Podcasts about this jesus

Join us as we dig deeper into last Sunday's sermon from Pastor Marcus Lane "The Gospel on Trial" and hear from Amy Duncan and Nate Zuellig on "Cornerstone". Digging Deeper Questions: How does the notion that "the word does the work" shift how you approach the calling to take part in God's mission?   Have you ever encountered the accusation or felt like Christianity is exclusive? How does the nature of grace help address this concern?   How might the life of the early church challenge you to grow in generosity? Scripture Reading: Acts 4:1-22, 32-37 1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.   5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."   13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, "What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.   32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Intro/Outro Song: "Only One" Nate Zuellig ULC Artist In Residence    "Cornerstone" Hillsong CCLI Song # 6158927   CCLI License # 11254293

We were created to worship. Even those who claim no interest in religion will inevitably worship something, whether it’s fame, wealth, family, or another thing entirely. In this message from Revelation 4–5, Pastor J.D. gives us a glimpse of heavenly worship that is motivated by the sovereignty of God and the salvation found in Jesus. This Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb, is the one our hearts yearn for and the only one who can give us life to the full.

Reading 1Acts 1:1-11In the first book, Theophilus,I dealt with all that Jesus did and taughtuntil the day he was taken up,after giving instructions through the Holy Spiritto the apostles whom he had chosen.He presented himself alive to themby many proofs after he had suffered,appearing to them during forty daysand speaking about the kingdom of God.While meeting with them,he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,but to wait for “the promise of the Fatherabout which you have heard me speak;for John baptized with water,but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”When they had gathered together they asked him,“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasonsthat the Father has established by his own authority.But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,throughout Judea and Samaria,and to the ends of the earth.”When he had said this, as they were looking on,he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.They said, “Men of Galilee,why are you standing there looking at the sky?This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heavenwill return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”Reading 2Ephesians 1:17-23Brothers and sisters:May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelationresulting in knowledge of him.May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,what are the riches of gloryin his inheritance among the holy ones,and what is the surpassing greatness of his powerfor us who believe,in accord with the exercise of his great might,which he worked in Christ,raising him from the deadand seating him at his right hand in the heavens,far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion,and every name that is namednot only in this age but also in the one to come.And he put all things beneath his feetand gave him as head over all things to the church,which is his body,the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.GospelMatthew 28:16-20The eleven disciples went to Galilee,to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.Then Jesus approached and said to them,“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father,and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Our Current Situation Jonathan Parnell Download Acts 1:1-11,In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”Acts 2:1-4,When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.Today, on Pentecost Sunday, it has seemed good to the elders to have a sermon that addresses our current moment. Now, if you've been around for the past few months, you know that we've not ignored our situation — we have tried to ‘keep our eyes on the base' ahead of us, and every now and then we've said things behind this pulpit, and I've written things, to try to guide us through these days. But what makes today different is that I want to address everything a little more ‘on the nose,' as it were. My hope is to be as clear as possible. I want to tell you three realities about our current moment: Where we areWhat we're facingHow we respond And if you're a guest with us this morning, I need to explain that we normally do what's called expositional preaching. It's the central part of our worship, which is the heartbeat of our church. Every Sunday, we open the Bible and preach through a passage of Scripture. My goal as a preacher is to simply tell you what God says. We do that by conviction, because we believe what we most need, and the power to change our lives, is the word of God. And we're in the word today, here in Acts 2, but we're just gonna spend most of our time, not on exposition, but on application. You'll see what I mean. Let's get started.The first reality of our current moment … I want to tell you …1. Where we areRight away, it's this: we are currently in the promised age of the Spirit.We are in the part of redemptive history when the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the people of God. The gospel is advancing. Jesus is building his church — And that's what I tell my grandfather every summer when I seem him on our family trip to North Carolina.Twenty-three years ago, when I believed God was calling me to be a pastor, my grandfather was one of the first persons I told. He is a godly man who has had a deep influence on me, and I try to see him at least once a year. And every summer that I've seen him for the last decade, he always asks me, “Son, how's the church?” And for several years now, the first thing I say is: “Grandaddy, the gospel is advancing. Jesus is building his church.” And he just smiles.Well, this morning, from Acts 2, I wanna tell you the short story of why that's true.The Story of PentecostThis is where the Day of Pentecost comes in. Pentecost is the foundational event in the Book of Acts, and Luke wants us to see the connection between Pentecost and the ministry of Jesus. Look at Acts 1, verse 4. Luke writes, And while staying with them he [Jesus] ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me…”Notice that when Jesus gives his disciples instructions for receiving the Spirit, he starts it by saying “you've heard me talk about this.” Jesus has taught on the Holy Spirit before, and we've heard this teaching! The Holy Spirit is the big topic in the Farewell Discourse, in the Gospel of John. We've heard Jesus say:John 14:16, “… I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth …”John 15:25, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”So as we come into the Book of Acts, we already have an expectation: the Spirit proceeds from the Father — he is the promise of the Father and Jesus will ask and receive from the Father to give the Spirit to us. And so we are ready for this. Now jump over to Acts Chapter 2.Acts 2, verse 1 — it is the Day of Pentecost — 50 days after Jesus's resurrection, about a week and a half after Jesus's ascension. And the disciples have done what Jesus instructed; they had been waiting in Jerusalem; they were altogether, and then verse 2: … suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.The promised Spirit has come!And it leaves the onlookers amazed and perplexed, so Peter ‘stands up' among the disciples to explain what's going on. This is significant: Because Peter had fallen — which we saw last week: in his worst moment he denied Jesus — but he is now restored and standing among his brothers. And, filled with the Holy Spirit, he preaches the best sermon ever. He says that Jesus, who had been crucified, is now raised up, and, verse 33:Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.Notice how this ties it altogether. We know the behind-the-scenes here, because Jesus told us: Jesus has asked the Father for the Spirit, to give him to us. Jesus has received the Spirit from the Father, and now, on this Day of Pentecost, Jesus has poured out the Spirit on his people. This is so significant that it marks the official transition from the old covenant to the new. This moment commences what the apostle Paul calls the “day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). That's another way to talk about the ‘promised age of the Spirit' or the ‘messianic age of salvation.'Witness and OpportunityThis age means at least two things:First, it means that we are Jesus's witnesses.The Spirit who bears witness to Jesus, bears witness to Jesus through us. We've talked about this recently: the work of Jesus in this world has not ended, but it's continued now by his Spirit through his people. We are not of the world, but Jesus has sent us into the world, and he tells us in Acts 1:8, “you will be my witnesses.”We are here to be life and light to a dead and dark world by pointing to Jesus.And secondly, this age of the Spirit means what Peter says in Chapter 2, verse 21 … that right now, because the Spirit is poured out, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from; your background, your mistakes, your name — none of it matters. If you call on the name of Jesus Christ — if you ask Jesus to save you, he will save you. This is more amazing than we can begin to comprehend! It is the real headline today — just like it was the real headline yesterday. In fact, this has been the real headline everyday for the past two thousand years! Ever since Acts Chapter 2, the real daily headline is: TRUST CHRIST AND BE SAVED!That is where we are. That is the truest situation we're in. The grace of God is abounding all over this world! And so get in on the grace while you still can. That's where we are. Now, #2 … what we're facing …2. What we're facingIn a word, what we're facing is opposition — which is not strange.First, it's not strange because opposition is a kind of trial — and trials of various kinds are a means that God uses to produces in us steadfastness (James 1:2–4). This is part of the way that God shapes our character and deepens our hope (Romans 5:2–5). This is how he brings to completion the good work he began in us (Philippians 1:6).Another reason opposition is not strange is that, in light of churches throughout history and churches all around the world, countless local churches face opposition. It's just how it is! From the moment the Spirit is poured out in Acts 2, the church advances through both power and resistance.If anything, the opposition and challenges we're facing make us more at home with world Christianity — and more at home with the Book of Acts — than we ever were before.And so, ultimately, church, we're gonna be okay. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and we will see his face one day, and until then our Heavenly Father watches over us in such a way that not a hair can fall from our heads apart from his will, and in fact, all things must work together for our salvation. Hey, we're blessed! And we need to remind ourselves of this everyday, over and over again. And the Holy Spirit helps us to do that! He ministers hope to us through this Book!And at the same time, as we live in this hope, we should not downplay the opposition set against us, especially not the parts that are unlawful, harmful to our families and children, and that put other churches at risk.I think about a good friend in college … he spent a whole summer in West Africa, in the bush, doing a missions project, and one of the individuals on his team was so eager to suffer for Jesus that they decided not to the bring a toothbrush for the entire four months. And this person experienced all the things you might imagine you would if you don't brush your teeth for a long time. And one of the lessons my friend learned is that “Jesus is most likely okay with a toothbrush.”The lesson is that although suffering for Jesus is normal — and the Bible teaches us to expect it — that doesn't mean that we seek it out or accept it without any concern.For example: God has instituted earthly authorities, known as government, as a means to create and guard ordered societies. According to Romans 13, we should expect our government to punish wrongdoing.What happened to us on January 18 was wrong, period.And much of what continues to go on out here on Sunday mornings is also wrong.And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then great. Keep it like that. There are ways to get into this space without having to walk past these people who hate us. I'd encourage you: avail yourselves to those ways.But to be clear: out front, over the past few months we have experienced, and have evidence of, chargeable offenses. People have said things and behaved toward our church members with the intent to cause harm and induce reasonable fear. They want to make our coming to worship as uncomfortable as possible so that we would stop coming. (Their goal is to shut us down, just like the people who desecrated our worship service on January 18.) But, the more serious issue is that, so far, our city and state officials are doing nothing about it. And that's the bigger problem. The world hating us is expected — Jesus told us they would. But our local government should enforce the law equally, for all people, including for Baptists … including for Evangelical Christians … but they're not doing that.So that's what we're facing, here in our little slice of the world, in the Twin Cities, in this promised age of the Spirit poured out.Now #3, I want to tell you …3. How we respondNow before I say anything here about our response, I first want to commend you and thank you for your response so far.And I want to give a special thanks to our security team. These men have done so much over the past several months to protect us from physical harm and to promote safety, and I thank God for them. I encourage you, when you get a chance, express your gratitude to these men. And for our entire church, corporately, look, your response has been remarkable. Over and over again the fruit of the Spirit has been manifested in you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.I've seen it in you! So thanks be to God, and may this fruit abound more and more!Now, as we look forward to a new season, and the opposition drags on, I want to tell you about a three-part strategy that's trying to taking everything into account. With God's help, these are three actions that we can take in these days.1. We will pursue wise and lawful means to hold our opponents accountable for wrongdoing. We are continuing to document everything, and we're doing our best to work with the St. Paul Police and city officials to get the law enforced. This means that we, as your pastors, gotta be a little persistent. We have to kindly bother them, and that's what I plan to do.I hope to have an audience with Mayor Her, and I want to appeal to her. And I would say:Mayor Her, on April 20th this year, in your address on the state of St. Paul, you said that you are committed to listening and to acting and to lifting St. Paul higher to its full potential, but I wonder: Do you include Evangelical Christians in that commitment? Or, do you only care about people you agree with? You have left us to wonder this. These are serious questions that we need to ask. That's one part of our response.Here's the second:2. We will increase our fervent prayer.I know many of us have been praying, and many other churches have been praying for us, and I want to encourage us to keep on, and even pray more. Look, we know, Ephesians 6:12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.Our opposition is fundamentally spiritual, and therefore our response must be fundamentally spiritual. We put on the armor of the Lord, which includes praying at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).And so the plan is to equip our greeters and security with some guided prayer points to carry with them as they're serving, and I would like to build a small team of prayer warriors to pray as our people are coming to worship. I will send more communications about this, but just know it's coming. We're gonna pray more. I'm reminded of the quote, goes back to Oswald Chamber. He says:“Prayer does not equip us for greater works — prayer is the greater work.”3. We will remember the real headline. Now I've already told you the real headline, but it's probably not one that you're gonna find in your feeds. The real headline today — and everyday until Jesus comes back — is that THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS BEEN POURED OUT!TRUST CHRIST AND BE SAVED!Church, Jesus is real. Jesus is alive — and he is not anxious about anything. He's not worried about our future. Right now he's reigning from the Father's right hand. He has all authority in heaven and on earth, and he has many in these cities who are his people. We are in the promised age of the Spirit, the age of salvation. And that means that anybody from anywhere — it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from or what you're past is — if you call on the name of the Lord you will be saved!And because this is true, church, be filled with the Holy Spirit and take the next step on mission — Have that gospel conversation with your neighbor or coworker. Invite people to church! — hey, if you think people are not gonna wanna come because of the opposition, just test that out. Invite people to come see for themselves who we truly are.In these days when our opponents want to shut us down, I pray that God doubles our size. I pray that he multiplies us! I pray that he sends us out! We don't want less mission — we want more. More prayer. More courage. More witness. More disciples made.More of the glory of Jesus overcoming us and overflowing through us! The promised Spirit is here! And he is at work. In a couple of months, God willing, I'm going to see my grandfather in North Carolina. And he's been following what's going on. He keeps up on us. But when I see him, he's gonna ask me, “Son, how's the church?” And I'm gonna say, “Granddaddy, the gospel is advancing! Jesus is building his church!”And he's gonna smile because he knows it's true. This is the time in which we live. May God be glorified through us!And that's what brings us to the Table. The TableAt this table each week, we enter into a ritual that Jesus gave to his church. It's for Christians.So if you're here and you're not a Christian, if you have not put your faith in Jesus, this is an opportunity to do that. On this day, in this moment, I invite you: call on the name of Jesus, put your faith in him, and be saved. Now, for Cities Church and all who trust in Christ, let us remember him — let's remember his death and resurrection for us, and let's remember the hope we have in him.

On Earth as in Heaven Acts 1 by William Klock It's been over ten years since I finished preaching through Luke's Gospel. I had planned to preach on the Acts of the Apostles after a short break, but it didn't happen and didn't happen and didn't happen, but as I was preaching through Ephesians these last few months and pondering the things St. Paul tells us about the what the church is and what that means for us, I got to thinking that I really shouldn't put off Acts any longer.  So I'd planned to jump into it last Sunday. Acts begins with the Ascension of Jesus, and then the very next chapter is Pentecost.  What providential timing!  And then scheduling and a trip to a clericus threw me off by a week.  So last Sunday, Ascension Sunday, you got Ephesians 6—which was a bit of an Ascension sermon—and now on Pentecost, you're getting the Ascension and next week, on Trinity Sunday, you'll get Pentecost! Now, in case you're wondering what Acts has to do with Luke, it's quite a lot. Luke probably wrote his Gospel around a.d. 59 or 60.  He addresses it to someone named Theophilus.  Theophilus means “lover of God”, so some think that Luke may have used this name symbolically and that the Gospel is for everyone who loves God.  It certainly is that, but an attribution like that seems to have been unknown in Luke's world, so Theophilus probably was a real person and was probably a patron who funded Luke's writing project.  Luke was not an eyewitness to Jesus or the events of the Gospels.  As he says in the introduction, he sought out the eyewitnesses so that he could scrupulously record the events surrounding Jesus' life and ministry.  And now Acts.  Luke wrote Acts not long later, sometime between 60 and 62.  The book ends with Paul, imprisoned in Rome, awaiting his hearing before Caesar.  There's a debate about exactly what happened to Paul after that time.  He was martyred at Rome, probably during Nero's persecution of Christians, sometime between 64 and 67.  The traditional view is that Paul's case was heard in 62, he was released, and may have travelled to Spain to preach the good news about Jesus, before returning to Rome to work with Peter to oversee the church there.  The more “modern” view is that Paul was imprisoned once and was executed between 62 and 64.  Whatever the case, since Luke doesn't mention such an important event, we can pretty safely assume he wrote during that time that Paul was awaiting his hearing.  And in the case of Acts, Luke was an eyewitness, at least to part of it.  He researched the early part of Acts just as he did his Gospel, but then he took up with Paul at the city of Troas, on Paul's second missionary journey around 50-51.  Luke spent the following ten or more years travelling with Paul as a missionary and records those events as a participant. And who was Luke other than a companion of Paul?  He was a gentile.  At the end of Colossians, Paul names him separately, apart from his fellow Jewish workers.  In that same passage, Paul describes Luke as a physician.  Beyond that we really don't know a lot about him.  He writes as we would expect a Gentile would write when writing to other Gentiles.  He writes in polished, educated Greek and he often describes Jewish customs for the benefit of his non-Jewish readers.  And when it comes to Acts, he jumps in right where he left off in his Gospel.  He ended with a condensed telling of the Ascension and he begins Acts with a more detailed account, so we'll start there.  It's page 1080 in your pew Bibles if you want to follow along. Luke writes, “Dear Theophilus, The previous book which I wrote had to do with everything Jesus began to do and to teach. I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to his chosen apostles.” Let me pause there.  Notice how Luke writes that in his Gospel he wrote about everything that Jesus began to do and to teach.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus isn't done.  If Luke's Gospel were called “The Acts of Jesus”, Acts could very easily be “The Acts of Jesus: Part II”.  Jesus isn't done.  Remember what we learned from Paul in Ephesians: in the church, Jesus has established a people—purified by his blood from the stain of sin and filled with God's own Spirit—to be his new creation in the midst of the old, to carry his victory into the world to challenge the Caesars and the gods and the principalities and powers, to proclaim the good news until God's glory fills the whole earth.  Jesus continues his “acts” through us.  At the start of his ministry he told the people to pray: on earth as in heaven.  Now he's empowered us to be the people who will actually live out heaven on earth until he's finally ready to finish what he started that first Easter, and bring heaven and earth and God and human beings back together as they should be. Now, Luke goes on in verse 3: “He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs.  He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God's kingdom. As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, btu to wait, as he put it, “for the Father's promise, which I was telling you about earlier.  John baptised with water; but in a few days from now you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.  So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus: “Master,” they said, ‘is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel.'” Jesus must have been pretty exasperated by their question.  John Calvin wrote that there are as many errors in their question as there are words.  Jesus has spent forty days teaching them what his resurrection meant for them, for the world, for everything.  Think of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter Day.  Jesus walked with them for hours and explained what happened to them using the Old Testament scriptures.  We get the impression that as it all sank in they started to understand.  But clearly not fully.  Not even after forty days.  They're still thinking of the kingdom in terms of events like the Maccabean revolt.  The Messiah will raise an army and smite the pagan gentiles and put Israel back on the top of the heap—but this time it will take, it will be forever.  They're still thinking of Jesus as the king in waiting or the king in exile—like some of the Iranians wanting Reza Pahlavi to return to Iran and retake the Peacock Throne.  But that's not how God's kingdom works.  Think of all the parables Jesus told about the kingdom: It's like a tiny mustard seed.  Yes, it will grow into a huge tree, but it takes a long time.  It's like yeast.  Yes, it grows, but it takes time and the right conditions.  After two thousand years, I think we have a better grasp of this.  But not always.  There are still many, many Christians who still kind of ask the same question, as if Jesus is the heir apparent, in exile, still waiting to become king.  But Brothers and Sisters, he already is king.  The church's job is to announce his kingship—as it's carved out on our lychgate: “Jesus is Lord”— and to implement the fact that he really is king.  Now. Not someday.  Now. So Jesus responds to them in verse 7: “It's not your business to know about times and dates,” he replied. “The Father has placed all that under his own direct authority.  What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.” The timing?  How the kingdom is going play out?  When everything will finally be consummated?  Don't worry about that.  The Father has that worked out in his goodness and wisdom.  That' not your job.  That's not our job.  That' not even Jesus' job to know.  Their job, our job is to witness Jesus—his death, his resurrection, his ascension, the fact that he is Lord—to be God's new creation, to put off the old, lie-based way of being human to to put on the new—our job is witness that good news and God's new creation to the world.  And Jesus reiterates it again: I will make sure you're equipped for this.  He's told them already: As John baptised you with water, I will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.  The significance of that didn't seem to sink in.  It should have.  This is what the Lord had promised through the prophets over and over.  Filling his people with the Spirit was to be the great sign of the Messianic age.  It would be the thing that would finally set the hearts of his people right.  And so Jesus says it again: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  And then you'll be my witnesses from Jerusalem and eventually out to the whole world.  The mustard seed.  The yeast.  The king returning from the far-off land.  And then, to make his point, to drive home the fact that, yes, he really is king, Jesus acts out another prophecy.  He loved to do this and so it makes perfect sense that his last act before leaving them would be another acted out prophecy.  Verse 9: “As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching and a cloud took him out of their sight.  They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared.  Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee,' they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.'” Jesus acts out Daniel 7—maybe not something we're intimately familiar with (although we should be), but a passage—a dramatic image—any Jew knew intimately.  That's the dream Daniel had of the ferocious beasts representing the pagan kings and empires that threatened God's people.  And in his vision, Daniel sees the Ancient of Days take his throne to sit in judgement over these beasts.  Their kingdoms are taken from them and then one like a son of man comes on the clouds to heaven to take his throne.  And to him is given dominion and glory and kingship so that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.  His dominion, Daniel says, is everlasting, his kingship one that shall never be destroyed.  This the vision of the Messiah becoming king and restoring the kingdom to Israel. So in his ascension, Jesus is showing the fulfilment of God's promise to Daniel.  Coming on the clouds to take his throne.  It was an unmistakable image for the disciples.  The kingdom has been restored to Israel—of course, that's Israel reconstituted around and in Jesus the Messiah—but restored it has been.  The Messiah is on his throne.  At the end of Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus gives the disciples what we often call his “great commission” he deliberately echoes Daniel 7: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  So you must go and make all the nations into disciples.”  The Ascension means that the world is under new management.  Maybe it helps to understand how they thought of heaven.  Unfortunately, we tend to think of heaven through a Platonic lens.  It's a far away and otherworldly place.  The opposite of earth.  The real world of which this is only a shadow.  But that's Plato—pagan Greek philosophy—not the Bible.  In the Bible heaven is earth's compliment; its other half.  God created them to fit together, to mesh.  Heaven is his realm, but the two were meant to overlap, for us to share his presence.  But his part, the heavenly half, was—in the Jewish view—it was like the control room or the CEO's office.  And that's where Jesus has gone.  To take the controls, to sit at the big desk, to accede to his throne—to rule and to reign: as Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:25: “He has to rule until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” But back to Daniel 7.  If the son of man has taken his throne, then that means that the kingdom has, indeed, been restored to Israel.  There are implications there for the disciples.  One of the twelve is missing.  Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus.  The twelve are only eleven.  If the apostles represent the fullness of Israel reconstituted in the Messiah, they need a replacement for Judas.  Twelve tribes; twelve apostles. Maybe they didn't grasp this immediately.  Luke says that after Jesus' ascension, after the two angels asked if they were just going to stand around staring into heaven all day—because: he's one day coming back in the same way—like, didn't he give you work to do?—so they went back to Jerusalem as Jesus had told them.  Verse 13: “They then entered the city (‘they' meaning Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James) and went to the upstairs room where they were staying.  They all gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer, with the women, including Mary, Jesus' mother, and his brothers.” Luke makes a point of naming them all.  And there are eleven, not twelve.  He anticipates what needs to happen.  The apostles themselves apparently weren't sure what to do, so they did the right thing: they devoted themselves to prayer.  Brothers and Sisters, don't ever let prayer be an excuse for not doing what needs to be done, but when you don't know what to do: pray.  And pray some more.  Luke doesn't say that God suddenly spoke and gave them direction, but after days of prayer they began to understand what they had to do.  They knew the scriptures.  They'd listened to Jesus for forty days.  And as they prayed, understanding came.  Prayer has a way of doing that.  As we see here, the scriptures began to percolate in Peter's head.  That's often how God leads us.  It's not often that he speaks directly and we shouldn't expect him to.  But when we're already steeped in the scriptures and when we pray, the Spirit works and things “seem” to just come together.  I'm often amazed to see how this works when I'm preparing a sermon.  So Peter stands up in the middle of the disciples.  Luke says they'd grown to a hundred and twenty by this point.  And he says—verse 16: “Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago by the mouth of David about Judas, who became a guide to the people who arrested Jesus.  He was counted among us and had his own share in this ministry.”  Luke then adds that Judas went to the field bought with the money used to betray Jesus, he hanged himself there, where he burst open and his guts came out.  Luke notes this bit as historical evidence.  The field was still called “Blood-Place” in his day. And Peter goes on in verse 20, quoting Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8, “For this is what it says in the book of Psalms: ‘Let his home become desolate and let no one live in it' and again, ‘Let another receive his office.' “So,” Peter said, “this is what has to be done. There are plenty of people who have gone about with us all the time that our master Jesus was coming and going among us, starting from John's baptism until the day he was taken from us.  Let one of them be chosen to be alongside us as a special witness of his resurrection.” Through prayer and the scriptures and the prompting of the Spirit, Peter realised that if Jesus, the son of man, sits on his throne, the kingdom has been restored to Israel, and that meant that the leaders…the apostles…of this renewed Israel had better number twelve, to represent the full number Israel's tribes.  The symbolism was vital if people—particularly fellow Jews—were going to see how the scriptures and the covenant and God's promises to Israel were being fulfilled in the church.  “So,” writes Luke, “they chose two: Joseph who was called Barsabbas, with the surname Justus, and Matthias.  ‘Lord,' they prayed, ‘you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to receive this particular place of service and apostleship, from which Judas went away to go to his own place.' So they cast lots for them.  The lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled along with the eleven apostles.” This may seem like a mundane detail to us, especially after the glory of Jesus' ascension.  But it was a big deal to the apostles and no less to Luke.  Their knowing the need for twelve, not eleven apostles, highlights just how much they saw the work of Jesus as being about the fulfilment and the restoration of God's people as the promises to Abraham were fulfilled and their mission was about be launched into the nations.  It was proof that this new movement wasn't really new at all.  It was rooted in God's promises and showed their fulfilment of God.  Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, Pentecost weren't just stand-alone events.  They were part of the great story that God had been telling his people for thousands of years.  In these events, God was doing what he'd promised, showing his faithfulness and revealing his glory.  That's why Peter takes us back to the Psalms here.  It's why Stephen, before his martyrdom in Chapter 7 recounts the history of Israel.  They wanted to make it clear that what's happening here in Acts was what God intended all along. I've always found it funny that for all the big deal they make choosing Matthias, he's never mentioned again. I say that, because it's a good reminder that what Luke records in Acts is selective.  As St. John writes at the end of his Gospel, if someone were to write down literally everything that Jesus did, the world could not contain all the books.  And just so with Acts.  Just so with the whole history of the church.  The world could not contain the books needed to record all the things, big and small and all amazing, that Jesus and the Spirit have done through Christians down through the ages, the famous ones and the ordinary saints like you and I.  But the little bit that Luke records for us in Acts, Brothers and Sisters, is a partial (and strategic) record—inspired by the Spirit—that ought to encourage us as it reminds us how God is fulfilling his promises here and now in us and as it exhorts us to carry on with our mission, knowing that the Spirit is with us and will equip us for everything he has for us to do. On that note, I want to conclude with two images.  Jesus was acting out Daniel's prophecy of the son of man coming on the clouds to his throne when he ascended, but there are at least two other unmistakable images in that act as well.  The first is Moses, ascending Mount Sinai, up into the clouds and thunder.  Moses went up and came down with the law.  In the same way, Jesus has gone up, but what has come down is not another law written on stone, but God's own Spirit, poured into our hearts.  Contemporary Christians often think of the Spirit mainly as the agent of amazing and miraculous gifts, but the most important work of the Spirit, Brothers and Sisters, the most amazing miracle of the Spirit, is to transform our hearts and to turn our affections toward God, to fill us with his law of love.  The other image here is that of the Prophet Elijah as he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire.  As he went, he threw down his mantle onto Elisha, his protégé.  In that act, he not only passed on his God-given mission to Elisha, but he empowered him to do it.  That is what the book of Acts is about.  Luke's Gospel is about Jesus and his ministry—like the Prophet Elijah—and at the Ascension he's taken up in heaven and his mantle falls to the apostles, to the church, to you and to me, and the book of Acts is then like the continuing story of Elisha, carrying on the work and ministry God had given to Elijah.  Elijah's last act was to strike the waters of the Jordan with his cloak so that they parted, and Elisha's first act is to do exactly the same.  Brother and Sisters, that's Acts.  That's the ministry of the church.  To steward the good news about Jesus, to steward God's presence, to be his temple, ever expanding until it fills the earth.  Yes, it's a difficult job—some even lose their lives for it—but Jesus has equipped us and he's given us hope in the faithfulness of God to do what he has said.  His mantle has fallen on us in the gift of the Spirit and we know that he sits on his throne as Lord.  That central gospel truth is carved on our lychgate, a reminder as we come here and as a remind when we go back out to the world.  May Jesus' ascension never be for us a mere doctrine.  May it be for us the great truth that gives us hope, the great truth that is transforming creation. Let's pray: Almighty God and Father, as you have taken your son, Jesus the Messiah to reign in heaven, and as you have let his mantle fall on us in your indwelling Spirit, fill us with bold faith and certain hope that we might be faithful stewards of your gospel and for the sake of the world until the knowledge of your glory reaches the ends of the earth your son returns again on the clouds.  Through him we pray. Amen.

Join us as we dig deeper into last Sunday's sermon from Pastor Gabe Kasper "The Gospel Ascends" and hear from Amy Duncan and Nate Zuellig on "We Will Feast In The House Of Zion". Digging Deeper Questions: In the sermon Pastor Gabe talked about how we live in the fifth act of the Theodrama. What role do you see yourself playing in God's story?   In Jesus' ascension He now sits at the right hand of God the Father, reigning and ruling over all things. How ought this dictate our lives?    The ascension gives us power, purpose, and pardon. Which of these three is hardest for you to believe? Easiest? Why?   Scripture Reading: Acts 1:1-11 1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.   4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."   6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."     Intro/Outro Song: "Only One" Nate Zuellig ULC Artist In Residence    "We Will Feast In The House Of Zion" Sandra McCracken CCLI Song # 7041364   CCLI License # 11254293

A sermon for Easter 7 (May 17, 2026) Acts 1:6-14 When the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.  

Seventh Sunday of Easter The First Lesson Acts 1:6-14 When the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. The Psalm Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 Exsurgat Deus 1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; * let those who hate him flee before him. 2 Let them vanish like smoke when the wind drives it away; * as the wax melts at the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; * let them also be merry and joyful. 4 Sing to God, sing praises to his Name; exalt him who rides upon the heavens; * YAHWEH is his Name, rejoice before him! 5 Father of orphans, defender of widows, * God in his holy habitation! 6 God gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners into freedom; * but the rebels shall live in dry places. 7 O God, when you went forth before your people, * when you marched through the wilderness, 8 The earth shook, and the skies poured down rain, at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, * at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9 You sent a gracious rain, O God, upon your inheritance; * you refreshed the land when it was weary. 10 Your people found their home in it; * in your goodness, O God, you have made provision for the poor. 33 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; * sing praises to the Lord. 34 He rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; * he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice. 35 Ascribe power to God; * his majesty is over Israel; his strength is in the skies. 36 How wonderful is God in his holy places! * the God of Israel giving strength and power to his people! Blessed be God! The Epistle 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. The Gospel John 17:1-11 Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."

This episode consists of our opening statements. In my opening statement (slides here), I first briefly explain why a trinitarian should not want to identify Jesus and God. I assume that when my opponent says that “Jesus is God” he means that Jesus is fully divine/has the divine nature. I then explain a terrible problem of the official Christology of the Council of Chalcedon in 451: the implication that the divine nature of Christ is a someone (self, person) and the human nature of Christ is another someone (self, person). They try to fix this by asserting that there is only one someone there, but that’s no real solution. I then explain how later, the fully developed Chalcedonian catholic tradition does solve this problem by saying that Christ’s “complete human nature” (human type of body + human type of soul), is not, because of its “assumption” by the divine nature/eternal Son/Word, a human person. But this clashes with the clear New Testament teaching that Jesus is a man/human person. It is no help to say there there is a “human” person here, meaning a divine person who now bears some mysterious relationship to a human type of soul and a human type of body which don’t compose a human person. The problem is only exacerbated by the sixth ecumenical council in 681 at Constantinople, which seems to make each of Christ’s natures a person/self/someone by saying that each has a will (an ability to choose). Against this messy, catholic Christology I set out the clear New Testament teachings that the one God is (only) the Father himself, and that Jesus, his Messiah/Christ, is a miraculously conceived man, a human person born to Mary who did not have a biological human father. Properly trinitarian (tripersonal-God-involving) ideas seem to have originated in the latter half of the 300s, and so are alien to the thought world of the New Testament. Against various later speculations, the New Testament Jesus is the Messiah (a.k.a. the Son of God), a man, not an additional, lesser god to the one true god (the Father), or the same god as the Father, or a “divine Person” in an imagined triune god. I then explain five qualities which according to the New Testament Jesus has which rule his being fully divine. About Dr. Bird’s claim in his book Jesus Among the Gods that the New Testament Jesus is an ungenerated or unbegotten god, I point at that this is contrary to catholic traditions that say the Father “eternally generates” the Son. He also says there that the New Testament Son is supposed to “a Jewish god,” but, I object, that would make him the Jewish god, and so, the Father/Yahweh. I then lay out four lines of evidence that the New Testament authors did not think Jesus to be fully divine, and rebut Dr. Bird’s claim that early Christian theology should be seen as “incipient trinitarianism.” Dr. Bird says that he holds Jesus to be the second Person of the Trinity because this is what best makes sense of all of Scripture. The Bible teaches monotheism, that there is, strictly speaking, only one god, the creator, Yahweh. He points out that the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher-theologian Philo rejected the possibility of a human becoming a god and the possibility of God becoming a human. He suggests that if Philo had read John 1:1-14 he would have accepted all but the final verse. The author of the Fourth Gospel, Bird says, believes that Jesus in the eternal, divine Son, the Word–not (only) a man attested by God. The one God is known through his actions and is said in the Old Testament to create by his word and by his wisdom. Also, “the angel of the LORD” seems to be both God himself and someone else–a contradiction, or maybe a merely apparent one, a paradox. New Testament authors, he suggests, did not consider Jesus to be only human. In particular, the give him religious worship. They all thought Jesus to be “divine”–the only question was: In what sense? As Thomas said (John 20:28), Jesus is his god. Jesus is worthy of our worship. Paul closely associates together Jesus and God, often mentioning them together. Engaging with Jesus is engaging with the divine. Jesus in the New Testament doesn’t claim to be God, Bird argues, but texts like Mark 1:1-3, where the author applies a Yahweh text to Jesus, imply that he is Yahweh returning to Zion. Again, in Mark 2 we see Jesus forgiving human sins, which only God can do. And in Mark 14, before the high priest, Jesus claims that he will be co-enthroned with Yahweh, so that Jesus has divine authority. And John 1 teaches that God’s Word is one and the same with the man Jesus. Philippians 2 teaches the full deity of Jesus and says Jesus is worthy of worship–and so we see that Jesus participates in the divine identity. In 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Bird says, Paul gives a revised, duality-including version of the Shema. And in Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is a representation of God’s own being, not a mere man. This Jesus has a unique relationship with the Father, enabling us to have a relationship with him. His opponents understood (John 10:33) that he was claiming ontological equality with God. Thus in Revelation 5 we see the Lamb getting the same worship that was given to God Almighty in the vision of Revelation 4. But Jesus does not deserve that worship unless he is fully divine. It would be blasphemy to worship Jesus if he were a creature. Jesus’s full divinity is also implied by prayer to Jesus. Of course, it took mainstream tradition a few centuries to work it all out. But Bird cites Eusebius the historian, Melito of Sardis, the Sibylline Oracles, Justin Martyr, and Ignatius of Antioch as early recognizers of the deity of Christ. He also mentions two pagan testimonies of the early worship of the Son–yet more support for “early high Christology.” Bird says that he’s not impressed with analytic theology, but at any rate, many analytic theologians are trinitarians, such as Oliver Crisp. He says that he is an exegete, historian, and theologian, suggesting that he is more qualified to answer historical questions about early Christianity. In his view early Christians closely associated Jesus with God and thought Jesus was “from the same source of divinity.” Trinitarian theology, he suggests, is not so much taught in the Bible as it is a hermeneutic, a way of reading it, a way of making sense of what the Bible as a whole affirms and denies. He points out that it does better, for instance, than modalism when it comes to reading the accounts of Jesus’s baptism. Contrary to what I said it my opening, Dr. Bird says we should think and take comfort in the fact that God was and is one of us, mentioning this 1990s song. In this way, he says, God moved from empathy to sympathy. This was far greater, he says, than sending “a super-human Messiah” to help us. Finally, while conceding that some early Christians may have thought something like what I presented, he suggests that the closest analogue to the Christology I presented was the Christology of the pagan Neoplatonist and critic of Christianity Porphyry, who acknowledged Jesus as (only) a pious and wise man. Bird’s Christology, he suggests, far better fits the Bible and the facts of history. Which side put forward the better opening case, and why? Leave us a comment below. Here below is the UCA-produced video. Special thanks to Canterbury Christadelphian Hall for hosting and recording this debate, and to UCA Podcast host Mark Cain for his expert help in producing the audio for this episode and for the video. https://youtu.be/tJKFqF7lYKY?si=KIfP2ez2tekxkztH Links for this episode: Dr. Michael Bird’s YouTube channel Dr. Bird’s blog, Substack Bird, Jesus Among the Gods (interview on Transfigured) Bird, Evangelical Theology, 2nd ed. Ehrman, Bird, and Stewart, When Did Jesus Become God? podcast 270 – Origen's “one God” podcast 348 – Novatian's On the Trinity – Part 2 – Two Thieves and Three Arguments podcast 277 – Was Christ tempted in every way? podcast 391 – Jesus' Temptations and Ours – Part 1 – Luke 4 podcast 392 – Jesus' Temptations and Ours – Part 2 – Things Apologists Say podcast 384 – Mainstream Christian Theologies in the Late 100s – Early 200s and Early Trinitarian “Fool's Gold” podcast 381 – Mainstream Christian Theologies in the year 240: What Trinitarian Apologists Don't Know Tuggy, Nicaea at 1700: Myths vs. Reality podcast 291 – From one God to two gods to three “Gods” – John 1 and early Christian theologies biblicalunitarian.com Catholic Theologian Hans Küng on New Testament theology This week’s thinking music is “Ignite! (instrumental)” by Lemon Knife.

To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/MeetJesus  (NOT a Morning Mindset resource)   ⇒ TODAY'S DAILY SPONSOR: The cost of today’s episode is financially supported by David, from Ohio, who listens every morning.   You can sponsor a daily episode of the Morning Mindset too, by going to https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/DailySponsor ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:6–11 - So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Underwrite one daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: @CareyNGreen ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FOREIGN LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: Subscribe to the SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish Subscribe to the HINDI version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Hindi Subscribe to the CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ THEME MUSIC: “King’s Trailer” – Creative Commons 0 | Provided by https://freepd.com/   ***All NON-ENGLISH versions of the Morning Mindset are translated using A.I. Dubbing and Translation tools from DubFormer.ai ***All NON-ENGLISH text content (descriptions and titles) are translated using the A.I. functionality of Google Translate.

Acts 1:6–11; 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.   Introduction: The Hope That Defines the Christian Life The Certainty of Christ's Return (Acts 1:9–11) The Resurrection Hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13–16)  The Glory of His Return (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17) Comfort for Believers (1 Thessalonians 4:18) Application: How We Must Live      Live Ready     Encourage One Another     Live with Eternal Perspective Conclusion: The King Is Coming  

Without well built foundations, a building can not stand. A new series laying the essential foundations on which our faith will stand. “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”Acts 4:11 ESV

REVELATION IS NOT A SCARY BOOK…IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER…CHRIST REVEALS TO US WHO HE IS…IN ALL OF HIS GLORY…HE REVEALS TO US HOW IT ALL ENDS…AND WE WIN! IT WAS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH TO BE AN ENCOURAGEMENT Acts 1:8-11 ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." YOU HAVE RECEIVED POWER TO BE A WITNESS, NOT A LAWYER…AND YOUR SOLE PURPOSE FOR EXISTENCE IS TO BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST TO BRING GOD GLORY CHRIST MARKS AND MEASURES HIS WITNESSES Revelation 11:1-2 ESV Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, [2] but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. CHRIST GIVES HIS WITNESSES POWER TO PREACH Revelation 11:3-4 ESV And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." [4] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. CHRIST GIVES HIS WITNESSES PROTECTION TO FULFILL THEIR PURPOSE Revelation 11:5-6 ESV And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. [6] They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. CHRIST GETS TO USE HIS WITNESSES IN ANY WAY THAT HE CHOOSES…BUT IT IS ALWAYS FOR HIS GLORY Revelation 11:7-14 ESV And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, [8] and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. [9] For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, [10] and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. [11] But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. [12] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. [13] And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. [14] The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. YOU HAVE RECEIVED POWER TO BE A WITNESS, NOT A LAWYER…AND YOUR SOLE PURPOSE FOR EXISTENCE IS TO BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST TO BRING GOD GLORY

Resurrections After Death (1) (audio) David Eells, 4/19/26   Faith That Resurrects B. A. - 10/20/2012 Mat.10:1 And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. I dreamed I was in bed, sleeping, when, in my sleep, I sensed a presence in my bedroom. I opened my eyes, and an angel of the Lord was standing at the foot of my bed with his arm stretched out toward me. I immediately reached out my arm, and the angel took my hand, and we were immediately outside my house. In what seemed like just a few seconds, we were outside a farmhouse in the woods. As I was taking in my surroundings, the angel lifted me up, and we went through the outside wall of the house, into a couple's bedroom as they were sleeping. Shortly upon the entrance into their bedroom, the wife awoke and reached over to give her husband a kiss on the forehead, like she did every morning. As her lips touched his forehead, she felt the icy coldness of his lifeless body. Without fear or alarm, she calmly got out of bed, reached over on the nightstand, and took up her Bible. Php.4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. She went over to her husband's side of the bed and took his hand in hers. I thought to myself, how could she take hold of his hand if his body had already grown cold? Wouldn't rigor mortis have already set in? The Lord showed me that she wasn't walking by sight but by faith; she knew her husband wasn't dead, but only sleeping. Luk.8:52 And all were weeping, and bewailing her: but he said, Weep not; for she is not dead, but sleepeth. Mar.11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God (have God's faith). 23 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. 24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. So with her Bible in hand (trusting and believing in the promises of the Word of God), she knelt down beside the bed and began to pray. I watched as she read scripture after scripture; she would only stop reading scripture when she stopped to sing, worship, and praise the Lord. Psa.118:1 Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 2 Let Israel now say, That his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 17 I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of Jehovah. 18 Jehovah hath chastened me sore; But he hath not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will enter into them, I will give thanks unto Jehovah. Psa.150:2 Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness. 6 Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah. Then, the angel of the Lord opened a window down at my feet, and I was able to see the wife's husband standing in what appeared to be Hell. He was crying out for the Lord to forgive him for putting off surrendering his life to the Lord, as he was a healthy man and believed he had more time. Pro.14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death. Isa.55:6 Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near ... Amo.5:6 Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Deu.4:29 But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Isa.45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. One day, while passing by their bedroom door, he overheard his wife praying, “There's not much time left, Lord, for us to get things right with You, Lord. Help us, Lord, to walk in Your ways; draw us closer to You, Lord”. Jas.4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded. “I know, Lord, that You have saved my husband and have brought him into Your kingdom to be a mighty warrior in Your army. Thank you, Lord, for Your goodness and mercy and Your grace”. Act.16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. Gen.18:19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. As the husband stood in Hell, he recalled the words of that prayer his wife had prayed for him, interceding on his behalf. He cried out with such sorrow and pain as he realized he had put off his salvation. I watched as he put his hands over his face and sobbed uncontrollably. It was heartbreaking watching the husband in such anguish and agony, as he believed he had missed the Lord and Hell was his lot. Luk.13:28 There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth without. Suddenly, the window to Hell closed, and I was again watching the wife praying for her husband at his bedside. His wife then stood back up on her feet and commanded her husband to get up in the name of the Lord. Joh.11:43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. (Could it be that Jesus was commanding the spirits of death to loose Lazarus because death no longer had a hold on him? Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.) Act.9:40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and prayed; and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes; and when she saw Peter, she sat up. I looked at the husband's fingers and toes, which began to move, and his eyes opened. He rolled over and sat up on the bed for a moment, then he stood on his feet in front of his wife. 1Jn.5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. His wife had a broad smile on her face, as she looked lovingly into her much ALIVE husband's eyes. He reached out and took her small hand into his, and they both knelt down together as he, right then and there, gave his heart to the Lord.   Apostates Resurrected from Death M. L. - 10/11/2013 (David's notes in red) I dreamed of a woman (Bride) who gave birth to stillborn twin sons. (Israel and Judah representing non-Spirit-filled and Spirit-filled Christianity who are dead in their sins and bondage to their beastly flesh.) I did not see her face, nor did I see her pregnant. She had given birth at home. Her husband was not with her (in Heaven), nor was anyone else in the room. She wrapped her babies tightly in identical white blankets and took the upper corner and covered each of their faces. A nice soft blanket would be expected to be used, but these blankets were made of a coarse texture (Tribulation). And a plan was forming in her mind. This woman showed no sorrow, nor any kind of emotion. She was going through her days as if guided by her plan. She would anticipate when each would need to be fed, changed, etc. So she acted out the part only for the benefit of others. (Walking by faith for the resurrection of true Israel. The tares will not be resurrected.) Her husband saw her attending them from time to time and was relieved she could do this without his help. She'd make up excuses whenever anyone wanted to see them, or she would not be available herself. One day, she took them for a walk in the old-style baby buggy; the kind that had the top that could be brought up or folded down. Needless to say, the top was up and both babies had their faces covered, laying side by side. (Acting her faith for the resurrection of these baby bodies of fallen Christians. Men would point out that these babies are dead but someone in faith would not have their faith on their sin but see them as alive and righteous.) That way, neighbors would see that she was “out and about”. However, when anyone came out to take a peek, she would always say, “Not now; they are sleeping”. (As Jesus said of Lazarus, by faith, He was not dead but just slept.) She kept up the act for some time until she noticed the baby on the right. There was a yellow stain on the blanket at the forehead area, almost the size of her hand. Now people would know that something was wrong with the one baby and become too curious. (In these days, Judah, representing Spirit-filled Christianity, is showing the corruption more than ever before. They are more guilty than their brother because they have experienced and seen the power and gifts of the Spirit.) There was no odor of death with either baby. (To the world, they are not dead because they would stink, but the world stinks too, so they cannot discern the difference.) What should she do? Then I woke up, and I asked some questions: Who is this woman? (She represents the Bride, for the babies are her children to raise. Psa.45:9 Kings' daughters are among thy honorable women: At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir... 13 The king's daughter within [the palace] is all glorious: Her clothing is inwrought with gold. 14 She shall be led unto the king in broidered work: The virgins her companions that follow her Shall be brought unto thee. 15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led: They shall enter into the king's palace. 16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, Whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.) Why didn't she show any emotion? (The Shunammite woman whose son died told her husband, “It is well” by faith, and so Elisha, the Man-child, resurrected him in 2 Kings 4:17-37.) Where was her husband? (With this faith her true husband is In Heaven, He will use the Bride as He did Esther to save the chosen ones of apostate Israel from the Beast, Haman.) Couldn't people see that, with all her excuses, that something was off? (No, because these babies are just like the world: persecution is against the Christ-like.) Why wasn't she honest? (Meaning: why did she hide their death from the worldly? Speaking faith before the worldly Christian is like casting pearls before swine; they will turn and rend you for it, as Jesus said.) I asked for a verse from the Lord. Taking markers out of my Bible, I closed it tightly. I really wanted to know. With eyes closed and opening up to where my finger was on the page, I read the following verse: Eze.37:8 ... but there was no breath in them. (A perfect answer. This text spoke of the valley of dry bones. Of ALL Israel, meaning Ephraim and Judah, who were dead in their sins, but were then resurrected in the following verses of Ezekiel 37, when the Man-child called forth the breath of the Spirit into them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O breath (same Hebrew word for spirit), and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off (repentance). 12 Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, saith Jehovah. (We know this is for a large cross-section of apostates who are dead in their sins and as we just saw sometimes physically dead. This text continues below in M.L.'s original writing.) Then continuing verses 15 through 23: 15 The word of the Lord came again to me saying, 16 And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions'. 17 Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. (Jesus said we would be one flock with one Shepherd, and Ezekiel 34 confirms this will be with Jesus in and through the David Man-child company.) 34:11 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country ... 23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24 And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I, Jehovah, have spoken it. 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. Back to our text in chapter 37:18 When the sons of your people speak to you saying, 'Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?' 19 say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand. 20 The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; (The apostates are scattered among the world and in bondage to the Beast but all of the elect among them will be resurrected to stand on their land of promise. The two main divisions in the Church is the Spirit filled and the non-Spirit filled. Now notice:) 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. (This happens when Jesus comes in the Man-child through the fruit of the Word and anointing of God to lead them through the wilderness Tribulation to know God. At the beginning of the wilderness the Israelites were baptized in the water and the cloud, which is Spirit baptism. This will happen with the true Church.) 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God. (What an awesome end-time promise that has never been fulfilled to the larger body.)   Davids Must Die for Man-children to Come  Eve Brast - 09/08/2008 (David's notes in red) I had a quick dream about David coming to 100-fold maturity. I was in a large building that housed UBM. It had a school with two kindergarten classes and a playground behind it at the back, and two radio station control rooms with sound equipment and control panels in them. One was in the hall that led from the school to the front lobby, and the other was enclosed in glass with a glass door in the front lobby -- both on the right from the school to the front. There were also glass windows all across the front of the entrance. It was sunset outside. I started out in the back of one kindergarten class, learning how to teach the children all the UBM materials from the kindergarten teacher who was in charge of that class. The next moment, I was teaching the kindergarten class next door on my own. Then, in the next moment, I was working the sound booth in the radio station that was located on the right side of the hallway that led up to the front lobby. (This speaks of the maturing of the Bride and her responsibilities for the rest of the church, as the Book of Esther shows. Eve, who had this dream, was the wife of Adam and represents the wife of the last Adam, Jesus.) The next moment, I was standing in the lobby with my husband, and we were looking through the glass booth at Bob Aicardi, who was running the front radio station sound booth. Bob was announcing to all the listening audience that David Eells had a very important announcement to make. (I am being used here as a type of the David man-child ministries to come.) We were all waiting to hear what David had to tell us. He wasn't there in person; he came on over a speakerphone. I was shocked when I heard his voice! He sounded like he was Howard Pittman. (A type is fulfilled here because Howard is a man who went to heaven through death and returned to share heaven's message with God's people.) His voice sounded like he was in his 90s! I knew in my spirit that he was in his 90s. He sounded so old and feeble, like he could die at any time! He made an attempt three times to announce that he was retiring, but every time he got to the word “retiring,” he would choke up and couldn't complete the sentence! (The old man David is retiring to pass the kingdom on to Soloman.) Then, after the third attempt, Bob helped him to finish his announcement with a little chuckle. He was very joyful and happy for David. (Bob could be a type of the out-resurrection) I thought it was strange that David waited to retire until he was almost 100 years old!  I was sad and couldn't figure out why Bob was happy, other than the fact that David had passed the mantle of the ministry over to him. (Bob/Robert means bright fame.) But then I realized that this was David's OLD MAN! He was finally almost dead!  Then I was very excited and happy for him too. Then I woke up. (The David ministry was followed by the Soloman man-child ministry, meaning peaceful, which we are about to see. PTL! More of the cause for joy and passing on of the mantle is below.) As David was the spiritual father of God's people, so was Abraham. Just as above, Abraham was “almost 100 years old” too when he was promised that the fruit of the Man-child would be born unto him in Gen.17:17: “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old?” Abraham's flesh was cut off at 99, and he no longer sowed the flesh because he was circumcised in 17:24: “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin”. Then at 100 years old he had the promised man-child in 21:5: “And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him”. Isaac, the promised seed, was the man-child through whom all the true seed of God's people would be born, just like Jesus the Man-child was and the end-time Man-child will be. As Eve said, this “100” could represent the old man being 100% dead, which would mean the new man would take over. “As the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed” (2Co.4:16). The new man was Soloman. This is a work that only the anointing of God can do. Abram, meaning “high father”, had to die and have a name change, meaning a nature change, to become Abraham, meaning the “father of a multitude” through his Man-child born unto him. Gen.17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. Notice the Man-child and all of his spiritual seed, to whom is “passed the mantle of the ministry” of David, will possess all of the Promised Land of this life, meaning they will stand on and receive all of the promises that Joel said would be restored in the latter rain. In Hosea 6:3 Jesus comes as the latter rain to empower His people. Notice also that the covenant will finally be fulfilled in and through them, meaning that they will have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ will live in them as Paul taught us to confess in Galatians 2:20. This is a cause for great joy in all “wise men”, for Jesus is going to be birthed through the woman of Revelation 12 in a corporate Man-child body of the spiritual seed of David, to minister to His people. Mat.2:10 And when they saw the star, they (the Wise Men) rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. No doubt the gifts enabled Jesus and his mother to flee the beast, Herod, and dwell in the wilderness of Egypt, just as gifts were given to Moses and the mother church when going into the wilderness. Also, worship will only go to the one who gives the anointing, who is Jesus. True shepherds like Bob above will have great joy first because the mantle of Jesus through the Man-child will be passed on to them in a repetition of His-story, just as Jesus passed it on through the disciples. Luk.2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: 11 for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this [is] the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. Abraham and Sarah, the bride, laughed at hearing of the birth of the Man-child and they called him Isaac, meaning laughter. The first-fruits Man-child company will have no claim to fame, for this will come to pass through grace.   Pray for the Coming of Jesus in the Man-child V. W. - 4/3/23 (David's notes in red) In a dream, I was in the UBM house with some others. The house was beautiful and clear of clutter. The floors were all polished and shining. There was a lot of room because everything we needed was against the walls. (This means all we need will be within our walls, which represent sanctification.) This was also a multi-story house, and I knew we were working on doing something with the teachings, but it was different from what it is now. (Getting the Word out by many methods, including supernaturally, as the angels have told us and done.) Matthew (meaning Gift of God) and I were standing in a small room with white walls (meaning sanctification), when David came in through the door. (I believe David represents the Man-Child reformers.) The three of us were standing together, with David in the middle. David said he felt weak. 2Co.12:10 Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.) (Weakness precedes death to self, and this precedes the resurrection life of Jesus.) And then David started to fall, so Matthew and I helped lay him down on the rug. Matthew lowered David's feet, and I lowered his head onto the rug. Matthew went to get help, and I thought David was dying or was already dead, and I thought to myself, “This can't be happening.” (Death to self must come before resurrection power.) I knelt by David, took his hand, and prayed something like, “Lord, let David live.” (The Lord wants us to pray this now. Lord, bring your resurrection life in the Man-child Davids.) I remember praying fervently, “Lord, there is much You promised David. (I asked the Lord for a word about a promise to David and received by faith at random “feet” in Rom 10:15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!) (The Gospel will go out in a much stronger way like it came out of Jesus.) I also prayed, “Lord, there is much You said You would do through him, and You are not a liar.” When I said, “Lord, You are not a liar,” David became conscious, leaned on his left side, and put his right hand around me and agreed with my prayer and said, “Yes, Amen.” Then he jumped up and was gone, and I thought he went to the next room to show the nurses who were dressed in white that he was alive and well. (Resurrection life is in Solomon, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, in the Man-child. He will be shown to be superior to those who seek to heal in the natural.) Then, at least a day went by, and I did not know where David was. I was sitting on a metal bench outside, in a courtyard of a college campus. (The Man-child went to the school of higher education, as in Gabe's dream, where he saw the Man-child go to college. The Lord is giving us Bible colleges for the Man-childs to teach in beside their evangelistic tours.) Everything seemed new as I looked to my left and saw a lady with long blond hair, who knew David and was a believer. She was standing against a gray building and holding some books. (I think the lady represents believers who are submitted to the light of Christ and dying to self, but lack understanding. Gray represents not white and not black. It is time to go on to white. She represents those who come to get our books to grow in the Lord. Many immature or new believers in the Middle East and Africa and elsewhere are reading our books.) I wanted to tell her what happened to David and how God raised him up. I knew she would be happy as I was. Just then, a man dressed in a black robe (Judges of others) with yellow religious symbols (Feigning to be Christian) and wearing a black hat (Representing being submitted to darkness), walked past and in between us very quickly. (The faction has tried to separate us from those who need our teachings, but the Man-child David's will scatter them as the Edomites.) So, then I went to her and joyfully told her about God raising up David. (The wicked will not be able to stop those who want truth from finding their reformation through the Man-child Davids empowered by Jesus as the latter rain.) Then some of us from UBM were standing in a small room, and I saw David. He looked like a different man, and about Matthew's age, but I recognized him. (He is about the age of Jesus when He started His ministry.) I told him he looked better now, and he laughed. (This will be the beginning of the restoration from the curse in Joe 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. (These represent the curse on God's crop.) Act 3:21 (Jesus) whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all (Things is not numeric), whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. After I woke up, I asked the Lord for a word in line with this dream and received by faith at random Acts 2:36 on “him both Lord and Christ”. (In context vs. 29-36). Act 2:29 Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. (The spiritual death of the Man-child Davids will bring many more like him. Joh.12:24-25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it dies, it beareth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.) Act.2:30 Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; (David sowed a seed that brought forth many like him to dominion over the enemy. This represents the Man-child caught up to the throne in Rev.12:4 And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered, he may devour her child. 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. This throne represents dominion over the powers of darkness, the curse, and the people of God. The reason this text looks like Jesus is because it is, walking in the spiritual sons of David as He did.) 31 he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. (The resurrection of Christ in us will be seen in the Man-child Davids and then in many disciples.) 32 This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. (Jesus came in the body of a son of David. This will be repeated in our day on a corporate body scale.) 33 Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. (This was the former rain, but represents the far greater latter rain in a much larger body. Hosea 6:1-3 shows that Jesus “will come to us as the latter rain” and on the morning of the third thousand-year day from him, where we are now. Hos.6:1-3 Come and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.) Back to: 34 For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, (Jesus said in Rev.3:21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. This is the throne of dominion authority.) Back to: 35 Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. (Jesus, in the Man-child and in all of us will bring dominion over our enemies. Rev.2:26 And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations.) Back to: 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified. (This foreshadows Jesus manifested in the Man-child reformer body through death and resurrection. Php.3:10-15: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. (Notice that we are to lay hold of the resurrection life of Jesus, which is being called, perfect.) 13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. (This is why you must see Jesus in the mirror now by faith.) 14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: (He will show you how to walk this life of faith.) The most vivid part of this dream was when I prayed for David, and I think it is what the Lord is emphasizing. (Amen! We have been content to wait for God's perfect timing, but He's saying NOW we are to pray in the Man-child ministry. So, we say, “Come Lord Jesus!!”) This dream below speaks of the resurrection of the Man-child Reformers after the completion of death to self.   Christ Triumphs in Resurrection I. P. - 3/26/23 (David's notes in red) In this dream, I was in the spirit, witnessing a field that did not have a lot of grass. It was a mixture of dirt and grass. As I stood gazing at the field, I noticed a casket sitting in the center. The casket was the focal point, and there was no grass growing around the casket. (No grass means no flesh left.) (The grass represents the flesh according to 1Pe.1:24 For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth. The dirt is what man's flesh is made from.) As I continued to stare at the casket, I realized it was Jesus Who was in this casket. Instantly, it dawned on me that I was witnessing the resurrection of Jesus after His death and burial in a modern-day burial procedure. As I was watching intently, suddenly, a brilliant light began to form and illuminate from inside the casket. Then the casket could not contain the brilliant illumination of light, and it was overtaken by this orb of pure white light. (Joh.1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.) This light was outstanding and began to reverberate as if it were a heartbeat, pulsating. I knew this brilliant orb was Jesus. (Jesus is the heart of God manifested in flesh.) (I don't feel my vocabulary can describe the brilliant white light. However, if you compared the color white to His brilliant white, the color white would look dingy and tinted. Also, imagine the size and color of the sun reduced to a brilliant white, but having the same power as the sun, and you tried to contain it all in a box. It would be an unstoppable and uncontainable force, obliterating all darkness. It was as if it bleached out all colors in the spectrum, disposing of any darkness that forms within any individual color to create the aspects of that color, thus producing the absence of color into a brilliant white. This is what I saw.) While witnessing Jesus as the reverberating brilliant white orb, suddenly, as a fireball, He shot downward into the earth. As I looked at the aftermath of this powerful phenomenon, I saw there was a hole in the shape of a perfect circle, going from the surface of the earth all the way to the center of the earth. The hole was formed almost instantaneously, and all the layers of the earth completely disintegrated with a fervent heat, going down to His destination, which was in the center. Still witnessing the aftermath, the edges of the circular hole were like molten lava due to the intensity of the heat. (Eph.4:8-10 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. What happened here in the natural represents something that has happened and is going to happen again. Because of sin, demons have been given authority on earth as they have in hell. Many have experienced a living hell, but Jesus came, and is coming, to set the captives free. Isa.61:1-4 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto 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 Jehovah, that he may be glorified. 4 And 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.) It then dawned on me that the Stronger has gone to spoil the goods of the strong man and set the captives free. Then I woke up. (Mat.12:28-30 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. Or how can one enter into the house of the strong [man], and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong [man]? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Christ conquered, so we can conquer All of our promised land! Heb.2:14-16 Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Psa.16:9-10 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; My flesh also shall dwell in safety. For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. And Joh.8:36 If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (I was reading “Delivered from Dark Powers” by David Eells and came across these pages, and it really spoke to me about this dream. Here is an excerpt from Delivered from Dark Powers, pages 10-12:) “Jesus made us able to be partakers in whatever we need. He made us able to plunder the devil's kingdom, and the devil's kingdom is wherever the devil rules or his curse reigns. Wherever the devil has ability, we have the ability to take it away from him. The devil has no power. Do you remember Joshua and Caleb were seeking to bring the children of Israel into the Promise Land? After spying out the land, these two said that their enemies defense was removed from over them. (Num 14:9) Only rebel not against the lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. All that the other ten spies could see were the giants, but Joshua and Caleb saw that the enemy had no armor. That's the way we must see the enemies of God's Kingdom. It makes no difference whether those enemies are lusts of the flesh, works of darkness, demons, the devil, or whatever. Their defense is removed from over them. They have no power against the Word of God. Jesus was the “Stronger” Who came and took away their whole armor. (Luke 11:22) Those “spoils” of the devil's kingdom are all the places where he has taken advantage of your life or taken authority over the things or circumstances that God has put in your hands. All these add up to “spoils.” When Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38), He was spoiling the devil's kingdom. If you are being oppressed of the devil, Jesus destroyed this oppression. He broke this power everywhere He went. Whether it was hunger, sickness, demonic possession, or mental need, it didn't make any difference; Jesus broke the oppression, and He told us to do the same thing because in (Mat. 12:30) He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. The devil's power over God's people rests in the fact that God's people don't know that his power has already been broken, and they don't know the authority that has been given to them. Although the Word speaks it plainly, it still has to be a revelation that you pick up and do something with. The Bible says of Jesus that (Col. 2:15) Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. “Triumphing” is celebrating the victory that has already been won. Jesus triumphed over the devil, and He rubbed the devil's nose in what He had accomplished on the Cross. The victory was at the cross; what came after the Cross was the triumph. (2 Co. 2:14) But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place. We need to simply celebrate His victory. What we need to do is repeat what the Word says about our circumstances or situation, and we do that by stating what the Word says about our authority and righteousness. All we must do is believe that. The devil wants us to look at ourselves and our failures and the curse around us, but we just need to remember that we have authority over the curse. We've been crucified with Christ, and we're not alive anymore; now it's Christ Who lives in us. (Gal. 2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. When we remember what the Word of God says about us and about our circumstances, we can celebrate. A prayer from an Editor: [Father, this seems too easy, but help me to start right now to believe that the devil is crippled. As I read Your Word, I see the devil has been defeated. Help me to believe when my eyes have seen different results. Forgive my unbelief. As I read on, please put in my heart the victory You are bringing to my life and the lives of my loved ones. Thank You for helping me to believe that I've received victory over every demon.]” Let me share more revelations with you.   The Trumpet Bill Burns - 12/26/2005 You shall be astonished as you walk forward from this day. I tell you that I am going to build My house. It is a house that no man can build, and I will build on the mountain tops, and I will build in the places that people will flow into. I will build a house of power, for indeed this is the season of the horse (of power) when the sons of My right hand shall arise to their positions. I shall dispel the lies that I no longer move in power. I shall break through the darkness, for I am the Light of this Day. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Truth is going to be revealed in an unprecedented way as I come forth in power and build My house. It will be a house that I can dwell in, a place of healing and resurrection life, a place of revelation knowledge. You, My people, will see that house. Arise and rejoice, for I come, says the Lord!   Small Straws in a Soft Wind  Marsha Burns - 12/26/2005 There is a rumbling; it is My power in the earth. It is resurrection power. I have been touched with the feeling of your infirmities. I have been touched by your grief and sorrow. Come forth. Rise up and come forth. You have been bound in grave clothes, but I call to you to come forth! I will bring you up and loose you from your bondages. I will cause you to overcome and to be victorious even over the death in the things you have experienced, says the Lord.   Resurrection of UBM M.Y. - 07/16/2012 (David's notes in red) In a dream I was walking into a restaurant (UBM was serving spiritual food of the Word and he came here.) and as I walked up to a table, I had a sense that my sister was sitting there with another woman (sister fellowships joining in the feast). I think I was trying to get some electronics working and mentioned as much to my sister. (He needed a rewiring, a spiritual repair to be able to see and hear the Word, the spiritual food in this restaurant.) Finally, I got what appeared to be a phone working, so I walked a few steps from the table with the phone to my ear and asked, “Can I speak to the boss?” (I had the impression the boss was the Lord.) (He needed to talk to the Lord and found encouragement here.) I do not remember a conversation on the phone, but I started walking through the restaurant (UBM). I walked through an archway where a couple was sitting at a table and staring at something broken on the floor. (I had the feeling it was some type of container or pitcher.) (Representing the breaking of the vessel of his fleshly man. He got the understanding of these things at UBM. Ecc.12:5 yea, they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and terrors [shall be] in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom (first-fruits), and the grasshopper shall be a burden (devouring judgments to crucify the old man, as in Joel), and desire (lusts) shall fail; because man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6 before the silver cord is loosed (the soul is separated from the flesh), or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken (the old man of the flesh dies) at the fountain (of the waters of life - the living Word), or the wheel broken at the cistern (breaking the downward cycle of sowing and reaping death. 7 and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it. (The results are totally born from above sons of God. This crucifixion is certainly happening with UBM and the larger true church. God is separating the carnal from the spiritual.) I walked around the broken item (this represents being separate or sanctified from the fleshly; in the Law, whoever touched the dead man was defiled) and left the room through another archway on the other side. (All will not leave UBM as they came. The Word brings responsibilities. The priest entering the temple in Ezekiel 46 could not leave through the gate that he entered.) I was wondering why I walked around the broken thing and did not attempt to pick anything up. (Because the flesh man must be broken irreparably for the spiritual man who is created by the Word to live -- and everybody needs to see this.) After leaving the UBM room he said: I walked into a bigger room (This is like the broad road where most are.) and up to a man whom I thought was the owner standing by a big floor freezer with several solid doors on top (similar to what you would see in an ice cream shop, except the little door hatches were solid stainless steel.) (The flesh choses the flesh pleasing sweets that are not healthy.) There was something big and broken on the floor at his feet. I just reached down and started putting the broken pieces, which appeared to be thick, broken white glass or porcelain, into a large bag. (The broken or crucified life must be a part of our learning, or the teaching will be leavened.) I then raised the bag up, and we tilted the lower freezer so the contents would go into the bag (Flesh pleasing spiritual food will lead to the broken vessel. We must chose the crucified life with the teachings of the Word), and I told him I should have done that first and then picked the things off the floor (The teaching of the Word must be first so the crucified life can be possible.) I never noticed the bag after filling it up. It was trashed. “When that which is perfect is come” everything that is disconnected pieces, “shall be done away”, as Paul said: 1Co.13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part (pieces) shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. This is the vessel that the perfect Word can flow through, as it did through Jesus. When the Man-child Jesus came, everything before Him was old order, and so it will be today. PTL! The New Order is about to begin for many. The latter rain on the Man-child will bring it.) There were two different levels for the freezers, and one was right above the one we were emptying. (A sanctified vessel full of food from above will never be broken.) I think we replaced the lower freezer with a new one or repaired the old one. (The broken vessel receives resurrection life in UBM.) I was thinking that the new one would keep the Bibles in good shape. (Preserving the spiritual man of the Word in a new wineskin. The Word is incorruptible in this new vessel, for the old vessel of flesh has been broken or withered: 1Pe.1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. 24 For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: 25 But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you. There were now a lot of people inside doing a lot of work. (After spiritual resurrection, many of like nature will join us in getting the Gospel out.) I noticed that the second-level freezer was gone, and just a ledge high up remained. I was leery of climbing up on the ledge because I am scared of heights. (The Word will be from the throne of God, from Heaven above.) I think I was wondering how well the music or sound system would sound in the building once it was done. (This building represents an even larger born-again UBM, and the music and sound system will be going out over different forms of media and through multitudes of witnesses by word of mouth.) I looked up, and there were large, white PVC-type pipes coming through the top-left side of the wall and attached to the ceiling. The pipes were dripping water at first, and then the volume of water just started increasing until all the drips were streaming. (I later had the feeling that the water was the Word growing louder and stronger as time went on.) (A great outpouring of the Word of the Spirit to the world.) That is all I remember. My impression after waking and pondering on it was: There was an earthquake. (The spiritual resurrection of the Man-child body as it was with Jesus, with a great earthquake. Also, a separating of the land, the carnal from the spiritual.) And / or something that caused change in the building. (A restructuring of UBM with much more help with gifts.) We were made into a fellowship/warehouse, and the Word went out slowly at first and increased over time. (As it was with Jesus) It was the Word of God because it came from up high. (After Father has separated the carnal, the Word will go out in abundance. The tribulations that UBM has gone through are bringing it into the eternal kingdom under our King David, Jesus.) Let me now share:   A portion of M. C.'s Dream of Resurrection Life Given to UBM David was directing my attention to the sky in anticipation of a lunar eclipse. Gradually, the moon became obscured briefly by the Earth passing between the Sun and the Moon. (As with a lunar eclipse, there is a death and resurrection of the glory, symbolizing UBM, and its reflection of the Sun/Son to the world. Eventually, it became entirely hidden under the Earth's shadow and remained that way for about what seemed like five minutes or so. Then a slight sliver of the Moon became visible and began very rapidly to be increasingly unveiled as the Earth continued on its path. (The Moon, as a type of UBM, is being born again as it reflects more and more light of the Son. The evil will have been purged by this baptism of death and resurrection.) I was commenting to David how the Moon seemed to be instantly illuminated entirely, even though technically the shadow had not yet fully passed. The moon continued to grow brighter. (The glory manifested after this baptism unto death will be greatly multiplied so that even the first-fruits of UBM will be as bright as the whole was before.) The Lord led me to: (Eze.36:11) And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (This is an awesome promise of the resurrection life that will be given to UBM.) Friends, Satan has had permission from God to test every one of us to see who individually needs to be a part of UBM for it to be unleavened. Therefore, cast down every thought and reject words from others that are unscriptural to receive, so that you may overcome to escape the coming judgment. And do not judge or criticize others unscripturally or while you are in sin, or you will be judged. 2Co.10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh 4 (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), 5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 6 and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.

“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:1-11 NASB Where Is Jesus Now? He is ruling and reigning over His kingdom at the right hand of the Father “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and made Him head over all things to the church,which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:18-22 NASB What Is He Doing? He is building His church “I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” Matthew 16:18 NLT He is preparing a place for us “There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” John 14:2-3 NLT He is with believers that have gone before us “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV Three Things Jesus Left Behind 1.) An unmatchable presence “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” 1:8a This Brings: Passion “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 NIV Purity “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 NIV Power “…be filled with the Spirit” Ephesians 5:18 NIV Promptings “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Romans 8:14 NIV 2.) An unfinished task “and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” 1:8b The work of Jesus is finished (John 19:30, Hebrews 1:3) The work of the church is unfinished “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14 NIV 3.) An unshakable promise “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” 1:11

Topical Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville Resurrection! Introduction: If you consider yourself a “believer,” the very foundation of the being a disciple of Christ is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth after three days in the tomb. As Paul argued in 1 Corinthians 15, if there is no resurrection from the dead, then… Christ has not been raised If Christ has not been raised, then all of scripture is a lie. If Christ is not raised, then our teaching and our faith is worthless and we are still in our sins eternally lost. If Christ has not been raised, we are of all people most to be pitied. Of course, if Christ was raised and reigns as King, then…Instead of the believer being “most to be pitied,” the most to be pitied are those who refuse to believe and take advantage of the resurrection by obeying Jesus. However, the resurrection of Jesus poses a greater issue than just the fact that Jesus raised from the dead. We make a huge mistake if we simply celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus every first day of the week. Jesus and the apostles taught that the resurrection carries with it power that believers are to use in their daily lives.  Paul wrote that we are to comprehend “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19-20).  God's Repeated Foreshadowing and Symbology By looking too narrowly at the evidence, here is what I mean. We must not simply examine the evidence for the resurrection of Christ, though that evidence should be examined carefully. There is evidence for the power of God in resurrection throughout scripture. Ephesians 2:4-5 “But  God, being  rich in mercy,  because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,  made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Every person who is a disciple of Christ should be acutely aware that Jesus' resurrection was intended to bring about both a present and future resurrection. We should be able to see our present resurrection simply by comparing our lives prior to Christ to our present lives.  Therefore it is critical to be reminded that God's resurrection power has been evident long before Christ and long before our transformation. God has always been giving life to the dead.  Genesis 2:7 “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Until God breathed into Adam the breath of life, Adam was nothing but dead molecules formed out of dirt. We live physically because of the power of God's Spirit breathing life into us. After the sin of the Garden and the pronouncement of the curse of death, God repeatedly illustrated his power and desire to raise us back to life.  Genesis 5 In the midst of 10 generations of, “and he died,” Enoch “walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”  When God chose Abraham and Sarah through whom the world would be blessed, God intentionally waited until both of them could not have a child before giving life to their dead bodies. Romans 4:17-19 “as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the deadness of Sarah's womb.”  We need to consider the great impact this has on us. If Abraham and Sarah do not have offspring, there is no Israel and there is no Christ and there is no us with hope and the world remain dead. Notice! God purposely did not leave our salvation in the hands of natural reproduction. The salvation of mankind is only in the hands of God and his power to give life to the dead.  To confirm, consider Romans 9:6-8: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.' This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”   The implications of this are profound. It is the children of the promise that are counted as offspring. In other words, we are brought to life just as Isaac, not because of “works” or by anything we could have done, but by the power of the Spirit of God implanted in us through the resurrection of Christ.  Therefore, God has tied together the two greatest miracles/signs in the life of Jesus: the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus. Even the entrance of Jesus into this world would not be by natural procreation, but by the power of the Spirit of God overshadowing Mary. Now we can see the importance of salvation only coming through our lifelong “obedience of faith” in Jesus Christ (Romans 16:26), and no other way!  As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born from again.”  John 3:13 “…children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of he flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Disciples Are Living Proof of the Resurrection Story  If disciples' lives do not demonstrate and reflect the resurrection, they are not disciples!  John 20:19 “On 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.'” This scene represents the condition and faith of the apostles prior to Jesus' appearance to them following his resurrection. The contrast is this scene as Peter and John all the Jewish leaders who condemned Jesus to death: Acts 4:10-13 “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.” What caused the change? Nothing but the bodily resurrection of Jesus.  But that was not the only change: Acts 8:3-4 “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Note the affect that the resurrection had on disciples who were under the threat of imprisonment and death. No fear! Certainly they did not stay and get unlawfully arrested. But neither were they silent. Therefore, Jesus' foundational principle for our future resurrection is our willingness to give up our lives. Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.'”  Romans 6:3-8 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”  2 Corinthians 5:14-17 “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  Conclusion:  The above texts give us a clear picture of whether we have hope of a resurrection to life with the Lord.  First, we must be united with him in a death like his as we are buried with him in baptism into death. This is the beginning of our covenant relationship with him. Second, since we have died with him, we no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and was raised.  Finally, please beware that our future resurrection can be either good news or bad news. John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”  Berry Kercheville The post Resurrection! appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Acts 2:14-41

John 16:16-24,“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, ‘because I am going to the Father'?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.Our passage begins with something like a riddle. Jesus says,“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” We're reading The Hobbit at home, and so I couldn't help but think of Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in the cave trading riddles while Bilbo hides the ring. What has roots as nobody sees / Is taller than trees / Up, up it goes / And yet never grows? . . . (A Mountain). Voiceless it cries / Wingless flutters / Toothless bites / Mouthless mutters. . . (Wind). Jesus had a little Bilbo in him here. He says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” You can picture poor Andrew sitting there and thinking it over. . . . Mmm mountain! No, wind! The disciples are all turned around here.Some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, ‘because I am going to the Father'?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about.”I don't think these guys would have made it out of the cave with Gollum's ring. “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So what did he mean? He's talking about what's about to happen in the next few days. He's talking about the cross, the tomb, and the victory. In a matter of hours, you will not see me because I'm going to be killed. The good shepherd is about to lay down his life for the sheep. . . . And then, in a couple days, you're going to see me again. Oh you're going to see me.You Won't See MeFirst, he's preparing them for his death. “A little while, and you will not see me. . . .” Friends, I'm going to die. . . . You're going to have to watch me be betrayed, and slandered, and mocked, and then nailed to a tree and left to hang there until I can't breathe anymore. You're going to watch me bleed to death. And you're going to be sad. And it's right to be sad. It's going to be terrible, the worst nightmare any of you have ever seen. The crucifying of the Son of God is the greatest evil and heartache in history — and our history is filled, from Adam to Iran, with lots of evil and heartache. Whatever sorrow you're bringing in here — and there are serious sorrows in this room — whatever sorrow you're bringing in here, this is greater. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) — and they murdered him. They met all of that grace and mercy face to face, and they spat on him. They drove nails through his glorious hands, his sinless feet. He came to die for their sins, and they saw him, and they went and sinned even harder against him. They tortured him, and they savored his pain and shame. Verse 20, Jesus says to his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” I'm really going to die, and you're really going to weep. At the darkest hour, you're going to wish you couldn't see me anymore. That's how bad it'll be. And the world is going to watch you cry and they're going to cheer. In just a little while, it's going to be awful.You Will See meThat's not the whole riddle, though.“A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”I'm going to die — but hear me, I ain't going to be dead long.“And again a little while, and you will see me.”I'm really going to die — my heart will stop, my eyes will empty, my lungs will collapse, my flesh will go cold — and then I'm really going to rise.“You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”I'm not going to be dead long, and so you won't have to be sad for long. I love the comma at the heart of that key sentence: “A little while, and you will not see me [comma, not a period] and again a little while, and you will see me.” The three days aren't even long enough for a period. Almost as quickly as he left and died, he's going to rise and return to them. He's going to walk with them, talk with them, even eat with them.He gives them a picture for what's about to happen in verse 21. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. . . .”Can he get an amen, Cities Church? I mean Jesus is speaking our language here. We love babies in this church. We max out nurseries in this church. Some of us buy passenger vans. This is a familiar picture for us. And pregnancy is hard. God says to the woman, Genesis 3:16: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” These nine months are nine months of multiplying pain. You have back pain from carrying that little bowling ball everywhere you go. Your blood pressure might spike, threatening you or the baby. Your hormones surge, making you more anxious and irritable and sometimes sad. You're tired because your body's constantly in overdrive — your heart, lungs, kidneys all straining to support another human being. You're tired, but you don't sleep well at all, which makes everything (even the smallest tasks) ten times harder. You have to go to the bathroom every 12 minutes. You feel sick and you probably throw up. Some women throw up a lot — for months. And then, at the end of all of that, you might be in the agony of labor for hours (or even longer).Listen to what Jesus says: “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come [comma] but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” She doesn't remember?!If he wasn't Jesus, we could say he's just another naïve guy who doesn't get it. But he gets it. “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him,” — the baby, the womb, the placenta, the epidural — “and without him was not anything made that was made.” He gets it. And you get it, if you've ever seen a mother after she's had her baby. She's not holding her baby and grumbling about how much her back hurt for the last nine months. She's not complaining about all the times she had to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. She's not hung up on all the extra doctor visits and the poking and prodding and anxiety. No, if you watch her, it really seems like she just forgot all of that. She forgot months of pain and exhaustion and vomitting in minutes — in seconds even. In just 6 pounds and 8 ounces, all of that is behind her. Why? She has her baby!“When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish,” Jesus says. Then verse 22: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”You're going to have sorrow when I die, but you're going to see me again soon, and when you do, you're going to be absolutely overcome with joy. You'll be so overcome with joy that you just might forget the pain. The joy will be so full and so intense that you won't think about how sad you were. And he wasn't lying. In just a little while in the Gospel of John, we're going to see this happen. Here's John 20, after his death on the cross:On 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.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.Their sorrow turned to joy, and no one and nothing took that joy from them. Remember, most (if not all) of these men will be killed for following Jesus, and none of that could touch their joy. Preparing You for Your SorrowsNo sorrow could touch their joy in him, and no sorrow in your life can touch the joy you have in the risen Jesus. In these verses, Jesus is clearly preparing his friends for his suffering on the cross, but he's also clearly preparing them for their own suffering to come. And we see this all over this final meal together. He told them, again and again, that they were going to suffer when he was gone.“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19)“The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. . . . I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” (John 16:1)“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)If you follow me, you're going to have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation. This is going to be hard. Do you know that, Cities Church? Do you remember that when tribulation comes to your door? . . . So many Christians in the world have been led to believe that life with Jesus should be only joy and never sorrow. And so they're devastated when sorrow comes, and sorrow comes to us all. Jesus told us that, he warned us — but they're not listening to Jesus.Jesus said, I'm going to rise from the dead and so you're going to have untouchable, unshakeable hope and joy, but you're going to suffer. You're going to have sorrows of various kinds — prayers that go unanswered year after year. And I want you to be ready. And so he prepares his disciples for those sorrows in at least three ways here in these verses.1. You can have joy, even in sorrow.First, when sorrow comes, Christian — and sorrows will come — know that you have a reason to rejoice, even now. Verse 20: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. . . . 23 You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”This was true when Jesus died, and it's still true right now. He's still risen and living and reigning! He's as real and alive in heaven as you are in this room. Because he rose, we have joy, even now, even in the sorrows that come. We are sorrowful, yes, but always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10), because Christ has conquered death, he's overcome the world, and he's preparing a place for us in glory where we will live with him forever. Our sorrows are real and heavy and painful, but they cannot touch that joy.He gives us another reason to think that we can have joy now, though, even in sorrow. Look down at verses 23–24:In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.While they live and wait and hurt in a world without Jesus — with sorrows everywhere they turn — he wants them to pray. Ask me anything, he says. And he's specifically encouraging them to pray (notice) that their joy may be full. Pray in my name, ask me anything, that your joy might be full. And not full one day in heaven, but full right now in sorrow.He's not talking about joy when he comes again and takes them home. That will be a joyful day — the fullest joy and pleasures forevermore. No, he's saying pray here and now so that your joy might be full here and now. That's how powerful my resurrection is. You have a reason to rejoice and a power to rejoice no matter what your circumstances are. So many Christians in the world have been led to believe that life with Jesus should be only joy and never sorrow (and so they're undone when sorrow comes). Other Christians (maybe this is you) have suffered so much that you've started to think that life with Jesus, at least in this life, is only sorrow and never joy. And so you've stopped expecting to experience any joy here on earth. If Jesus has risen, and I can assure you he is not dead anymore, you can have joy, even now — if you ask.2. Joy comes to those who ask.So, when sorrow comes, first, know that you can have joy, even now. You still have big, strong reasons to rejoice. Second lesson here: joy comes to those who ask. It comes to those who pray. And that's where Jesus goes in verse 22:I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.Whatever you ask. . . What does the whatever really mean here? Clearly, it doesn't mean that God will automatically give us whatever we ask. We know that from experience, if we've ever prayed for anything for long. No, God doesn't immediately give us whatever we ask for. That wouldn't be loving. Parents understand this. Our kids ask for all kinds of things all the time, and we want to give them all the best things — but often that means not giving them what they want in the moment. No, he says, “whatever you ask of the Father in my name” — whatever you ask in reliance on me and for my glory. He said that earlier in the night, John 14:13–14: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” There you have it again, whatever you ask. No, he doesn't immediately give us whatever we ask (because he loves us). No, the whatever here means we can ask him anything in this name. There's no ask too small or big. We're invited to ask like children. Children don't worry about asks being too small or too big. They just ask. That's how your Father wants you to ask, so that your joy might be full. Joy comes to those who ask.And our sorrows keep us asking, don't they? They keep us praying. In fact, this is one great reason for sorrow in Christian life. What do you pray for most often and most passionately? You probably pray for the things in your life that hurt — the loved one who isn't saved, the relief or healing that won't come, the bill that won't go away, the temptation that won't relent, the person who won't talk to you. You pray for those things because you have to. Sorrows keep us asking, and that means they keep us closer to Jesus. And in his presence, close to him, is fullness of joy — “that your joy may be full.” This is why the saints in your life who have suffered most are often strangely the happiest in him.3. Your sorrows will have a baby.Lastly, your sorrows will have a baby. What do I mean by that? I mean your sorrows, all your sorrows, have a purpose. They're going somewhere. Your pain, in the hands of God, it's producing something. Soon and very soon, your sorrows are going to give birth to a new life, a new world with only joy and never sorrow. God wants you to know that, in a little while, the baby's coming.In these verses, the sorrow of losing Jesus gives birth to the eternal joy of his rising from the dead. His suffering, every inch and millisecond, was filled with divine and perfect purpose. And your suffering, all of your suffering, has that kind of purpose. It's part of your path to glory, and this pattern is all over the New Testament.2 Corinthians 4:15-17,[When sorrows come] “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”Or Romans 8:16–18,“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him” — we're going to suffer, we're all going to have sorrows — “in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”John 16:21,“When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”Your sorrows are going to give birth to a joy so great that it'll make you forget the sorrows you're carrying right now. When Jesus returns, you won't have to carry them anymore. Your joy in Jesus is going to outlast your sorrow. No one can take away your joy, but someone can take away your sorrow. If you entrust your sorrows to Jesus, he's going to take them away.You Will Ask Me NothingI skipped over a line in verse 23, and I want to end there:“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”What did Jesus mean when he said, “In that day you will ask nothing of me”? It might mean, “You'll stop asking me for things, and you'll start asking the Father in my name.” It might mean that, but I don't think that's what's going on here, and that's because the words for ask here are two different words in the Greek: “you will ask nothing of me” and “whatever you ask of the Father in my name.” The second one (“whatever you ask of the Father in my name”) is typically used for supplication: asking someone for something or to do something. The first Greek word (“you will ask nothing of me”) is most often used when someone's asking for information — when they need someone to explain something. And Jesus says to his confused disciples, who have all kinds of questions: “In a little while, you're not going to ask those questions anymore.” Think about all of their questions just in the last couple chapters:“Lord, where are you going?” “Lord, why can I not follow you now?” “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”“What does he mean by ‘a little while'?”They actually say in our passage, verse 18: “We do not know what he is talking about.”And Jesus is saying to them: You're going to know really soon, and then you will ask me nothing. You won't ask me where I'm going, and when, and how you're going to find me. In that day, you will ask me nothing, because I will have already died and rose. You're going to know what you need to know. And that's what we remember right here at this Table. Each Sunday, we come with all kinds of questions, all kinds of sorrows we desperately want him to heal and take away. But we're not asking how Jesus is going to save the world anymore. We know. With all our hearts, we know.This Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried — “a little while, and you will see me no longer.” He descended into hades. “And again a little while, and you will see me.” The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. And when he does, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore — only joy and never sorrow.

"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they'd tell me when we were out in the woods where it was totally dark and a little scary. Well, not for me. I mean for them, of course. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going as long as they had my hand. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Keeps You Safe." At the other end of life's spectrum from little boys was where my wife's grandfather was. He was 94. He was unable to remember very much, including my wife - his granddaughter. She called him one day and she said, "Hi, Granddad." She, of course, told him her name, and she said, "I love you." He wasn't very happy about it. He said, "I don't know who this is." Some strange woman was calling and saying she loved him! What is this? Well, she reminded her Granddad of his only son and that she was his daughter. "I don't know you." Finally she just said, "Well, Granddad, remember this. Jesus loves you." To which he replied, "Now Him I know!" Isn't that interesting? After 94 years, not much that he could remember, but there was one person whose love and whose presence he was still aware of - Jesus. Listen, that's not a religion. That's a relationship so real that it's there for you through every conceivable stage of life. For my wife, it was real when she used to walk that dark stretch of road from her house to the school bus as a little girl. They lived way back in the woods, and that last stretch was beyond where she could see Mommy, or the neighbor, or anyone. Knowing those trees could be hiding the bears and the mountain lions that she knew were in their area, she would just start to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me." This Jesus - this Savior - is literally the hand you never outgrow. The hand that is there for you as my hand was there for my boys in those dark and uncertain places. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. They're a description of a personal relationship with God that I hope you have, or if you don't, that you'll begin it. These are the words my own father wanted me to read to him the day he was going into that heart surgery from which he would never recover. Here are the words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me." This deep, personal, unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ is what I pray you will begin. It's the relationship your heart has always been hungry for. This is the Savior who'll be with you through the turbulence of being a teenager, the pressures of parenting, the lonely moments of being single, the darkness of depression, the struggle of disease, or divorce, or disaster, or facing death. The hand of Jesus I think maybe is reaching out to you right now. If you look closely you'll see nail prints in that hand. They're there because of the price He paid to tear down the wall between you and God. His brutal death on the cross was to pay the death penalty for your sins and mine. Now He waits to forgive you; to be the one constant in your life and in your eternity no matter what changes. Don't you want to grab that hand of Jesus to be your own personal Savior, your lifetime friend? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I give my life to the One who gave His life for me. I've been running it. You run it from now on. Jesus, I'm Yours." Experience that love for yourself today. Go to our website because it's set up to help you begin your relationship with Jesus and to know you have. It's ANewStory.com. You know, for an elderly grandfather, for a very sick father, for a frightened little girl, for you, the same never-leave-you person is Jesus. His hand is reaching. Won't you grab it? I'll tell you, He'll never, never let go.

"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they'd tell me when we were out in the woods where it was totally dark and a little scary. Well, not for me. I mean for them, of course. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going as long as they had my hand. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Keeps You Safe." At the other end of life's spectrum from little boys was where my wife's grandfather was. He was 94. He was unable to remember very much, including my wife - his granddaughter. She called him one day and she said, "Hi, Granddad." She, of course, told him her name, and she said, "I love you." He wasn't very happy about it. He said, "I don't know who this is." Some strange woman was calling and saying she loved him! What is this? Well, she reminded her Granddad of his only son and that she was his daughter. "I don't know you." Finally she just said, "Well, Granddad, remember this. Jesus loves you." To which he replied, "Now Him I know!" Isn't that interesting? After 94 years, not much that he could remember, but there was one person whose love and whose presence he was still aware of - Jesus. Listen, that's not a religion. That's a relationship so real that it's there for you through every conceivable stage of life. For my wife, it was real when she used to walk that dark stretch of road from her house to the school bus as a little girl. They lived way back in the woods, and that last stretch was beyond where she could see Mommy, or the neighbor, or anyone. Knowing those trees could be hiding the bears and the mountain lions that she knew were in their area, she would just start to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me." This Jesus - this Savior - is literally the hand you never outgrow. The hand that is there for you as my hand was there for my boys in those dark and uncertain places. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. They're a description of a personal relationship with God that I hope you have, or if you don't, that you'll begin it. These are the words my own father wanted me to read to him the day he was going into that heart surgery from which he would never recover. Here are the words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me." This deep, personal, unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ is what I pray you will begin. It's the relationship your heart has always been hungry for. This is the Savior who'll be with you through the turbulence of being a teenager, the pressures of parenting, the lonely moments of being single, the darkness of depression, the struggle of disease, or divorce, or disaster, or facing death. The hand of Jesus I think maybe is reaching out to you right now. If you look closely you'll see nail prints in that hand. They're there because of the price He paid to tear down the wall between you and God. His brutal death on the cross was to pay the death penalty for your sins and mine. Now He waits to forgive you; to be the one constant in your life and in your eternity no matter what changes. Don't you want to grab that hand of Jesus to be your own personal Savior, your lifetime friend? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I give my life to the One who gave His life for me. I've been running it. You run it from now on. Jesus, I'm Yours." Experience that love for yourself today. Go to our website because it's set up to help you begin your relationship with Jesus and to know you have. It's ANewStory.com. You know, for an elderly grandfather, for a very sick father, for a frightened little girl, for you, the same never-leave-you person is Jesus. His hand is reaching. Won't you grab it? I'll tell you, He'll never, never let go.

Permit me to share a story from my own experience that helps explain why it took me so long to preach a sermon series on the book of Revelation. When I was twenty-eight, I had been ordained as a minister of the gospel only a short time earlier and was serving as an interim pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, a congregation of roughly three hundred people. The church was struggling. Years of poor leadership decisions and the dismissal of one of its senior pastors had left it in a fragile state. I was young, inexperienced, and keenly aware that I had far more to learn than to offer. When Calvary eventually called its next senior pastorwhom I will refer to as Bobhe inherited both me and another assistant pastor. Less than a year into his tenure, Bob called me into his office to discuss my future. He asked what I hoped for in ministry, and I told him I planned to finish seminary and learn as much as I could from him, given his decades of pastoral experience. Then, without warning, he asked me what I believed about the rapture. Caught off guard, I answered honestly: I believed Christ would return for His people, but I was not yet certain whether that would be before, during, or after the tribulation. Bob paused, looked at me, and said simply, Well, thats a problem. It was a problem because Calvarys doctrinal statement treated a pre-tribulation rapture not as a point of discussion, but as a nonnegotiable. One passage often cited in support of that view is 1 Thessalonians 5:9For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the wrath Paul describes there is not the suffering believers endure in this world, but the final judgment reserved for the condemned. That conversation marked me deeply. It revealed how quickly the book of Revelationand the questions surrounding itcan become a test of loyalty rather than a call to faithfulness. And it helps explain why I approached Revelation for so many years with caution, hesitation, and no small measure of pastoral concern. Suffering (Tribulation) is a Part of the Christian Life (v. 9) What troubled me about Pastor Bob and the doctrinal statement Calvary Baptist Church has since removed is that this view is difficult to reconcile with Jesus own teaching on what Christians should expect as His followers. Jesus said plainly, You will be hated by all for my names sake (Matt. 10:22). And again, In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). The apostles echoed the same expectation. Paul warned new believers, Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God just after he was stoned and left for dead outside of the city of Lystra (Acts 14:22). Peter likewise urged Christians not to be shocked by suffering, but to see it as participation in Christs own path: Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you rejoice insofar as you share Christs sufferings (1 Pet. 4:1213). The word tribulation simply means affliction. In Revelation, tribulation is never portrayed as some vague or theoretical idea, but as a real and immediate experience for faithful believers.1It is the context of Johns exile, the churches suffering, and the cry of the martyrs. Tribulation is the setting in which the church endures, bears witness, and waits for Christs victory. Let me press this one step further. In Matthew 24, Jesus warned His disciples, And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains (vv. 68). Then He said, They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my names sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (vv. 914). Jesus then went on to prophesy about events we know with certainty occurred in AD 70: So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be (vv. 1521). History records that everything Jesus warned would happen did, in fact, occur. Roman soldiers under Titus breached Jerusalem, entered the temple, slaughtered priests while sacrifices were being offered, piled bodies in the sanctuary, erected pagan images, and offered sacrifices to Roman gods, including sacrifices to the emperor himself. The temple was dismantled stone by stone, fulfilling Jesus words: Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down (Matt. 24:2). John lived through those events. More than twenty years later, he wrote to seven churches not as a distant observer but as a participant: I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. The question to consider until we reach Revelation 6 is: What tribulation is John participating in? The persecution of Christians didnt end in AD 70. What began as local opposition has become global. Some regions where the gospel once flourishedsuch as North Korea and Nigeriaare now among the most dangerous for Christians. A challenging reality of the Christian life is that faithfulness to Jesus often leads to suffering. John introduces himself not as an exception, but as a fellow participant in this tribulation. Whatever view of the tribulation you currently hold, know that John and the first-century church were convinced they were living in itnot as a fixed or future timetable, but as a present season of suffering that began with Christs ascension and will end only with His return. Jesus Will Not Abandon the Christian in Life (vv. 9-16) When John received his visions, it was on the Lords Day. Before anything was revealed about Gods plan for the world, it was a day set apart for worship. Many believe this is the earliest technical use of the Lords Day to refer to Sundaythe day of Christs resurrection and the dawn of the new creation. What is most significant is that John hears from the Lord while worshiping the Lord. While in a state of worship, John hears a loud voice behind him like a trumpet. This recalls Sinai, where we are told, there were thunders and lightnings and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled (Exod. 19:16). The trumpet-like voice commands John: Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches (v. 11). When John turns, he does not see a trumpet, but seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man (v. 12). Do not miss the significance: the lampstands represent the churches (v. 20), and Jesus stands in their midst. The Greek word mesos means among and in the middle. In other words, in the midst of tribulation and suffering, Jesus has not abandoned His people. This is the fulfillment of His promise: Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). The long golden sash Jesus wears is that of a priest (cf. Exod. 28:4; 29:5). His golden sash is not a fashion statement but a firm reminder that He is our great High Priest, who intercedes on our behalf as the One who advocates for all those He has redeemed through the shedding of His blood once and for all. As Hebrews 7 tells us, He holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (vv. 2425). The hairs on Jesus head are white like the whitest wool, as Daniel describes the Ancient of Days: His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire (Dan. 7:9). Here Jesus is identified with eternal wisdom and divine purityequal with the Father, yet uniquely the Son. He is the Everlasting One, and His wisdom is infinite. Jesus eyes are like a flame of fire. This does not mean He has literal beams shooting from His eyes any more than the sharp two-edged sword from His mouth is a literal sword (v. 16). His eyes blaze like fire, revealing that nothing escapes His sightno motive hidden, no deed overlooked, and no wound His people suffer that will go unnoticed. His knowledge knows no bounds. Our Saviors feet are like burnished bronze. There is no tiptoeing with Him. Our great High Priest and awesome King embodies unshakable strength as the One who will judge the nations with perfect justice and holy resolve. He is omnipotentsolid, sure, and infinitely strong. The voice of our Savior matches His divine wisdom, all-encompassing knowledge, and unequalled strength as Yahweh. When He speaks, He does so with pervasive power: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authoritiesall things were created through him and for him (Col. 1:16). His wordevery wordcarries divine weight. Why does this matter in light of what John and the churches suffered? Why does this matter for your brothers and sisters in North Korea or Nigeria? Why does this matter for us today? It matters because in the right hand of the Divine Sonwho is infinitely wise, who sees His bride perfectly and completely, and who stands with omnipotent strengththe seven angels of the seven churches are held. Whether these refer to messengers who shepherd the churches or to angels with a particular charge, the point is unmistakable: His servants belong to Him. They are His, and they serve under His protection. We are told that Jesus not only holds the seven stars and stands among His churches, but that from His mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword (see Heb. 4:12). There are no dull edges on this sword, because it is the Word of Godliving and powerful, with the authority to judge, cut, cure, wound, and heal. And if that were not enough, His face shines like the sun in full strength. What John sees is Jesus in His gloryholy, majestic, and awesome, worthy of all our worship. This Jesus is not the one often presented as safe, domesticated, or passive. This is the glorified Lord, whose word creates, sustains, and brings all things to account. Richard Phillips wrote of these verses: This vision does not show us what Jesus looks like but rather what Jesus is like,symbolically depicting his person and work. Biblically trained Christians organize the work of Christ in his three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.2 With Jesus, there is No Need to Fear in Life or in Death (vv. 17-20) It is no wonder, then, that when John sees this Jesus, he falls at His feet as though dead (v. 17). The beloved disciple, who once leaned against Jesus chest during His earthly ministry, is now an old manweathered, worn, and wiser. Confronted with the risen and exalted Christ, John collapses in reverent awe. Yet it is this Jesus, standing in the midst of His church, who places the same right hand that holds His servants upon John. Johns response is both right and appropriate. It echoes Isaiahs encounter with the Holy One, in which he saw the Lord seated on the throne and heard the seraphim cry, Holy, holy, holy (Isa. 6:3). Isaiah responded in terror, Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts! (Isa. 6:5). Johns response also mirrors Habakkuks reaction before a holy God: I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble (Hab. 3:16). Throughout Scripture, when sinful people encounter Gods holiness, fear is the natural response. But notice Jesus response to Johns terror: Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades (vv. 1718). Fear not. Why? Because unlike Caesar, the Roman Empire, or any power that seeks to silence Christs church, Johnand all who belong to the true churchbelong to Jesus. He is the One who died to save John from his sins, the One who rose again to secure his salvation and resurrection, and the One who now holds the keys of Death and Hades. This is why Jesus can promise all who belong to Him: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand I and the Father are one (John 10:2730). With Jesus, there is no need to fearnot in life, and not in death. Conclusion Let me leave you with three points of application in light of all that we have seen in these verses: First: Dont be surprised by sufferingfaithful Christians have always faced tribulation. If tribulation is the normal setting of the Christian life, then suffering is not a sign that something has gone wrong; it is often a sign that something has gone right. John does not present himself as an exception but as a partner in tribulation, reminding us that faithfulness to Jesus does not remove us from affliction but places us squarely within it. So when hardship comespressure tocompromise, opposition at work, isolation for following Christ, or quiet endurance no one else seeswe are not abandoned; we are walking the same path marked out by the apostles, the early church, and believers around the world today. Second: Find your security in Christ, not in your circumstances. Revelation does not calm our fears by minimizing danger but by revealing Christ. John is not comforted by explanations or timelines but by the presence and power of Jesusthe eternal Son, our great High Priest, the all-seeing Judge, the omnipotent King, and the living Lord who has conquered death itself. Fear loosens its grip not when life becomes safe but when Jesus becomes central, because the size of our fear is always tied to how clearly we see Christ. Third: Do not fear deaththe One who died and rose again holds the keys of life and death. Because this Jesus holds the keys of Death and Hades, nothingnot persecution, loss, or even deathhas the final word over those who belong to Him. The same hand that holds the stars touches His servants, and the same voice that thunders like many waters speaks reassurance to fearful saints. So we need not fear what tomorrow brings or what awaits us at the end. With Jesus, there is no need to fearnot in life, nor in death. 1 Revelation consistently presents tribulation not as a distant, isolated future event, but as the lived experience of faithful believersexpressed through imprisonment, martyrdom, deception, and violent oppositionbeginning in the first century and continuing until the final vindication of Gods people (Rev. 1:9; 2:910; 6:911; 12:17; 13:7; 17:6; 20:4). 2 Richard D. Phillips, Revelation, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing, 2017), 64.

David Keddie kicked off the first FNF of the spring semester with the opening message from a new series on the book of Acts. He taught from Acts 1:1-11.In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.4 And while staying[a] with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,     the world and those who dwell therein,2 for he has founded it upon the seas     and established it upon the rivers.3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?     And who shall stand in his holy place?4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,     who does not lift up his soul to what is false     and does not swear deceitfully.5 He will receive blessing from the Lord     and righteousness from the God of his salvation.6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,     who seek the face of the God of Jacob.Psalm 24:12 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:2THE CROSS WAS NOT EASY FOR JESUS.Endure: to suffer patientlyTHE AGONY OF THE CROSS WAS WORTH IT BECAUSE THE REWARD OUTWEIGHED IT.THE REWARD THAT OUTWEIGHED THE CROSS FOR JESUS WAS PEOPLE.When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:1-318 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”Matthew 28:18-20The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,     the world and those who dwell therein,Psalm 24:1“We don't bring God into culture—God is already there, calling it home.”Leslie Newbigin DECLARING > CONVINCINGWe are called to announce good news, not argue people into belief.5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants[c] for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Corinthians 4:5-62 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. Acts 17:2-42. STEWARDSHIP > OWNERSHIP3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.1 Corinthians 3:3-93. THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT > THE POWER OF METHODSNot by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.Zechariah 4:62 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God.1 Corinthians 2:2-5

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.(English Standard Version)

Acts 4:8-13 - Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all people of Israel that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

This discussion features: Judah Thomas, Lenny Salgado, Ben Cossette, Mike McHugh, James Gowell, and Tim Nicholson.Edited by: Tim NicholsonIn Week 4 of Hebrews 1–3, we ask a simple question with huge implications: Prophet, Guru, or This Jesus?Mike opens with how Hebrews warns God's people about false idols—and why that warning still matters today.James then dives into Hebrews 3 across translations, NASB1995 “consider Jesus", LEB "consider Jesus", NLT “this Jesus”, what the Greek carries for the word "consider", and why we're called to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and pursue the truth.Judah walks through major world religions and how many acknowledge Jesus as a real historical person—yet redefine Him as a prophet, teacher, guru, or divine messenger. But Hebrews confronts us with this Jesus—and with Jesus' own claim: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)From there, we go “trust but verify” with the Dead Sea Scrolls and some seriously fun history rabbit trails—while continuing to marinate on the same three chapters for the fourth week in a row.This is an epic episode: strong conversation, great detours, and lots to think about. Come along for the ride.Read along with us: Hebrews 1–3Help us spread the word about Thriving in the Word—and thanks for being part of the family. Have a blessed day.More info: www.thrive.church Give: www.thrive.church/give/ Need prayer? prayer@thrive.churchThis is a presentation of Thrive.Church © All Rights Reserved

Everywhere you turn and everywhere you look, everything just seems off, really, really off. We are told that America is right now in a ‘Golden Age' never before seen in our 250 year history, and not only is that not true, it's an out-and-out lie, yet a very large sector of our country believe it. We are told America only wants peace, yet we watch as a ramp-up to war takes place around the clock. What's going on? Is this mass hypnosis, is it mind control, what is it? Hey, Habakkuk, what sayest thou?“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” Habakkuk 1:5 (KJB)On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, over at Mar-a-Lago on New Year's Eve, people watched as a female artist live-painted a ‘Jesus painting', but it wasn't the Jesus of the Bible. This Jesus had a decidedly Roman Catholic feel, with piercing blue eyes, swirling in a sea of dark colors, and looking for all the world like a portrayal of Antichrist. The assembled crowd cheered as it was auctioned off for $3 million dollars to a Catholic charity. Over in New York City, deep in an underground abandoned subway tunnel, the new Socialist Muslim mayor was sworn in on a Qu'ran. To me, this completely sets the tone for what we might expect to see in 2026. Elsewhere, Trump is launching 6G to connect with human implantable devices, renaming all sorts of pre-existing buildings after himself, and preparing to build the Arch Du Trump in Washington. Elon Musk says 2026 will be the year that his Neuralink brain chips really take off, and Islam is positioned for a level of control this country has never seen before. As if all that wasn't bad enough, Turning Point USA, whom we showed you with our end of year Podcast in 2025 to be a hotbed of demons and devils, is launching a plan to bring their One World Religion to every church in America. This isn't Satan's ‘little season' we are watching, this is the big show. Today we invite you to join us as we lift up the end times rock to see what's crawling underneath it. It won't be a pretty sight, but it'll be the Truth, and we promise it will be a blessing to you here in 2026.

When Jesus finished his Sermon on the Mount, the people were wowed and exclaimed, “This Jesus teaches with an authority we have not heard before!” What was it about the way Jesus taught and talked that was so vastly different from all those rabbis around him? Do you have anyone in your life whom you consider to teach or preach with authority?  Today we ask and answer these and several other questions – stay tuned!

Christmas – they talk about baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph – but this Jesus … is He who He says He is? Can Christmas really make a difference – I mean in your life and mine?   WILL THE REAL MESSIAH PLEASE STAND UP? Well, welcome to the second message in a series that I have called, "Message in a Bottle" – in these weeks leading up to Christmas. We are going to take a look at this most amazing night – this Christmas story. You know that wonderful Christmas carol, O Holy Night, the stars, the stars are shining – the shepherds and the angels and Mary and Joseph and that baby Jesus; God in the flesh. And for me, you know, when you strip away all the noise and the rubbish and the commercialism around Christmas, it is the most wonderful celebration. But it struck me how the very beginning of the story of Christmas in the New Testament – if you have a Bible, go and grab it – we are going to Matthew, chapter 1 – it struck me how often we skim over the first dozen or so paragraphs of what God writes about Christmas. If you open up the very first page of the first Book of the New Testament – it's the Book of Matthew and it begins, of all things, with a genealogy; a boring list of names. Now I love doing things that surprise people and a few years ago I was sharing a message leading up to Christmas on this passage in the beginning of Matthew and I asked a lady, a friend of mine, Pamela, to do the Bible reading and I ask her to read through this genealogy. Now fortunately, I gave her a week's notice, because some of the names are just a little bit difficult to get the old tongue around. And when she sat down everybody gave her a standing applause for managing to make it through the genealogy. And I guess most of us haven't heard a message on this genealogy in a long, long time, if ever. I know what you are thinking – genealogy? Berni, are you going to be talking about a genealogy? But listen, listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in Second Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16. He says: Every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness, so that – what? – so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient and equipped for every good work. In other words when I read through this genealogy, and I probably like you, skip through genealogies in the Bible, you know, I kind of don't like to read every word. But as I began to read through this particular genealogy I thought, hang on a minute, God decided to begin the New Testament with a genealogy. Why did He do that? What was going on? This Book of Matthew – "Matthew" literally means, "a gift from God" and it starts with an account of Jesus blood line; His birth line. Jesus Christ – "Jesus" means "Yahweh saves"; God saves. "Christ" means "Messiah" – so you put all that together and this book is a gift from God about God's anointed Saviour. So I'm thinking, I've actually got to get into this genealogy and say: why did God put it here? What does it mean that the Christmas story begins with a genealogy? What is God trying to say to you and me, here and now? Now it's probably not the way that you or I would start a biography of some great leader but genealogies were significant to the Jews. They were about purity of lineage – firstly remember that land was given to Israel by tribes. So your right to own land was affected by your genealogy. If you were a priest, your priestly authority came from your genealogy. And your legal standing – if you were in line for the throne, royal succession came through your genealogy. And the genealogies of people were kept on the public record. In the Sanhedrin and in the temple, you could go and verify that somebody was who they said they were. So to the Jews it wasn't just a boring list of names – it was fascinating. And have a look to see how Matthew, chapter 1 actually starts out. The first verse, "An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" – three main characters, Abraham, David and Jesus. And Abraham and David being referred to here, point back to some promises. We are going to look at those promises today because they have everything to do with Christmas. People were expecting a Messiah – we are going to look at why a little bit later in the programme. But at this point in Israel's history in the first century, they were definitely looking for a Messiah. So God is the keeper of promises and let's just have a quick look to see what the promise is. If you want to flick back to the promise that God made to Abraham, you go to Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1 to 3. Lets have a look at that – Genesis 12:1-3 says this: The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing." And if you flick over to Genesis, chapter 15, verse 5, it goes on to say that: God brought Abram outside in his tent and He said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you can count them. And then God said to Abram, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed and the Lord reckoned this as righteousness to him. So here is a promise to Abraham; the father of the whole nation of Israel, that Abraham would have many, many children. Remember he and Sarah were very old and they couldn't have children, yet God was making a promise. So this very first verse of Matthew points back to those promises. It also points back to the promise that God made to David. Lets have a look at that – flick on a little bit to Second Samuel, chapter 7, verse 12 – this is what it says: "When your days are fulfilled," – this is a promise to David, remember; the King: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come forth from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name and I will establish his throne and his kingdom forever. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me, your throne shall be established forever. So here is the promise to David – that there would be a lineage that would go on forever – that the reign of the House of David would go on forever. David was the Messiah; he was the anointed King of Israel. That's the actual word that they used for the King – the 'Messiah', and the promise of God was the offspring of David – there would be royal succession that would go on forever. So you bring this two promises together and the promise of God is that there will be a King who will rule forever, who will be a blessing to all the nations. The question is what happens next? Well, just after this promise is given to David, David has a son called Solomon and Solomon is the last King of a united Israel. Israel splits in two; they begin to worship idols; God sends prophets; they reject God and ultimately, in 586/587 BC they are exiled to Babylon into slavery. The monarchy is destroyed and really, the whole thing falls apart for Israel because they rejected God. They just ran away from God; they ignored God and for four or five centuries there was no king. I mean, to us, that's like not having a democracy. And by the first century, the Emperor was Roman because they were under Roman rule. There was a governor there who was Roman; there was a false King; the Sanhedrin was corrupt. This was a messy, corrupt, religious, political environment. It was brutal – I mean the Roman oppression was brutal. And into this Matthew writes – God speaks through Matthew of the promise made to Abraham and made to David. They were expecting Messiah. The question is what sort of Messiah were they going to get?   A HEAVEN FULL OF PROMISES So Israel was expecting a Messiah, but what did he look like? Luke, chapter 3 and verse 15, we read about John the Baptist: As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah. Luke, chapter 3, verse 16, we see that John goes on and says: Well, you know, "I baptise you with water but someone who is much more powerful than me is coming. I'm not fit to tie up His sandals and He'll baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire." We read Matthew, chapter 16, verse 13 and: Jesus says to His disciples, "Who do the people say that I am? And they said, "Well, some say that You are John the Baptist, others say that You are Elijah, others say that You are Jeremiah or one of the prophets." See, the people expected a Messiah; they expected God to send them someone; they desired one, but they were mixed up as to what He would look like. There were lots of people called "Jesus" in those days. There were lots of people who claimed to be the Messiah – there was lots of hype. How were they going to pick the right one? And that's what this genealogy is about. Matthew's Gospel was written somewhere around sixty to seventy AD and at this point the Jews and the Christians were arguing about who Jesus was. The Jews said he's not the Messiah; the Christians said yes, He is. No, He's not, yes, He is, no, He's not! And Matthew is specifically writing to a Jewish audience here and he lists on the genealogy of Jesus, "Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac the father of Jacob and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar" – and on it goes, this long genealogy. And what it is really saying is, "I know there are a lot of people out there claiming to be the Messiah; I know there are a lot of people claiming to be the one that God sent but here is the genealogy of the Man. Here as a matter of public record is His genealogy and His right to be the anointed King; the Messiah." See, genealogies, for the purposes of land and for the purposes of legal entitlement and for the purposes of royal blood line in this patriarchal society always went through the father. And what it shows here is that Jesus is in fact, a descendant of David and a descendant of Abraham and He is the rightful King. If you don't believe me, it's a matter of public record. This was written at a time when the information was still in the public record in the temple and the Sanhedrin, so people could go and check. People could verify the link of Jesus back to God's promises – back to God's vast plan – they could identify that actually He is the One. There were many prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament – He will come from a woman's womb; He'll be born to a virgin, He'll be born in Bethlehem; murder will surround His birth; He will be given the name Emmanuel; He will be given gifts; He will be taken back to Egypt – many, many prophesies that Jesus opened up in the Old Testament. But here the New Testament comes with, right at the beginning, a legal verification of Jesus entitlement to His claim to be the Messiah. It is evidence that God keeps His promises. And when I look at Christmas through this boring genealogy – lets face it, that's the way we would look at it these days – what I read is that God keeps His promises. Jesus was born on that holy night, the stars, the stars were shining; the very same stars that were shining over Abraham those many centuries before, when God made him a promise that he would be a blessing to many nations. God is faithful – Christmas is about God's faithfulness. This genealogy speaks of God's faithfulness. See, if we just walk into Christmas saying, "I've got to buy some more presents and I've got to get some more food and I've got to do all this, Christmas ends up being meaningless. The New Testament begins with rock solid evidence of the faithfulness of God – that He has indeed fulfilled His promise to Abraham and His promise to David, to send His Son. It's a leap of faith, but it's not a blind leap of faith. The evidence is laid out – it was laid out at a time when people could either verify it or disprove it on the public record. That's why that genealogy is there. We are going look at what all that means for you and me, here and now, next.   HE'S ONE OF US Alright, so we have been looking at this beginning of the Christmas story, this genealogy; this link between the Old Testament and the New; this link that points back to the fact that the whole idea of Christmas began a long, long time before that starry, starry night in Bethlehem. And when you read through the genealogy – I'm not going to do that now – but when you read through the genealogy you find all sorts of people. There are people who were prophesied about; there were people who were totally unknown. There are sixteen names in that genealogy that are not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament – there are Kings, there are paupers, there are Jews, there are Gentiles, there are good Kings – six of them, nineteen bad Kings. We think of King David as one of the good guys but he committed adultery; he had someone murdered. And one of the really interesting things that we are going to look at right now is that there are five women in this genealogy. Now sadly, you go back to this time, two thousand years ago, in the first century and women had no rights; they were chattels; they had no legal rights – they couldn't own land; they could inherit anything; they couldn't testify in a court of law and they were never, I say again, never listed in genealogies. But here in this genealogy we have five women. Now what's that about? In this patriarchal society that never put women in genealogies, why are they there? What is God saying to us, to you and me, here and now about Christmas by putting them there? Well, the first one is in verse 3 – a woman by the name of Tamar. Now she was a temple prostitute; she was Judah's daughter in law and she committed adultery. You can read about her in Genesis, chapter 38, verse 5. The second woman is Rahab – now remember Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. You can read about her in Joshua, chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. The third woman is a woman called Ruth – she has her own Book in the Old Testament. Now Ruth is a Moabite – the Moabites were enemies of the Jews. This is what the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, chapter 23, verse 3, says about Moabites: An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation; none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever. So we've got a Moabite! Verse 6, look at this: And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. Now is that damning or what? Remember David committed adultery with Bathsheba – she was another man's wife, his name was Uriah, and he, David, committed adultery with Bathsheba. David had Uriah murdered, their first child died, their second son was gift from God, his name was Solomon. You can read about that in Second Samuel, chapters 11 and 12. So here in Jesus' genealogy is not just a temple prostitute, not just a prostitute in Jericho, not just a Moabite who was an enemy of God but here is a woman who conceived one of Jesus ancestors in adultery. And then in verse 16, is the fifth woman – Mary – this woman who as far as the rest of society was concerned, had conceived a son out of wedlock, which brought enormous shame on her and on Joseph. And we are going to look at that next week in a message that I've called, "Jesus – the Illegitimate God". See, here are these five women – five very imperfect women – there are no paragons of virtue; there are no wonderful Israelite, Jewish women. What's God saying to us in all that? I believe He is saying, 'There is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female, because all are one in Christ Jesus. Have you ever felt that you are just not good enough to be part of God's family? That somehow you and I fall so far short of the glory of God that we could just never fit into God's family? I believe that this genealogy is an invitation which says you don't have to be good enough. This genealogy deliberately puts those imperfect women into the list to speak to you and me. There are a whole bunch of Christians in God's Kingdom who flounder; who are blown around by this doctrine and that; who don't live in victory; who don't bear fruit; who don't impact other people's lives with the love of Christ – Christians who are hurtling head on towards Christmas just trying to buy presents and just trying to finish off their work and just trying to get all this other stuff done without a deep foundation in their hearts to know what Christmas is about. Listen: Every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness so that everyone – everyone includes you and it includes me – everyone who belongs to God may be proficient and equipped for every good work. This genealogy is not just a boring list. This genealogy is how the Holy Spirit; God the Holy Spirit decided to begin the very first Book in the New Testament – the very first Book about the grace of Jesus Christ. He begins with a rock solid platform. The intention of God is that you and I can stand on this rock solid platform. This platform that says at a time when this genealogy could be checked against the public record, it is legally established that Jesus is the Christ. Not just one way but the way, we can know that with certainty through this genealogy. We look at this genealogy – an account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah; Son of David, Son of Abraham. And we can look at the promises God made to Abraham and David and say Matthew is pointing back to those because Jesus is the fulfilment of those promises. God keeps His promises. We can pick this Jesus – this authentic Saviour – from all the other people that say, "I've got a way, try my way, follow me". No! This Jesus is who He says He is. He is the Son of God and then through an amazing act of grace, God points out to us here in this genealogy, through listing these imperfect women; through listing people like David who committed adultery; through listing the good Kings and the bad Kings, that Jesus became one of us. If you ask people who believe in Jesus, is He more like God or is He more like you and me? You know, most of us would answer; Jesus is more like God that He is like you and me. Jesus is fully God but He's fully human too and that's what this genealogy speaks to you and me. It is time for us to have a rock solid place to stand, to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came for you and me – little old imperfect you and me. And that is why Jesus begins His story about Himself this way. It's food for the soul. Christmas is a feast!

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:33-43 NRSVUE The Paradox of the Crucified King So the reading today is surprising, isn’t it? Did you wonder if it is Holy Week? Is it Good Friday today that we have the crucifixion? Now it’s a lectionary reading. It’s the reading today of almost all Catholic and mainline protestant churches who use the lectionary. It is the reading now because it declares that the king, the sovereign, the monarch for Christians is someone who is not on a throne, on a classic golden chair, but the throne of the one that we call king is someone who is nailed to the cross. The one that we proclaim Lord, King, Savior is someone that the early Christian movement in the first century saw as Lord and Savior. They believed that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth—someone who was born with and into and among the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. It’s not just that Jesus welcomed the marginalized. Jesus is part of the marginalized, discriminated, and oppressed people. Jesus' Background and Shame His mother is a peasant from Nazareth. His adopted father, foster father, is a carpenter. No, in some parts of the gospel he is referred to as, “is this not the son of the carpenter?” In short, construe “isang day laborer,” a carpenter. In other parts of the gospel, there’s no mention of his father. He was referred to as “is this not the son of Mary?” What does that mean? Like in our song earlier about shame, right? That’s a shame. It means you are an illegitimate child. You are born out of wedlock. Because there was gossip (“chismis”) that Mary was the talk of the town because Jesus was conceived even before Joseph and she were officially and liturgically married. There were rumors that perhaps Jesus was the son of another man. So this Jesus, as he started to preach and do ministry, miracles were ascribed to him—someone who came from Nazareth. As one apostle later said, “is there anything good that comes out of Nazareth?” So meaning, not only did Jesus have many issues regarding his personhood, but he also came from a place considered bad, where nothing good comes from. He knew shame. He knew what it means to live among, with, and as an oppressed person in those times; as a son of a carpenter, as someone who was gossiped about as being born not really of Joseph. He knew all of that. The True Son of God vs. Worldly Power And so when he started his ministry, naturally his ministry was for his fellow vulnerable people who were also exploited, oppressed, and discriminated. After his ministry, crucifixion, and supposed resurrection, the early Christians started to reflect on who this Jesus is. The Jewish Christians of the first century started to proclaim that if there is really a God—the God of ancient Israel, Yahweh of the covenant—this God is someone who was evident in the life, the words, example, and the miracle of this Jesus who came out from a place where no good comes from. If there is a God, this God is evident in the life of Jesus. That is why the Gospel of Mark, the first Gospel, declares in the opening line: “this is the gospel, this is the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God.” You cannot say that in those times; that will get you crucified because “good news” only comes from the “true son of God,” which is the Roman Emperor. You cannot claim the carpenter, the peasant, the one who was crucified as a rebel, is the Son of God, King of the Jews, and Messiah. That was unheard of and unbelievable to many in the first-century Roman Empire. But in the Christian tradition, God chose to be born in human flesh. For God so loved the world that the word of God became flesh and dwelt not just among us but became and dwelt among the poor and the oppressed and knew the life and the oppression of the oppressed. Leadership: Sacrificial vs. Self-Preserving This king is someone who is willing to die so that many shall be safe and set free, as compared to the kings, monarchs, senators, and presidents of this world where you have to die for them. Someone else may die except the politician. Isn’t it that the leaders of the world today are willing to let us all die (“mategi bells”) in floods and preventable disasters, as long as the leaders of the country are saved? Everybody else can die, everybody else can suffer except for the leaders of our country and the world. That’s the problem then and now. The leaders of the world play their “Game of Thrones” to the detriment of the masses. They use the people’s resources, but the ones who die and suffer are the common people. That is why the oppressed saw in Jesus a remarkable thing: someone who preached inclusion, someone who preached diversity, someone who uplifted those who were considered outsiders in society and religion. He welcomed all of them. He spoke on behalf of them. This Jesus denounced those who were considered as the sons of God in the temple and in the palace. Despite him being crucified—a shameful, the most shameful and painful way to die at that time—there were a group of people who proclaimed he is Lord, Savior, and Son of God. Reflection on “Wicked” and Judgment Earlier when I woke up, a video appeared on Facebook. I forgot his name, but he is an award-winning costume designer or stylist. He was talking about Wicked. He said—I screenshot it because I couldn’t remember the exact quote—he said this in his TED talk: “Wicked is about anyone who has ever been judged without speaking a word.” And the one speaking is a Black man. For those familiar with Wicked, who watched the movie or the play, you know the story. Spoiler alert. There was this green woman born with green skin whose birth was questioned—why was she born green? All her life, from a young child, she was hated and felt shame and excluded, not just by society but by the very family she is part of. The story goes that the establishment, led by the Wizard of Oz, started to blame the animals. The animals were like people; they were intelligent and could speak. He started a campaign to make the animals enemies, to imprison and torture them to such an extent that they could no longer speak. Elphaba, the green lady who later realized her powers, championed the cause of the animals and championed the truth about the Wizard who does not really have powers but just deception. The Intersection of Fiction and Faith This film and stage play resonate so much with the LGBTQ+ community, the trans community, or anyone—even if straight—who has ever been judged, shamed, or discriminated against for things that are not their fault. It’s a story of a person who was shamed but championed the cause of the shamed. Through an elaborate scheme, she was willing to die and remain an enemy to effect change and ensure the animals, who had been structurally and systematically made enemies of the state, were included back into society. She was willing to be the “bad one” in order for change to happen. Here is where I draw the intersection between Elphaba, the story of Wicked, and the story of the one who was willing to be nailed on the cross to be branded as a rebel, as an enemy of the state. Someone who denounced the “wizards” of his time inside the temple in Jerusalem and because of it was crucified. Challenge to the Believers So the question is, as fans of Wicked and as fans of the crucified one: Do we remain simply as a fans club, or are we really followers of the one who is willing to die for the greater good, especially of those who are vulnerable and discriminated? What does it mean for us—we LGBTQ+ people, great people who are “erehes” (heretics) for being allies of this community, we who are also considered wicked—what does it mean for us to be truly followers of these heroes? What does it mean to follow a peasant Jew in first-century Roman Palestine who was declared the bringer of good news and Son of God? How can we continue the story he exemplified? Let’s start with the 2028 election. You should vote for those willing to be nailed to the cross, not those who will nail us to the cross again. Conclusion: Transgender Day of Remembrance In closing this preaching, I also saw an Instagram post by someone who watched Wicked. It was a profound reflection that people are not necessarily totally bad or totally good. It’s a mixture of both. Perhaps the focus was on Elphaba and Glinda. That was also in the TED talk of the costume designer: Who decides who is bad, who is wicked, and who is good? Simply by the color and style of dress? It is true, we are a mixture of good and bad. None of us are perfect. But a pushback I have on that reflection is: while that is true, that is not a justification to be wicked. In Wicked, while Elphaba and Glinda have this dance of goodness and wickedness and PR, we forget there are two who are truly wicked: the marketer and the one marketed, Madame Morrible and the Wizard. They were the antagonists. While we affirm most people are a mixture of good and bad, of woundedness and shame, we must not fail to notice those who are truly responsible for the evils of this world. Those are the ones we need to challenge, just as Elphaba challenged the Wizard and Madame Morrible. So today, Transgender Day of Remembrance, let us remember our transgender sisters, brothers, and siblings who have it more difficult than most, who experience mental health issues, violence, and discrimination. We lend our voice and our prayers to them who are most vulnerable within the LGBTQ+ community. In the name of Jesus Christ, the one who was called wicked during his time, a rebel, and in the name of the fictional characters Elphaba and Glinda. Amen. The post The Place Called The Skull appeared first on Open Table Metropolitan Community Church.

READY AND WAITING Luke 12.35–38 Dr. Gordon Dabbs Sometimes, the best things in life are meant to surprise us. What we do know is enough: When He comes, the sky itself will open. The King will appear. And every eye will see Him. The thousand-year reign of Jesus: three major camps: • Premillennialism • Postmillennialism • Amillennialism What is the Rapture? The idea comes from a couple of verses in Luke 17: Luke 17.30-31, 34-35 (NLT) Yes, it will be ‘business as usual' right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. . . That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. Over the arc of Christian history, believers have agreed on one big truth: Whatever the timeline, Jesus is coming back. Rapture? No rapture? Pre? Post? A-Millennialism? Look, there's no need to argue and divide over these questions because if you know Christ, you're on the right side of His story — no matter what your chart looks like. “We can be certain Jesus will return, but the order of events and happenings are less firm. I trust Jesus to work out all the details.” ~ Mary Wiley When it comes to Scripture, here's a good rule: Hold tightly to what's clear. Hold loosely to what's not. What IS clear from Scripture about the return of Jesus: 4 things... 1. It Will Be Personal Acts 1.11 (ESV) Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. 2. It Will Be Sudden 3. It Will Be High Visibility 4. It Will Be Glorious Mark 8.38 (ESV) . . . The Son of Man . . . comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Until then, we are ready and waiting. Luke 12.35–38 (NLT) Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! Waiting — because faith means trusting the Chef, the Conductor, the Pilot, and the Planner. We don't know every detail of the recipe. But we know the One preparing the feast. And that's enough.Subscribe to PRESTONCREST - with Gordon Dabbs on Soundwise

READY AND WAITING Luke 12.35–38 Dr. Gordon Dabbs Sometimes, the best things in life are meant to surprise us. What we do know is enough: When He comes, the sky itself will open. The King will appear. And every eye will see Him. The thousand-year reign of Jesus: three major camps: • Premillennialism • Postmillennialism • Amillennialism What is the Rapture? The idea comes from a couple of verses in Luke 17: Luke 17.30-31, 34-35 (NLT) Yes, it will be ‘business as usual' right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. . . That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. Over the arc of Christian history, believers have agreed on one big truth: Whatever the timeline, Jesus is coming back. Rapture? No rapture? Pre? Post? A-Millennialism? Look, there's no need to argue and divide over these questions because if you know Christ, you're on the right side of His story — no matter what your chart looks like. “We can be certain Jesus will return, but the order of events and happenings are less firm. I trust Jesus to work out all the details.” ~ Mary Wiley When it comes to Scripture, here's a good rule: Hold tightly to what's clear. Hold loosely to what's not. What IS clear from Scripture about the return of Jesus: 4 things... 1. It Will Be Personal Acts 1.11 (ESV) Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. 2. It Will Be Sudden 3. It Will Be High Visibility 4. It Will Be Glorious Mark 8.38 (ESV) . . . The Son of Man . . . comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Until then, we are ready and waiting. Luke 12.35–38 (NLT) Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! Waiting — because faith means trusting the Chef, the Conductor, the Pilot, and the Planner. We don't know every detail of the recipe. But we know the One preparing the feast. And that's enough.Subscribe to PRESTONCREST - with Gordon Dabbs on Soundwise

"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” (Acts 4:12)

So often we look in the mirror and realise, that we're simply not worthy to come before the throne of grace. And yet, because of Jesus, nothing more needs to be done for you and me to walk boldly before God into His throne room and say 'Father, I love You; I want to be in Your presence.' Nothing more needs to be done!   Experiencing the Truth These days we don't just want to know God – we just don't want to know Him in our heads but we want to experience God and historically, as we look back, Christians have made, I guess, two extreme mistakes in living their lives out with God. The first is that they focus just on truth – truth as head knowledge, studying the Bible, knowing lots of things, getting doctrine sorted out in their heads but you know, that ends up being really dry and there is no joy or peace in that head knowledge and it becomes like "religion". The other extreme – right at the other end of the scale, people have said, "You know, we are rejecting that, we are sick of that kind of dry, "head knowledgy" kind of "God" truth. And we want to experience God – it was a reaction to the dryness of the head knowledge. And so those Christians kind of emphasise God's wonderful spiritual gifts – prophesy and healing and worship and that's really exciting. But there is a risk that you do that and you de-emphasise the truth. And that form of Christianity ends up becoming kind of whacky and unreliable and at its worst, emotional manipulation. But somewhere in the middle … somewhere in the middle there is an answer. Somewhere in the middle there is God's Word and His truth and all of His goodness but also the spiritual reality of experiencing who God actually is in the middle of life. And you know, when you look at Jesus, Jesus lived in that middle ground. At times in His ministry it was full of emotion; it was from His heart – you know, when He was healing lepers, when He was weeping over Lazarus, when He was weeping over Jerusalem. And at other times in His ministry, He taught on the hard issues – the Sermon on the Mount, the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Jesus was in the middle ground – He believed in the truth of God's Word and yet He lived it out in a reality that was, well, so real; so human, so Jesus. In Matthews Gospel chapter 4, verse 23, it says this: Jesus went through Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people and so His fame spread through all of Syria. See, Jesus was into, yes, teaching and preaching and knowing God's Word. But He was into touching people's lives and healing them and changing them and bringing them new life as well. And because of both of those things, His fame spread – people came from far and wide. It's really funny – if we try and just stick to Biblical truth alone; that sort of very head-knowledge kind of truth, we can end up missing out on who God really is. We can end living out a faith which is "religious", which is rule based, which is critical, which is, I don't know, it's not freedom. On the other hand, if we end up just in the "experience" camp, we can end up right off the rails because God's truth about who He is and what He wants us to do and how He wants us to live our lives out – God's truth is so important. And sometimes you will hear a preacher from one camp criticising a preacher from another camp and I'm thinking, "What's that about?" They stare at each other across this divide and the Jesus that I know; the Jesus that you discover in the Bible was a Jesus who passionately believed in the truth of God's Word and a Jesus who passionately lived out that truth in such a real way. This Jesus laid all of His glory aside, even though He was the Son of God, and He walked on this earth as a man and yet He had such a wonderful and powerful and dynamic relationship with His Father in heaven through the Spirit. Jesus used to get up early in the morning and go out on His own and pray because He had this wonderful, real relationship with God in heaven. Last week we looked at what Jesus said to His disciples on this subject. In John chapter 14, beginning at verse 15, He said: If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I'll ask My Dad and He will give you another advocate – this is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it doesn't see Him and it doesn't know Him but you know Him because He abides in you. Those who love Me will keep My Word and My Dad will love them and we will come and make our home with them. Isn't that beautiful? Being a Christian is loving Jesus and loving Jesus is knowing the truth and obeying Him. And then we experience Him because He says: If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I will ask Dad and He will give you the Holy Spirit and we will come and live with you. You will experience God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwelling in us through His Spirit – every minute of every hour of every day. Come on, that's fantastic! And He says: You in Me and Me in you. So for Jesus, knowing God is not just knowing the truth, it's about intimacy as well – a real experience of who God is. But there is a problem with that ... the problem that we have is the problem of sin. If you love Me you will keep My commandments. What do we do about that problem? How do we get over that problem, to have this powerful, wonderful relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit? We will have a look at that next.   I Have a Problem Well, Jesus promised that following Him and being a Christian wasn't just about head knowledge of the truth but about an intimate relationship with Him. And in this series called, "The Holy Spirit and Me" we are looking at this Spirit of wisdom and truth, as Jesus called Him; the Holy Spirit and experiencing the joy and the peace in an intimate relationship with God – but our problem, as we looked earlier, is the problem of "If you love Me you will obey Me." If you love Me you will obey Me. And you and I, in our nature are not very good at obeying. And I confess not so many years ago I used to have a problem with this. You know, Christians used words like "sin" and "repent" and "Jesus said repent because the Kingdom of God has come near" – to tell you the truth, to me it was all out of date and anachronistic and old fashioned and rubbish. Come on, what's this repent and sin business? If it feels good, do it! We live in an "anything goes kind of world". I mean a woman looks at having an abortion and she says, "Well, it's my body, it's my choice!" If it feels good, do it! That's the world we live in. We are programmed for self-indulgence today. In the same way as our grandparents coming out of a depression and a world war, were programmed for self-discipline and austerity. On the one hand we want it all, on the other hand we ignore the human cost of this sort of a life – divorce and abortion and marriage breakdown and breakdown in relationships and loneliness and ... you know it's a law of life that for any relationship to bring satisfaction and joy, the people who participate in that relationship have to pay a price. Marriage is like that! Before I met my wife Jacqui, I came and went as I pleased and then we went through a courtship and more of my time was involved in relationship with her and we went through an engagement and more of my time was involved and then we were married. And once we were married, I could no longer come and go as I pleased. I could no longer make all of my own decisions. I could no longer spend all of my money on everything that I wanted. Now that sounds like oppression – oppressed? No way! This man is liberated – liberated to enjoy my life as Jacqui's husband, in a relationship that is so wonderful with her. But there is a cost – there is a daily cost in that I cannot come and go as I please anymore and that takes some adjustment but that's the price of a wonderful relationship. And the same is true with God. A relationship with God follows the same principle but it is hard because all those other things that we want to do is the stuff that God calls "sin" – stealing, pulling other people down, being dishonest, the bad stuff but giving them up can be hard because it's not in our nature to give up the things that we don't want to give up because we are selfish. And the Apostle Paul has exactly this same problem – if you have a Bible, grab it. We are going to Romans chapter 7, beginning at verse 14 through to verse 21. This is what he says: We know that the law is spiritual but I'm of the flesh – I am sold into slavery under sin. I don't understand why I do things because I don't do what I want but I do the very thing that I hate. Now if I do what I don't want, I agree, the law is good but in fact, it is no longer I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that's within my flesh. I can will what is right, I just can't do it. For I do not do the good I want but the evil that I don't want is what I do. Now if I do what I don't want it is no longer I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. So I find this to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. In other words, Paul is torn. He is torn between what he wants and making the sacrifices in living his life for God. Now I praise God that Paul has this same problem because here is a man who wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God had a big role for Paul to play. Halleluiah! – Paul has the same problem that I do and the same problem that you do. Have you ever felt like Paul? You want to do the right thing but some days we just can't. What's the answer? What's the solution? I remember Nicky Gumble – you may have watched Nicky Gumble or heard him speak on the ALPHA series. He tells a wonderful story of an old woman whose funeral he had to do and she was a woman who lived on the streets. She carried all her belongings around in plastic bags and she just lived on the streets and she was a street person. And when it came to her funeral he discovered that she was a multi, multi millionaire – she had some great inheritance but she couldn't come to the point of taking all those bags of rubbish and throwing them away and going and living in that inheritance – and we can be the same. We have an inheritance – an inheritance in Christ – we are heirs, co-heirs with Him. You believe in Jesus? Then we are one of God's kids but sometimes we want to hang on to the rubbish, to the stuff. What's the answer? How do we deal with that? Well, God has an answer and His answer comes in two parts. We are going to look at those in just a moment.   God Has the Answer Well, what is God's answer? God's plan as we saw, as Jesus said there, is that He comes and lives with us – lives in us through His Spirit; the Holy Spirit – to have this beautiful and wonderful, intimate relationship with God, day by day. Can I encourage you – if you believe in Jesus and you are not walking in that sort of relationship today – today God is calling you into a deeper, closer more intimate relationship with Him? But Jesus said that that relationship was for those who loved Him and He would know who loves Him because those who love Him obey Him. Yet here we see the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7, disgusted with himself, struggling with his sin. This is what he writes – begins in chapter 7, verse 24: Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body to death? Thanks be to God, our Lord Jesus Christ! So then with my mind I am a slave to the law of God but my flesh is a slave to the law of sin. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, none – because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin He condemned sin in the flesh so that the just requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In other words, how does God deal with this? God has dealt with my sin and God has dealt with your sin by letting Jesus die on the cross to pay for that. Every relationship has a price. And when we look at us and God it can feel like, in this struggle that Paul has, with his own sinful nature – it can feel like we are the ones who have to pay the price all the time – we're the ones who have to give stuff up which is hard to give up sometimes. People who are addicted to anger, people who are addicted to gossip, people who are addicted to sexual immorality find those things hard to give up. And if feels like Jesus is saying 'Well, if I want to a relationship with Him I have to give those things up and I am the one making the sacrifice.' Well in a sense that's true, but Jesus has already made the sacrifice for us. Jesus has already opened the door. Jesus died on that cross for you, Jesus died on the cross for me. You and I are forgiven if we place our faith in Him – full stop – end of story – no arguments - no more work to be done. Every sin that I have ever committed, every sin that I will commit has been paid for in full by Jesus Christ. That's the good news – that part is free. That's the starting point – that's the beginning of a clean, fresh, new relationship with the slate wiped clean. But the problem is you and I still want to carry the garbage around. You and I still want to carry the sin around with us because that's what our nature is. That's our human nature – that's exactly what Paul is struggling with in that passage. I know what is good – I can will to do what is good, I just can't do it. I end up doing the stuff I don't want to do and every time I want to do good, says Paul, I find in the law that evil is right at hand. So there has got to be a second part. We are forgiven, we are set free, nothing more needs to be done for you and I to walk boldly before God into His throne room and say 'Father I love You, I want to be in Your presence.' Nothing more needs to be done. But God actually wants to set us free in our lives. God wants us to be free of sin – Jesus said: I have come to set the captives free. That's you, that's me He is talking about. Halleluiah! He wants to set us free. But look at it – He talks about here being free from the law of sin and death. "The law of the Spirit of life" – Romans chapter 8, verse 2: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death because God has done away with sin through Jesus. Those of us who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. What does that mean? God is talking here about His Spirit, about Spiritual things. Last week we looked at what Jesus said. He said: I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you; I will send the Holy Spirit to be in you and you in Me. And now Paul is saying, "You know something, if you believe in Jesus and if you know that Jesus died for you and if you are relying on His payment in full on the cross to be forgiven by God, there is something more. Jesus has put His Spirit in you and in me. And now Paul says it is time to walk with the Holy Spirit. Not according to the flesh, not according to that old sinful nature but walk in the Spirit." Well how do you do that? To set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. In other words, if we keep on thinking about those things; if we keep on turning them over in our minds and being angry with that person and not forgiving them or whatever it is that we are addicted to in the flesh, we keep spending our intellectual time, our emotional energy thinking about those things, that's exactly what we will end up doing. On the other hand if we take the time that we have to think and we turn that away from those things and we put our focus on Jesus; we put our focus on the Holy Spirit; we put our focus on the Father; we put our focus on His goodness and His love and what He has done for us and what He wants to do for us, we can't help it. We will end up doing that that stuff; we will end up living life the way God intended us to live it. See people try and change themselves; their behaviour, but at the end of the day, we can't do that. As clever as we are; as smart as we are; as much as God put us right on the top of the food chain on this planet, that is beyond our ability. But what is in our ability is to focus on Jesus. I remember Joyce Meyer hearing her once say 'Where the mind goes, the man follows.' If I focus my mind on the bad stuff, that's where I will end up going. If I focus my mind on the good stuff; on Jesus, on the Spirit, that's where I will end up going. Think about the good things – think about God – pray, spend time with Him, get into the Bible, be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When we do that we are giving the Holy Spirit control of every part of us, day after day, time after time. We can try to do it on our own but we are doomed to failure because the works of the flesh will overtake us. But when we do this in faith; when we accept the Spirit's power in faith, in the same way that we have accepted our forgiveness through what Jesus did on the cross, in faith – when we accept God's goodness and God's Spirit in faith and we spend time focussing on Him, listening to Him, praying with Him then God is going to change us from the inside out. It's as sure as God made little green apples; it's as sure as night follows day, which follows night which follows day. I believe that Jesus died for me not only so that I could be forgiven but so that I could also be set free day by day by day, from my sin and my failures and that's the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 11: But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of God's righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you. That's God's promise! Our job isn't to change ourselves, our job is to get close to Jesus. Our job is to set our minds and hearts on Him, our job is, in the heat of the battle, to give Him a split second if that's all you have, to involve Him, to give Him room to move, to draw on His power. Our job is to accept His life in faith. And God will change us. That's His plan – that's His heart – that's His promise. That's why He sent the Holy Spirit to you and to me!

What does it really mean to live with bold faith? In this conversation, Dot and Cara look at the story of Peter in Acts 4 and talk about what changed in him after he denied Christ and then witnessed the resurrection. They unpack why bold faith isn't about personality or volume—it's about living out what you believe and being willing to share the good news about your rescued life when those around you get curious. Grab your Bible, journal, and a cup of coffee, and join in the conversation!Got a question about today's episode or something else you'd like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! Episode recap:Start by writing down Acts 4:10-13 (0:09)Peter became incredibly bold after denying Christ and the resurrection (2:16)People are intimidated to get into conversations about God and Scripture (6:09)If God's rescued you and saved you, you've got a story to tell (8:37) Wherever your little “world” is, that's where and how God wants to use you  (13:47)Those around you will see the fruit of how you are living (17:30)Bold faith is telling others about the one who rescued you (21:00)Some people in your life really want to hear about what God has done for you  (24:00)Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at hello@dotbowen.com.Watch Write this Down! on YouTubeFind Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook Scripture Verse: Acts 4:10-13 (ESV)"Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

"This Jesus is the stone, that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12) 

Series: Why Jesus?Service: PodcastType: PodcastSpeaker: Steven & ToddOne of life's most important questions: Why Jesus? This Jesus has impacted the world. Let us try to explain why you too should follow him and become a follower of Christ, a Christian.   Next: I Am A Forgiven Sinner

Acts 17:1-15 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. 10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. Key Words: Explaining, Proving, Necessary, Jealous, Money, Noble, Examining Keystone Verse: They received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)   Download Bulletin

The message of Jesus as Lord and Christ, and the realization that it was this Jesus that they crucified, landed on the hearts of the people of Jerusalem with the force of cutting conviction. They knew they were guilty. What should they do? This Jesus whom they crucified will forgive them. The very death they caused is the means by which their sin is removed. Repentance, faith, and confession of Jesus as Lord is the way forward. This remains the way today. Grace Community Church exists to build spiritually healthy people for ministry in the world. One of the ways that we pursue this mission is by gathering each Sunday for corporate worship, prayer, and biblical teaching. The corporate nature of this gathering is both edifying to the believer and a witness of God's grace to the world. Sermon speaker is Scott Patty unless otherwise noted.

In this powerful exploration of Revelation chapter 1, we're invited to see Jesus revealed in a new light. The vivid imagery of Christ standing among seven lampstands, with eyes like flames of fire and a voice like rushing waters, isn't meant to frighten us, but to draw us closer. This Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades, having conquered them through His death and resurrection. We're challenged to consider: what parts of our lives are we still holding back from God? Like knights baptized with swords held above water, we often try to keep control over certain areas. Yet Christ calls us to full surrender, promising that His fiery gaze will burn away anything separating us from Him. This message urges us to fall at Jesus' feet in awe, but also to rise up, empowered by His touch and reassuring words: 'Fear not.' As we contemplate this revelation of Christ, we're encouraged to let Him reveal areas in our lives that need transformation, trusting in His love and authority over all things.

Scripture shows us that God's truth is not always delivered in soft tones. From the prophets to the apostles—and Jesus Himself—we see instruction, parables, sharp questions, satire, and even rebuke used to pierce pride, expose hypocrisy, and awaken hearts. The “serrated edge” of God's Word cuts not to destroy, but to heal, calling us to repentance and life. At Pentecost, Peter boldly proclaimed, “This Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ.” The gospel is offensive—it confronts sin and pride—but it also brings hope, mercy, and freedom. Even in times of persecution and cultural conflict, believers are called to speak truth with conviction and compassion, just as Jesus did. In a world filled with competing voices, ideologies, and pressures, we must cling to God's Word, live as His people, and boldly proclaim Christ. ________________________________________ Links to Sermon Notes & Answers: ➤Sermon Notes (Blank): https://www.sheridanhills.org/_files/ugd/30fec2_eeee9ee039034aecb3d7f035d9c4e443.pdf ➤Sermon Notes (Answers): https://www.sheridanhills.org/_files/ugd/30fec2_30a46f1042c2489e81c7487d68f77270.pdf ________________________________________ In this video: Review of previous sermons in series Main Points Application ________________________________________ Subscribe to this channel to catch weekly expositional sermons from the Bible. ________________________________________ Explore more sermons and information: https://www.sheridanhills.org/watch-new ________________________________________ Follow us: ➤Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheridanhills/ ➤Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheridanhills01 ➤Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheridanhills/

There are moments in history, like the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King Jr., that I find helpful to define as thresholds. Thresholds are what you have to cross to get from one room to another by entering through a door. The shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 was one such cultural threshold that we crossed as a nation. Before April 20, 1999 there were 183 documented school-related shootings that included everything from suicides, gang-related incidents, and mass shootings. Since crossing that threshold on April 20th, 1999, there have been an additional 435 school shootings. There are other defining moments that have affected America, such as the attacks on September 11, 2001. The political landscape and how candidates behave has affected our nation indefinitely. Now, we find ourselves in a place where it is not always safe to talk about the political party you belong to or who you voted for without risk to friendships or more. We have crossed a political threshold that I am not sure we will ever recover from. The 2020 COVID pandemic is another threshold our country crossed and the fruit was not the kind of unity we witnessed the days following 9/11, but anger, resentment, and unprecedented suspicion concerning just about everything. Although the pandemic was global, it left a lasting mark upon Americans. In 1993, the world wide web went mainstream, and that has affected American culture. In the early 2000s smart phone went mainstream, and that has affected our culture. In 2023, AI went mainstream resulting in a global shift, and that is affecting our culture. And now, truth is more difficult to discern than ever! Now, instead of helping those in need, we stare at a device that feeds us the kind of information that is literally driving us mad as a society! If we are not staring at our phones, they are used to record acts of violence for show and entertainment. I am not sure, but it seems to me that we crossed another threshold this past week. I believe we will be able to look back to September 10, 2025 as a,pivotal shift in American culture. I am not sure what that will look like moving forward, but all that I can say is that while my confidence is fixed upon a greater hope, my heart aches for our country. I do not know a lot about Charlie Kirk, but I did watch some of his open-air debates on some of the college campuses he visited. While I do not agree with all of his viewpoints, I did agree with him on two fundamental core values he had before he was assassinated on Wednesday: "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence." Charlie Kirk believed that we should be able to debate charitably even when we do not agree. Jesus saved my life. Im a sinner. I gave my life to Christ, and that is the most important decision Ive ever made. Charlie Kirk believed that Jesus was only hope for the forgiveness of sins, redemption, salvation, and eternal life. It was reported that minutes before Kirk was shot and killed, he shared 2 Corinthians 5:15 with the crowd: and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf. (2 Cor. 5:15) If you believe that Jesus rose from the grave, then that ought to change everything for you. It ought to affect the way you live your life in light of the reality that God does indeed exist and that what He has said about Himself and creation is true. To believe and submit your life before the risen Christ, is to yield to Him as Lord over your life. In so doing, you do not get to decide what parts of the Bible do or do not apply to you unless the Bible (the Word of God) has already made that clear. Many of the things that Charlie said came from a conviction that the Bible was and is the Word of God. The reason why Kirks assassination feels like a significant threshold in history that we as a nation have crossed is because he was assassinated by someone who hated what Charlie Kirk said and stood for. What adds to the heaviness that I feel is that some within the media publicly celebrated his death and many others posted to their TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook accounts celebratory responses to his death. This is why I posted to my Facebook account the following statement: Timothy, a pastor in Ephesus and the recipient of two of the epistles that are included in the Bible, was beaten by an angry pagan mob, then dragged through the streets, and finally stoned to death by that same angry mob because they did not like what he said about the ungodly nature of the pagan Artemis festival; Timothy spoke up because he was a Christian. The murder of Charlie Kirk and the response of some in the media feels like that to me. I believe his assassination was more than political and that we witnessed the first martyrdom in America. What I wrote is how I am processing my thoughts and feelings. What I feel is not as or more important then what the Word of God says about what is happening in our world. So, lets look at James 5:7-20 to see how the Word of God can speak into what we are feeling. Patiently Watch for His Returning (vv. 7-11) Just as the farmer understands that he has no control over the germination of the seeds he plants and must wait until his crops grow and mature before they can be reaped, so it is with the return of Christ. How are we to be patient? James tells us four ways that we are to be patient: We are to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7a) We are to be patient with the confidence that He is coming. (v. 7b) We are to be patient by standing on the promise of His coming. (v. 8) We are to be patient by enduring suffering while we wait for His coming. (v. 10) We are to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7a) The fact of the matter is that Jesus is coming back. How do we know that? We know because He walked out of the tomb! How will He come back? Jesus said when He comes, He will do so with a host of angels and that His return will be visible and it will be noticed! Jesus said that when He comes, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). We patiently wait because although it is true that He is coming, He is coming at an hour you do not expect (Luke 12:40). We are to be patient with the confidence that He is coming. (v. 7b) When Jesus ascended to heaven after He had risen from death while the disciples stared off into the sky, two angels appeared and asked, ...and they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). In some ways, we can do the same thing but just sitting around while staring up into the sky is not what the angels meant when they asked the disciples that question. They continued: This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. We are to be patient by standing on the promise of His coming. (v. 8) Standing is not sitting. What I mean by the word Stand is the same thing that James means with his words: You too be patient; strengthen your hearts... You strengthen your heart by filling your mind with the promises of Gods word. You do it with the kinds of promises Jesus left us with: Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Fathers house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be (John 14:1-3). We strengthen our hearts by doing the kind of things we read in the Bible such as Hebrews 10:24-25, ...lets consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. We are to be patient by enduring suffering while we wait for His coming. (v. 10) What was it that enabled the prophets who suffered ridicule, financial hardship, beatings, and even death at the hands of the people God sent them too? They were holding onto a better promise! They were looking for a different city, a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10). This is why Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward (11:25-26). While Job found himself swimming in the pain of great loss and unrelenting pain, he was surrounded by friends and a wife who only added to his burden. Covered in sores and nothing to show of the great wealth he once enjoyed, the one person who should have been a source of encouragement said this to Job: Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die! What does the kind of patience James encourages us to have look like in the life of Job? Here is how he answered his wife: Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity (Job 2:9-10)? How did Job endure? He endured by first remembering that God is good, which enabled Job to endure while suffering because his eyes were focused on an infinitely good God! However, he did not only hold onto the assurance that God is good, he held onto the promise of His coming: Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job. 19:25-27). Prayerfully Live for His Returning (vv. 12-18) Jesus is coming back, so pray! Jesus rose from the grave, so you know that when you pray, God hears you. So, when you are suffering or when trials come your way, remember that God takes your words seriously. How easy it is to make promises to God we do not intend to keep or have thought little about before making them when suffering. I believe James is warning us of this very thing in verse 12, But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgment. After I was hit by the car and found myself laying in the middle of Route 1 at the age of 16, because I sincerely believed that I might be dying and was scared, I made all kinds of promises to God. You know how it goes: God, if you do this, I will do that! I told God while lying on that busy road: God, if you let me live, I will do whatever you want me to do. Instead, our first course of action should not be to talk about our suffering, not to complain about our suffering, and not to try and negotiate with God out of our suffering. Our first response must be to pray: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray (v. 13). Are you suffering with a sickness that will not go away? You seek out those who will pray for you: Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord (v. 14). Are you cheerful? Well sing praises to God then! Are you experiencing the discipline of the Lord because of unrepentant sin? Confess your sins to one another, James instructs (v. 16). Dont stop there though! James tells us to, pray for one another so that you may be healed. Whats the point? Jesus is coming back so do not wallow in your grief, nor ignore your sins, and do not doubt that the same God who raised Jesus from the grave, is the same God who listens when we call to Him. Elijah lived in a time of rampant idolatry and corruption. Guided by God, he prayed for a drought, giving King Ahab, Jezebel, and the people of Israel a chance to repentyet they refused. Later, Elijah confronted King Ahab and the 450 prophets of the false god Baal, challenging them to a test to reveal whose god was real. The story of Gods dramatic display of power before Elijah, the prophets, and the gathered crowd can be found in 1 Kings 18:20-46. In short, Baal did not respond, as he was no god at all, but the true God answered Elijah in a miraculous way. After this, Elijah prayed for the drought to endand it rained abundantly (see 1 Kings 18:41-45). Even after all of that, Elijah fled for a place to hide after Jezebel threatened his life. One moment Elijah was courageous and bold, and then the next he was filled with fear, despair, and believed that he was all alone. Why did James feel the need to use Elijah as an example? He tells us: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours... (v. 17). Daniel Doriani wrote of the prophet: Like us, he served from a position of weakness. He felt the worlds powers arrayed against him. He was prone to despair. He was not worthy, he was simply a righteous man who prayed, for individuals and for his society.[1] Conclusion What ought to be our response? Jesus rose from the grave! Jesus life and resurrection made your redemption possible! Jesus is coming back! The God who spoke the galaxies into reality when there was nothing now invites you to come to Him, so go to Him and pray! Bring your troubled heart, bring your sins, bring your sickness, bring your concerns for this nation, bring it all before the God of all creation! Know that the same God who made your salvation possible, is the God you can bring those who need to be saved before. If God can redeem Saul who watched and encouraged an angry mob to murder Stephen because they did not like what he said about the Bible and Jesus, then there is hope for Tyler Robinson. If God can part seas and raise the dead, then there is hope for Decarlos Brown who murdered Iryna on that subway train! This is the point James is making in these final verses: My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. [1] Daniel M. Doriani, James, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing, 2007), 201.

There are moments in history, like the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King Jr., that I find helpful to define as thresholds. Thresholds are what you have to cross to get from one room to another by entering through a door. The shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 was one such cultural threshold that we crossed as a nation. Before April 20, 1999 there were 183 documented school-related shootings that included everything from suicides, gang-related incidents, and mass shootings. Since crossing that threshold on April 20th, 1999, there have been an additional 435 school shootings. There are other defining moments that have affected America, such as the attacks on September 11, 2001. The political landscape and how candidates behave has affected our nation indefinitely. Now, we find ourselves in a place where it is not always safe to talk about the political party you belong to or who you voted for without risk to friendships or more. We have crossed a political threshold that I am not sure we will ever recover from. The 2020 COVID pandemic is another threshold our country crossed and the fruit was not the kind of unity we witnessed the days following 9/11, but anger, resentment, and unprecedented suspicion concerning just about everything. Although the pandemic was global, it left a lasting mark upon Americans. In 1993, the world wide web went mainstream, and that has affected American culture. In the early 2000s smart phone went mainstream, and that has affected our culture. In 2023, AI went mainstream resulting in a global shift, and that is affecting our culture. And now, truth is more difficult to discern than ever! Now, instead of helping those in need, we stare at a device that feeds us the kind of information that is literally driving us mad as a society! If we are not staring at our phones, they are used to record acts of violence for show and entertainment. I am not sure, but it seems to me that we crossed another threshold this past week. I believe we will be able to look back to September 10, 2025 as a,pivotal shift in American culture. I am not sure what that will look like moving forward, but all that I can say is that while my confidence is fixed upon a greater hope, my heart aches for our country. I do not know a lot about Charlie Kirk, but I did watch some of his open-air debates on some of the college campuses he visited. While I do not agree with all of his viewpoints, I did agree with him on two fundamental core values he had before he was assassinated on Wednesday: "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence." Charlie Kirk believed that we should be able to debate charitably even when we do not agree. Jesus saved my life. Im a sinner. I gave my life to Christ, and that is the most important decision Ive ever made. Charlie Kirk believed that Jesus was only hope for the forgiveness of sins, redemption, salvation, and eternal life. It was reported that minutes before Kirk was shot and killed, he shared 2 Corinthians 5:15 with the crowd: and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf. (2 Cor. 5:15) If you believe that Jesus rose from the grave, then that ought to change everything for you. It ought to affect the way you live your life in light of the reality that God does indeed exist and that what He has said about Himself and creation is true. To believe and submit your life before the risen Christ, is to yield to Him as Lord over your life. In so doing, you do not get to decide what parts of the Bible do or do not apply to you unless the Bible (the Word of God) has already made that clear. Many of the things that Charlie said came from a conviction that the Bible was and is the Word of God. The reason why Kirks assassination feels like a significant threshold in history that we as a nation have crossed is because he was assassinated by someone who hated what Charlie Kirk said and stood for. What adds to the heaviness that I feel is that some within the media publicly celebrated his death and many others posted to their TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook accounts celebratory responses to his death. This is why I posted to my Facebook account the following statement: Timothy, a pastor in Ephesus and the recipient of two of the epistles that are included in the Bible, was beaten by an angry pagan mob, then dragged through the streets, and finally stoned to death by that same angry mob because they did not like what he said about the ungodly nature of the pagan Artemis festival; Timothy spoke up because he was a Christian. The murder of Charlie Kirk and the response of some in the media feels like that to me. I believe his assassination was more than political and that we witnessed the first martyrdom in America. What I wrote is how I am processing my thoughts and feelings. What I feel is not as or more important then what the Word of God says about what is happening in our world. So, lets look at James 5:7-20 to see how the Word of God can speak into what we are feeling. Patiently Watch for His Returning (vv. 7-11) Just as the farmer understands that he has no control over the germination of the seeds he plants and must wait until his crops grow and mature before they can be reaped, so it is with the return of Christ. How are we to be patient? James tells us four ways that we are to be patient: We are to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7a) We are to be patient with the confidence that He is coming. (v. 7b) We are to be patient by standing on the promise of His coming. (v. 8) We are to be patient by enduring suffering while we wait for His coming. (v. 10) We are to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7a) The fact of the matter is that Jesus is coming back. How do we know that? We know because He walked out of the tomb! How will He come back? Jesus said when He comes, He will do so with a host of angels and that His return will be visible and it will be noticed! Jesus said that when He comes, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). We patiently wait because although it is true that He is coming, He is coming at an hour you do not expect (Luke 12:40). We are to be patient with the confidence that He is coming. (v. 7b) When Jesus ascended to heaven after He had risen from death while the disciples stared off into the sky, two angels appeared and asked, ...and they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). In some ways, we can do the same thing but just sitting around while staring up into the sky is not what the angels meant when they asked the disciples that question. They continued: This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. We are to be patient by standing on the promise of His coming. (v. 8) Standing is not sitting. What I mean by the word Stand is the same thing that James means with his words: You too be patient; strengthen your hearts... You strengthen your heart by filling your mind with the promises of Gods word. You do it with the kinds of promises Jesus left us with: Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Fathers house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be (John 14:1-3). We strengthen our hearts by doing the kind of things we read in the Bible such as Hebrews 10:24-25, ...lets consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. We are to be patient by enduring suffering while we wait for His coming. (v. 10) What was it that enabled the prophets who suffered ridicule, financial hardship, beatings, and even death at the hands of the people God sent them too? They were holding onto a better promise! They were looking for a different city, a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10). This is why Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward (11:25-26). While Job found himself swimming in the pain of great loss and unrelenting pain, he was surrounded by friends and a wife who only added to his burden. Covered in sores and nothing to show of the great wealth he once enjoyed, the one person who should have been a source of encouragement said this to Job: Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die! What does the kind of patience James encourages us to have look like in the life of Job? Here is how he answered his wife: Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity (Job 2:9-10)? How did Job endure? He endured by first remembering that God is good, which enabled Job to endure while suffering because his eyes were focused on an infinitely good God! However, he did not only hold onto the assurance that God is good, he held onto the promise of His coming: Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job. 19:25-27). Prayerfully Live for His Returning (vv. 12-18) Jesus is coming back, so pray! Jesus rose from the grave, so you know that when you pray, God hears you. So, when you are suffering or when trials come your way, remember that God takes your words seriously. How easy it is to make promises to God we do not intend to keep or have thought little about before making them when suffering. I believe James is warning us of this very thing in verse 12, But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgment. After I was hit by the car and found myself laying in the middle of Route 1 at the age of 16, because I sincerely believed that I might be dying and was scared, I made all kinds of promises to God. You know how it goes: God, if you do this, I will do that! I told God while lying on that busy road: God, if you let me live, I will do whatever you want me to do. Instead, our first course of action should not be to talk about our suffering, not to complain about our suffering, and not to try and negotiate with God out of our suffering. Our first response must be to pray: Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray (v. 13). Are you suffering with a sickness that will not go away? You seek out those who will pray for you: Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord (v. 14). Are you cheerful? Well sing praises to God then! Are you experiencing the discipline of the Lord because of unrepentant sin? Confess your sins to one another, James instructs (v. 16). Dont stop there though! James tells us to, pray for one another so that you may be healed. Whats the point? Jesus is coming back so do not wallow in your grief, nor ignore your sins, and do not doubt that the same God who raised Jesus from the grave, is the same God who listens when we call to Him. Elijah lived in a time of rampant idolatry and corruption. Guided by God, he prayed for a drought, giving King Ahab, Jezebel, and the people of Israel a chance to repentyet they refused. Later, Elijah confronted King Ahab and the 450 prophets of the false god Baal, challenging them to a test to reveal whose god was real. The story of Gods dramatic display of power before Elijah, the prophets, and the gathered crowd can be found in 1 Kings 18:20-46. In short, Baal did not respond, as he was no god at all, but the true God answered Elijah in a miraculous way. After this, Elijah prayed for the drought to endand it rained abundantly (see 1 Kings 18:41-45). Even after all of that, Elijah fled for a place to hide after Jezebel threatened his life. One moment Elijah was courageous and bold, and then the next he was filled with fear, despair, and believed that he was all alone. Why did James feel the need to use Elijah as an example? He tells us: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours... (v. 17). Daniel Doriani wrote of the prophet: Like us, he served from a position of weakness. He felt the worlds powers arrayed against him. He was prone to despair. He was not worthy, he was simply a righteous man who prayed, for individuals and for his society.[1] Conclusion What ought to be our response? Jesus rose from the grave! Jesus life and resurrection made your redemption possible! Jesus is coming back! The God who spoke the galaxies into reality when there was nothing now invites you to come to Him, so go to Him and pray! Bring your troubled heart, bring your sins, bring your sickness, bring your concerns for this nation, bring it all before the God of all creation! Know that the same God who made your salvation possible, is the God you can bring those who need to be saved before. If God can redeem Saul who watched and encouraged an angry mob to murder Stephen because they did not like what he said about the Bible and Jesus, then there is hope for Tyler Robinson. If God can part seas and raise the dead, then there is hope for Decarlos Brown who murdered Iryna on that subway train! This is the point James is making in these final verses: My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. [1] Daniel M. Doriani, James, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing, 2007), 201.

The two responses of the crowd in Jerusalem to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit reflect their unbelief. Some are confused, some mock, but all are blind to the reality that the Spirit of God has come upon his people. Peter, the once fearful disciple who denied his Lord, now stands filled with courage by the power of the Spirit to declare that what is happening can be explained only as the work of Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus, crucified and raised, has now poured out the Holy Spirit. This Jesus is both Lord and Christ. To this Jesus we turn in repentance and faith. This Jesus we proclaim. Grace Community Church exists to build spiritually healthy people for ministry in the world. One of the ways that we pursue this mission is by gathering each Sunday for corporate worship, prayer, and biblical teaching. The corporate nature of this gathering is both edifying to the believer and a witness of God's grace to the world. Sermon speaker is Scott Patty unless otherwise noted.

This week in GracePointe 201 we're exploring the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith—a framework that helps us hold both the grounded, historical reality of Jesus as a person of the past, and the living, abiding experience of Jesus for so many today. For many Christians Jesus is the great exception--somehow able to be like us but infinitely better than us. This Jesus is to be worshipped, but we all know deep down he can not be truly imitated or followed. What if there is another way to see Jesus, not as the exception, but as the rule? What if Jesus represents our potential, an invitation to become everything we can become? ⛪️ To learn more about who we are and what we do, visit https://gracepointe.net/about-us

Today we completed reading the Gospel of Mark. One needs to compare all 4 Gospels to get a full picture of events after Christ rose from the dead. Such was the awesome sight of Christ's horrible death on the cross, whether seen from nearby or from afar, that his followers could not begin to imagine he could rise from the dead again – as had Lazarus:  the one who had the power to raise others was dead himself.Mary Magdalene, according to Mark, was the first one that Jesus appeared to (ch. 16 v.9) which is parallel with the detailed account in John's gospel (ch,20 v.11-18) .  In Mark we read “she went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.  But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.” [v.10,11]The next 2 verses are a summary of what is recorded in Luke 24 v.13-33 of the 2 disciples to whom, an unrecognised Jesus talked on the road to Emmaus – and made their “hearts burn” as he opened to them the meaning of Scripture – obviously prophecies, now fulfilled in recent events – then followed their astonished recognition of him as they “brake bread” – what a shock when they saw his hands!Mark says, “they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them”.  [v.14] Jesus appears and tells them to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel …” [v.15] which is repeated as he is about to ascend to heaven before their astonished gaze. (Acts 1 v.8,9) followed by the challenging words of the angels “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go …”Looking at Mark again, he stresses  the final commission of Jesus', “”Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel …” [v.15] and the commission to do that is now at last just about completed.  But is enough stress being put upon what the Gospel actually is?  Paul, in writing to the Galatians expresses his astonishment that already some were “turning to a different gospel” [1 v.7] and makes the point “that God … preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham …” [ch.3 v.8] of the blessing to come on the nations. Christ warned his hearers, “there will be weeping … when you see Abraham … in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out.” [Luke 13 v.28]  Let us believe the original gospel.Returning to Mark – he quotes one of the final points of Jesus that was an essential part of the preaching; “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” [v.16] Everyone must face the question, “Do you believe what Jesus actually taught?'  Sadly, very few are saying ‘Yes' today.

Jesus this week, as found in the Gospel of Luke, is not the Jesus we often think of, peaceful, and compassionate, and gracious. This Jesus knows what time it is, and is urgently trying to get those around him to look at the clock, too. His words are jarring, disruptive, and designed to wake folks up. It is a difficult saying, for a difficult season. Can we hear it? 

We were created to worship. Even those who claim no interest in religion will inevitably worship something, whether it's fame, wealth, family, or another thing entirely. In this week's message from Revelation 4–5, Pastor J.D. gives us a glimpse of heavenly worship that is motivated by the sovereignty of God and the salvation found in Jesus. This Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb, is the one our hearts yearn for and the only one who can give us life to the full. 

Send us a textWhat happens when we strip away centuries of religious interpretation and confront the actual teachings of Jesus of Nazareth? This Jesus isn't the gentle, apolitical figure often presented in modern Christianity, but rather "a holistically spiritual freedom fighter" deeply concerned with poverty, exploitation, and injustice. In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., research scholar at Columbia University and former professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. Their conversation reminds us that Jesus as a radical social reformer whose message has been systematically diluted. Dr. Hendricks draws on St. Paul's emphasis on individual spiritual experiences to convey his message. "Paul transformed Jesus' concern for collective social, economic and political deliverance into an obsession with personal piety," Hendricks explains, suggesting that many Christians today understand Jesus primarily through St. Paul's interpretation, which fundamentally altered the trajectory of Jesus' radical message. Listen in for the full conversation.A lifelong social activist, Obery Hendricks is one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. Cornel West calls him “one of the last few grand prophetic intellectuals.”A widely sought lecturer and media spokesperson, Dr. Hendricks' appearances include CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, Fox Business News, the Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, NHK Japan Television and the Bloomberg Network. He has provided running event commentary for National Public Radio, MSNBC, and the al-Jazeera and Aspire international television networks.Learn more about Dr. Obery Hendricks and subscribe to his substack.Support the show Follow us on IG and FB at Bishop Rob Wright.

2:30 Country Star John Rich Shocks Trump with Vaccine Truth Bomb at Star-Studded Secret MeetingConservative Christian country star John Rich claims he got Trump to understand why people booed him when he boasted of Operation Warp Speed toxic injections.  The reactions of Lindsey Graham and Herschel Walker, both at the meeting, are telling.  And so are Trump's actions as both candidate, and on his return, President. 8:58 Fauci's Back: Scapegoat, Alibi, Psychopat      “Depopulationist psychopath” Fauci claws his way back from the wilderness with dire fear mongering about bird flu mutating, bats brewing, and cackling about a deadly outbreak—blaming our “attitude toward science”!     Fauci is the get-out-of-jail card for all the Covid tyranny as his fear theater conditions us for the next lockdown 20:45  Children's Health Defense Restates Their Principles as Founder RFKj Goes to the Dark Side on Measles & MMR      CHD doubles down & drops a gauntlet: the vaccine's risks dwarf the disease, with autism, seizures, and meningitis in its wake      This a test of the medical freedom movement's soul.  Will CHD stand firm as RFKj sells his soul and children's health for power? 34:52 Trump's 104% Tariff Tantrum Ignites Global Chaos and Robot Wars      Trump's jaw-dropping 104% tariff bomb dropped at midnight, plunging the world into economic mayhem.  Trump says he holds all the cards but China is calling the bluff of the bankrupt casino owner      And, Peter Navarro's “ChatGPT tariff math” gets roasted by Elon Musk.  Will Navarro blame the nonsense formula on his imaginary friend that he quotes in his books?  Reason makes the case that Trump and the American people would be better served by a sack of bricks than this econ conman.      Then, Lutnick makes it clear — this is NOT about the American worker.  You will be replaced by robots.  It's billionaires and their corporations that Trump wants to bring in, not jobs. 1:09:31 Wag the DOGE: Trump's Trillion-Dollar Pentagon & Coming Iran WarPentagon budget leaps 12% as the national debt is set to skyrocket to $67 TRILLION in 10 years. Red ink is the color of MAGA now. 1:22:59 British Church Has Jesus Doing Wrestling Smackdowns      Loaves & fishes?  How about literal circus for today's church that feeds on entertainment?      You won't believe the footage!  Watch as a Jesus “lookalike” body-slams foes taking on 2 “wrestlers” with Kung-Fu Chi.    This Jesus isn't turning the other cheek—proof the church is dead, and in its place a cabaret of idolatry1:35:28China's Communist godsUK Easter BanChristians Flee Minnesota Persecution for TennesseeTexas Battles Sharia City Invasion1:47:48 Market Meltdown and Where Does Gold Rush      Trump is finally building a border wall except it's financial.  Will all the king's men be able to put Humpty Dumpty together again after Trump pushed him off the wall?     The stakes are priceless—privacy, freedom, and the future hang in the balance! 2:02:09 Germany's Gold: Trump's Tariff Tantrums Spark Global Trust CrisisTrump's erratic tariff tirades send shockwaves worldwide—now even Germany's scrambling to yank its 1,200 tons of gold from New York's Fed vault 2:11:43 Trump's Trillion-Dollar War Machine Poised to Strike IranCritics like Glenn Greenwald slam him as Bibi's butler, while the military-industrial complex—hello, Elon Musk's SpaceX—rakes in billions. This empire-building spree's bankrupting America and igniting global hate. Now drone strikes into Mexico are on the table with or without the country's cooperation 2:33:37 Trans Killer's Hate-Fueled Rampage Exposed by Kash Patel Document Dump      The Tennessee Star has been fighting for info hidden by the Nashville Police and the FBI.  Now Kash Patel unleashed Audrey Hale's 1,000-page manifesto—revealing a transgender shooter's seething hatred for white kids, women, and Christians     Meanwhile the Supreme Court doubles down, rejecting challenges to New York's gun bans—leaving churches and schools as sitting ducks in “sensitive” zones. 2:43:12 Billionaires' Stadium Scam Busted: Lawmakers Slam Taxpayer Rip-OffDid you realize the billionaire grifters were also getting FEDERAL money for their grandiose sports complexes?  Fed-up lawmakers are pulling the plug on a jaw-dropping $4.3 billion federal handout to filthy-rich sports tycoons 2:46:10 Panama War: Trump & China Lawfare Fight      Trump pressure campaign sees Panama bringing criminal charges against Hong Kong giant, CK Hutchinson as China brings anti-trust charges against the company to stop the sale of ports around the Panama Canal      From cozy 25-year renewals to sudden lawsuits, this is a high-stakes battle for control—and billions. Will Trump and BlackRock seize the prize, or will China's counterpunch sink the deal? You won't believe the twists! 2:53:59 Trump's Third-Term Delusion: Will He Shatter the Constitution for Power?His spellbinding grip on conservatives is flipping the script on everything they once stood for! Term limits? Out the window. Tax hikes? Cheered on. The New American sounds the alarm: Trump's flouting the 22nd Amendment's sacred guard against tyranny, eyeing loopholes like a VP switcheroo with JD Vance—except the Constitution's 12th Amendment slams that door shut.If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to DavidKnight.gold for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to TrendsJournal.com and enter the code KNIGHTFor 10% off supplements and books, go to RNCstore.com and enter the code KNIGHTBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.