground. And let's show that the Holy Spirit really has given us love for one another.   Now, verse 9 on have very clear and specific ways we can pray for one another. First, don't stop praying. Be committed in your prayer life. Take it seriously. You know, when Jesus prayed to the Father, He took it seriously. And we don't always do that. So pray, don't stop praying and take it seriously.  Next, ask God to give the people you are praying for complete knowledge of His will and to give them spiritual wisdom and understanding. Ask the Lord to enable them to live in a way that always honors and pleases God, and for their lives to produce every kind of good fruit (feel free to study the fruit of the Spirit and to ask for those exact things in the lives of the people for whom you pray). And the last part of verse 10 reminds us to pray for people to grow as they learn to know God better and better. To grow, so this is showing us what growth as a Christian looks like, what maturity looks like. It shows itself as knowing God better and better. And it says to learn to know God better and better. Do you know Him better now than last year at this time? If you don't, you may need to LEARN to know Him better. Sit at His feet in prayer, read your Bible and pray and ask Him to teach you (learning means being taught, right?) teach you to know Him better. Take time to listen, to be quiet in His presence, to write down what you are learning, because writing it down will cement it more in your heart and mind. Note takers are world changers. There's so much truth behind that saying. Learn to know Him better. It's not enough, my friends, to go to church two Sundays a month and that's all the time you have for Jesus. That is not learning how to know Him better. Get serious about prayer, get serious about reading your Bible, get serious about heeding the conviction and leading of the Lord, get serious about the things the Bible says to get serious about.   Verse 11 - pray that they (those for whom you're praying) will be strengthened with all God's glorious power so they will have all the patience and endurance they need. Ask God to fill them with joy, and to give them a heart of thankfulness that always thanks the Father. Sometimes we are thanking Him in all things, but maybe not for all things. And I also gotta say, while it was not true at first like the first year or two dealing with serious heart problems, but for sure the last couple of years I can honestly say I have gone from thanking God in this situation to thanking Him for it. One result of perpetual thankfulness is that it spreads, and it's a good kind of spreading. I want to be contagious with things that actually matter. A bad attitude, a complaining spirit, is so contagious. So is gratitude and thankfulness. Pray that those people on your prayer list will be thankful. Ask God to enable them to share in the inheritance that only belongs to His people. For them to really, really know Jesus personally and to have the assurance of eternity with the Lord and not separated from Him. That's the only way to obtain our inheritance, so when pray for them to share in this inheritance, we are seeking God to call out to them, to draw them with cords of lovingkindness, for their salvation. We want those people for whom we pray to live in the light. Jesus is the Light of the world, so let's pray for people to live in the light and not to walk in any kind of darkness.  And be sure to praise Him for the work He has done in your life when He rescued you from the kingdom of darkness and transferred you into the Kingdom of His dear Son. Praise Him for purchasing our freedom and forgiving our sins.    Now that is how I pray Colossians chapter one for those on my prayer list. And to kind of make this grab-able (that's not a word but for today, let's pretend it is) I made a pdf you can download and the link is at the very top of the show notes and also down at the bottom with my other links, like to my private prayer group where we are going to begin a new weekly time of prayer and teaching about prayer so you can join that, it will go into mid December and then again in the new year, probably all of January and all of February. And also a link to my book A 60-Day Prayer Journal for Parents on Amazon.    Let me pray now for you based on what I put together in the pdf you can grab at the link. As I pray, just let the Lord comfort you and kind of lean in and choose to believe that He will answer this prayer on your behalf. He's got blessings and favor and goodness for you and I hope, I really mean this from the bottom of my heart, I hope that no matter where you are in life right now that you can lean in and believe Him for these blessings. Trust again. Love the Lord anew today. Hope in Him and receive whatever it is that He wants to give.    Colossians 1 Prayer PDF Prayer Retreat Group on Facebook Prayer Journal for Parents on Amazon 

This Good News story STARTS with a scummy boyfriend, and ends with a brand new bestie! Hear how by clicking play!

- "A New Report Indicates that the Rate at Which Americans are Putting Money into Savings Accounts is Actually THE LOWEST IT'S BEEN IN 15 YEARS. So Why is THIS Good News?" - "Nearly Every Member of the Auburn University Men's Basketball Team were BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN RIVER on a Recent Trip to the Holy Land!" - SISTER JOAN CHITTISTER "The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life" - "The Grandson of Legendary Major League Baseball Pitcher NOLAN RYAN is NOT LETTING A PHYSICAL DISABILITY Keep Him from Pursuing His Passion on the Diamond!" - "A Southern California Church WILL NOT Have to Pay $200,000 in Fines for Continuing to Meet in Person During the COVID Pandemic!"

This Good News story is for every parent who loves their career so much, they hope their children will one day follow in their footsteps!

Starting the Month off with Week One of Our New Series "Rules For a New Life". This messages is about Paul writing to the People of Colossae, and he is letting them know that the Same Good News they have received is been spread across the entire world. This Good News is changing the lives of others and helping them understand the same truth of God's wonderful grace. We need to understand that HE is the way, the truth, and the life. He is Superior. HE is the GOAL!

The Road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-35 Main Point of the Sermon: The Holy Spirit is the solution to our inability to see and trust the Jesus of the Bible. We've come to the final chapter in Luke's Gospel and nearly to the end of our two year journey as a church through this book. And while these final pages are certainly a testimony of the finished work of Jesus on the cross and the truth of his resurrection, Luke's major emphasis is on something else: Scripture. This book. He starts his Gospel by telling his readers why he writes, so that “you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (1:4). And here, at the end of his writing, he grounds that certainty on the totality of this book. In other words, it's not just the Gospels that confirm that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but the entire Bible. And I know it can be hard to understand how a book like Leviticus or the Song of Songs could do that, but it does. This is why we need God to teach us today like he does in this story. This is why we start out every sermon with prayer, asking the Spirit of God to shine on our dull hearts and open our eyes. Last week we saw that Jesus was crucified and buried, to the shock of his disciples and all of Jerusalem. But three days later, some of the women disciples of Jesus found the tomb empty and angels there saying, “He is not here, but has risen,” like he said (24:6). Our story ended with the women racing back to tell the rest of the disciples, who did not believe their story, and with Peter seeing the empty tomb and marveling at what had happened. Here's where we pick up. 13 That very day [it was still Sunday] two of them [that is, some of the other disciples of Jesus besides the eleven (24:9)] were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, If you've ever been overseas, you'll understand this scene well. Cities like Jerusalem were the center of commerce and worship, but most of the people traveled from smaller villages where they lived. These two men who had become disciples of Jesus at some point and had likely been in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Now, they were traveling home after all that they had just seen and heard. Life went on. Verse 14 says that “they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened [as they walked]. You can imagine the scene. This wasn't a boring conversation, like they were discussing an uneventful day at work or the weather. No, they were probably animated, filling in each other's sentences, like you do when you've just experienced something spectacular with another person. “The temple curtain tore in two!” “Yeah, from top to bottom!” “And the darkness, what do you think that was about?” Right? It was midday!” “I just want to know where he is…” Then, while they were discussing these things, verse 15, 15 “…Jesus himself drew near and went with them.” 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. This is the first encounter with the risen Christ that Luke records. He was indeed risen as the angels had said, and he showed up to two relatively unknown disciples from a little town outside of Bethlehem. Isn't this just like our Lord? He goes to the least, the unexpected. But they didn't know that it was him. Why? Verse 16 says that “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” That's strange. He was there with them bodily, but they didn't recognize him. This is actually the same experience recorded in multiple other encounters with the risen Christ, like Mary, who thought that she ran into the gardener outside of his tomb (John 20:14-15; c.f. 21:4). Did he just look like a completely different person? No, clearly something else was going on here, and it's actually key to our text today. Their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus. Who kept them from seeing? This is something we find in Scripture called a divine passive, where the text implies an actor, but doesn't say who. Context shows that God is clearly at work behind the scenes. But why would God keep them from seeing? He had something important to teach these men and something to teach us as well. Let's keep going to see. Then Jesus, who knew these men well, asked them a leading question, Verse 17: “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. The men stopped, shocked and obviously sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” This is probably not overstated. Most everyone in Jerusalem would know about these events – the temple curtain was torn and darkness was over Jerusalem for three about three hours midday. Verse 19: [Jesus said], “What things?” This is comical to me. He almost seems to be playing with them. He knows exactly what they are talking about, even as God knew when he asked Adam and Eve where they were when they hid from him in the garden. He asks because he wants a relationship. He wants to know us. He wants to know how we think and how we feel. He wanted to know what these men were thinking about the whole situation. I imagine a long pause before these words came spilling out: Act this out “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” What do we learn from this summary of events. 1) Cleopas, who probably is a good representation of what the other disciples were thinking at that time, understood rightly that Jesus was a prophet accepted by God and the people. He had likely experienced many of his mighty deeds and heard much of his powerful teaching. 2) But verse 21 also shows that he didn't rightly understand what Jesus had come to do. He said to Jesus, “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” They still were under the impression that their greatest need was to be saved from Rome instead of being saved from their sin. They did not understand that Jesus had provided rescue from sin and the opening of the kingdom of God through his death! They didn't believe that Jesus had risen. It doesn't seem that they were even looking for a resurrection. They thought it was all over, which is solid proof that it actually happened and wasn't made up. Now, listen to Jesus's response. Verse 25: 25 “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Wow. There's so much here to unpack here. I will touch on three things: 1) Human unbelief 2) The Bible's main character 3) Scripture's sufficiency 1) Human unbelief. Jesus rebukes these disciples for being so slow to believe what the prophets had spoken. Verse 26 assumes the clarity of the prophetic word about the suffering and future glory of the Messiah. The prophets have shown that “It was necessary” that he suffer before he enter his glory. He's saying to them, “You know the Scriptures. You've studied since your youth, and if you believed what the prophets said, you would not be sad or confused right now, but would understand what I have just accomplished. In addition, Jesus had told them plainly before heading to Jerusalem in Luke 18:31: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished (Lk 18:31). It's noteworthy that Jesus doesn't mention specific prophets or places that spoke of these things. We would expect him to go to Isaiah 53 or perhaps Psalm 22, but for Jesus and the Gospel writers, it's not just one or two prophets, but “all” the prophets “everywhere” spoke of Jesus and these events.[2] It's all there, but Jesus says that they don't see it because they are dull and unbelieving. Is your heart slow to believe too? Friends, Jesus's rebuke is just as relevant for us today. How slow are we to believe what God has made plain to us. How many times has God spoken to us in his Word that trials are sure to come and yet we are surprised and have faith crisis' when they do. What's the problem then? Is it God? Has he not spoken clearly? No, it's us. Humans are slow of heart to believe God's Word. We, like these disciples, have been given everything we need to live righteous lives before God, but because of our hardness of heart we often misunderstand or disbelieve the Scriptures and demand that God give us something more, perhaps something we can see. This should be a correction to each and every one of us. When God seems distant, when his promises seem irrelevant or untrue, it is not because he has been silent or instructed us insufficiently. Rather, it is that we are slow to believe all that he has said. We have dull sight and hard hearts. So, what's the answer to this problem? Well, we need God's help. The Good News is that he readily gives it. Look at verse 27: 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Though we are slow to believe, our Lord is ready and willing to keep teaching us, keep showing us, keep massaging truth into our hearts until we believe. What a gracious and merciful God we serve. Maybe you feel today like your doubts are too much for God. No, like a Father with his child, he will always keep stooping down and with patience, saying, “here, let me show you again.” Jesus slowly begins to unpack the Scriptures with these two men, explaining “in all the Scriptures,” the things concerning himself. 2) The Bible's Main Character Friends, you need to understand the massive point this is making. This book is all about Jesus. We so often think that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the new, like he was just angry and erratic and needed Jesus to convince him to love humanity! No, Jesus is showing us that it's the same God throughout this book. It's the same loving Father. The same God who provided a substitutionary lamb for his people, sent his Son to us out of love for us. The Old Testament, made up of Moses' Law, the Torah, the Prophets, and Psalms (that is, the wisdom writings) is preparation for Jesus. It shows us God's holiness, our sinfulness, and the way to atone for sin. The New Testament, then, answers questions like: “how is Jesus the fulfillment of the OT” and “Why is Jesus's death and resurrection how God redeems mankind?” This book is all about Jesus! For seven miles, Jesus taught them the Bible and showed them how his life, death, and resurrection fulfilled all that God had promised. He showed them how his death and resurrection give proper meaning to the Scriptures.[3] Man, I wish I could have been there! Don't you? Well, I have good news for you, we have something better than seven miles with Jesus. We have the written Scriptures in our language and the Holy Spirit to walk with us through all of life, teaching and instructing us like Jesus did these men. We have the present church and the church through history, which has worked together by the Holy Spirit to unpack the depths of Scripture. Taking our cues from Jesus and his apostles: we are taught to see Christ: …in every genre of the Bible. We find that even long genealogies in the Old Testament anticipate Christ as he is the second Adam, the son of Abraham, the son of David. As we study, we find Christ in every theme of the Old Testament, that he is the king, the inauguration of the new Covenant with God; he's the temple of God; he is our rest; he is our justice, our righteousness, the clothing for our nakedness. We find that every major figure in the Bible points to Jesus, in both their strengths and their flaws. Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden; Jesus is the true and better Moses, who mediates for us a better covenant than the first; he is the true and better David, who's victory became the people's victory. We find Jesus in every major image or symbol in the Bible such as: the bronze serpent, the water of life in the wilderness, the temple, the bread, the lamb, the tree of life, etc. We find Jesus bringing meaning and fulfillment to every deliverance narrative. In the pages of this book, you will find Jesus everywhere. And I'm not talking about unfaithful eisegesis, where you just paste him into any story you choose without intellectual integrity. I'm talking about careful and thoughtful reading by the Holy Spirit in the company of the church, that tracks themes and connects stories to Christ as God always intended. We try to model this for you each week we preach, but if you want more training or resources on how to do this, come talk to me. 3) Scripture's Sufficiency Multiple times in this chapter, Jesus helps his disciples stand on the solid rock of his Word. In fact, he starts there! He doesn't start with these men by showing off his resurrected body, but instead shields them from seeing who he is. Why? So that he can first explain to them the validity and sufficiency of the Scriptures. That they are enough. He wants you to know that if you believe this book, you will be safe. Your hope is sure. You don't need a miracle. You don't need to see Jesus in person. You just need to believe what God has spoken. The Apostle Peter makes this same point in 2 Peter 1, when he explains that they were eyewitnesses of these things, even hearing God's voice and seeing Jesus in his glory on the mount of transfiguration. But then he says this: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place… He goes on in verse 21 explaining that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord Jesus and his Apostle Peter want you to know that you stand on solid ground when you believe the Words of Scripture. Do we really believe that? That this book is as sure as seeing the risen Christ? Many of us would say “amen” to this, but does your life prove that you hang on the promises of this book? Does what you do with this book, the time you spend studying and how you obey these words show that this book is your guide, your lifeline, your rock? Let's continue in the narrative. Verse 28: 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. How beautiful is this. It's getting dark now. Jesus's first day in his resurrected body is spent largely with two nobody's, walking with them and teaching them the Bible in an intimate setting. But he's going to show them even more. Verse 30 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. So much here. Jesus taught his disciples over meals many times. He often used simple things in life, like bread, to explain profound truths about himself. Like when he told the crowd of 5000 after he miraculously fed them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger… (Jn 6:35). Or when he broke bread with his disciples and instituted the Lord's Supper, saying, “this is my body, given for you.” What we see in this mysterious moment is an example of how God shows up to commune with us and give us faith when we open his Word, when we remember him around this table, when we speak about him to one another. It's not just the disciples of the first century that Jesus wants fellowship with. Even though we don't now see him, he is present with us. When we open the Bible and break bread together, do you know that God comes near to fellowship with you and teach you. This all seems very natural doesn't it. Eating bread and reading a book together seems very natural. But there's so much more going on here! Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, comes near to us by his Spirit and feeds us a meal that satisfies us more than anything else in this world when we do these things. That's why the church read the Word and broken bread together for millennia and it's why we keep doing it! God's Book is true food and it is all about Jesus. When we come to this book, we are fellowshipping with Jesus, who alone satisfies. But we need God to open our eyes and our open our minds to understand like he did for these men. “And their eyes were opened.” Who opened their eyes?! God! Just as he kept their eyes from seeing, now he opens their eyes to see. God is able to keep eyes from seeing and he is able to open eyes to see. This is actually very good news for us, because when we are left to ourselves, none of us would ever come to Jesus, or ever see because of our sin. This verse is strikingly similar to verse 45, when Jesus was with the eleven, 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…,” and I believe it is tied also to verse 32. 32 They said to each other [after Jesus miraculously vanished], “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Their hearts burned within because God was near. In the same way, when we open up God's Word and when we fellowship together, something supernatural is happening. When we come to God with hungry hearts, wanting to know him, God comes near by his Spirit, even as Jesus came near to these men, to teach and to shine light on your hearts – so that what seems foolish to men – burns in our hearts, confirming to us that this story is truth and light, that it is everything we need. This alone is proof that Jesus is risen from the dead! He is alive and actively working in people so that people all over the world even to this day are turning to Jesus and confessing him as Lord. This is exactly what Jesus told to disciples before this, that he would send the Holy Spirit to them after he ascends. He says in John 14: 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (Jn 14). 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, (Jn 16). We don't see Jesus right now, but I can tell you this, he is alive and he is speaking right now to hearts in this room and around the world and fellowshipping with his people. 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. Seven miles at night time would have been dangerous, but when God's light shines on our hearts and the Holy Spirit awakens our souls to believe, no danger or distance or circumstance can keep us from telling others of the Good News! And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. When the two disciples got to Jerusalem, they found the eleven Apostles and those with them already celebrating that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he had even appeared to Simon. They also told everyone about what had happened to them on the road and around the table. Proofs that Jesus was alive were stacking up! I want to end with a note about Luke's use of Simon instead of Peter here. Jesus called Peter “Simon” when he spoke of his betrayal (Luke 22:32). So, I believe Luke is highlighting the fact that Jesus had come to Peter despite his betrayal. Why does this little detail matter for us today? It matters because we too are slow to believe like these men on the road and quick to fall away like Peter. Yet, graciously, our God keeps seeking us out like he did Peter and these men. Our sin blinds us from seeing God, ourselves, and the world rightly, leading us to rebel against God and choose our own way. And though God could leave us in our foolishness and rebellion, he came to us in human form so that he could show us again who he is and how he is our rescue. And instead of punishing us for our unbelief and rebellion, he willingly took our punishment on the cross so that we would not have to die in our sin, but could rise to newness of life in him and live eternally. This Good News is for you today. If you believe it, hold fast to it. Come daily to this book and discover Jesus in it, asking and expecting his Spirit to open our eyes and enliven our hearts when we do. Or perhaps you don't believe, but your heart is burning within you today confirming this all to be true and the way of salvation. He is ready and willing to receive you and teach you in an intimate relationship if you will come to him. Come to Jesus. Eat and drink freely. He alone can satisfy your soul's longings. Come today, turn from your sin, confess Jesus is Lord, and be baptized. Now Church, because he has risen and is present with us, let's worship him like it's true. [1] Stein, R. H. (1992). Luke (Vol. 24, p. 612). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. [2] Ibid. [3] Pao, D. W., & Schnabel, E. J. (2007). Luke. In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament (p. 401). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos.

 TRUST HIM Today's readings are I Kings 6,  II Chronicles 3, Psalm 97, and Romans 1.  We are reading through the New Living Translation. How do we make ourselves right before God?  Is it by doing more, avoiding things, or by knowing more information?  All of the religions of the world will lead you down one or all of these paths…you must do, you must avoid, you must know. But none of these paths end up being any good at answering the question of how we are made right with God. In the end, they are not good news.  You know that from your own life. When we give ourselves to trying to do more, and more, in order to justify ourselves before God, we soon begin asking ‘how good is good enough?'  And that question leads to all kinds of pride and rules.   And the rules never end or satisfy.  In the end, they make us either liars or delusional.  Either we are pretending to be rule keepers when we are not,  or we're believing that we have kept the rules, but those around us can clearly see the truth, that we are not as loving and pure as we say we are.  No.  Doing more is not the answer. But either is avoiding – trying to avoid our obligations to God.  Living for the self, our desires and appetites,  leads only to an empty life.  We become owned by the very appetites that we thought would set us free. And if ‘doing' and ‘avoiding' are not the answer, either is ‘knowing'.  God is not a subject to be mastered.  He is the master and we will never really know Him unless we let him master us. The good news that we are all looking for, to made right with God, is found from start to finish, by faith.  And that faith is a gift, it was lived out in him, in Jesus.  His faith, his obedience, his compassion, His faith is what ultimately saves us, from start to finish.  Gal 2:20 “ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  And that is the good news my friend, our real life is hid with God in Christ, from start to finish, now we live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.       That's what Paul is trying to say here – Faith alone in God alone.  And faith means we must trust Him.  Faith and trust mean relationship, intimacy, and reliance.  This is the most personal of ways, it's God's way, of knowing Him and being known by him, by faith.  That's what Paul tells us: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Rm 1:17) That's the good news!  It's by faith.  Let's let those other failed ways, go.  God wants you to believe him, trust him, and walk with him, by faith. You were created to know him and to be known by him. Your life in him, from start to finish, is a journey of faith.  It's not about doing more, avoiding, or knowing more than the next guy.  It's about believing him, trusting Him and walking with him.

How many men actually know how to do their daughters' hair? This Good News is SO brilliant, I'm surprised it's not wider spread!

Hi there, and welcome to this bonus podcast for day 115. I will be discussing the two main types of Bible translations I recommend for most people. As a Bible translator since 1983, I feel that most Christians in the USA are not given enough information about why Bible translations differ in wording, and which kinds of Bible translations will be better for different kinds of readers. This is an important topic, so I am surprised at myself: I can't believe that I haven't released a dedicated podcast about this topic every year since 2014. ALSO, please stay tuned for the end of the podcast, because I want to recommend a fantastic new real-book Bible. Because of more difficult content in this podcast, if you are not driving a car, it would be a great idea to open the episode notes so you can visually follow along and make sure you don't miss something important. Look especially at the words I have made bold. There are actually five types of Bible translations, but I will mainly discuss the two most-used types in this podcast. But let's start with showing the two types with a translation example that is not from the Bible. Consider this sentence: Jill looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she heard Jack's proposal. Now let's imagine a word-for-word translation for some language in Africa. Since we don't know a language like that, let's pretend we do and make a word-for-word translation into English. Here is my suggestion for that: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light upon hearing Jack's desire. What we have in this example (caught in the headlights) is a figure of speech. Americans rather frequently use this figure of speech. But a word-for-word translation for the hypothetical African audience would very likely be tricky for them to understand. They might not know what a gazelle would do if a bright light shone upon them. (For that matter, I don't know if gazelle's act like deer do when meeting with bright lights.) I think an African might understand “Jill appeared like a gazelle trapped in bright light” to be a gazelle trapped with a metal trap, in pain, and struggling to get loose when the bright light suddenly shines upon it. Our hypothetical African listener will probably get a very different idea about what is meant. For our second hypothetical translation, let's try giving the plain meaning like we would if we were explaining to an 8-year-old child. We might translate, “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” Or we might say, Jill was caught off guard and totally surprised by Jack's offer.” In this example, I've dropped the figure of speech entirely and gone straight for the meaning. These are the two main translation types that I want to explain: The first was what we call a literal translation, or a word-for-word translation. And the second is what I will call a meaning-based translation. Literal: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light … Meaning-based: Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal. Which translation is ‘right'? Actually both translations can be considered right. But the word-for-word translation is difficult to understand for our hypothetical African listeners, because there are cultural factors involved in interpreting the figure of speech in this example. The listeners would likely come up with various interpretations about the poor, defenseless gazelle being trapped. Whereas, if Jill likes Jack, she may be thrilled at his proposal. The meaning based translation is right too: “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” That translation is easy to understand, but if you remember the original sentence, you will miss the richness of the figure of speech. The two main types of Bible translations have exactly the same problems as what I have shown in the two examples above. The advantage of a literal, word-for-word translation is that it mirrors the form of the original text. The disadvantage of a literal translation is that it cannot always clearly give the meaning in the target language. The meaning-based translation is just the opposite: The advantage of a meaning-based translation is that it shows the meaning clearly. The disadvantage of a meaning-based translation is that it cannot mirror the form of the original text. Every Bible translator starts out thinking, “I will be able to translate word-for-word and still clearly enough show the meaning.” For two languages that are strongly related to each other, a literal translation can often still be clear. But if we are thinking of translating ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern English, there is a huge gulf between the ancient and modern languages and cultures. My first example involved an English figure of speech. But let me give you a chance to experience decoding an Indonesian figure of speech: Yakobus adalah kacang yang sudah lupa kulitnya. A word-for-word translation is this: Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell. Now it is your turn to wonder what that could mean. You won't guess, so I will tell you. Here's a meaning-based translation of “Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell.” That means, Jack left his rural village to get an education in the city, and now has a good job with a high salary, but he has forgotten his humble beginnings. He never helps any of his friends and relatives in his home village. There are many literal (or word-for-word) Bible translations in English. That kind of translation is easier to make. And not all literal translations are equally literal. Some fudge to be slightly more meaning-based. But for the purposes of this discussion, I will choose what I think is the most popular literal translation today: It is the ESV (English Standard Version). It is the translation that would translate, “Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light.” It is great at showing the word-for-word form of the original text, but not so good at giving you the meaning clearly. A literal translation I like better than the ESV is the WEBBE (World English Bible British Edition). Meaning-based Bible translations are much rarer, because they require the translator to work much harder to accurately translate the meaning. For English language readers, I recommend the Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech of 1901, The Good News Bible (TEV 1966), and the New Living Translation. There are a few more, but those are my favorites, and I will focus in this podcast on the NLT. The NLT would translate our example as “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” The KJV is a literal translation, and an unfortunate part of the continuing legacy of the KJV, is that pastors often prefer using literal translations from the pulpit. But unfortunately this means that many ordinary people in the pew wind up using something like the ESV for their daily Bible reading at home. This means that many Christians who read their Bibles at home often struggle with hard-to-understand passages. If you normally read the ESV Bible and think you understand everything in it, well, I bet you haven't yet read all of it! Here is one of my most important recommendations for you: Make sure you have access to both kinds of translations. In other words, use both an ESV and an NLT Bible. That way you can quickly see the meaning (in the NLT), and you get a window into the word-for-word shape of the original text with the ESV. My Daily Bible Reading podcasts have only been of two meaning-based translations. Why? Because they can be understood by people just listening to the recordings. It would be useless to record the ESV, because listeners would often miss the meaning. Now I want to illustrate what I have been saying with a Bible passage. I wish I could spend an hour doing this, but I feel I must limit myself to only one example. I have chosen the topic statement for the book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17. In the ESV verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. If I had all the podcast listeners in front of me as a group, I would say to you, “Raise your hand if you are a Jew.” Usually in my audiences, no one raises their hand. At that point I say, “Raise your hand if you are a Greek.” Usually again, no one raises their hand. But then my question is, “Where do you fit in to Romans 1:16?” This verse says that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Sounds like you people who didn't raise your hands are not able to be saved! So which one are we?” The answer is that Paul is contrasting Jews with everyone else. Greek was the universal language of culture and commerce at that time, even under the Roman government. Now let's compare the same verse in the NLT: For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes— the Jew first and also the Gentile. Now let's look at verse 17 in the ESV: For in it (referring back to the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” No English reader will suspect that there is anything kind of strange about the phrase ‘the righteous of God'. The problem is that ‘of God' is a genitive in Greek, and genitives have a dozen different options for the meaning. ESV nearly always uses the word ‘of' to translate genitives. But in this verse, ‘righteousness of God' will mean that the Gospel is about revealing that God is righteous. Wait a minute! If God is righteous and I am not righteous, that is not Good News. He will punish me. Rather, in this verse, the genitive is one showing source. Just wait a moment and I will read the NLT. A second significant problem in verse 17 is a grammatical construction that forms an idiom in Greek: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So the literal translation has zero meaning or leaves the reader to guess at meanings, which will probably be wrong. Finally, because of the first two problems I just mentioned, it seems like the final quote from Habakkuk 2:4 doesn't fit with what came before it. So we ask, why did Paul quote, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now let me read the NLT to you: 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Many years ago, I had a phone conversation with a woman who was a new believer. She liked reading her KJV, and I used Romans 1:16-17 to try to show her that she would be better off reading the NLT. The KJV has the same problem in v.17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” So I asked her what that means, and she quickly replied, “Oh, you know, the Catholic faith, the Mormon faith, the protestant faith.” Hello! None of those things existed when Paul wrote Romans. I give that story to show that a dangerous thing that happens when many people read the Bible: If we don't understand something, we may just make up a meaning that sounds plausible to us. And as time goes on, we can get more and more convinced that our guesses are true. Going back to the advantages and disadvantages of the two translation types, the ESV has made a very good literal translation of 1:17. The ESV closely mirrors the form of the Greek text, but the problem is that readers won't grasp the meaning, unless perhaps there are study notes to guide them. On the other hand, the NLT has the disadvantage that it doesn't match the word-for-word form of the Greek, but it nails the meaning. God is the source of our righteousness. NLT translates: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. And the Greek idiom ‘from faith to faith' means, “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.” Finally, if you take the time to read verse 17 again, you will see that the quote at the end of the verse supports what Paul claims about the Good News about Christ. I am passionate about people having access to at least one Bible that is a literal translation, and one that is a meaning-based translation. Recently an elder in our church shared that he was struggling hard to read and understand Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. He was rather bitter in his complaints, saying, “Why did Jeremiah write like this? I can't penetrate this stuff!” This is just one example of many I could share. Normal Christians like you and me who try to use a literal translation for devotional reading, and attempt to read every book in the Bible, will not enjoy the experience. This can clearly be seen in Indonesia, where the people have only had wide access to one literal translation since 1974. Indonesian Christians have been discouraged from reading their Bibles for too long, and that has seriously weakened the church throughout that country. Now, with our Plain Indonesian Translation, thousands of people have discovered that they enjoy reading the Bible. But now, through our 90-day Bible reading challenge, teenage kids and adults are rejoicing to find that they enjoy reading the New Testament, finishing it in 90 days, and many immediately start over to read it again. Any Christian who wants to glorify God should read the whole Bible. And if we really want to glorify God, then we should read a translation that we understand. Reading a translation that you don't understand fully will not help you or encourage you. I need to give two important clarifications: Some people think that the NLT is a paraphrase because the first edition still contained some words or phrases that sounded like the Living Bible. The Living Bible deserves to be called a paraphrase, because it occasionally adds ideas not found in the original text, or fails to translate other things. But the New Living Translation is a highly researched and revised meaning-based translation. My second clarification is that The Message is an extreme paraphrase. Please don't think it is a faithful translation. Please don't quote it. Please don't give it to a new Christian to read. Here is the information about real-book Bibles I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. I want you to know that no one at Tyndale House asked me to promote their products, and I am not getting paid anything for giving out this information. Gale decided to give NLT Bibles to members of her Bible study groups, and I decided to give them to my small group. It has been a long time since we bought Bibles, and so we made some delightful discoveries. Tyndale House has several cool NLT Bibles right now. The NLT Illustrated Study Bible is incredible! Beautifully illustrated with maps and charts and many study notes and supplemental information. The hardcover edition is only $36.66. You might like the leather-like edition which is a bit more. However, at more than 2,500 pages, you won't want to carry this Bible around. Here's what I am giving to some young people in our church, including our grandkids: There is a new kind of Bible developed by Tyndale House, called a Filament Enabled NLT Bible. This real-book Bible comes without study notes and maps, making it practical to carry and providing an uncluttered reading experience, but it has a companion cell phone app that gives you all the stuff you would get in a study Bible and even much more. You download the Filament app for your phone or tablet, and then you can take a picture of the page number or type in the page number for which you want to get more information. The app then gives you study notes, charts, timelines, and devotional material, including videos and even worship songs. There is a premium-value edition with a leather-like cover for just $15. For the person who wants to make notes, there is a beautiful wide margin edition available for $38. A large print Filament enabled Bible is about that same price. A genuine leather thin-line edition of the NLT Filament Bible is only $35. I highly recommend an article linked at the very end of the episode notes entitled How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best by Andy Naselli. And may the Lord bless you ‘real good'. LINKS: https://sites.google.com/clarinetpages.net/read-the-bible-in-a-year/read/start-with-a-good-plan See the second part of this page: Recommended Bible translations for devotional reading Blog post: https://dailybiblereading.libsyn.com/website/more-about-bible-translations Fantastic article: How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best June 13, 2017 | Andy Naselli

Hi there, and welcome to this bonus podcast for day 115. I will be discussing the two main types of Bible translations I recommend for most people. As a Bible translator since 1983, I feel that most Christians in the USA are not given enough information about why Bible translations differ in wording, and which kinds of Bible translations will be better for different kinds of readers. This is an important topic, so I am surprised at myself: I can't believe that I haven't released a dedicated podcast about this topic every year since 2014. ALSO, please stay tuned for the end of the podcast, because I want to recommend a fantastic new real-book Bible. Because of more difficult content in this podcast, if you are not driving a car, it would be a great idea to open the episode notes so you can visually follow along and make sure you don't miss something important. Look especially at the words I have made bold. There are actually five types of Bible translations, but I will mainly discuss the two most-used types in this podcast. But let's start with showing the two types with a translation example that is not from the Bible. Consider this sentence: Jill looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she heard Jack's proposal. Now let's imagine a word-for-word translation for some language in Africa. Since we don't know a language like that, let's pretend we do and make a word-for-word translation into English. Here is my suggestion for that: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light upon hearing Jack's desire. What we have in this example (caught in the headlights) is a figure of speech. Americans rather frequently use this figure of speech. But a word-for-word translation for the hypothetical African audience would very likely be tricky for them to understand. They might not know what a gazelle would do if a bright light shone upon them. (For that matter, I don't know if gazelle's act like deer do when meeting with bright lights.) I think an African might understand “Jill appeared like a gazelle trapped in bright light” to be a gazelle trapped with a metal trap, in pain, and struggling to get loose when the bright light suddenly shines upon it. Our hypothetical African listener will probably get a very different idea about what is meant. For our second hypothetical translation, let's try giving the plain meaning like we would if we were explaining to an 8-year-old child. We might translate, “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” Or we might say, Jill was caught off guard and totally surprised by Jack's offer.” In this example, I've dropped the figure of speech entirely and gone straight for the meaning. These are the two main translation types that I want to explain: The first was what we call a literal translation, or a word-for-word translation. And the second is what I will call a meaning-based translation. Literal: Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light … Meaning-based: Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal. Which translation is ‘right'? Actually both translations can be considered right. But the word-for-word translation is difficult to understand for our hypothetical African listeners, because there are cultural factors involved in interpreting the figure of speech in this example. The listeners would likely come up with various interpretations about the poor, defenseless gazelle being trapped. Whereas, if Jill likes Jack, she may be thrilled at his proposal. The meaning based translation is right too: “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” That translation is easy to understand, but if you remember the original sentence, you will miss the richness of the figure of speech. The two main types of Bible translations have exactly the same problems as what I have shown in the two examples above. The advantage of a literal, word-for-word translation is that it mirrors the form of the original text. The disadvantage of a literal translation is that it cannot always clearly give the meaning in the target language. The meaning-based translation is just the opposite: The advantage of a meaning-based translation is that it shows the meaning clearly. The disadvantage of a meaning-based translation is that it cannot mirror the form of the original text. Every Bible translator starts out thinking, “I will be able to translate word-for-word and still clearly enough show the meaning.” For two languages that are strongly related to each other, a literal translation can often still be clear. But if we are thinking of translating ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern English, there is a huge gulf between the ancient and modern languages and cultures. My first example involved an English figure of speech. But let me give you a chance to experience decoding an Indonesian figure of speech: Yakobus adalah kacang yang sudah lupa kulitnya. A word-for-word translation is this: Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell. Now it is your turn to wonder what that could mean. You won't guess, so I will tell you. Here's a meaning-based translation of “Jack is a peanut that has forgotten his shell.” That means, Jack left his rural village to get an education in the city, and now has a good job with a high salary, but he has forgotten his humble beginnings. He never helps any of his friends and relatives in his home village. There are many literal (or word-for-word) Bible translations in English. That kind of translation is easier to make. And not all literal translations are equally literal. Some fudge to be slightly more meaning-based. But for the purposes of this discussion, I will choose what I think is the most popular literal translation today: It is the ESV (English Standard Version). It is the translation that would translate, “Jill appeared like a trapped gazelle in bright light.” It is great at showing the word-for-word form of the original text, but not so good at giving you the meaning clearly. A literal translation I like better than the ESV is the WEBBE (World English Bible British Edition). Meaning-based Bible translations are much rarer, because they require the translator to work much harder to accurately translate the meaning. For English language readers, I recommend the Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech of 1901, The Good News Bible (TEV 1966), and the New Living Translation. There are a few more, but those are my favorites, and I will focus in this podcast on the NLT. The NLT would translate our example as “Jill was stunned by Jack's proposal.” The KJV is a literal translation, and an unfortunate part of the continuing legacy of the KJV, is that pastors often prefer using literal translations from the pulpit. But unfortunately this means that many ordinary people in the pew wind up using something like the ESV for their daily Bible reading at home. This means that many Christians who read their Bibles at home often struggle with hard-to-understand passages. If you normally read the ESV Bible and think you understand everything in it, well, I bet you haven't yet read all of it! Here is one of my most important recommendations for you: Make sure you have access to both kinds of translations. In other words, use both an ESV and an NLT Bible. That way you can quickly see the meaning (in the NLT), and you get a window into the word-for-word shape of the original text with the ESV. My Daily Bible Reading podcasts have only been of two meaning-based translations. Why? Because they can be understood by people just listening to the recordings. It would be useless to record the ESV, because listeners would often miss the meaning. Now I want to illustrate what I have been saying with a Bible passage. I wish I could spend an hour doing this, but I feel I must limit myself to only one example. I have chosen the topic statement for the book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17. In the ESV verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. If I had all the podcast listeners in front of me as a group, I would say to you, “Raise your hand if you are a Jew.” Usually in my audiences, no one raises their hand. At that point I say, “Raise your hand if you are a Greek.” Usually again, no one raises their hand. But then my question is, “Where do you fit in to Romans 1:16?” This verse says that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Sounds like you people who didn't raise your hands are not able to be saved! So which one are we?” The answer is that Paul is contrasting Jews with everyone else. Greek was the universal language of culture and commerce at that time, even under the Roman government. Now let's compare the same verse in the NLT: For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes— the Jew first and also the Gentile. Now let's look at verse 17 in the ESV: For in it (referring back to the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” No English reader will suspect that there is anything kind of strange about the phrase ‘the righteous of God'. The problem is that ‘of God' is a genitive in Greek, and genitives have a dozen different options for the meaning. ESV nearly always uses the word ‘of' to translate genitives. But in this verse, ‘righteousness of God' will mean that the Gospel is about revealing that God is righteous. Wait a minute! If God is righteous and I am not righteous, that is not Good News. He will punish me. Rather, in this verse, the genitive is one showing source. Just wait a moment and I will read the NLT. A second significant problem in verse 17 is a grammatical construction that forms an idiom in Greek: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So the literal translation has zero meaning or leaves the reader to guess at meanings, which will probably be wrong. Finally, because of the first two problems I just mentioned, it seems like the final quote from Habakkuk 2:4 doesn't fit with what came before it. So we ask, why did Paul quote, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now let me read the NLT to you: 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Many years ago, I had a phone conversation with a woman who was a new believer. She liked reading her KJV, and I used Romans 1:16-17 to try to show her that she would be better off reading the NLT. The KJV has the same problem in v.17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” So I asked her what that means, and she quickly replied, “Oh, you know, the Catholic faith, the Mormon faith, the protestant faith.” Hello! None of those things existed when Paul wrote Romans. I give that story to show that a dangerous thing that happens when many people read the Bible: If we don't understand something, we may just make up a meaning that sounds plausible to us. And as time goes on, we can get more and more convinced that our guesses are true. Going back to the advantages and disadvantages of the two translation types, the ESV has made a very good literal translation of 1:17. The ESV closely mirrors the form of the Greek text, but the problem is that readers won't grasp the meaning, unless perhaps there are study notes to guide them. On the other hand, the NLT has the disadvantage that it doesn't match the word-for-word form of the Greek, but it nails the meaning. God is the source of our righteousness. NLT translates: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. And the Greek idiom ‘from faith to faith' means, “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.” Finally, if you take the time to read verse 17 again, you will see that the quote at the end of the verse supports what Paul claims about the Good News about Christ. I am passionate about people having access to at least one Bible that is a literal translation, and one that is a meaning-based translation. Recently an elder in our church shared that he was struggling hard to read and understand Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. He was rather bitter in his complaints, saying, “Why did Jeremiah write like this? I can't penetrate this stuff!” This is just one example of many I could share. Normal Christians like you and me who try to use a literal translation for devotional reading, and attempt to read every book in the Bible, will not enjoy the experience. This can clearly be seen in Indonesia, where the people have only had wide access to one literal translation since 1974. Indonesian Christians have been discouraged from reading their Bibles for too long, and that has seriously weakened the church throughout that country. Now, with our Plain Indonesian Translation, thousands of people have discovered that they enjoy reading the Bible. But now, through our 90-day Bible reading challenge, teenage kids and adults are rejoicing to find that they enjoy reading the New Testament, finishing it in 90 days, and many immediately start over to read it again. Any Christian who wants to glorify God should read the whole Bible. And if we really want to glorify God, then we should read a translation that we understand. Reading a translation that you don't understand fully will not help you or encourage you. I need to give two important clarifications: Some people think that the NLT is a paraphrase because the first edition still contained some words or phrases that sounded like the Living Bible. The Living Bible deserves to be called a paraphrase, because it occasionally adds ideas not found in the original text, or fails to translate other things. But the New Living Translation is a highly researched and revised meaning-based translation. My second clarification is that The Message is an extreme paraphrase. Please don't think it is a faithful translation. Please don't quote it. Please don't give it to a new Christian to read. Here is the information about real-book Bibles I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. I want you to know that no one at Tyndale House asked me to promote their products, and I am not getting paid anything for giving out this information. Gale decided to give NLT Bibles to members of her Bible study groups, and I decided to give them to my small group. It has been a long time since we bought Bibles, and so we made some delightful discoveries. Tyndale House has several cool NLT Bibles right now. The NLT Illustrated Study Bible is incredible! Beautifully illustrated with maps and charts and many study notes and supplemental information. The hardcover edition is only $36.66. You might like the leather-like edition which is a bit more. However, at more than 2,500 pages, you won't want to carry this Bible around. Here's what I am giving to some young people in our church, including our grandkids: There is a new kind of Bible developed by Tyndale House, called a Filament Enabled NLT Bible. This real-book Bible comes without study notes and maps, making it practical to carry and providing an uncluttered reading experience, but it has a companion cell phone app that gives you all the stuff you would get in a study Bible and even much more. You download the Filament app for your phone or tablet, and then you can take a picture of the page number or type in the page number for which you want to get more information. The app then gives you study notes, charts, timelines, and devotional material, including videos and even worship songs. There is a premium-value edition with a leather-like cover for just $15. For the person who wants to make notes, there is a beautiful wide margin edition available for $38. A large print Filament enabled Bible is about that same price. A genuine leather thin-line edition of the NLT Filament Bible is only $35. I highly recommend an article linked at the very end of the episode notes entitled How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best by Andy Naselli. And may the Lord bless you ‘real good'. LINKS: https://sites.google.com/clarinetpages.net/read-the-bible-in-a-year/read/start-with-a-good-plan See the second part of this page: Recommended Bible translations for devotional reading Blog post: https://dailybiblereading.libsyn.com/website/more-about-bible-translations Fantastic article: How Not to Argue About Which Bible Translation Is Best June 13, 2017 | Andy Naselli

Disciple Up # 254 Easter – Up Close & Personal By Louie Marsh, 4-13-2022   The Resurrection shows me that…   1) Jesus cares about me as an INDIVIDUAL!   But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" Mark 16:7 (NIV)   2) Jesus gives me REASONS FOR FAITH   When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, Luke 24:40-42 (NIV)   For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God's powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way. This Good News tells us that God makes us ready for heaven--makes us right in God's sight--when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, "The man who finds life will find it through trusting God." Romans 1:16-17 (TLB)   3) Jesus wants me focused on God's WORD.   Then he began with Moses' Teachings and the Prophets to explain to them what was said about him throughout the Scriptures. Luke 24:27 (GW)   Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.    He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:45-48 (NIV)   4) Jesus confronts my sin to BRING ME BACK to him.   Things that I've DONE.   After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Master, you know I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." He then asked a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Master, you know I love you." Jesus said, "Shepherd my sheep." Then he said it a third time: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, "Do you love me?" so he answered, "Master, you know everything there is to know. You've got to know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I'm telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don't want to go." He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, "Follow me." Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple Jesus loved following right behind. When Peter noticed him, he asked Jesus, "Master, what's going to happen to him?" Jesus said, "If I want him to live until I come again, what's that to you? You—follow me." John 21:15-22 (MSG)   My inner THOUGHTS & BELIEFS   Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:24-29 (NIV)   5) Jesus wants me to have the Holy Spirit's POWER!   “I'm sending you what my Father promised. Wait here in the city until you receive power from heaven.” Luke 24:49 (GW)   “19On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:19–22, ESV)   My Holy Spirit Book: https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Spirit-Just-Another-Book/dp/1731332114/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ARB5FBOFTUD4&keywords=every+day+in+the+spirit&qid=1649712062&sprefix=every+day+in+the+spirit%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1    and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:4 (NIV)   But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (GW)  

Messiah's Proclamations 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; 61:2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 61:3 to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. 61:4 They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 61:5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your ploughmen and your vinedressers. 61:6 But you shall be named the priests of Yahweh; men will call you the ministers of our God: you will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory. 61:7 Instead of your shame you shall have double; and instead of dishonour they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be to them. 61:8 "For I, Yahweh, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 61:9 Their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed." 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 61:11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." 63:2 Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? 63:3 "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. 63:5 I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. 63:6 I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." (Isaiah 61:1–11; 63:1-6)   In this passage from Isaiah 61 through to Isaiah 63, we have two contrasting certainties.  They can be found in Isaiah 61:2.  The two certainties are "the year of Yahweh's favour, and the day of vengeance of our God".   There will be the year of favour and the day of vengeance.  The year of honour, as we shall see has already started.  We don't know when it will end, but we know that it will. The day of vengeance will be in the future sometime. Again we don't know when that will be either.  But we know it will all happen quickly, suddenly and without warning (Isaiah 60:22).  Therefore people need to be ready and alert!  The time of when it will occur is not known, but it is known who will end it - Almighty God. Messiah's Good News The Servant Messiah speaks without being introduced this time, and is the preacher in the year of the Lord's favour.  This preaching is probably a referral to the rams horn that ushers in the Year of Jubilee as established in the Mosaic Covenant (Leviticus 25:8-55).  The Servant Messiah's preaching will usher in a time of grace, justice and freedom - just as the ram's horn introduced the Year of Jubilee.  The phrase to "proclaim liberty" is used in both the year of Jubilee and in this the year of the Lord's favour.  This proclaimed year of the Lord's favour starts when the Messiah comes the first time and will cease when He returns again.  The word year, is not a fixed period of time as we know it, but is rather symbolic of an extended period of time.  This Servant Messiah is anointed with the Holy Spirit of God.  This Good News was to be preached to the humble, the poor and poor in spirit - the Good News is news of freedom, liberty, grace and justice!  The comfort they will receive should the offer be taken up, is one of being released from condemnation for sin through the Messiah's offer of forgiveness - that is grace! Because of this grace, three things will be occur for these people who have accept the offer, here referred to in Isaiah 61:3 as "trees of righteousness" : they will display or reflect the Lord God's glory and splendour; they will be priests of the Lord God service; and will inherit all things! Messiah's Grace & Justice What is the outcome and result of grace? We see it in Isaiah 61:7-9.  Almighty God's grace, available only through the Messiah, will bring bountiful blessing, ecstatic joy and a rich inheritance instead of shame, dishonour and exile.  Grace may well be free but it is not cheap. What was the price? The relationship bridge to God that is the Messiah, is only through the Messiah's suffering atonement as described in Isaiah 53.  Isaiah moves to justice quite naturally therefore, for grace and justice are like twins - they go together naturally.  Justice is grace in action just as much as it is the judging of those in sin (Isaiah 61:8). Liberating people from sin freely (grace) is as much a part of justice as punishing those who reject the gracious offer of pardon and continue to live sinful lives.  Grace and justice are also available, because God is always full of grace and justice and this is seen in the new covenant He makes with those who have heard this Good News proclaimed by the Messiah and responded by taking up His free offer. This Good News of the twins Grace and Justice brings an offering of thanksgiving and praise (Isaiah 61:10-11)! Clothed with salvation from and through God's Messiah, robed with the righteousness of God's Messiah! And because God has done it for this one man, He will ensure that all those who respond from all nations will also be like that in a responsive praise and Godly righteousness. Messiah's Vengeance We have been warned in Isaiah 61:2 that not only will the Messiah usher in the year of the Lord's favour, but He will also bring vengeance with him.  People today don't like the word vengeance because it conjures up images of maliciousness and vindictiveness.   This vengeance is wrought by Almighty God as punishment for people's personal sin against Him.  His anger is a righteous anger and a wrath borne of holiness.  His judgment will be final and also universal - every people of every nation of all time.  In particular, however, those who would persecute, mock, abhor and reject those who have taken up God's free offer of grace through the coming Messiah. How is Jesus this Messiah? In Luke 4:16-20 at the beginning of His public ministry at a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus quotes this passage from Isaiah 61.  This tells us that the year of the Lord's favour has commenced.  But note from the passage in Luke, that he doesn't quote the full scripture.  He stops in the middle of reading a sentence, just as soon as He says "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour", rolls the scroll back up.  Why does he do that?  It can only be because while now until He returns, is the year of the Lord's favour, the day of judgement and vengeance will wait until that day in the future - when those who are His followers will enter the City of God and those who rejected Him will have vengeance wrought against them. Jesus went around, as we know, proclaiming the same Good News Isaiah writes about (Matthew 9:35, Luke 8:1).   Jesus proclaimed in his words and his life about God's love, grace and justice.  When he healed the sick, forgave sins, gave compassion on the poor, spoke and ate with the outcasts, Jesus Christ embodied this message of grace, justice and freedom.  When, as we saw on a previous day, death on the cross was the act of atonement required by God in order to punish the sins of the world, Jesus Christ did not shirk back from doing that. As for the day of vengeance, nobody talked about hell and God's judgement more than Jesus.  But God is always reaching out, coaxing people to accept His free offer of grace, if people will only humble themselves and ask for it.  God's offer of freedom is still available in this the year of the Lord's favour.  But one day, the day of judgement will come and then it will be too late.  That is why Jesus commanded with some urgency that His followers would tell all nations of this Good News, Isaiah wrote about.  A Good News of salvation, grace, justice and freedom. Jesus, reinforcing what Isaiah has said, tells us that the day of vengeance is for those who reject the Good News he preaches and lives (Matthew 10v14-15). God's Day of Judgment is coming said Jesus (Matthew 12:36).  What's more, Jesus said in John 5:22-23 "For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who doesn't honour the Son doesn't honour the Father who sent him." Jesus claims here to openly be the Messiah, the long awaited for chosen One! An even more overt statement by Jesus on judgment can be found in  John 9:39, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind." Jesus tells us that the punishment will be both physical (Matthew 5v29-30), and in the soul (Matthew 10v28).  This vengeance will consist of everlasting fire and punishment (Matthew 25v41-46) and will be Constant and outer darkness (Matthew 8v12). In other words, those rejecting the Messiah Jesus Christ, will face a lonely, impersonal God-less void.  All this will happen when Jesus comes again, not as a baby like last time, but in glorious splendour. But for all those who accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and have grasped hold of the Good News message of grace, justice and liberty, there will be another place.  According to Jesus, this heavenly city of God is only for those who are righteous (Matthew 5v20). In doing so, he concurs with Isaiah.  This righteousness is not their own, but the robe righteousness declared upon them through the Messiah. This heavenly city of God, Jesus proclaims to us is a place of ecstatic Joy (Luke 15v7-10), total peace (Luke 16v19-25) and a reward (Matthew 5v11-12) - all themes we have heard in these books of Isaiah and Zechariah.   Right mouse click to save/download this Podcast as a MP3 file

The Rev. Nick Lannon preaches a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul says that yes, Jesus Christ really was in fact raised from the dead. This Good News means there is more Good News: you can be raised from the dead, too.

The Rev. Nick Lannon preaches a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul says that yes, Jesus Christ really was in fact raised from the dead. This Good News means there is more Good News: you can be raised from the dead, too.

February 6, 20221 Corinthians 15:1-11The Gospel Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's vindication over the power of sin and death in this life. It is Good News.It is Good News because what happened on the cross and because Jesus Christ is risen, all of your failures to adequately answer the question “What Would Jesus Do?” are forgiven. Once-for-all forgiveness for you.The tomb remains empty so that you will remember that all of your sins – the ones they will not let you forget and the ones you cannot forgive yourself for – are forgotten. Buried with Jesus Christ in his death were all of your sins. And in the light of the Good News of his resurrection, his perfect righteousness is now yours. The best news.Good News.This Good News is the news that is proclaimed week after week, the best kind of broken record because it does not matter if you are an orthodox stick in the mud or an unorthodox heretic. It does not matter if you cling to the resurrection news or find it impossible to believe because you are not who they say you are, what you do, or what you believe. Because of the Good News encountered by the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus – Jesus Christ, resurrected – witnessed by the Church for over 2000 years, you are who Jesus is – a beloved child of God. You are what he has done. You are perfect – made perfect by his righteousness and unwavering love.

Three times in the Christmas narrative, angels appear to people bringing what would seem to be news of hope and promise. But each time they begin their tidings with these words: Don't be afraid.It happened to Mary, to Joseph, and to the shepherds.So, for this Christmas message, I'd like us to consider each of these characters and ask these questions:1.     What was it they might have been afraid of?2.     What steps did they have to take to overcome that fear?3.     What did they gain for having taken those steps?Let's start by looking at Mary. Mary was probably no more than 14 or 15 years old. Now here comes this angel telling her that she will become pregnant through the direct power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son.  Can you imagine the fear she must have felt?The fear for her reputation. The fear of the responsibility of motherhood. Coupled with those is the fear of giving birth to and caring for the Son of God.  All of these seem to come under one heading. Mary's fear: “It's too big for me.”  You and I also face “Mary moments” - when you're asked to respond to God's request to do something that seems well beyond you.  Fear warns us of all the bad things that might happen if we say “Yes” to God.  Then there's Joseph.Joseph was a skilled laborer with a solid reputation.  Probably quite a bit older than Mary, he had an established business and was known in the town as a “righteous man. What might Joseph have been afraid of when the angel said: “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife…”?   Joseph's fear: “What will others think?” Perhaps you can identify with Joseph's fear.  “If I do what God is asking of me, what will others think?”   Finally, let's look at the shepherds.Certainly, being confronted by a host of angelic beings is enough to terrify anyone! But I think their fear goes beyond that. The shepherds' fear: “Things will never change.”You have to understand who the shepherds were. They weren't the cute bath-robed figures in our nativity scenes. They were considered outcasts of society. They were poor, transient, uneducated, and looked down upon by nearly everyone.  In giving them the message first, God was making a profound point. This good news that a Savior has come isn't just for the religious, or wealthy, or educated.  This Good News message is for folks who have lived lives of rejection.Each of these people – Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds – received an offer from the angelic messenger.  Each of them experienced fear.  And each of them took the same steps.Surrender – They chose to lay down their former way of thinking.  They stopped giving in to the lies.Trust – They took God at His Word.  Obey – Each one of them took a step.  As with them, so with us.  We won't lack for fear; but we can take steps of surrender, trust, and obedience.  And as we do, we will discover:the thrill of a deeper, more fulfilling life the privilege of participating in God's redemptive work.  the peace that God really is with us.and the joy that fear does not have to have the last word.   Text: Matt. 1:18-21; Luke 1:26-33; Luke 2:8-10Originally recorded December 22, 2013, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN.

The Word was made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.  He was truly God and Man, and as such made a Better Covenant to fulfill God's promise in Jeremiah 31.  This Good News must be experienced and then shared abroad.  Failure here explains our societal decline.

Partakers Christmas Thought 12 December 2021 Looking Ahead to Christmas – Part 15 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.' 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn't this Joseph's son?' they asked. ( Luke 4:14-22) Here the prophet Isaiah gives two contrasting certainties: “the year of Yahweh's favour” and “the day of vengeance of our God”. The year of honour, as we shall see has already started. We don't know when it will end, but we know that it will. The day of vengeance will be in the future sometime. Again we don't know when that will be either. But we know it will all happen quickly, suddenly and without warning (Isaiah 60:22). Therefore people need to be ready and alert! The time of when it will occur is not known, but it is known who will end it – Almighty God. The Servant Messiah speaks without being introduced this time, and is the preacher in the year of the Lord's favour. This preaching is probably a referral to the rams horn that ushers in the Year of Jubilee as established in the Mosaic Covenant (Leviticus 25:8-55). The Servant Messiah's preaching will usher in a time of grace, justice and freedom – just as the ram's horn introduced the Year of Jubilee. The phrase to “proclaim liberty” is used in both the year of Jubilee and in this the year of the Lord's favour. This proclaimed year of the Lord's favour starts when the Messiah comes the first time and will cease when He returns again. The word “year” is not a fixed period of time as we know it, but is rather to be seen as symbolic of an extended period of time. This Servant Messiah is anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. This Good News was to be preached to the humble, the poor and poor in spirit – the Good News is news of freedom, liberty, grace and justice! The comfort they will receive should the offer be taken up, is one of being released from condemnation for sin through the Messiah's offer of forgiveness – that is grace! Because of this grace, three things will be occur for these people who have accept the offer, here referred to in Isaiah 61:3 as “trees of righteousness” : they will display or reflect the Lord God's glory and splendour; they will be priests of the Lord God service; and will inherit all things! In the podcast today we continue looking ahead to Christmas and its consequences, by seeing what the prophet Isaiah had to say concerning the proclamations of the coming Messiah Saviour. What were these proclamations? How does this Messiah Saviour speak these proclamations and to who? What relevancy does this have with Jesus Christ?   Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file You can now purchase our book about the story of Christmas by clicking or tapping on this link here which will take you to Amazon!

When God chose to announce to the world that He was sending his only begotten Son, he didn't announce it to the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, Levites or any other noble. Instead He gave this Epic announcement to the lowly shepherds. This Good News is for All People!

When God chose to announce to the world that He was sending his only begotten Son, he didn't announce it to the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, Levites or any other noble. Instead He gave this Epic announcement to the lowly shepherds. This Good News is for All People!

For the very first public announcement of the birth of the long-awaited savior, God started with some third-shift shepherds God chose the ordinary to be part of the extraordinary Have you ever felt like a third-shift shepherd? Overlooked, unimportant, insignificant, dirty, unworthy Then Behold!! This GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY is for YOU!

Our hope of glory is Christ. It is still a mystery to outsiders, it is revealed to us, yet it is not a secret, This GOOD NEWS is available to you!

Behave or Believe, which is it? In Romans chapter 3 Paul makes it very clear how we are justified before God and thus saved. This Good News is the foundation of how we live our lives.

September 26, 2021 Pastor Kyle Blake Colossians 1:1-6 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and from our brother Timothy. 2 To God's holy and faithful people, our brothers and sisters who are united with Christ in the city of Colossae. Good will  and peace from God our Father are yours! 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you. 4 We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people. 5 You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth. 6 This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God's kindness truly means. http://www.bethanylutheran.org http://www.facebook.com/Bethany.Long.Beach www.youtube.com/c/BethanyLutheranLongBeach

- "US Supreme Court Shown a 4D Ultrasound in Arguments Asking Them to UPHOLD Mississippi's 15-Week Abortion Ban" - "A Florida Church Wound Up Vaccinating HUNDREDS of Local Residents After 6 Members of the Church DIED from COVID 19. So Why is This GOOD NEWS?" - DANIKA COOLEY: "Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible" - "A RECORD Number of Athletes Gave Glory to God for Their Successes at the Recently-Completed Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo"

Dear God I'm Grateful For The Good News.“This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” - ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭NLT‬.What we refer to as the Gospel is defined as God's Good News..“God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. .In his earthly life he was born into King David's family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. .Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. .For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. .This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”” (Romans‬ ‭1:2-5, 16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬) For faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. (Romans‬ ‭10:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬).Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he instructed us to share the Good News so that all who believe may receive the miracle of salvation. .“And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”” - Mark‬ ‭16:15-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬.So let us do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Each day proclaim the Good News that he saves. (1 Chronicles‬ ‭16:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬) For the word of the Lord remains forever. And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”(‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:25‬ ‭NLT‬‬).#Linkinbio #DearGodImGrateful #IronWifey #DGIG #GoodNews #JesusChrist #JesusSaves #faith #gratitudechallenge #Jesus #Ironwifeymagazine #God #ironwifeypodcastnetwork #christianpodcast #podcastersofinstagram #podcast .STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH ALL THINGS IRONWIFEY:Instagram: @deargodimgrateful | @ironwifey_ | @ironwifeymagazineTwitter: @ironwifey_Facebook: IronWifeyIronWifey Magazine & Podcasts: https://www.ironwifeymagazine.comPlease Rate & Review, Like , Comment, & Subscribe!FEATURED MUSIC: Track: SkyHigh — Enine [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/q-lf6x9cVXwFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/skyhigh

God loves all the people of the world, and why wouldn't He?  All humans are created in His image.  God's "fingerprints" are found all over humans.  The apostle Paul says, "From one man he (God) made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth." ~ Acts 17:26 The people and ethnicities of the world are God's plan, it is what he designed.  Not only do we know this is how designed it from the beginning, we also get a snap shot of how it is all going to look in the end.  John, the author of The Revelation describes this image of those standing before Jesus (the Lamb) at the conclusion of time. "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice:           “Salvation belongs to our God,           who sits on the throne,           and to the Lamb.” ~ Revelation 7:9-10  So whether one starts at the beginning of Creation or goes to the end of the story, there is this consistent theme in which God not only loves every tribe, nation, tongue, and ethnicity, but He has redeemed them to spend eternity with Him.  The Bible is very clear in describing God's intention regarding all people.   The disconnect seems to happen, when God's people don't represent His character, especially when it comes to loving all ethnicities.  Why is that?  Simply put, it's always been about sin.  Sin leads to pride, jealousy, discrimination, and injustice.  So what is the solution?    A deeper understanding at to what the gospel is really all about.  Most people simply think that the gospel is this: Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, and then being resurrected, and if we believe in him we will go to Heaven when we die. That is a part of the gospel, for sure.  However the gospel is even better then that!  The gospel is that God's Kingdom has come, and through his atoning death and resurrection, King Jesus has reconciled us back into his Kingdom.  To be clear, this isn't a future Kingdom, but his Kingdom...now.   This Good News means that through faith in Jesus, we are not only reconciled into God's Kingdom, but we are also reconciled back to each other...we are reconciled into God's Family! The mission we have as God's Kingdom People, is to not only help reconcile people back to God, but to also reconcile people back together!  Do you want to learn more?  Give a listen to the conclusion of this series Outside In and take a look at how the early Jesus followers wrestled with, and then carried out this amazing mission of reconciliation.  You do not want to miss this!  

Mark 3:20-35 Then [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.' And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.'And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin' — for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.' Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.' And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?' And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'My working title for this sermon all week has been, “Crazy is as crazy does,” partly because there's enough to unpack in all of these verses to make a preacher nuts, but mostly because of the actions of Jesus and the accusations against him for having lost his mind.The nutshell of it all for me is that this is another moment in the life and times of Jesus when he's under the microscope and under attack, even, for the ministry he's begun. He's being accused by the scribes – some of the leaders of the synagogues – which is a thing we hear often in Scripture. He's being worried over by his family, which isn't such popular Biblical theme. He's being followed by overwhelming, overbearing crowds of people. And he's trying to convince everyone that he hasn't “gone out of his mind;” that he's not crazy; that he isn't possessed – at least not by the powers of Satan or Beelzebul, as some of them assume.But Jesus is possessed, it seems – overcome with and inspired by the Holy Spirit, I mean. And that Holy Spirit – bestowed upon him through baptism – was moving Jesus to do some pretty surprising, shocking, out-of-the-ordinary, hard-to-swallow sorts of things. And people were taking notice. And people were suspicious. And they were afraid, some of them, and angry, some of them, and out of sorts about it all. So they assumed and accused and questioned and condemned all the things about Jesus that they couldn't see or understand or wrap their heads or their hearts around. And they chalked it all up to “crazy.”Because that's how people are, too much of the time, isn't it? We are suspicious of the odd-balls. We assume and accuse and question and condemn. Sometimes we simply dismiss those we don't understand or who push us out of our “normal” or who move us away from what's comfortable or familiar or safe. Sometimes, we even kill them. Which, of course, is where all of this got Jesus.And it's been that way ever since, really, for the oddballs… the movers and shakers… the envelope pushers. It happened to Stephen and to Paul and to Peter, too.More recently, of course, I think about Mahatma Gandhi and Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr. And since June is PRIDE month, I think about Harvey Milk and Marsha P. Johnson and Matthew Shepard, too. Oddballs and eccentrics, each in their own right. Jesus freaks, some of them. Outsiders, others of them. Non-conformists, all. Rebels. Misfits. Trouble-makers, even. Their families and friends and neighbors might even have thought them to be their own kind of crazy, perhaps. And when we take Jesus out of the stained-glass windows of our collective mind's eye, he is all of those things, too – a trouble-making, non-conforming, rebellious kind of outsider. And today's gospel reminds us that all of his preaching and teaching and healing was so revolutionary that it made people believe Jesus was crazy, that he had gone out of his mind. Even his family tried to stop him – either because they agreed maybe he really was losing his marbles, or because they were genuinely afraid for his safety, or their own. Others, like the scribes, thought he just might be the devil himself – or at least possessed by Beelzebul.And it's hard to blame them, really. Jesus was doing and saying some pretty amazing things which didn't bode well for a lot of people – especially the ones in power – but good news that promised nothing but blessing and redemption and fullness of life for those who had, up until then, been persecuted, left out, sidelined, and worse. (The other oddballs, misfits, outcasts, and whatnot.) This Good News was crazy.Last week, we heard Jesus promise that God loved the world – the whole world and nothing but the whole world – and that God sent Jesus into the midst of it all to save and redeem it. These disciples he'd gathered to follow him and to help with this ministry were nothing to write home about – Jesus loved oddballs and misfits, too, of course. Fishermen. Tax collectors. Women. All of them charged with helping the Kingdom of God come to pass. And people were being cured. Demons were being cast out. Sins were being forgiven. More misfits were being welcomed into the mix and lives were being changed by it all. It was crazy.Because what makes “crazy” “crazy,” is that it doesn't line up with what people expect, with what people are used to, with what people think they want or need in their lives. So Jesus meets all of the criteria on the report card for crazy. He is just exactly what the scribes and other religious leaders weren't looking for in a Messiah – this peacemaker; this forgiver of sins; this living, moving, breathing force of mercy, love, and grace in their midst.So, if Jesus was crazy by the world's standards, it makes a wannabe follower of his wonder what all of that might have to do with you and me?Well, I think the answer is in that bit at the end of today's Gospel, when Jesus says, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?' And then, looking at the knuckleheads surrounding him, he answers his own question: “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”So, I think what makes us brothers and sisters to Jesus is when we're just as inspired by, just as overwhelmed with, just as possessed by the Holy Spirit – just as “crazy” as Jesus, if you will, because of the grace we've received and by our willingness to share it at all costs. And crazy is as crazy does.So, what if we spent more time – as children of God, as followers of Jesus – trying to be crazy by the world's standards, instead of conforming to what the world or the Church, even, thinks we should do or be or look like? For the record, I don't think it always has to be big, off-the-charts, headline or history-making levels of crazy.I think crazy might look like bending over backwards to be as safe as possible over the course of the last year of this pandemic, in order to love our neighbor and to protect the vulnerable – at times when others would not, and in ways that may not have always made sense. I think crazy would mean giving more money and resources away for the sake of others and our ministry – to the point that people would think we were nuts.I think crazy would mean we'd let more people in – so that the line for communion on Sunday morning would make guests wonder if they were in church, or at the bar; in prison or at the hospital; in the middle of a pride parade, a homeless shelter, or the United Nations.I think it would mean we'd forgive more readily – so that enemies and grudges wouldn't steal one more moment of our energy, one more ounce of our soul, one more second of our precious time.I think it would mean we'd stop fighting about things the politicians and cable news networks inspire us to fight about. And I think, instead, we would start fighting against and worrying about extreme poverty, violence against women and children, systemic racism, consumerism, and the rate at which people die every day, all over the world, of preventable, treatable diseases or from lack of clean water.I think crazy would look like the Kingdom of God happening among us, the Kingdom of God happening through us, the Kingdom of God happening for us, and for the sake of the world.And I think that would just be crazy – in every holy, wonderful, faithful, gracious way we can't always imagine; but crazy in ways that only God can accomplish – through the likes of oddballs and misfits like you and me – when we muster the kind of humility, courage, and faith to let it happen.Amen

This Good News of Jesus is not an opiate from the reality of the world’s bad news...

This Good News of Jesus is not an opiate from the reality of the world’s bad news...

Today, Saturday December 26 - Romans 1:17 "Romans 1:17 "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." The Living Translation says it this way: "This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” In verse 16,Paul said he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because only in it could we find a right standing with a Holy God! The "righteousness of God" also means "justified". Justification means we are able to have a "right standing with God." In other words, we can stand before a Holy God without any guilt whatsoever!" We are not sinners because we steal, cheat, lie, murder or commit adultery. We are sinners because we are born sinners, and we stay sinners, because we will not by faith believe and receive the only remedy for our sin! We must believe, have faith, in the Gospel! The Gospel is the Good News of the love of God, made manifest in His Son Jesus Christ, Who lived a perfect sinless life, died in our place for our sins, was buried and then on the third day, He rose again from the death! Paul says our faith, our trust, our belief in this "Gospel" is what transforms our life and gives us a "right standing" before God. Today, do you know that you are forgiven and have this "right standing" before God? If not, why not, right now, receive Jesus into your heart and life by asking Him to forgive you of your sins and invite Him to come into your life!

Text: Matthew 1:18-25In our world today we are inundated with news upon news, most of which is bad and discouraging. It can all be a bit overwhelming. However, the wonderful truth of God is that it doesn't matter how bad the news in our world may be or how difficult the circumstances are that we find ourselves in – God has given Good News for all to hear. It is not news of a vaccine, a recovered economy, an election result, or of Christmas traditions and plans. It is Good News directly from God to man that brings joy, hope, peace, and ultimately life to all who will receive it and believe it. This Good News is Good News of a Savior. If you are in need of some good news today, we invite you to listen to the greatest news ever shared! Sermon Notes Discussion Guide

In week 3 of “Prepare Him Room,” Dr. Claude Thomas invites us to make room for the Good News of Christmas as we look at the narrative presented in Luke chapter 2. This Good News is that God frees us, God is with us, and God is for us.

Romans 1:16-17 16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” We are by nature countercultural. We are called to be unashamed of the of the good news about Jesus and the ability to live forever. However, Davey has a rooster following him. What would you do if you had a million dollars? TGRS 005 W1 Ep3 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thegoodraceshow/message

Romans 1:8-15 God's Good News 8 Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. 9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart[d] by spreading the Good News about his Son. 10 One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. 11 For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. 12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. 13 I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,[e] that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. 14 For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world,[f] to the educated and uneducated alike. 15 So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. 16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.[g] 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”[h] Steve plays Zoom karaoke. Place of regular mutual encouragement where we are going in the same direction and trying to win podcast. Paul gives a Shout out to the barbarians. Mutual encouragement is an important part of our faith. Who is the oldest good Racer? Who went to Penn State? Who is building a go kart? TGRS 004 W1 Ep2 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thegoodraceshow/message

耶穌基督的僕人保羅，奉召為使徒，特派傳神的福音。 這福音是神從前藉眾先知在聖經上所應許的， 論到他兒子─我主耶穌基督。按肉體說，是從大衛後裔生的； 按聖善的靈說，因從死裡復活，以大能顯明是神的兒子。 我們從他受了恩惠並使徒的職分，在萬國之中叫人為他的名信服真道； 其中也有你們這蒙召屬耶穌基督的人。 我寫信給你們在羅馬、為神所愛、奉召作聖徒的眾人。願恩惠、平安從我們的父神並主耶穌基督歸與你們！ 第一，我靠著耶穌基督，為你們眾人感謝我的神，因你們的信德傳遍了天下。 我在他兒子福音上，用心靈所事奉的神，可以見證我怎樣不住的提到你們； 在禱告之間常常懇求，或者照神的旨意，終能得平坦的道路往你們那裡去。 因為我切切的想見你們，要把些屬靈的恩賜分給你們，使你們可以堅固。 這樣，我在你們中間，因你與我彼此的信心，就可以同得安慰。 弟兄們，我不願意你們不知道，我屢次定意往你們那裡去，要在你們中間得些果子，如同在其餘的外邦人中一樣；只是到如今仍有阻隔。 無論是希利尼人、化外人、聰明人、愚拙人，我都欠他們的債， 所以情願盡我的力量，將福音也傳給你們在羅馬的人。 我不以福音為恥；這福音本是神的大能，要救一切相信的，先是猶太人，後是希利尼人。 因為神的義正在這福音上顯明出來；這義是本於信，以致於信。如經上所記：義人必因信得生。 原來，神的忿怒從天上顯明在一切不虔不義的人身上，就是那些行不義阻擋真理的人。 神的事情，人所能知道的，原顯明在人心裡，因為神已經給他們顯明。 自從造天地以來，神的永能和神性是明明可知的，雖是眼不能見，但藉著所造之物就可以曉得，叫人無可推諉。 因為，他們雖然知道神，卻不當作神榮耀他，也不感謝他。他們的思念變為虛妄，無知的心就昏暗了。 自稱為聰明，反成了愚拙， 將不能朽壞之神的榮耀變為偶像，彷彿必朽壞的人和飛禽、走獸、昆蟲的樣式。 所以，神任憑他們逞著心裡的情慾行污穢的事，以致彼此玷辱自己的身體。 他們將神的真實變為虛謊，去敬拜事奉受造之物，不敬奉那造物的主；主乃是可稱頌的，直到永遠。阿們！ 因此，神任憑他們放縱可羞恥的情慾。他們的女人把順性的用處變為逆性的用處； 男人也是如此，棄了女人順性的用處，慾火攻心，彼此貪戀，男和男行可羞恥的事，就在自己身上受這妄為當得的報應。 他們既然故意不認識神，神就任憑他們存邪僻的心，行那些不合理的事； 裝滿了各樣不義、邪惡、貪婪、惡毒（或作：陰毒），滿心是嫉妒、兇殺、爭競、詭詐、毒恨； 又是讒毀的、背後說人的、怨恨神的（或作：被神所憎惡的）、侮慢人的、狂傲的、自誇的、捏造惡事的、違背父母的。 無知的，背約的，無親情的，不憐憫人的。 他們雖知道神判定行這樣事的人是當死的，然而他們不但自己去行，還喜歡別人去行。 This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David's family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God's Good News Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. 說實話，昨天錄的時候，覺得節奏抓的還不錯，不過之後如果可以讓rap和背景音樂在同一軌錄就更好了，會更接近我想要的感覺。再加油囉~~ Blessing ✨

Many churches in the Evangelical world spend a great deal of time condemning legalism: rigid adherence to Biblical laws and the man-made stringencies around them, observance by the letter and not by the Spirit, observance of Biblical laws to gain eternal life with God. But Yeshua's words in the Gospels warn of a different issue: “Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This Good News of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14, Tree of Life Version While legalism has been and continues to be a problem among believers, especially Messianic believers, its opposite — lawlessness — pulls God's people away from living godly, upstanding lives. In this new podcast episode, Judah and John discuss forms of legalism and lawlessness we've encountered in our Messianic faith, and how believers can walk a better path that avoids both extremes.

St. John's Vancouver, Morning Sermon Rev. Ben Roberts 2020/08/23 After the Council of Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit leads Paul and his companions to Macedonia. The narrative in Philippi occurs in three scenes: (1) the Lord opens Lydia’s heart to receive the Gospel and she is baptized with her whole household. (2) Paul, in the name of Jesus, commands a spirit to come out of a female servant whose masters were profiting off her spiritual oppression. (3) The Lord frees Paul and Silas from prison and they witness to the terrified Philippian Jailor, who is also baptized with his household. In these scenes we see the freedom Jesus brings. Lydia is freed to hear and know the truth, the female servant is freed from spiritual oppression, and the Jailor is freed from fear and receives salvation. The Philippians jailor asks the key question: “What must I do to be saved?” (16:30) “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (16:31) This Good News brings freedom and rejoicing (16:34).

St. John's Vancouver, Morning Sermon Rev. Will Gray 2020/08/23 After the Council of Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit leads Paul and his companions to Macedonia. The narrative in Philippi occurs in three scenes: (1) the Lord opens Lydia’s heart to receive the Gospel and she is baptized with her whole household. (2) Paul, in the name of Jesus, commands a spirit to come out of a female servant whose masters were profiting off her spiritual oppression. (3) The Lord frees Paul and Silas from prison and they witness to the terrified Philippian Jailor, who is also baptized with his household. In these scenes we see the freedom Jesus brings. Lydia is freed to hear and know the truth, the female servant is freed from spiritual oppression, and the Jailor is freed from fear and receives salvation. The Philippians jailor asks the key question: “What must I do to be saved?” (16:30) “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (16:31) This Good News brings freedom and rejoicing (16:34).

Message for 06/28/2020 "This Good News is Power" by Justin McTeer

Message for 06/14/2020 "This Good News is Love" by Justin McTeer

Message for 06/07/2020 "This Good News is Jesus" by Justin McTeer

MAY 20, TRUST HIM Today's readings are I Kings 6,  II Chronicles 3, Psalm 97, and Romans 1.  We are reading through the New Living Translation. How do we make ourselves right before God?  Is it by doing more, avoiding things, or by knowing more information?  All of the religions of the world will lead you down one or all of these paths…you must do, you must avoid, you must know. But none of these paths end up being any good at answering the question of how we are made right with God. In the end, they are not good news.  You know that from your own life. When we give ourselves to trying to do more, and more, in order to justify ourselves before God, we soon begin asking ‘how good is good enough?'  And that question leads to all kinds of pride and rules.   And the rules never end or satisfy.  In the end, they make us either liars or delusional.  Either we are pretending to be rule keepers when we are not,  or we're believing that we have kept the rules, but those around us can clearly see the truth, that we are not as loving and pure as we say we are.  No.  Doing more is not the answer. But either is avoiding – trying to avoid our obligations to God.  Living for the self, our desires and appetites,  leads only to an empty life.  We become owned by the very appetites that we thought would set us free. And if ‘doing' and ‘avoiding' are not the answer, either is ‘knowing'.  God is not a subject to be mastered.  He is the master and we will never really know Him unless we let him master us. The good news that we are all looking for, to made right with God, is found from start to finish, by faith.  That's what Paul is trying to say here – Faith alone in God alone.  And faith means we must trust Him.  Faith and trust mean relationship, intimacy, and reliance.  This is the most personal of ways, it's God's way, of knowing Him and being known by him, by faith.  That's what Paul tells us: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Rm 1:17) That's the good news!  It's by faith.  Let's let those other failed ways, go.  God wants you to believe him, trust him, and walk with him, by faith. You were created to know him and to be known by him. Your life in him, from start to finish, is a journey of faith.  It's not about doing more, avoiding, or knowing more than the next guy.  It's about believing him, trusting Him and walking with him.  

1SAMUEL 2:Yesterday we heard of the wonderful answer to Hannah’s prayer and of her determination to fulfill a very difficult vow to the Lord. Samuel might have only been 3 years old when Hannah gave him up to stay permanently as a Nazarite serving at the Lord’s tabernacle. Hannah is such an example of a Godly woman. No wonder so many girls are named after her! I noticed an interesting detail in yesterday’s reading. Elkanah also had a vow. When Samuel was newly born and Hannah did not go with the family to Shiloh for the yearly sacrifices, the GNT drew my attention saying that Elkanah went “to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised.” We don’t really know exactly what Elkanah’s special vow would have been. But it is conjectured by commentators that Elkanah was offering a sacrifice in fulfillment of Hannah’s vow about giving birth to a son. According to the Law, a wife’s vow could be revoked by her husband on the day he hears about the vow. But if he doesn’t forbid the wife about the vow on that day, the wife is bound by her vow and it is logical that the husband would share responsibility. As Elkanah left on that year, he told Hannah, “May the Lord make your promise come true.” This is a great example of doing what God commanded about vows. The principle was to always follow through whenever God’s name has been invoked. To do otherwise would be to mar God’s reputation.PSALM 91:This is a favorite psalm, frequently referred to in our hymns and worship songs. It is also the psalm Satan quoted to Jesus to tempt him to jump from the pinnacle of the temple. I feel that the promise that was quoted is not just for Jesus, but is for every believer. I preach to myself here: Let’s memorize and meditate upon this psalm! ROMANS 1b:Yesterday we saw how the theme of this letter is the Good News, and how believing this message is the center of the way God has designed and revealed for how we are saved— no matter if we are ethnically Jews or non-Jews. The start of this Good News is that our relationship with God has been broken. Understanding this fact is what makes the Good News ‘good’. We don’t start out as ‘nice people’ but as broken people. And Paul will show us in three chapters that this situation obtains for Jews (who think they are so good) and non-Jews (who start out not even having an appearance of ‘good’). GNT Translation notes:Rom. 1:17 For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through [believing//faith] from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “The person who is put right with God through [believing//faith] shall live.”  18 God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of [0//the] people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known. 20 Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So [0//those] [people (or mankind)] have no excuse at all!24 And so God has given [mankind (humans)//those people] over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. NLT Translation notes: 1Sam. 2:21,27 The NLT edition I recorded for this podcast and the current edition display rather large differences in these two verses. Rom. 1:8 Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your [fully believing//faith] in him is being talked about all over the world.12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your [fully believing in Christ//faith], but I also want to be encouraged [in the same way by you//by yours].16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—[both Jews, and also non-Jews//the Jew first and also the Gentile.[As I have said repeatedly already, translating pistis/pistew (same root word) by the different-appearing words in English ‘faith’ and ‘believe can cause misunderstanding for some English speakers. (This certainly happens in Indonesian where the same root was translated as ‘iman’ and ‘percaya’.) Keeping the word ‘believe’ in all places helps us to see the continuity/cohesion. Our being ‘made right’ in God’s sight is not accomplished by the fuzzy touchy-feely stuff Americans often refer to by the word ‘faith’.]17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by [our fully believing this message (the Good News)//faith]. As the Scriptures say, “It is through [fully believing//faith] that a righteous person has life.”

1SAMUEL 1:Yesterday we heard the charming conclusion of the story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. The words of the town women have prophetic significance: “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family.” (NLT) The words have a double meaning for us today, as we see them looking forward to Jesus our Redeemer. Now if you have been listening closely, you didn’t hear the word ‘redeemer’ in the GNT. That word happens 8 times in Ruth, beginning at 2:20. GNT translated the correct meaning as “a close relative of ours, one of those responsible for taking care of us.” The term meant much more than— for instance, redeeming a family member who had been sold into slavery. The nearest kinsman would also revenge a murder or marry a widow of a close family member. The advantage of GNT’s term is that it accurately shows the meaning, but the advantage of translating using the word ‘redeemer’ is that readers will more quickly see the correspondence between what Boaz did with Jesus— who both came from Boaz’ line and is our redeemer. Continuing the history of Israel, we now move to the transition from the period of judges to the period of kings. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book in the Hebrew Scripture. They were separated in the Greek Septuagint. The books are named after Samuel, not written by him. In 1 Samuel, we see that Samuel is not just a judge, but also a prophet, and that he anointed both Saul and David. This book contains many of the favorite Bible stories told to children. PSALM 90:The traditional titles in the Psalms (given as headings or footnotes in our Bibles) were written centuries afterward by the Rabbis and we need not consider them part of the inspired Word. This title of Psalm 90 may identify Moses as the author, or the Rabbis may have meant that this psalm reflects a Mosaic perspective. No other psalm is labeled like this one. This is a good psalm for meditating on the meaning of our life and our short life-span. ROMANS 1a:Yesterday in the final chapter of 1 Timothy, Paul continued giving instructions on how to teach particular groups in the church, ending with teachings for slaves and for rich people. Note that those who give generously to help others store up heavenly treasures and “a good foundation for the future.” Paul's closing encouragements to Timothy are moving because we can sense Paul's deep love for Timothy. We move back in time slightly from 1 Timothy to Romans. Romans was written perhaps 6-9 years before 1Timothy, written at the time that Paul was in Corinth. The topic sentence for Romans is 1:16-17, and the book is an outstanding presentation of this thesis in impeccable logic. As a translator, I often use those two verses as an example of how hard it is to understand a literal translation versus a meaning based translation. I encourage you to compare the NLT with something like the ESV— to see what I mean. GNT Translation notes:1Sam. 1:20 The name Samuel actually means ‘name of God’ but has some sounds that are similar to the Hebrew verb ‘asked’. ====Rom 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the whole world is hearing about your [fully believing in Christ//faith].12 What I mean is that both you and I will be [mutually encouraged to believe more fully in Christ//helped at the same time, you by my faith and I by yours].13 [I want you to know//You must remember], my friends, that many times I have planned to visit you, but something has always kept me from doing so. I want to win converts among you also, as I have among other Gentiles.17 For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through [believing//faith] from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “The person who is put right with God through [believing//faith] shall live.” NLT Translation notes:Rom. 1:8 Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your [fully believing//faith] in him is being talked about all over the world.12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your [fully believing in Christ//faith], but I also want to be encouraged [in the same way by you//by yours].16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—[both Jews, and also non-Jews//the Jew first and also the Gentile.[As I have said repeatedly already, translating pistis/pistew (same root word) by the different-appearing words in English ‘faith’ and ‘believe can cause misunderstanding for some English speakers. (This certainly happens in Indonesian where the same root was translated as ‘iman’ and ‘percaya’.) Keeping the word ‘believe’ in all places helps us to see the continuity/cohesion. Our being ‘made right’ in God’s sight is not accomplished by the fuzzy touchy-feely stuff Americans often refer to by the word ‘faith’.]17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by [our fully believing this message (the Good News)//faith]. As the Scriptures say, “It is through [fully believing//faith] that a righteous person has life.”

“04-07-2019 This Good News is for Everyone”. Released: 2019. The post This Good News is for Everyone appeared first on Westwood Roxboro.

Good News: Everybody could use some. How about you?In the headlines: “'One of my worst fears,' says man who choked mountain lion.” On February 4, 2019, Travis Kauffman was running in the mountains of Colorado when a mountain lion lunged at him, latching onto his wrist and clawing his face and legs. As Travis tumbled to the ground, he grabbed sticks, rocks, anything to defend himself with, but nothing worked.At that moment, he said his fear response turned into a fight. Some things are worth fighting for! He fought for his life, his future, his family. Though the lion refused to let him go, he was able to get his foot on the lion's neck and choke it to death. Twenty-eight stitches later and grateful to be alive, he said, "The story is bigger than my puny form."Some of you have been in a fight. I see it in some of your eyes... you're tired of the fight. The bad news has been so fatiguing, and you could use some good news.Peace be to you!Good news: The story is bigger than you. The story of God's grace—the good news of God's grace applied to your story—is bigger than anything you could pull off.The Romans needed some good news, so the Apostle Paul wrote the letter we know as Romans. The book of Romans is known for bringing about transformation. This message of grace through Jesus is transformational for you. Martin Luther called Romans, “The chief book of the New Testament.” As we go through Romans together, let's ask God to transform us!The goal of God's Word is not to inform you, but to transform you.What is the gospel? What do we know about the gospel?Gospel means “good news.” The book of Romans unpacks the gospel, this good news about Jesus!Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, (Romans 1:1-6)Paul described himself as a servant – one who served his master to the disregard of his own interests, one whose will was swallowed up in the will of his master. Furthermore, Paul was called to be an apostle, something entirely different than what he was. He was a terrorist... but called to be an apostle.Paul relates to real people; he knew what he was, and where he had come from. Maybe that is why he could say with such confidence those words, “Such WERE some of you!” He knew what he was once like.Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:11)Read that again. Some of you were like that, but you were cleansed, made holy, right with God. He can make you what you could never be on your own. Truth be told, this is what the church is made of – people that used to be one thing that are now something else. Everybody has a story; what's yours?Lastly, Paul was set apart for THE GOSPEL OF GOD – the good news.What makes the gospel good news for you?#1 - The gospel has always been God's plan to adopt you.“...set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through the prophets...” (Rom. 1:1)The gospel was not an afterthought; it was His plan before the creation of the world. You may wonder if God even knows you are around, if He cares. YES! He is the God who sees! In Gen. 16:13, Hagar said, “You are the Lord who sees me and cares for me.”Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. (Eph. 1:4-5 NLT)The gospel is the good news of God's plan to adopt you into His family.# 2 - The gospel is about Jesus and what He did for you.“...concerning His Son... Jesus...” (Rom. 1:3-5)If we don't remind ourselves the good news of what Jesus did for us, we beat ourselves up and fight a battle against sin that we could never win. Some live their entire lives feeling defeated, like they are not enough and don't measure up. If that's you – STOP and listen to the gospel. Remind yourself what Jesus did for you! He stepped out of Heaven, took on human skin, lived a sinless life, and willingly allowed Himself to be crucified. All of your sins were nailed to that cross so that you could be free from the penalty of sin. Jesus died so you could really live! When Jesus rose from the dead, He proved He really was the Son of God. Oh, what a joy to know that in Christ your sins are forgiven!What does the resurrection mean? What has been purchased?I keep a simple reminder in my office – a fishing lure. Out of the six hooks it had, five remain. The sixth hook was stuck in my hand, a hook that I could not get out by myself. That situation reminds me of when I was stuck in sin, and I could not get myself out until Jesus came and did for me what I could never do on my own. He gave His life for me and now the rest of my life is all His. Oh, how we need to be reminded of the gospel today!#3 - The gospel transforms you.To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 1:7)In Rome, where the Christians were thought to be substandard, where they were treated more like animals than humans, Paul called them ‘loved by God, saints, children of the Lord.' This is who you are!We see Paul's transformation moment in Acts 9 – he went from terrorist to apostleship. See how Paul spoke to the Roman church that he had never visited before; hear his heart and see the transformation that took place!First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. (Rom. 1:8-12)The transformed Paul was thanking instead of killing; praying non-stop instead of hunting them down non-stop. He longed to see them as a father sees his kids—with a desire to impart, encourage, strengthen—not destroy them as he did before.Paul was changed by God's grace, radically transformed. How about you? Have you been changed by God's grace?#4 - The gospel is for everyone.I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Rom. 1: 13-15)The gospel breaks all barriers; there is no “us” and “them.” Why do you think that there is this “us and them” attitude in our society? What keeps that from creeping into our lives?The gospel obligates you to think of everyone – from the person across the street to the one across the sea. The gospel obligates us to go global. This otherworldly love compels us to include everyone.#5 - The gospel gives you the only way to be right with God, by faith ALONE.For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Rom. 1:16-17 NLT) The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)The gospel affects everyone. It is our response to the gospel that puts us on a path that is either “headed for destruction” or “being saved.” The problem today is that people are caught by a roaring lion, and many struggle their whole lives to accomplish what they never could on their own – freedom!Your story is bigger than your ability.It is bigger than what you can make happen. Your future is bigger than your past.The gospel: God took our sin, put it on Jesus and treated Him as our sins deserves. So now through faith in Jesus, God treats you like Jesus deserves to be treated. That is why the gospel is such good news for you!

"There are many villains in the world but only one adversary" P. Jeff   3 Areas Where Satan Tries To Steal Your Super Suit: 1. Righteousness - I'm Made Right  [Life To Live Right] Romans 1:16-17 (NLT)  For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Christ Jesus]   2. Peace - [I'm Forgiven & Favored] Romans 5:1-2 (NLT)  Since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.   3. Joy -  I'm Filled & Empowered Isaiah 12:2-3 (NKJV)  Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.   Put On Your Super Suit! Ephesians 4:23-24 (NASB)   Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/spiritlifechurch/message

“This Good News of Great Joy is for you, and for me, and for all of us, no matter how small or humble we are, or feel ourselves to be. To the Ruler of the Universe, the Creator of the Cosmos, each and every one of you...counts.” The Rev. E. Suzanne Wille preaches on Christmas Eve (December 24, 2018). Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

As far as we know, only a few shepherds received the birth announcement of the Savior of the World. And what they saw and heard changed their lives forever. This Good News will change your life forever too. Luke 2:8-20

Jesus speaks to the Samaritan women at Jacob's well, and she hears the good message of his eternal gift of life, and to worship the truth and Spirt. This Good News spreads quickly in Sychar a small town in Samaria.

Normally, when a Gospel comes to a close we automatically think that the last verse concludes the story. However, the Good News of Jesus Christ does not end with the last verse. This Good News story continues with the Church. Check out this weeks sermon.

St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that our participation in the life and death of Jesus Christ brings us eternal life.  This Good News is our legacy as disciples and our inspiration to offer our lives with the hope and strength of God's grace. July 1, 2017 - St. William Catholic Church - Foxboro, WI Fr. Andrew Ricci - www.studyprayserve.com

12-22-13 "This Good News" - Kevin Swanson by Evergreen Church

APOSTLE TALK - Future News Now! WWW.REALMIRACLES.COM with Prince Handley   MIRACLES WILL FOLLOW YOU ... IF YOU GO! Click the center of the pod circle ... give it 30 seconds to load. Listen now  ... or download for later For INSTANT REPLAY, go to:  www.blubrry.com/prophecy/ After you listen to this message, you can scroll down for all previous messages in the LibSyn Archives (with Show Notes). RSS PODCAST MIRACLES FOLLOW YOU ... IF YOU GO! You are NOT going to reach many “New Age” people without MIRACLES ... You are NOT going to reach many Jewish people without MIRACLES ... You are NOT going to reach many Muslims without MIRACLES! Jesus said to them, ”‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ... And these signs shall FOLLOW them that believe ...” (Mark 16:15-18) “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs FOLLOWING.” (Mark 16:20) “The Jews seek [require] a sign.” (1 Corinthians 1:22) “For I am the LORD; I change NOT ...” (Malachi 3:6) “Jesus Christ, the SAME: yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) I am writing this newsletter to BOTH those who believe in MIRACLES and those who do not believe in miracles. God never intended for us to be impotent representatives of the Kingdom of God. He has NEVER changed His plan of salvation and never will. “I am the LORD; I change not.”  (Malachi 3:6) Are you afraid that God will not come through for you the next time you pray for a sick friend? Pray anyway! Are you concerned about who will get the blame if the prayer is not answered? Will it be God’s fault ... or will it be your fault ... or will it be the sick person’s fault? There are THREE (3) precepts necessary to enable you to have a more productive healing ministry. They are very simple and not only will you be a greater blessing to many on earth but eternity will manifest the extreme fruit of your compassion. We will discuss these precepts below. The FIRST precept is that you BELIEVE. “If you can BELIEVE; all things are possible if you believe.” (Mark 9:23) Another translation of this verse is: “If you can? BELIEVE! All things are possible if you believe.” (Read the context.) “All things whatsoever you shall ask in my name BELIEVING, you shall receive.” To help you BELIEVE, study scriptures on healing. Find a concordance and read all the Bible verses on healing, heal, healed, etc. Also, for a short scripture by scripture presentation on healing, go to: http://www.realmiracles.com/mthe.htm You may want to memorize these scriptures. Also, go to the website www.realmiracles.com and select HEALTH on the blue navigation bars at the left of any page. This is from the 32 page booklet written and copyrighted by Apostle Handley titled How To Be Healed . It covers: Different avenues of healing; How to receive healing; How to be an instrument of healing for others; and, Hindrances to healing (different reasons why people are not healed). If your HEART is right before God ... and if you have the DESIRE ... you can become a MIRACLE WORKING bearer of the Good News! “What things soever you DESIRE, when you PRAY, BELIEVE that you RECEIVE them; and YOU SHALL HAVE THEM.”  (Mark 11:24) “And ALL things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive.”  (Matthew 21:22) Stop being concerned about HOW MUCH faith you have. If you only have faith the size of a small seed ... just USE IT. Loose that faith in the NAME of JESUS ... “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you ... ask, and you shall receive ...”  (John 16:23-24) The SECOND precept is that you are COMMISSIONED. “You go therefore, and teach ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, remember, I am with you ALWAYS unto the end of the world.”  (Matthew 28:19-20) This commission was given to the apostles with the mandate that they were to “teach them [the ones they were discipling and training] ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The phrase “All things” includes, of course, the commissioning or “sending out” of other workers and apostles. Mark 13:10 tells us “This Good News of the kingdom will be preached in ALL the earth, and then will the end come.” That commission is ongoing until the “end of the age, or world” and the Kingdom of Heaven is continually being perpetuated like sourdough bread or starter bacteria used in starting yogurt, only with GREAT MULTIPLICATION. Apostleship did NOT end with the early apostles. Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that God placed “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers” in the Body of Christ “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry” “for building up the body of Christ”. Nowhere did God ever terminate the offices of pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, or apostles. An “apostle” is basically a “sent one”. In early Greek literature the word “apostello” was used to describe a ship leaving its port with its goods and a bill of lading, headed for its destination. For example: a ship leaving its port in North Africa headed for Greece. As soon as the ship was unloaded, and having delivered its wares and products, it was labeled “apostello”, an “apostle” ship: a “sent one”. Notice, you do NOT have to be an apostle, one of the ministry gifts to the church (see again Ephesians 4:11-12) to be commissioned. Part of Christ’s commission to the early apostles was to “go into ALL the world and preach the gospel ...” and ... to “teach them (the new believers who follow through with water baptism) all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” “All things” includes the mandate to “Go into ALL the world ...”. It is a self perpetuating movement from the moment our Lord pronounced it! Nothing has stopped it, nothing is stopping it, and nothing ever will stop it! Ask your church or fellowship to lay hands on you and send you out. You might want to spend a time of prayer and fasting before this. NOTE: Beware if your church says it is going to “release” you! You’re NOT in bondage! Too many churches are “releasing”ministry instead of “sending” ministry!!! To be “sent out” or commissioned” does NOT mean necessarily that you will be changing geographic locality (unless, of course, the Spirit of God directs you in this matter). You may remain, for a season ... or for the rest of your life ... in your present locality bearing fruit for Christ as one “sent out” from the body of Christ. The mark of a productive Spirit filled church or fellowship is the regular SPIRIT DIRECTED training and sending out, THE COMMISSIONING, of workers for Christ. If you want to WIN in life then give your life to Messiah Jesus and line up with His commission! More and more, as we near the time of Messiah’s return, we will also see the sending out, the commissioning, of workers to the children of Israel ... and the subsequent planting of Messianic houses of worship. These will only be fully productive ... and have the FULL BLESSING of G-d as they shed the exclusivism manifest in so many Messianic fellowships and synagogues today! Jesus INCLUDES. A spirit of exclusivism is NOT contributory to Yeshua’s ministry of compassion, love, and MIRACLES. The THIRD precept is that you are GOING with the Good News. ”Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ... And these signs shall follow them that believe ...”  (Mark 16:15-18) If you GO ... signs will follow. Let me repeat: signs FOLLOW them that believe! You have to GO before something can FOLLOW! Take the opportunity to pray for people when it appears (when you are aware of their need) unless the Spirit of God prompts you not to. There are several reasons for this which we will cover at a later time. Covenant with God that you will take each opportunity presented to you to pray for the physical needs of people in the next seven (7) days. It will change your life and help bring healing and deliverance to many people. You don’t have to be miracle conscious ... just be JESUS conscious! You don’t have to be a preacher. You don’t have to have the “gift” of healing (although there is such a gift). You don’t have to have the “gift” of faith (although there is such a gift). I love to pray for Jews. As far as I know I have never prayed for a Jewish person to be healed that was not healed. Also, as far as I know I have never prayed for a Jewish person for anything that the request was NOT answered! I give ALL the credit to the Ruach ha Chodesh (the Holy Spirit). Pray for Jews as the LORD gives you the opportunity. It will greatly ENRICH your personal life and your walk with the LORD. In addition, God will BLESS YOU in a special way. “I will bless them that bless you, and I will curse them that curse you.”  (Genesis 12:3) Take the opportunities. Pray for Muslims, pray for Jews, pray for those ensnared or blinded in the New Age movement. Most of the people in the New Age movement and in false religions are really nice people who are seeking the WAY of life but who have been deceived by the god of this world. I remember a lady who was heavily involved in the New Age religion. I prayed for her and she was healed instantly of a condition she had for years. She said “You have POWER!” I explained to her that I didn’t have power but it was Jesus who loved her. He is the WAY to eternal life ... the ONLY WAY!      IF YOUR PLANS FIT INTO GOD’S PLANS ...          YOU WILL HAVE GOD’S FAITH ...                AND GOD’S FAITH ALWAYS WORKS!Podcast time: 15 minutes, 48 seconds (with music)Podcast size:  14.4 MB If you have a friend who is sick in body or mind, or is demon possessed, tell them about The Healing and Miracle Podcast at:  www.healing.libsyn.com. Remember to tell your friends about the Apostle Talk podcast. You can listen to this post NOW or download at www.apostle.libsyn.com Or … you can subscribe to Apostle Handley podcast and receive previous shows and all new ones automatically downloaded for you here: SUBSCRIBE Remember to tell your friends about the following podcasts with Prince Handley: Apostle Talk TEACHING podcast at  www.apostle.libsyn.com ... or ...  www.blubrry.com/prophecy/ The HEALING AND MIRACLE podcast at: www.healing.libsyn.com ... or ... www.blubrry.com/miracles/ The VOICE OF ISRAEL podcast at:  www.podcastsatellite.libsyn.com ... or ... www.blubrry.com/messiah/ When you subscribe to Apostle Prince Handley podcasts you can receive previous shows or all new ones automatically downloaded. Subscribe to any of Prince Handley's podcasts by clicking the [RSS 2.0] logo (bottom right under Search) at Libsyn ... OR ... the "rss feed" logo (under Subscribe) at Blubrry. When you subscribe to any of the podcasts you can also choose to have them delivered to iTunes, your iPhone, or to your computer RSS Live Bookmarks: My Yahoo, Google, Juice, Blogline, etc. Also, you can have the podcast delivered to your iPhone, iTunes, iPod, mp3 device or Google by using this feed: www.healing.libsyn.com/rss. You can search for Apostle Handley on Google. If you need healing, a miracle, or prayer, email to: princehandley@gmail.com To listen to Apostle Talk (Apostle Handley podcasts), go to: www.apostle.libsyn.com Real Miracles, Healing, Prayer, Ministry Studies & Help for You: www.realmiracles.com International A.C.T.I.O.N. Seminars (overseas), Email to: apostlehandley@gmail.com Free Bible Studies by Email (New Testament Introduction), Email to: worldservicesinc@gmail.com Jewish Rabbinical Studies (tell your Jewish friends): www.realmiracles.com/rabbinical.htm The University of Excellence (Advanced Studies in Missions, Leadership, and Church Growth), Email to: universityofexcellence@gmail.com Apostle Handley's RADIO programs: http://www.realmiracles.com/media1_a.htm On the RADIO page, where it says "Please Select Program" (on the LEFT drop down menu) select "Radio Programs." Then on the RIGHT drop down menu select any of 40 programs; then click "GO." For RSS Feeds of the Apostle Talk podcast latest post, use this URL: www.apostle.libsyn.com/rss

APOSTLE TALK - Future News Now! WWW.REALMIRACLES.COM with Prince Handley MIRACLES WILL FOLLOW YOU DESCRIPTION: Apostleship did NOT end with the early apostles. Miracles - real miracles - did NOT end with the early apostles. Three (3) precepts are necessary to enable you to have an apostolic MIRACLE ministry.   MIRACLES WILL FOLLOW YOU      You are NOT going to reach many “New Age? people without MIRACLES ...      You are NOT going to reach many Jewish people without MIRACLES ...      You are NOT going to reach many Muslims without MIRACLES!      Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ... And these signs shall FOLLOW them that believe ...?  [Mark 16:15-18]      “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs FOLLOWING.?  [Mark 16:20]      “The Jews seek (require) a sign.?  [1 Corinthians 1:22]      “For I am the LORD; I change NOT ...?  [Malachi 3:6]      “Jesus Christ, the SAME: yesterday, and today, and forever.?  [Hebrews 13:8]      I am writing this newsletter to BOTH those who believe in MIRACLES and those who do not believe in miracles.      God never intended for us to be impotent representatives of the Kingdom of God. He has NEVER changed His plan of salvation and never will.  “I am the LORD; I change not.? [Malachi 3:6]  Are you afraid that God will not come through for you the next time you pray for a sick friend? Pray anyway! Are you concerned about who will get the blame if the prayer is not answered? Will it be God’s fault ... or will it be your fault ... or will it be the sick person’s fault?      There are THREE (3) precepts necessary to enable you to have a more productive healing ministry. They are very simple and not only will you be a greater blessing to many on earth but eternity will manifest the extreme fruit of your compassion. We will discuss these precepts below. The FIRST precept is that you BELIEVE.      “If you can BELIEVE; all things are possible if you believe.?  [Mark 9:23]  Another translation of this verse is: “If you can? BELIEVE! All things are possible if you believe.? (Read the context.)  “All things whatsoever you shall ask in my name BELIEVING, you shall receive.?  To help you BELIEVE, study scriptures on healing. Find a concordance and read all the Bible verses on healing, heal, healed, etc. Also, for a short scripture by scripture presentation on healing, go to: http://www.realmiracles.com/mthe.htm  You may want to memorize these scriptures.      Also, go to the website www.realmiracles.com  and select “HEALTH? on the blue navigation bars at the left of any page. This is from the 32 page booklet written and copyrighted by Apostle Handley titled How To Be Healed. It covers: Different avenues of healing; How to receive healing; How to be an instrument of healing for others; and, Hindrances to healing (different reasons why people are not healed).      If your HEART is right before God ... and if you have the DESIRE ... you can become a MIRACLE WORKING bearer of the Good News!  “What things soever you DESIRE, when you PRAY, BELIEVE that you RECEIVE them; and YOU SHALL HAVE THEM.?  [Mark 11:24]      “And ALL things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you shall receive.? [Matthew 21:22] Stop being concerned about HOW MUCH faith you have. If you only have faith the size of a small seed ... just USE IT. Loose that faith in the NAME of JESUS ...  “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you ... ask, and you shall receive ...?  [John 16:23-24] The SECOND precept is that you are COMMISSIONED.      “You go therefore, and teach ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, remember, I am with you ALWAYS unto the end of the world.?  [Matthew 28:19-20]      This commission was given to the apostles with the mandate that they were to “teach them [the ones they were discipling and training] ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you.?  The phrase “all things? includes, of course, the commissioning or sending out of other workers and apostles.      Mark 13:10 tells us “This Good News of the kingdom will be preached in ALL the earth, and then will the end come.?  That commission is ongoing until the “end of the age, or world? and the Kingdom of Heaven is continually being perpetuated like yeast used in sourdough bread or added bacteria used in starting yogurt, only with GREAT MULTIPLICATION.      Apostleship did NOT end with the early apostles. Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that God placed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the Body of Christ “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry ... for building up the body of Christ?. Nowhere did God ever terminate these offices of pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, or apostles.      An “apostle? is basically a “sent one?. In early Greek literature the word “apostello? was used to describe a ship leaving its port with its goods and a bill of lading, headed for its destination. For example: a ship leaving its port in North Africa headed for Greece. As soon as the ship was unloaded, and having delivered its wares and products, it was labeled “apostello?, an “apostle? ship: a “sent one?.      Notice, you do NOT have to be an apostle, one of the ministry gifts to the church (see again Ephesians 4:11-12) to be commissioned. Part of Christ’s commission to the early apostles was to “go into ALL the world and preach the gospel ...?  and ... to “teach them (the new believers who follow through with water baptism) all things whatsoever I have commanded you.?  “All things? includes the mandate to “Go into ALL the world ...?. It is a self perpetuating movement from the moment our Lord pronounced it! Nothing has stopped it, nothing is stopping it, and nothing ever will stop it!      Ask your church or fellowship to lay hands on you and send you out. You might want to spend a time of prayer and fasting before this. NOTE: Beware if your church says it is going to “release? you! You’re NOT in bondage! Too many churches are “releasing? ministry instead of “sending? ministry!!! To be “sent out? or commissioned? does NOT mean necessarily that you will be changing geographic locality (unless, of course, the Spirit of God directs you in this matter). You may remain, for a season ... or for the rest of your life ... in your present locality bearing fruit for Christ as one “sent out? from the body of Christ.   NOTICE: If you do NOT have a church or fellowship to lay hands on you and send you out, then write to me and I will send you an anointed prayer cloth for commissioning. Write to: Prince Handley P.O. Box A Downey, California 90241 USA Or, you may email to: princehandley@gmail.com. In the “Subject?line write the words “Commissioning Prayer Cloth request.? Please send me a monthly report of what the LORD is doing through you and also include any prayer requests you may have.           The mark of a productive Spirit filled church or fellowship is the regular SPIRIT DIRECTED training and sending out, THE COMMISSIONING, of workers for Christ. If you want to WIN in life then line give your life to Messiah Jesus and line up with His commission! More and more, as we near the time of Messiah’s return, we will also see the sending out, the commissioning, of workers to the children of Israel ... and the subsequent planting of Messianic houses of worship. These will only be fully productive ... and have the FULL BLESSING of God as they shed the exclusivism manifest in so many Messianic fellowships and synagogues today!      Jesus INCLUDES. A spirit of exclusivism is NOT contributory to Yeshua’s ministry of compassion, love, and MIRACLES. The THIRD precept is that you GO with the Good News.      ?Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ... And these signs shall follow them that believe ...?  [Mark 16:15-18] If you GO ... signs will follow. Let me repeat: signs FOLLOW them that believe! You have to GO before something can FOLLOW you!      Take the opportunity to pray for people when it appears (when you are aware of their need) unless the Spirit of God prompts you not to. There are several reasons for this which we will cover at a later time.      Covenant with God that you will take each opportunity presented to you to pray for the physical needs of people in the next seven (7) days. It will change your life and help bring healing and deliverance to many people. You don’t have to be miracle conscious ... just be JESUS conscious! You don’t have to be a preacher. You don’t have to have the “gift? of healing (although there is such a gift). You don’t have to have the “gift? of faith (although there is such a gift).      I love to pray for Jews. As far as I know I have never prayed for a Jewish person to be healed that was not healed. Also, as far as I know I have never prayed for a Jewish person for anything that the request was NOT answered! I give ALL the credit to the Ruach ha Chodesh (the Holy Spirit). Pray for Jews as the LORD gives you the opportunity. It will greatly ENRICH your personal life and your walk with the LORD. In addition, God will BLESS YOU in a special way. “I will bless they that bless you, and I will curse them that curse you.?  [Genesis 12:3]      Take the opportunities. Pray for Muslims, pray for Jews, pray for those ensnared or blinded in the New Age movement. Most of the people in the New Age movement and in false religions are really nice people who are seeking the WAY of life but who have been deceived by the god of this world. I remember a lady who was heavily involved in the New Age religion. I prayed for her and she was healed instantly of a condition she had for years. She said “You have POWER!? I explained to her that I didn’t have power but it was Jesus who loved her. He is the WAY to eternal life ... the ONLY WAY! IF YOUR PLANS FIT INTO GOD’S PLANS ...        YOU WILL HAVE GOD’S FAITH ...               AND GOD’S FAITH ALWAYS WORKS! Copyright © Prince Handley 2007 All rights reserved.   If you have been helped or received a miracle as a result of this study, email us and let us know what God has done for you. You may contact us by email at: princehandley@gmail.com Remember to tell your friends about the Apostle Talk podcast. You can subscribe to Apostle Handley podcast and receive previous shows and all new ones automatically downloaded for you. Click here for instructions: www.realmiracles.com/podcast_info.htm You can also search for “Apostle Talk? in directories like Blubrry. Note the spelling of "Blubrry." COMMENTS TO: princehandley@gmail.com Skype: princehandley Time: 15 minutes, 48 seconds (with music) Size: 14.4 MB International A.C.T.I.O.N. Seminars (overseas), Email to: apostlehandley@gmail.com Real Miracles, Healing, Prayer, Ministry Studies & Help for You: www.realmiracles.com Free Bible Studies by Email (New Testament Introduction), Email to: worldservicesinc@gmail.com Jewish Rabbinical Studies (tell your Jewish friends):  http://www.realmiracles.com/rabbinical.htm The University of Excellence (Advanced Studies in Missions, Leadership, and Church Growth), Email to: universityofexcellence@gmail.com