Podcasts about this roman

Title: Chains and Afflictions Text: Acts 21:27-36 FCF: We often struggle responding well to slander and persecution for Christ's sake. Prop: Because of the offense of the gospel we will be slandered and reviled, so we must be ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 21. In a moment we will read beginning in verse 27 from the Legacy Standard Bible. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. Last week we saw the powder keg situation that Paul and his 8 gentile companions walked into as they brought a gift for the Jerusalem church from several churches in gentile lands. Tension between Jews and the Romans continues to mount and along with that the pernicious rumor that Paul is anti-Mosaic law and advising new Jewish believers to forsake circumcising their children and the laws and customs of Moses. The Elders wisely advised Paul to demonstrate that he is not against the law of Moses by submitting to purity rituals with 4 other men who are doing so. Paul humbly discarded any liberty he may have assumed and willingly submitted to help ease tensions between Jewish Christians and the non-believing Jews. But we know the future. It has been confirmed by many witnesses. Paul will suffer with chains and afflictions in Jerusalem. Although it was wise advice and although Paul humbly submitted, we know that things will implode quickly. But even in this difficult situation, we will find vital lessons for we who claim Christ and face uncertain days. Please stand with me to give honor to and to focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Mighty God and Lord of Hosts. You are holy, holy, holy. You have sent the Son to claim Your people for Your Kingdom and You have sent Your Spirit to dwell in us and seal us and preserve us until the Day of Judgment. As You are Alpha and Omega, You have written and decreed the end from the beginning. No one can tell You “no” and no one can slap away Your mighty hand from doing as You please. In these truths Lord, we must rest, especially when we are slandered, maligned, ridiculed, reviled, and persecuted for Your name. Without the truth that all this is according to Your Immutable Will, we would surely flounder and fall. Impress upon us, Your Children, the greater truth that when these days of trouble come upon us, we must rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for when we suffer for Your name, we have a great reward in the Kingdom which we will share with a great cloud of witnesses. Help us to see this and be encouraged in this text this morning. And use this encouragement to turn us away from despairing in trouble. Turn us instead to being ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. We pray this in Jesus' name… Amen. Transition: Let us once again dive right into the text this morning. I.) Because of the offense of the gospel, men will falsely accuse us of evil things, so we must be ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. (27-30) a. [Slide 2] 27 - Now when the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon noticing him in the temple, began to throw all the crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, i. Ok, so right off the bat there are some contextual clues we need to unravel to understand what is happening here. ii. First, the seven days here is referring to the general process of purification that would need to be endured for these men and for Paul. 1. We aren't exactly sure why these men performing the Nazarite vow were going through purification, because that isn't normally part of it, but the process itself took a week. 2. In that week's time, any seeking purification would have to be ritually washed on the third and the seventh day. No doubt Paul is in the temple on the seventh and final day of his purification. 3. This means that generally speaking, people who had ill intentions toward Paul would know on which day he would be in the temple next. iii. Second, we see that there are Jews from Asia present here in Jerusalem. Well, who are these folks and what are they doing here? 1. We might be tempted to think that these Jews have followed Paul to Jerusalem to harm him. This is possible, but there is a far simpler explanation for why these folks are here. Do you remember? 2. Yep! It is Pentecost, the Jewish feast commemorating the harvest. Shavuot (Sha-voo-ot) is one of the three pilgrimage feasts that are required for Jewish males to attend. 3. Anyone who was a Jew that took seriously the law of Moses would have made every effort to be in Jerusalem for this festival. 4. So, it shouldn't be a big surprise for us to find Jews from Asia in Jerusalem at this time. iv. Third, how would they recognize Paul and what had Paul done that infuriated them so much? 1. Although Luke only mentions the province in which they are from, the capital city of the province of Asia was the great city of Ephesus. A city in which Paul spent three years ministering. 2. Later, we find out that these people recognized one of Paul's companions who was from the city of Ephesus. This almost certainly confirms that these Jews were from or at least very familiar with the city of Ephesus and Paul's 3 year ministry there. 3. So why are they so opposed to Paul? 4. Well Paul preached in Ephesus and many Jews became disciples of Christ. He actually lead them out of the synagogue and took them to the hall of Tyrannus where he continued to teach and preach the gospel. 5. Needless to say, the Jews from Asia were not big fans of Paul. v. In Ephesus and in other cities around the empire, it has been clear thus far that the Jews were not always trusted, liked, or respected by the gentile communities in which they lived. vi. Although their faith was granted a special status as being allowed to be practiced within the empire, it still did not mean that the pagans around them respected them. vii. But here, the non-believing Jews clearly had numerical and ideological superiority over the Jewish Christians. viii. If there was ever a chance to stamp out Paul and his teachings – this is it. ix. So, these Asian Jews take this chance, grab hold of Paul and stir up the crowd against him. x. How? b. [Slide 3] 28 - crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches to everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 - For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. i. These Asian Jews bring two charges against Paul. ii. The second charge is far more inflammatory to the crowd than the first. iii. The first charge is the accusation that Paul teaches against the Jewish people, against the law of Moses and against the temple of Yahweh, and he does so throughout the Roman Empire. iv. Ironically, this was the same charge levied against Stephen which led to his execution by stoning. Paul once saw things the same way these folks did. But for the grace of God yes? v. Such an accusation could be easily explained away. In fact, Paul's very presence in the temple that day going about his sacrifices and the end of his purity rituals would actually serve to counter their claim. vi. But the second charge is what gets the crowd stirred. vii. They claim that Paul has brought Trophimus, a man they would know to be a gentile, into the temple with him. viii. [Slide 4] As we know the temple mount could be entered by Gentiles. They could actually get fairly close to the temple itself. But Gentiles could not pass into the court of women or the court of the Israelites. ix. [Slide 5] Many scholars make much of the archeological evidence, like the sign on the screen, that warned gentiles with death if they entered into the temple grounds. And we even have speeches from Roman officials which seem to have allowed for the Jews to execute people who did violate such laws. x. But as I studied this, my mind wondered what Old Testament teaching or law is in view with the prohibition of gentiles entering the temple grounds. xi. Especially since they are under the impression that doing so would defile it. xii. What Old Testament law do they base this on? 1. [Slide 6] The closest thing I could find is Ezekiel 44:6-9 a. In reading this text, we can see very clearly that God judges Israel for allowing worshippers to come into the temple and even serve as priests who were neither circumcised in heart nor circumcised in flesh. b. God issues a command that no one shall enter His temple who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh. 2. [Slide 7] But what do we do with the 5th gospel of Isaiah, who says in Isaiah 56:6-8… a. Here we see… explicitly… that Gentiles should not be strictly forbidden to come into the temple to make sacrifices. b. Why? c. Because God will be the one bringing them to do that one day! 3. So how do we harmonize these two texts? a. How can God bring foreigners into the temple if those uncircumcised in heart and flesh cannot enter? b. How did the Jews of this time harmonize this? i. The Jews of this time, completely ignore the Isaiah passage. ii. Even if a Gentile converted and became a Jew, even becoming circumcised… they would still not be permitted, even into the court of women. c. So how do we harmonize it? i. While we could be accused of exploiting a loophole, the fact of the matter is that there are many prophetic riddles throughout the scriptures. God expects us to think as we read His Word. ii. [Slide 8] What two conditions must be met in order to reject a foreigner from the temple according to Ezekiel 44? They must be both uncircumcised in heart and in flesh. iii. Trophimus was a gentile, uncircumcised in flesh, but circumcised in his heart. Therefore, he does not meet the conditions of Ezekiel 44 but DOES meet the conditions of Isaiah 56. xiii. [Slide 9] Added to this – These Jews raise issue with Paul and grab hold of him and will drag him out and attempt to kill him even though… 1. He is a Jew 2. He is enduring purification rights under the Mosaic Law 3. Even if he brought a gentile into the temple… the Gentile is the one that should be killed according to their law, not him. He would certainly be punished perhaps even severely. 4. But Paul should not be killed for this infraction even if it were exactly as they said it was. xiv. The fact of the matter is, the Jews, because of their national pride and racial prejudice, have so perverted the Word of God that they have determined that the exact opposite of what He has revealed is true. xv. And now they are going to kill Paul, an apostle of their Messiah and Everlasting King, because of their rebellion and their racism. c. [Slide 10] 30 - Then all the city was stirred, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. i. As we pointed out last week, this time period was right in the middle of the escalation of hostility between Jews and the Roman Empire. ii. Although we are still 13 years away from the fall of Jerusalem, the conflict begins in AD 66 which is only 9 years away. iii. Not only that but Festus, a character we will meet in a few chapters, will actually spend two years making peace with the Jews and effectively kick the can of the revolt down the road… iv. Adding all this together we can see that even though the fall of Jerusalem is 13 years away, it is not a stretch for us to consider that at the moment Paul walks in the temple of Jerusalem, the divide between Jews and the Romans was nearing its peak. v. Knowing this, we can see quite easily why the crowd would respond to Paul the way they did. vi. Loyalty to the temple was closely tied to patriotism and Jewish Nationalism. An attack on the temple was an attack on Judaism. vii. And Paul is the lightening rod for all of this. viii. They took him out of the temple, because they could not commit violence and shed blood within the temple courts ix. To avoid this the guards close the doors. x. The temple guards could have stopped the violence. Instead, they closed the doors. d. [Slide 11] Summary of the Point: Throughout the book of Acts Luke has portrayed the Jesus movement as the next step in Judaism. To confess Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah of God and eternal heir to the throne of David is to take the next and final step in the redemptive history of Israel. In Acts we've seen many Jews embrace this New Covenant, which was ratified in the death and resurrection of Jesus proving Him to be the Messiah. He is the Son of Man prophesied in Daniel. He is the suffering Servant prophesied in Isaiah. And yet, as clear as this was to many, it remained repulsive and offensive to many more. The offense of the gospel drives natural man to terrible things. Jesus predicted that the disciple is no greater than the master. Meaning that what they did to Him, we can expect the same to be done to us. Paul is actually living out that experience in the pages of the passage we just saw. They accused Jesus of blaspheming the temple. And here Paul is accused of defiling it. We can expect the same to come to us. If we are to preach the gospel, we should both expect it to be offensive to the world and that we will be falsely accused of doing evil things because of it. So, what is our response? Our text this morning does not include Paul's response to all of this. Mainly because his response is quite lengthy. But generally speaking, we can see as Paul raises his defense of the gospel and his ministry, that we too must be ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. Transition: [Slide 12 (blank)] But surely someone in the crowd will have the sense to question Paul as to whether these things are true? Surely someone will have the courage to say – yes but Paul is still a Jew and can go into the temple himself. So surely he doesn't deserve to die? Let us see if anyone among them will do this. Perhaps the Romans will if the Jews won't? II.) Because of the offense of the gospel men will revile and persecute us, so we must be ready to give a defense for the hope we have in us. (31-36) a. [Slide 13] 31 - While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 - At once he took along soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. i. Luke doesn't tell us who took the report to the commander. Perhaps one of Paul's companions or the church reported this to the Roman officer? ii. A Roman cohort consists of 1000 men. It is roughly 1/6 of a Roman Legion. iii. Within each cohort there were there were Centuries which would be 100 men, and each of them would be lead by a Centurion. iv. As a Roman officer in Judea, your one job is to make sure that these generally rebellious Jews paid their taxes and didn't revolt. v. During festivals, when Jerusalem was full of Jews on pilgrimage, it would be all hands on deck. vi. We see that this commander wastes no time, at once taking soldiers and their centurions down to where the beating was happening. vii. The Anatolia fortress was located on the Western side of the northern wall of the temple mount. Two stair cases down led to the outer courts. viii. So they were probably there quickly. ix. It is hard to know how many men he took with him, but we can assume at least a couple hundred since he took centurions (plural) with him. x. Assuming that is the case, 200 fully armed Roman soldiers running down the steps to the temple would be quite an intimidating sight. xi. No wonder the Jews stopped beating Paul when they came marching down. xii. But if the relations of the Romans and the Jews are so strained, how would the Roman Commander make sure that this doesn't look like the Romans are once again coming in to tell them how they should practice their religion? b. [Slide 14] 33 - Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. i. The Roman Commander has Paul bound in chains, probably to two separate guards. He then asks who the man was and what he has done. ii. The concept of innocent until proven guilty is not a universal ideal. iii. The Romans certainly did not consider prisoners innocent until proven guilty. iv. In fact, as we've seen in the study of the book ok Acts, their subjects especially those who were not Roman citizens, could be beaten and imprisoned, and in some cases even killed without charge. v. This Roman commander shrewdly assumes that the man being beaten is guilty and asks the crowd for the information regarding his guilt. vi. If the answer he got was that clear – that Paul had defiled the temple – the Roman officer probably would have let them kill Paul. c. [Slide 15] 34 - But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. i. This is the very definition of mob mentality. ii. Most of these people had no idea why they were hitting this man, they just knew that he had done something worth hitting him for. iii. When emotionalism and extreme rhetoric wins, the most natural thing we humans do, is follow the crowd of people who scream the loudest. iv. We'll always find something to be outraged about, and if it isn't what the crowd is outraged about – that's ok – we'll just vent our frustration in the convenient opportunity the mob has provided. v. Like when we burn a city when a football team wins… or also if they lose the big game???? vi. Such in the case here. vii. Seeing that the crowd has no idea who this person is or what he did, the commander chooses to escort the man to safety so that they could interrogate the prisoner himself. Which we will see him attempt to do in a few weeks. d. [Slide 16] 35 - And when he got to the stairs, he actually was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd; 36 - for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!” i. Even today, tactically speaking, stairs are what are called fatal funnels. ii. They are essentially hallways forcing you to change altitude and keeping you from flanking to safety. iii. These stairs are probably the first flight of stairs up to the Anatolian fortress. They would have been quite wide, but would have been difficult to navigate especially with a large crowd of people following them trying to get at their prisoner. iv. The Roman soldiers are forced to pick up and carry Paul up the stairs because the crowd continued to try to assault Paul on the way up. v. They call out “away with him” which is a great literal translation of the words, but idiomatically this certainly was their cry for Paul to be put to death. vi. We are reminded of the crowds call to “crucify” someone after He too entered the temple offering something that no one wanted. vii. Scholars sometimes press the similarities too far, but I think it is obvious that Luke sees the similarity of Christ's experience in Jerusalem during his passion week and Paul's experience here. Although they do not end the same of course. e. [Slide 17] Summary of the Point: Although Luke makes it clear in the book of Acts that the Romans saw no threat posed to the empire by the Christians, we should note that that doesn't mean that the Romans would always ride in and save Christians from persecution. In fact, this particular Roman commander not only arrested Paul without any idea what Paul did, he also, as we will see in the following weeks, intends to beat Paul some more in order to find out what happened in the temple. And these Jews, while not being in agreement as to why Paul was being beaten, all agreed on one thing… he needed to die. Again, we compare Paul's experience to our Lord Jesus'. He too was not rescued by the Romans. And the people cried out for Him to be killed too. Paul is suffering the same way Jesus suffered. If it can happen to Paul, and all the apostles, and countless others throughout the church's history, then it most certainly can… and will happen to us. If we faithfully preach the gospel men will revile us and persecute us. Why? Because the gospel is offensive. But again, what do we do when this happens? We must be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in us. Conclusion: So CBC, what have we learned today and how shall we live? Basic Concepts for Faith and Practice: [Slide 18] The gospel is by nature offensive to natural man. The religiously zealous Jews and the Roman pagans alike, both despise what Paul teaches and seek to silence it. And the world goes about silencing those who speak the gospel in two ways presented in this passage. They falsely accuse those who preach the gospel of evil things. They accused Paul of defiling the temple and teaching against the law of Moses. They will also revile and persecute those who preach the gospel. We see them beat, arrest, and call for the execution of Paul, to silence his teaching of the gospel. What does that mean for us? They will hate us too. Even if we are nice. Even if we are kind. Even if we are loving. They will still hate us. They will falsely accuse us of some of the most terrible things. And they will revile us and persecute us. What then should we do? We must be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in us. Even as they usher us through the door to that hope. These are the basic concepts of faith and practice in this text – but let's us dive a little deeper into them today. 1.) [Slide 19] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that the gospel is offensive to natural man. a. Why is it offensive? b. It teaches that every single person, whether they are moral, immoral, religious, irreligious, wealthy, poor, powerful, powerless, strong, weak, regardless of nationality, tribe, language, political party, every person is spiritually dead in their sin. c. They are… as the bible calls them… children of wrath. d. Slaves to sin. e. Every single person lacks all agency to do anything to save themselves or even to seek God to save them. f. This is what Paul says in Romans chapter 3 and this is what Augustine of Hippo defended in his treatise On Grace and Free Will against the Pelagian heresy. g. Mankind is not naturally equipped in their will to choose God or pursue Him in any way. They are given commands by God but are unable to accomplish them without God giving them grace to do so. h. There are two things I have found in my life that seem to be universally true of we humans. i. We hate being told we are wrong ii. And we hate being told we can't do anything about it. iii. Not only do we hate being told these things… we reject these things entirely. i. But the gospel tells us both and to the most extreme degree. i. It isn't just that we are wrong… we are dead wrong. So wrong that we have committed treason against the highest court of the highest kingdom on whose throne sits the highest God, Yahweh. ii. And we not only can't do anything about it… we don't even want to. Men love darkness and hate the light because their deeds are evil and they want to keep doing them. iii. There are none righteous and there are none who seek God. You are children of wrath of your father the devil and slaves to sin. iv. Just to quote a few j. All of this is the preamble of the gospel. k. It's funny – to the world that doesn't sound like good news at all. l. But to we who have been made alive in Christ… To know we are sinners and deserve nothing but judgment and wrath… That truly is good news. m. Why? n. Because Christ died for sinners! Just like you. Just like me. o. But until God gives a new heart and enables a person to see their own wickedness, they will continue to hate the gospel and fundamentally disagree with its accusations against them. p. As Matthew Henry once said, “Men hate Christ because they love their sin.” q. From our discussion last week – fear that the gospel may be right leads them to hate it. And what do we humans do with things we fear? We either flee them or we fight them. r. And that leads us to something we must deny. A lie we must dismiss especially now in the culture we are in… 2.) [Slide 20] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that religious toleration for the true gospel is normative. a. Although it is a much easier sell today than it would have been a few decades ago, because we still have relative freedom to continue to worship God in the way that He has commanded us to, we tend to find it difficult to connect with warnings about coming persecution. b. One other general human trait that I have observed is that we as humans tend to believe that all of life will continue as it has. We assume that because we live in a country where we are free from constant persecution against our beliefs that this will always be true. c. However, we know from the words of Christ that if we are His disciple then we should not expect anything less than the same rejection He experienced. d. If Men hate Christ because they love their sin – it stands to reason that they will hate any who follow Christ and are calling them to repent of their sin. e. This is why the “God loves you and is just wanting you to love Him back” gospel message is so popular today. Because it doesn't actually call anyone to abandon their sin. Instead, the message conveys the idea that God would be really lucky to have you if you would just say yes. f. And because of this message being out there, the real gospel message of God calling all men to repent and believe on Christ as Savior and Lord – is reviled and despised. g. And just like Paul was accused of blasphemy against the temple and even betrayal toward his own kinsmen, we too will be slandered. i. We spoke last week how the church is seen as homophobic or transphobic because we agree with God about sexuality and gender. ii. We are accused of hating democracy and freedom because we advocate for our laws to be based on God's moral will. iii. We are accused of intolerance because we believe Jesus when He says He is the only way to the Father. iv. We are accused of hating women because we believe God's word when it tells us of gender roles and authority structures within the home. v. In short, the world will rebrand us as arch villains because we have the audacity to see, through the lens of ancient Scripture, that their cherished practices are sin. vi. And we may, in the most loving and compassionate way we can, call them to repent and trust on Christ for the forgiveness of sin and new life… vii. But remember men love darkness rather than light for their deeds are evil. viii. God must give them a new heart in order for them to receive the gifts of repentance and faith. h. And unfortunately, men's hatred of the gospel and those who preach it will not just stop at slander. As it did with Paul, slander was the vehicle used to harm, revile, and persecute Paul. We too should expect the same. i. It is only a small step from where we are to where many other countries are in relation to persecution. ii. We may be tempted to think that such things could never happen in our country or that if they do, we are decades away. iii. But my friends, it would not surprise me to wake up tomorrow and learn that it is no longer legal to preach certain scripture passages or certain interpretations of scriptures passages. iv. It seemed like overnight governors of states were commanding churches not to sing to God in their services. v. And there isn't a party that exists today that has a biblical worldview. So just like Paul could not look to the Romans to save him, so too we cannot look to the Republicans to save us. vi. We will be persecuted on all sides. Not just from liberals. We will be persecuted by people who call themselves Christians. Perhaps even some in this very room will be the ones turning us in to the authorities. i. I don't know when the hammer will fall. I don't know how long God will allow for us to worship Him in peace with the culture around us. But I do know that from where the country started to where we are – our trajectory is on a nose dive headed straight for persecution. j. It does us no good to put our heads in the sand and continue to deny that such things would or could happen. k. We must even now ready ourselves by counting the cost and whether we are willing to pay it. l. But what is our response to persecution? Should we resist? Should we fight back? 3.) [Slide 21] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must take every opportunity to give a defense of the hope that is in us. a. Interestingly, in this text, there is not a single example positively of what we are to do, nor is there a direct command in this passage associated to what is happening in the text. b. Before the end of this chapter Paul will respond. c. And originally in my sermon planning I did include verses 37-40. d. But in order to understand Paul's response we would need to look into what he says which would mean looking at MANY more verses. e. Paul actually begins his first of 6 defenses of his faith and ministry that are recorded in the last 7 chapters of the book of Acts starting in chapter 22. f. Now without looking at the first defense in its entirety let alone looking at all 6 defenses, we can still draw a very general application from what we know of the remainder of the book of Acts. g. And quite simply that is that we should take every opportunity we are given, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of slander, in the midst of opposition and hardship from all sides, we should take the opportunity we are given to give a defense for the hope that is in us. h. We cannot afford to fight back, resist, or get even when persecution comes. Why? Because we always have a responsibility to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. i. Paul was gravely assaulted by these people, but he will stand before them and 5 more hostile audiences in the next 7 chapters, and will boldly decare the gospel of Jesus Christ. j. We must do the same. k. And maybe you are thinking… wow. I don't think I can do that. l. That is just not my default setting. Someone takes a swipe at me, my natural impulse is going to be to swipe back. m. So, the real discussion is, how do you fight that natural impulse and do what Jesus commands you to do? n. I think it starts with what Jesus says should be our perspective on persecution in general. 4.) [Slide 22] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must rejoice and be exceedingly glad when we are persecuted for Christ's sake. a. Although you'll have to forgive me for going outside of our text this morning to snag this application, because the scriptures are one, I don't think I am doing any disservice to Luke's account by tossing this little aside in. b. [Slide 23] Matthew 5:11-12 c. After reading this text, tell me you don't see Paul's experience all over Christ's teaching here in the sermon on the mount! d. Paul was slandered. Paul was reviled. Paul was persecuted for Christ's sake. So, what should Paul's response be? What should our response be? e. We must rejoice and be exceedingly glad. f. What? Why? g. Because we are blessed. We are favored of God when this happens. h. How does that compute? How does this comfort us? 5.) [Slide 24] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” Our reward in heaven is great and we are in good company. a. God's kingdom and His righteousness is constantly opposed by a kingdom that is perishing. b. In the Old Testament, God's prophets were treated this way. And time proved that they were right. c. In the New Testament, His apostles were treated this way and time has proved out that they were right. d. My friends, if you are truly slandered, reviled, and abused for the sake of Christ and His gospel… You are blessed. e. You are blessed because your reward will be great in the Kingdom and in that kingdom there will be many, just like you, who were hated for the gospel. f. So, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. g. You are in good company. [Slide 25 (end)] Let me close with a word of prayer from the English Reformer Thomas Cranmer Merciful God, you grant all peace. You are the giver of all good gifts, the defender of all nations. And you desire us to count all people as neighbors, to love them as ourselves, and not to hate our enemies. Rather, you want us to wish them well, and also to do them good if we can. Look down upon us and see this small portion of earth where the name of Jesus Christ is proclaimed. Give to all of us the desire for peace, unity, and calm. Make us weary of all war and hostility, weary of bitterness toward those we call enemies. May we and they praise your holy name with one heart. May we all remake our lives according to your way. Grant, O Lord, that our children's children may know the benefit of your great gift of unity. May you discredit all those who work against it. Diminish their strength and punish those who interrupt godly peace-or rather, convert their hearts to the better way, and make them embrace unity and peace, which will be for your glory. Put away from us all war and hostility. But if we are driven to it, be our shield and protection as we seek peace. Do not look on our sins, Lord, or the sins of our enemies. Do not give us what we deserve, but remember your abundant, infinite mercy. Do this, O Lord, for your Son's sake, Jesus Christ. Amen. Benediction: May the God Who changes not, Who has no shadow of turning, And Whose compassions fail not, Preserve you by His loving kindness, So that you might know, Great are His faithful acts, they are new every morning. Until we meet again, go in peace.

This Roman proverb haunted me a but, since it felt like I was physically yielding as my body became more and more weakened by my disease. Does this then make me not brave, but a coward? I broached this subject with my social worker in hospice, and our discussion was surprising, and gave me a different perspective on this subject.

We tend to label people into categories and are then surprised when they act in a manner we didn't expect. Jesus' encounter with a Roman Centurion proves that our classifications are false. This Roman soldier contributed funds to his "enemies," cared for a common slave and looked to Jesus for help. In the encounter, not only do we see the soldier tearing down cultural walls, but Jesus reached across them in response to faith. Jesus, Unexpected Encounters: We think we know people. We put them into boxes of our expectations and then treat them accordingly. Jesus is different. He responded not to stereotypes, but to people. He reached out to those who were on the periphery of cultural acceptance. In this series from Luke 7-9, Dr. John will show how Jesus dispensed with cultural walls. He came to save sinners regardless of who they were. That includes us.

Today is DENSE. But it's not my fault, it's Paul's fault.   Romans 4:13-25 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, 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.    Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.    Therefore “it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.   This is the word of God for the people of God.   A Change of Heart.  One of my favorite Jesus movies is a movie called Mary Magdalene. The movie stars real life husband and wife Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix as Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth. The movie follows the ministry of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, and of course, the movie takes a lot of creative license throughout, but it does some things really well.    In one of its greatest scenes (I showed this to our women's wednesday morning bible study), Jesus and his disciples are shown entering Jerusalem and the Temple during a festival week. The crowd is enormous. Money is being exchanged for animals and then the animals are taken for slaughter, as a means of forgiveness from God per the ritual.   You know this scene from scripture. It is in every gospel. It is typically referred to as the Cleansing of the Temple.    And the camera shows the crowd and the sacrifice, but its main focus is on Jesus, watching all of this happen. And you can tell he is getting frustrated and angry. He begins a conversation with one of the priests. And if you remember, in the gospel of Mark, this scene is short, with Jesus quoting scripture:    “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.”   But the screenwriters of this movie have done their best to add additional dialogue to the scene to give it greater weight and to really show you what is going on in Jesus' heart. Jesus questions the sacrificial practice, he questions everything that has been built around this temple ritual, the way of life and the application of this religion, and Jesus – and as he looks around at all the people purchasing and buying their forgiveness,  he asks the priest this question, “(Is this how people show true repentance?) Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place?”   I think that the screenwriters capture the heart of Jesus well in that question. After all, throughout the gospels, that seems to be Jesus' overarching concern. It's not the practice of religion. It's the heart. And if your religion is not affecting and altering your heart, what good is it?   Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place…?   I wonder that about this place, about us, about what we do here, day in and day out, about this body of believers. I wonder if through fellowship through relationship, through music and tradition and reading and singing, I truly wonder, “Have OUR hearts been altered when we leave this place? Or are we merely paying lip-service to some sense of duty that we feel we have?” Is there still a spark? Or has the fire died?    Have our hearts been altered? To me, that is the central question of Paul in Romans. In his last and longest letter, written to a community he never got to know well, he is curious about the work that God is doing in their hearts. In fact, he's written a letter to care for their hearts. Because he's heard that there may be conflict…   The conflict is (a little bit) the result of powers beyond their control. Before Emperor Nero, who would be responsible for Paul's death, Emperor Claudius was in charge. And during his reign, while the fledgling Roman church was in its early stages, Claudius apparently expelled some Jews from Rome because of some social disturbances. Because of the expulsion of the Jewish population, it seems that the Roman Christian community became very Gentile. And because of that, when the Jews were allowed back, they came back to a very different church.   Remember, the Christian movement was first, a Jewish movement. And as it moved into the Gentile world, there was tension. Because the Jews are a people of the Torah, of the Law. They have tradition and dogma that is very important to them…and as the church grew and began reaching out to Gentiles, some of the Jewish Christians fully expected any and all Gentile converts to adopt THEIR ways.   But a theme of Paul's ministry is telling folks that Gentiles don't HAVE to adhere to all the Jewish laws. This Jesus stuff is actually a whole new ball game.    And so after the return of these Jewish Christians, Paul writes this letter to help this “ethnically mixed community…knit itself back together, both practically and religiously.” He's trying to glue this community of conservative Jews and liberal Gentiles back together.    Now we wouldn't know anything about that today would we?  There are no conservative/liberal struggles in the 21 century! There are no fights over differing ideas and struggles for unity today…   This Roman church conflict is one of a kind! (But in all seriousness) Romans is (sort of) a treatise on how to stick together. On how to find the simplest common ground, that we might all be one. And at its very center is a deep concern for the heart.   What is Paul Doing? Now if you read Romans, it is dense. In fact, I recommend you use The Message translation to help. Seriously. It is hard to read.    And of course it is. Because while Paul is trying to break everything down, he has to do a lot of explaining to get there. He is trying to simplify and explain what it is that Jesus has done for us and what we are to do with that knowledge now!   Paul calls what God has done: “God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him” (Romans 1, MSG). I love that. God's powerful rescue plan. And it is open to any who trust God.   And throughout the letter, while Paul does in fact talk about the importance of FAITH, he does so with some interesting language. You see, for Paul, belief or faith is really TRUST and EMBRACE of the way of God. You see those words a lot in the first few chapters. TRUST. EMBRACE.   And through those words, Paul is already foreshadowing where he is going, because he is using “heart” language. Embrace. Trust. And he wants the community to share in that embrace of God together.    But in order to do that, he's gotta tear them to pieces first. He has to point out just how silly they've been. He has to show them how wonky their priorities have become.   And he goes after the Gentiles a little bit, but he REALLY goes after the Jewish Christians. He says to the Jewish Christians, “Being a Jew won't give you an automatic stamp of approval” (Romans 2, MSG). “Don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy…(you insiders).” Did you know that “God prefers outsiders who keep God's ways over the insiders who don't.” Indeed, God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews…God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion” (Romans 3, MSG).   You see what Paul is doing right? He is deconstructing the importance of the institution and the material parts of religion. In the Message paraphrase of this letter, Eugene Peterson gives this section the following title: Religion Can't Save You. And that's what Paul is saying. He's telling the people of the church of Rome that religious practice is no longer the main uniting force of our faith. There is something greater at work.    Chapter Four. And in chapter four, Paul anticipates some of the Jewish Christians arguing back with questions like: “What about our being the chosen people of Abraham? What about the promise to Abraham? You can't just do away with our religious traditions like that. Aren't we God's people? Aren't we special?”   And Paul says, “Yes and no. You are indeed the people of Abraham, but it isn't just you anymore…Because, ‘what we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and THAT was the turning point. He TRUSTED God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own”'” (Romans 4, MSG).    What Abraham received was “sheer gift.” And Paul says, “Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in [our disciplines, in our traditions]?...It was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God...[Indeed] Abraham is father of ALL people who EMBRACE what God does for them…   Abraham…[TRUSTED] God and his way, and then simply EMBRACED GOD and what he did [and what he does]” (Romans 4, MSG).    (I told you it was dense didn't I)   So this is Paul's point to the Jewish Christians: “Abraham is indeed your father (feels like Star Wars).   Abraham is your father. But not just yours. Because this is not a human or racial thing, not a Jewish or Gentile thing. This is a faith thing. It's a spiritual thing. Abraham is OUR father (Gentile AND Jew) because: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he COULDN'T do but on what God said he WOULD do…   THAT is the faith of Abraham. It is a heart-filled embrace and trust of God – that even in the darkness, in the wilderness, God will do something. GOD WILL SAVE. That's the thing that saved and changed Abraham. It was God's work in the heart. And it altered the trajectory of all time.   And Paul says, “But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we EMBRACE (and TRUST) the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless” (Romans 4, MSG).    When we have the same faith, the same reckless trust and embrace of the God who does impossible things, we are to be considered children of Abraham as well. There's nothing WE can do to earn the love and favor and mercy and grace of God. It is only what GOD does.   Ash Wednesday. A few weeks ago, as I was preparing for our Ash Wednesday service, I knew we were down a clergy with Connor out on paternity leave, but I thought for sure that there wouldn't be that many folks here. So I decided to have just one station for ashes. Just me.    Sure enough, there were more people here for Ash Wednesday than we'd had in a LONG time. Both aisles were backed up to the ends, people waiting to have a cross marked on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. And why? It's not like having an ashen cross mark on your head is going to do anything. Of course not. No, people showed up to remind themselves that life is short, death is coming for us all, from dust we come and to dust we return. And that there is nothing that we can do to change that. There is nothing we can do without the grace of God.   Pete Holmes. Comedian Pete Holmes says, “Water can't help but get you wet. And God can't help but love you…There's nothing you can do to increase or decrease the infinite love of God, but there are things you can do to increase or decrease your awareness of that love.”   And that's the point of this moment in Romans: that there are some Jewish customs and traditions and things that no longer matter. They no longer keep the fire alive. And to heap them on new Gentile Christians is a mistake. And how do you know if these customs are helping or hindering?    Perhaps a question might be asked, something like: Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place? Are the customs we are obeying altering our hearts? Or are they making it harder for us to understand and access God?   It immediately makes me think of the season of Lent. We are in that season, a season where we traditionally give up something. I've learned recently that if you have a baby around the same time, the baby takes care of that for you. In fact, I think I've given up enough for the next few lents.    BUT here's the question: if the practice of giving up something for lent does not affect your HEART, does not bring you closer to the divine, then what good is it?   If what we do in here, if the rituals and the creeds and the hymns and the standing and sitting, and the sermons, if all that is not working to alter our hearts, to spark something bright within us, then what good is it?   Circumcision of the Heart. In one of John Wesley's most famous sermons, titled “Circumcision of the Heart,” a 30 year old John Wesley tackles Romans and this very thing. And in that sermon he says, “the distinguishing mark of a true follower of [Jesus], of one who is in a state of acceptance with God, is not either outward circumcision, or baptism, or any other outward form [of religion], but [rather] a right state of soul, a mind and spirit [and heart] renewed after the image of Him that created it…”   As an 87 year old, Wesley would agree with his younger self when he said, “I believe the merciful God regards lives and tempers of men [and women] more than their ideas. I believe [God] respects the goodness of the heart rather than the clearness of the head; and that if the heart of a man [or woman] be filled with the humble, gentle, patient love of God and [humanity],” God will certainly not cast them out.   That comes from a man who surely knows what God can do in the heart. After all, it was at a prayer meeting, while reading Martin Luther's preface to the book of Romans, that a 35 year old Wesley, broken and discouraged, felt God reach into his heart and warm it in a way that made him sure that God loved him and forgave him and had some things for him to do. And his heart was surely altered that night. And for the rest of his ministry, Wesley sought to be used by God to foster a change in the heart.    A Letter to Jack. Last week, we honored and remembered Jack Jackson. Jack and Patsy have been members here a while, and their daughter Nancy has been our preschool director for 27 years, we've baptized their kids here and grandkids.   Jack was a renaissance man who had interests all over the place. He was a good man. A man who knew who he was and he was good with that. Jack spent his career as a teacher. He taught history and he also developed the Drivers Ed program at his school.   Just before the service began, a lady came up and asked if I could read a letter in front of the congregation, a letter she had written to Jack. I've never had that happen before. Nancy told me to go ahead and do it.    So I did, many of you were there. The letter was from a student of Jack's named Linda. The letter reads like this:   Dear Mr. Jackson,   Your passing has left a hole in all our hearts, especially for me. I will miss your laugh and your bow tie and that you never seem to age. I was one of your driver's ed students. And through the years, you taught so many of us how to drive. To this day, I can still hear you saying slow down—you're in a construction zone.   I wanted to write to you to tell you that in high school, I didn't get to drive a lot like most other kids. I really only got to drive in your class. And I loved your class. I couldn't wait for Drivers Ed. And countless times you would skip your lunch period and take me out driving so I could get some extra time behind the wheel. And that meant so much to me.    I remember, I didn't get a car until I left home. I was 18 years old. I bought a ‘73 Ford Maverick even though I still didn't have a license yet. I couldn't even drive it off the lot. A friend drove it off the lot for me to my apartment complex where it sat all weekend. I could only look at my new car. But as soon as I got my license, I couldn't wait to drive to school to show you my car before anyone else.   I write all this to say thank you for everything you did for me and to tell you how I turned out. I was a shy and isolated kid in high school, but you were certainly a bright spot. And I became a police officer for 32 years and I did get into a couple of chases in my career, which you never covered in your class!   Mr. Jackson, teachers are very special people and SOME touch lives and hearts beyond words. You were one of those teachers.   The mold has now been broken. God bless you and keep you,   Linda.   Sounds to me like Linda's heart was altered, because of Jack! Something was sparked in her long ago because her teacher recognized that what mattered most was the heart. And friends, when the heart is altered, anything is possible. Lives change. Goodness is found.    Conclusion. In Romans 5, Paul says that when our hearts EMBRACE and TRUST God's ability to change us, to alter us, to make the impossible possible, “We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us…[When] we have actually [receive] this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!” (Romans 5, MSG). In other words, it affects our hearts. Our hearts are altered!   Barbara Brown Taylor - “What if the real test of our success as God's servants is not what we do but how we do it? What if the real measure of our extraordinariness as Christians is not our thoughtfulness or our friendliness and our busyness” or our worship style or our rules or our dogmas or our creeds “but our spark.”   Has your heart been altered? Has it been warmed? Has your heart embraced the possibilities with God? If not, what's hindering you? What's stopping you?   Amen.   Benediction. There are lots of reasons to be divided lately. There are lots of reasons to be un-united. The world is hurting. And I think more than ever, this world needs to know that no matter what anyone does, they are loved beyond measure. That is a message that could truly produce a unity that might be unbreakable. But a message like that truly needs to begin in our hearts.    May you seek God with all your heart. And may your hearts be truly altered by the God who seeks to transform this whole world. 

NOTE: This episode amplifies Week 1 of THE BLUE CORD GROUP STUDY. Learn more about coordinating a Blue Cord Group Study with your friends at www.TheBlueCord.org. Ever wondered about the pivotal moment that tested the disciples' understanding of Jesus' identity?In this compelling episode, Karen and Andre Mubarek embark on a journey to Caesarea Philippi as told in Matthew 16:13. This Roman city, with its pagan temple dedicated to Pan, set the stage for a profound question from Jesus that challenged the disciples' perception of him.So, why did Jesus choose this significant location? Andre sheds light on the historical and cultural context, unraveling the deeper purpose behind this crucial moment. It wasn't just a test—it was preparation. A preparation for a mission to challenge and transform the Roman pagan world.As we delve into the disciples' responses, especially Peter's bold declaration, we unearth a revelation of Jesus' true identity. Andre underlines the contemporary relevance—the call to step beyond our comfort zones and boldly be witnesses for Christ in a world that needs His light.Through a personal narrative of encountering God's power in darkness, Andre encourages us to engage with Scripture and nurture obedience to the Holy Spirit. Ready to take on this challenge? Tune in, and let's discover how we can step out boldly and illuminate the world with the truth of Christ, just as the disciples did in Caesarea Philippi.About The Guest(s):Andre Mubarek is the co-founder of Twin Tours in Israel and has been leading groups through the Holy Land for about 20 years. He is a licensed tour guide, an ordained minister, and the author of several books. Andre grew up in the Christian Maronite family and has a deep understanding of the culture, customs, and context of the Holy Land.Key Takeaways:Jesus brought his disciples to Caesarea Philippi to test their understanding of his teachings and prepare them for their mission to conquer the Roman pagan world.Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Lord revealed his revelation and understanding of Jesus' true identity.Believers today are called to go out of their comfort zones and be bold witnesses for Christ in the world.Spending time reading Scripture and cultivating obedience to the Holy Spirit is essential for fulfilling our calling and experiencing the power of God.Quotes:"Go out of your churches. Go out to the world, and go out to places that you're not comfortable in. This is where the power of the Holy Spirit will work." - Andre Mubarek"The more time you spend reading Torah, reading Scripture, the more humble you become. And the more humble you become, the more obedient your heart will be." - Andre Mubarek"The kingdom of heaven will break because people are moving from darkness to light, and God is using you." - Andre MubarekChapters:00:01:00   Importance of understanding the Middle Eastern context of Scripture00:02:00  Background information on Caesarea Philippi and its significance00:03:00  Purpose of Jesus taking his disciples to a pagan Roman temple00:04:00  Explanation of the gates of hell and Jewish tradition00:06:00  Peter's revelation of Jesus as the Lord00:07:00  Jesus' command to Peter and the disciples to conquer the pagan world00:08:00  Different interpretations of the "rock" in Jesus' statement00:09:00 The church as a movement and the authority given to believers00:13:00  Encouragement to go out of our comfort zones and bring light to darkness00:15:00  Making God small and the disciples not grasping the message00:16:00  Importance of mountains and God's presence00:17:00  Going out of comfort zone to reach others00:18:00  Testimony of God's protection in dark places00:19:00  Encouragement to go on mission trips and bring people to Christ00:20:00 Manifestation of the power of the Kingdom of Heaven00:21:00  Darkness and spiritual warfare in the Holy Land00:22:00 Testimony of releasing someone from darkness00:23:00 Importance of depth with the Word of God00:26:00 Importance of visiting the Holy Land for spiritual revelation

Luke 7:6-7 The Roman officer who spoke these words was a fascinating character. He was not a Jew but was clearly deeply respectful of the Jewish faith. He had even paid for the construction of a synagogue and was, not surprisingly, much loved by the Jewish people. When his slave became ill, he decided to invite Jesus to heal him. His concern for his slave was remarkable in itself. Slaves were usually regarded merely as tools, and a master was able to mistreat or even kill them as he chose. This Roman officer was different. He was eager to see his slave recover, and so he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal him. The faith of the Roman was so great that he didn't even consider it necessary for Jesus to meet the slave. He knew that Christ's word was powerful enough. All that was necessary was for Jesus to pronounce the healing. He reasoned that, as a military officer, he had authority to order people around; therefore, Jesus had the necessary authority to declare his slave was healed. Here we see a supreme illustration of faith. Luke, throughout his Gospel and the book of Acts, was eager to show that Jesus came for the world and not just for the Jews. He recorded that, when Jesus heard the words of the Roman officer, he was amazed, saying to the crowd: “I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!” (v10). This beautiful account is a reminder to us of the absolute importance of faith, and that it can be found in the most surprising places. QUESTION Why is faith so important? PRAYER Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that my faith in you may continue to grow, day by day. Amen

Marking National Archaeology Week 2023, in this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont, a classical archaeologist in the School of Humanities, in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. Together they discuss one of the most iconic objects in the Chau Chak Wing Museum, the Nicholson Hermes. This Roman marble statue of the 1st century BC or 1st century AD is carved from white marble, the surface of which is deeply weathered through contact with running water. Lesley and Craig discuss archaeology in the 21st century, the Zagora Archaeological Project, Greek and Roman art, the famed sculptor Praxiteles and teaching students in the museum. Guest: Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont is Associate Professor in the Discipline of Archaeology at the University of Sydney. Prior to taking up her position at the University, she was Assistant Director of the British School at Athens. Her publications include Childhood in Ancient Athens. Iconography and Social History (Routledge: 2012, 2015), and a Routledge Handbook on Children in Antiquity, co-edited with Matthew Dillon and Nicola Harrington. Her current archaeological fieldwork focuses on the Early Iron Age settlement site of Zagora on the Greek island of Andros. She serves as a Council Member of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, and as an Expert Examiner for the Australian Government's Office for the Arts under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986. Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on Twitter and Instagram. Object details: The Nicholson Hermes, statue of an unknown man sculpted after Hermes by Praxiteles, white marble, Roman, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, Smyrna, Anatolia. Donated by the sons of Sir Charles Nicholson 1935 [NM35.120]. View the statue in 3D.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 499, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Lesser-Known Ancient Romans 1: This little-known Roman was exactly half as wide as his Greek friend Diameter. Radius. 2: This ancient Roman had trouble understanding others because of the ringing in his ears. Tinnitus. 3: Everything this Roman did was counterfeit or fake. Bogus. 4: He was difficult to understand because his jaw muscles were always locking up. Tetanus. 5: This Roman was always interrupting his projects for an extended break, especially over the summer. Hiatus. Round 2. Category: Pc Magazine 1: In 1984 this company's laser printer won raves and , at $3,495, also cost a third less than the competitors'. HP (Hewlett-Packard). 2: The cover of the first PC Magazine featured this company's new desktop computer, which helped launch an industry. IBM. 3: For 16 years this computer maker put an ad on the back page of PC Mag to promote and pioneer its direct PC sales. Dell. 4: In 1999, when it wasn't even a year old, this website won a PC Mag award for its PageRank technology. Google. 5: id Software got kudos for letting gamers construct worlds in this 4-letter shooter, set on Mars and featuring demons. Doom. Round 3. Category: Astrology 1: The two signs of the Zodiac symbolized by arthropods. Scorpio and Cancer. 2: Some astrologers call people born under this sign Arians. Aries. 3: Aries is ruled by this warlike planet named for the Roman god of war. Mars. 4: This water sign is symbolized by 2 fish swimming in opposite directions. Pisces. 5: Sometimes Sagittarius is considered a human sign, but usually they're Virgo, Aquarius, Libra and this. Gemini. Round 4. Category: From "A" To "E" 1: Slang for a guy from Sydney. an Aussie. 2: A fighter pilot has to shoot down 5 or more enemy aircraft to earn this nickname. ace. 3: A proverb. an adage. 4: Usually built on a cliff or other high place, it's an eagle's home. aerie. 5: The special mood or atmosphere created by a particular environment. ambience. Round 5. Category: City Flags 1: Its flag features a pioneer family, a covered wagon and 2 sea gulls. Salt Lake City. 2: This Spanish mission and a star are depicted on San Antonio's flag. The Alamo. 3: The 4 stars appearing on this city's flag stand for Fort Dearborn, a fire and 2 World's Fairs. Chicago. 4: The Y-shaped design on this city's flag represents the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. St. Louis. 5: A steamboat and a cotton plant appear on this Tennessee's city flag. Memphis. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

2 (3s): Hello. Hello, welcome. Welcome. Good to have you all here. Wow. This is kind of surreal our last Sunday of, of being doing churches. We've done it for a long time. And so next Sunday, we will be in the worship center, just down the road. Yeah. So we got our permitting to assemble and everything this last week. So we are all good to go. So very exciting stuff just for the parents. So zero through 23 months, we have kids classes over at the worship center and then all the kids up from that next, this is next week. All the kids up from that are going to be still in their same classes here. 2 (47s): So, but today is family Sunday. So kids first grade and up will be in service with their families. And then, yeah, so first grade and up, we'll be in service with your families. And we've also got donuts out on the, by the patio there. So definitely go check those out and that's all I got for you. So we got a video here and we'll get that going. 4 (1m 40s): God brought me to this school and this school brought me to gun. 5 (1m 43s): I like her school because it's a lot easier to connect and grow closer to God. 6 (1m 46s): I have teachers and Christian friends at this school that I can talk to 7 (1m 49s): For once. I feel like I belong. 8 (2m 9s): I like CCS because I feel accepted as myself. 9 (2m 12s): I'm here because I get to see other people connect 10 (2m 15s): With God. I like how the school gives me good influences. 11 (2m 18s): This school has shown me how to love God and not follow the world. 12 (2m 22s): The teachers are always open to talk about God and problems. He with 7 (2m 25s): You can feel his presence all over this place. Jesus picked me, chose me and loved me for a reason. And being here has made that reason more clear. 10 (2m 40s): I'm excited to build a better relationship with God. He's like my best friend. 13 (2m 45s): He's going to love me no matter what I've done, he does 14 (2m 47s): Keep his promises, any promises, good things. 13 (2m 50s): I want to show others the way he moved to me so they can see that he's real and he's there and he can change your life just as much as she's changed mine. 15 (3m 4s): Well, good morning. My name is Tom . I'm the head of school here for coastal Christian school. And I just appreciate so much that your church has been a great supporter of our school and a partner with us. And many of your people here have been a part of the work that God does at coastal Christian school. And that video that was just made how was filmed during COVID, which means kids can still have fun out there in this world. And even during that time of the craziness, but it shows you that our school just isn't a kind of a normal Christian school is more of a Christian experience. There's other ministries that kind of feed into what we do. There's a church influence. Obviously we have chapels and Bible classes. 15 (3m 45s): We have a camp kind of influence when we go to spiritual emphasis. And, and so it's, it's a Christian experience. And so during these, these years here, it coastal Christian, we're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. Yes. And it's really a celebration of God's faithfulness to that work. And I define Christian education this way. It's I define it as having truth and wisdom, saturating their knowledge and truth is obviously Jesus. He is the way the truth and the life. And so we want God's word to just permeate. What, what they're hearing in, help them develop a biblical worldview, where they're actually taking the word of God and creating that as the lens to see the world, because you guys know education's not neutral anymore. 15 (4m 33s): There's an agenda at everything. I have an agenda. I want these kids to know Jesus and be able to have a personal relationship with him and be able to go forth into this world, knowing their mission and, and be able to think well and everything. So we're kind of like a think of our school is like a five legged stool. There's there's we have our mission, our philosophy. We have really our, our academic program. We have our kind of business model that we operate out of there. We have our strategic planning and then we also have a, a kind of a community that we want to nurture. And so we've grown, we've added another campus. We're actually renting from new life. 15 (5m 14s): We have a trail that goes up the hill for us that connects the two campuses. We've seen performing arts grow. We're using the Clark center to do some performances there. Sports have grown because the Lord has just blessed the school during this time, in this last year to illuminate what we're doing in a lot of families have said, you know what? I want to have my kids be a part of that. And so if you're interested to learn more about our school, I'll have a little table out back and just connect with you. Be able to share with you some more information about our school. Cause I'd love to be able to have you guys come on campus to see this goal for yourself and experienced coastal Christian. So thank you so much for the time. 2 (5m 56s): Thank you, Tom. Awesome. All right. Well, I'm just going to go ahead and pray and we'll get into worship. So if you'll stand with me, that'd be great, Lord, Jesus. We just want to come before you this morning and we just want to open ourselves up to you. We want to worship you this morning. Jesus. And so you're the reason we're here. We just pray that, that you would fill this whole place that you'd fill every venue where people are meeting and the people who are meeting online. Jesus, we, we are here. We avail ourselves to you. And we just ask that you would fill us that you would minister our minds, hearts, souls, body, spirit, every part of us. Jesus. And we just come before you Jesus name. 2 (6m 38s): Amen. 17 (7m 7s): We worship the God. We worship the God. We worship the God who ever ball. He open the prison doors. 17 (7m 21s): We see the God. 17 (8m 8s): We see the God On that cross that he rose up from that gray And we were the bag. 17 (8m 56s): Now we were the press. Now we all forget, except his friends, that the house of the We are forgiven by his grace, the house There's joy in the house, just in the house. 17 (9m 45s): We won't be quiet In the house. God is shot. We won't be quiet. You worship you this morning. 17 (10m 55s): Jesus. There's a name that metal smell Comes out high. We used to see, I've seen it's powered Rob of bad. I've seen his praise and rabid right off the giant falling strongholds. 17 (12m 11s): Greg DASA palate. she Oh, Oh Nothing else. 17 (20m 8s): 21 (20m 28s): Or we're so humbled by your presence today. And we thank you that we've had the opportunity that we've got the opportunity to gather in this place that has been our church home for the last 17 years and will continue to be our church home, but it's bitter and sweet that we're gonna be moving next week into new worship center and solar. We just want to say thank you for the many miracles that we've seen over these last 19 years, but especially here the last 17 that we've been just on this campus. And now Lord, as we expand, we pray Lord that our ability to be salted lights is the only reason for expansion as kingdom people is that we might have a broader reach, a greater reach, deeper reach in the kingdom and in the world that you've called us to bring your kingdom to. 21 (21m 23s): So Lord God, we, we realize Lord that if you've given us more space, Lord, it is the expansion of your kingdom and all for your glory and for your purposes and God, you get all the credits. And we say, thank you, Lord, God, you've been so faithful. As we've been working on that project for these last 55 weeks, Lord, you have been so good to us. And Lord, we just, as we get ready to launch that next week, we pray God that all of the little details we get wrapped up and all of the little things we get finished and that as we move into that space or that our ability to disciple people, to see people come into the kingdom and see people baptized and see whole family lives and families and generations be impacted with the gospel or we pray. 21 (22m 16s): That would be the case. Lord, we thank you for the, the growth that coastal Christian school has experienced in these last couple of years, Lord, you've taken this crazy COVID thing and you've made it a blessing in so many ways, Lord to that school. And it's been hard and yet good. And it's just all of the above Lord. So we just pray blessing upon CCS Lord upon their, their effort to partner with families, to see their people, their young people discipled, and to become strong leaders and followers of followers of you first and strong leaders within the kingdom, within the community. Lord God. 21 (22m 56s): So strengthen their work. We pray where Jesus, God, I'm so grateful for the young people who are going out to think about Eva. Kessler is going to be on mission this summer. And I think if Jacob Erdman who will be on mission this summer, he's already gone. And so we bless those young people or God, we bless them as they, as they sacrifice in a sense, air quotes sacrifice their summer so that they can be equipped and to release into the culture, to make a difference, Lord God, to be salt and light. So bless, bless them. I pray that this experience would transform their thinking and their understanding about you and about their role in the culture and that they would have new found purpose Lord as a result. 21 (23m 43s): So bless Jacob and Eva and others. She would be traveling this summer to do missions work, bless them. Lord God. We pray blessing upon our dear friend, Darlene Buchanan, who has been with us for these last 10 years or 12 years or so, whatever it's been, it's been so glorious. Lord God, she gets ready to move to Washington states to be closer to family and friends. Lord bless her. Lord, bless her. We are so thankful for her. We love her so much, Lord God. And we've walked through a lot of hard seasons as she's lost her husband. 21 (24m 28s): And we've just as a church have done our best to come alongside her. So bless Darlene Lord. As she transitions, we will see her again. You're there or in the air. We will see her again, Lauren, and think about Andrew and Stephanie who were moving to Idaho and the Martins, Lord blessed the Martins or God and so many people in transition. Lord God, I just, we just pray blessing upon your family here at harvest church, whether we're here or somewhere else in the world, Lord, we just pray that we would take the kingdom with us, the gospel with us, and that we'd be salt and light wherever we go or Jesus, thank you, Lord. For who you are. Lord, we pray for the health of People like David Rue. 21 (25m 10s): She was just battling cancer. People like candy welt shoes, just recovering from heart surgery and Shaun bath. My cousin who's recovering from surgery and is in a deal, did great deal of pain. We pray blessing and grace upon these people, Lord, for all, I know that we could spend an hour just naming people or God. And so we just pray God for the health Of our people here at harvest church, your grace upon our lives or God that you would bless families. Lord God, especially those who are struggling right now that you would strengthen them and bless them and help them and encourage them more. 21 (25m 52s): God got to remind us that prayer is so powerful. Lord, it's not a last resort. It's a first resort. It's what we have the privilege to do and the opportunity to do, to enter into times of prayer for the people in our lives for our loved ones. Lord God. So thank you Lord, for this time, pray God that you would be ministering to every soul in this place. And every buddy gathered on this campus and everybody tuned in online, Lord God, we pray that just a release of healing power know so many people deal with chronic pain and sickness and we just pray God for your divine grace, upon our bodies, Lord, that healing would be just experienced and enjoyed. 21 (26m 35s): And there be a blessing of healing, physical, physical healing, Lord God, upon our bodies that mental and emotional and spiritual in every way, Lord, that we'd be experiencing your grace in a fresh new way. So Lord do wonderful and supernatural things. As we gather, Lord God, give us grace and faith for the seasons that we enjoy and endures both or it. And so Lord help us. We pray bless this time. As we open up the word as we've worshiped, as we've fellowshipped, as we prayed, Lord, continue to move powerfully in our midst Lord, we ask Jesus name Jesus name, amen, turn and greet someone. That's you have never ever greeted before. 21 (27m 17s): And we will come on right back. 21 (28m 34s): Good morning. There it is. Hey, did everybody receive communion elements as you came in, we're going to be taking community's family Sunday. So for Sunday, the month donuts and communion, all of these things to enjoy and as well as kids jokes, we've got some kids jokes today. Look at this. I came into my office Monday, I think. And I had these two little envelopes in my stackable there where I received my mail and I said, well, what are these to receive some jokes from Tessa? And she said, dear, pastor Steve, my name is Tessa. 21 (29m 17s): I go to church with my grandma, Tracy. Here's some, here's some jokes for, for Sunday sermon. So I'm going to be using some of Tess's jokes. And if Tesla's here as promised, I do have a $5 bill for her. Sometimes you just gotta pay for resource. You know, you've got to pay for resources. So I'm willing to do that. If you're, you know, you know, under 18, if you're over 18, then you just got to get them to me free. And, and that that's all right too. So we're taking, we're done with Hebrews. And so we were going to start a new series today in James, but it seemed more, more appropriate to start that James series in our new worship center. 21 (30m 2s): So interesting story in 2002, before we planted this church, we were in prayer about what to do with our lives as a family. Cause we just wrapped up a tenure stint at another church. And so we were just prayerful about what Lord wanted us to do. So we, we were just having a small Bible study in a friend's home and, and as a precursor to planning this church, I was teaching through the book of James. And so it's really interesting that, and I've taught through James since then as well, but it'll be really interesting to and fund as we kind of experienced maybe a little bit of a rebirth in our new space to teach through James again. 21 (30m 44s): So I'll touch on it a little bit today, but mostly we'll get going on that in the next week or two. And so it'll be really, really fun, but they were in Matthew chapter seven and we'll be looking at some passages. They're just kind of a topical message we're teaching through the scripture there, but title of the message today, the making of a true disciple of Christ, kind of on the heels of what we learned last week and really all through our Hebrews study and really kind of in preparation for James, James is going to get our attention and it will challenge us in ways that maybe we've not been challenged in a long way. 21 (31m 29s): So get ready for that. I would encourage you is five chapters. I would encourage you to read ahead. And you just, as a primer for the study, just read through all the five chapters. It won't take you very long. You can get it done and you know, 30 or 40 minutes, but read through that. And, but before we go there, let's say this, let's do this. What did the horse, why did the horse cross to the cross? The street? I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to read the writing, pour a little test. Your, what did, why did the CRA horse cross the street To visit his neighbor? 21 (32m 12s): Here we go. Jim said, I want to build a gigantic boat, but I'll need some help. Bob said, well, I just happened to know a guy. I love kids jokes. I've got more. I'm going to save them for next family Sunday. And if I use them again, if I use her jokes against you, you get five bucks next family, Sunday as well. So the making of a true disciple of Christ, what does a disciple? What, before we kind of get into this topic, it's helpful for us to understand what a disciple is. It's kind of old language. 21 (32m 52s): We don't use it in our culture per se. We're not Jewish. So we don't fully understand some of us are Jewish, but we don't fully understand discipleship and what that terminology is and what that means for us as Gentiles. But Jesus said, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. So what is he asking us to do? What is a disciple of Christ? A disciple is literally a learner. Someone who follows the teachings of another saved or unsaved, we are all disciples of someone. 21 (33m 33s): So we're all learning. And in that respect, emulating, copying the behavior of others around us, whether it's celebrities or, or sports stars or teachers, or just people that we admire or respect, we're emulating, we're copying the behavior. We're learning from others and then imitating their lives. When we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians term really is little Christs. We often talk about being Jesus with skin on meaning we're to represent him in the flesh in this world, in our culture and our lives were to represent Jesus, the Christ. 21 (34m 16s): We, this is the transition that takes place when it would be when we become born again, we literally are born a new we've got new purpose, new life, new focus, and a new power to do what God has called us to do. So when we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians, little Christs to denounce the teachings of this fallen world system and adhere to the instructions found in the Bible. So it's a total transition that takes place. That's meant to take place. When we give our lives to Jesus, our, our lives are meant to be focused completely on something different disciples or followers of Jesus who learned from him, how to live and love and lead others to him. 21 (35m 3s): So when we're called to be disciples, we're actually called to go out and help others to follow Jesus. They are imitators of their teacher, mimickers of their master, the Lord Jesus Christ, Easton, Bible dictionary, Easton's Bible dictionary defines a disciple of Christ as one who believes his doctrine. So as we come to faith in Jesus, we declare that we actually believe what he taught. We believe his doctrine. We rest on his sacrifice. We fully trust that the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross at Calvary is it was, it is. 21 (35m 48s): And it will always be absolutely sufficient. So we, we rest on his sacrifice. Eastern goes on to say that person imbibes his spirit. We don't use that word. Imbibes very much, but it means to drink or to absorb. So we're to drink in or absorb the spirits of the living. God, we're promised that when we come to faith, that we are filled with the spirit of the living God. And then that spirit is in us to convict us of righteousness, to teach us, to instruct us, to comfort us. The spirit is the comforter and the convictor. 21 (36m 29s): He's the one who is within us, constantly in us. And we're to drink him into soak, absorb the spirit of the living. God, Ephesians five talks about continually being filled with the holy spirit of God. So we have this responsibility to continually invite God in. So we're saying spirit filming, overwhelming. I want to drink you in. I want to absorb you and your life. And then we're to imitate his example. So as, as disciples, we're to imitate Christ's example in John 8 31, the king James version, it's not on the screen, but it says, this then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him. 21 (37m 12s): If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed. So there's a way to determine whether or not we are disciples. If we continue in his word and understanding and applying and obedience to his word, then indeed we are his disciples. So we need to examine our lives and evaluate our lives all the time. And I love to do that. As I open up the scripture every day, I say, okay, Lord is my life in alignment with your word? And what I'm reading is it, does it reflect who I am? I want to be a proper disciple, a follower. 21 (37m 52s): And once you mimic who you are and what your word says, the disciple of Christ is not simply a believer in Jesus, but one who actually obeys what Jesus says, disciples embody the message. James can Fe conveys to the elders of the, of the church there. He said, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves, sorta be hearers and doers, be doers of the word. So we hear it. And we could argue that we're not actually hearing if we're not actually doing so, we can hear something go in one ear and out the other. 21 (38m 38s): But we demonstrate that we've heard when we do what God has asked us to do. So be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving your own selves, James 1 22. So let's get into our text here in Matthew, chapter seven, verses 21 through 29, Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount here, he said, not everyone who calls out to me, Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do. And here it is, again, only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter that. Interesting. Let me read it again. Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord will actually enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 (39m 19s): Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. So number one, in your notes, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. It's it's it's in the definition of what a disciple is that we are actually to do the will of the father, Matthew 7 22 on judgment day. And we talk about this a lot. When we will stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7 22 on judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name, but I will reply. 21 (40m 8s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's laws. None of us want to be in that position. We want to hear well done, enter into your rest. This is what we want to hear when we stand before Jesus, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest. We will do that as we've trusted Jesus for our salvation. And as we become genuine disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So it's separates in a sense, the sheep from the goats, from those who declare but live differently from those who are lukewarm or just playing the Christian game. 21 (40m 54s): I played that for a number of years, got saved, I guess, in junior high school. But then I kind of, I've shared this story before, but I I've asked slated and I didn't really know what to do with my faith. And so by junior year of high school, I was still doing the same thing. And one day I felt like the Lord drew a line in the sand and said, you have to choose, will you choose me or the world? And it was like, the Lord was saying, you can no longer live your life this way. You have to choose. And by God's grace, I chose to follow him. Not perfectly, none of us do it perfectly, but that was the decision. And so maybe you're here today and you're at that same crossroads where you're saying, I just, I am done teetering and having a foot in the church and a foot in the world I'm done with being confused about who I am and about what God has called me to do. 21 (41m 50s): And I just know that I need to follow Jesus. How would encourage you to choose Jesus today? You become a disciple. Maybe you're struggling and vacillating and feeling lukewarm because you've given your life to Jesus, but you haven't understood what God is actually calling you into. He's calling you into a new life of servitude. I've following him. Jesus said to his disciples, come follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Leave, leave all of that previous life behind and come and focus on something completely different. I never knew you. It speaks to the desire that Jesus has to have an intimate connection, knowledge and knowledge of his followers in an intimate relationship with us in all of our brokenness, his grace is sufficient and he calls us into intimacy with him. 21 (42m 44s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's slob, breaking God's law is actually the opposite of true discipleship. If we follow Jesus example, we will do what the father calls us to do. We will obey the laws of God and John five 19. So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth. The son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing whatever the father does. The son also does. So he's establishing who he is. 21 (43m 26s): I am the son of the father, and I will only do what I see the father doing. I will only say what I hear the father saying. I'm so intimately connected to God's plan and purpose for my life. I will emulate and follow him. And I will only do those things that I see him doing. George Mueller wrote. There was a day when I died, died to self my opinions, preferences tastes and will died to the world it's approval, or since your died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends. 21 (44m 21s): And since then, I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. Mueller's speaks of living his life before an audience of one, not disregarding others' opinions, his own desires, his own plans, whatever, what others thought of him. And he said, I will do the will of the father. I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. So he's looked at the scripture and said, I'm going to do that. I he's filled with the spirit of God. And he's determined by God's grace to do the will of the father back to Matthew seven, verse 24. 21 (45m 6s): It says anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise. Jesus said like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. So the person who listens to what Jesus is speaking and communicating and his word and follows it, that person is wise like a person who's building their house on solid rock. So we're all building our house on something. We're all establishing our lives on something. Jesus said the only way that you're actually going to build your lives, your house on solid rock is by listening and obeying everything else is like building your house on the sand. 21 (45m 49s): You know what happens when the St you build your house on the sand, the waters come and erodes the sand. There's no solid or permanence about that. There's nothing solid or permanent about them. The foundation of sand is shifting constantly. And so it's constantly moving. You can't build your life on something that is that unstable. Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. So what's the foundation of your life and of your spiritual house. What is the foundation of your spiritual life? What are you building your life upon? God calls us to build. 21 (46m 29s): And we obviously play a part in this. We build on a solid foundation by listening and obeying by hearing what Jesus has called us to do, and then just doing it. I tell you, it makes life a lot simpler. If we're not wrestling all of the time with what God says, if we're not constantly evaluating and deciding, am I going to do, am I going to do the will of the Lord in this area of my life or in this area of my life or in this area of my life? If the answer is always yes, Lord, that it just simplifies life. And it, it clarifies the life and it, and it makes life so much easier to live because we know that we're just going to do the will of the father. 21 (47m 11s): And so when we are confused about the will of the father, God's been so gracious to give us these 66 books of the Bible, 39 old Testament books, 27 new Testament books, books that communicate the heart and the mind of God so that we know what we are to anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Number one, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Well, their foundation is solid rock, right? 21 (47m 55s): Solid rock. They're able to endure storms because their foundation is firm. It's not shifting. It's not questionable. It's, it's filled with integrity because God's word is filled with integrity. And it strengthens the, and builds into the foundation of our life. Something of strengthened and something that will not shift. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. I've watched it over and over again in the church. People who are solid in their faith, things come difficult, things come, and they just endure year after year, decade after decade, a friend of mine, Benny Katz, who I've known for a better part of 30, 40 years, he's home taking care of his wife. 21 (48m 42s): They've been coming to this church for years and Ethel's got hip issues and she can't walk very well. And so, but they're watching, they're probably tuned in right now watching, Hey, Benny, Hey Ethel. So we, we go back decades. And when Benny came to church to visit, I don't know, probably six weeks ago, man, there was just something about his countenance and his character. I just w I had to pray with him. You know, I just wanted some of that to rub off on me. And so we do the parking lot by his car, and we just prayed together. And man, I tell you the anointing of God, the power of God on that guy's life, the presence of God on that guy's life had carried me the rest of the day. 21 (49m 31s): I was just, I came into the office. I'm like, I just pray with Benny man. It was just the greatest thing. It was just the most powerful thing. And so there's something about godly people who carry godly character and intentionality, they're determined to do the will of the father. And they endure storms, physical storms, financial storms, relational storms, whatever they may be. They just endure. And they continue. We a year after year, decade after decade to stay focused on Jesus. I, I think about men like that, women like that who have invested their whole lives to follow Jesus and they carry something. They may, they carry something that's, that's attractive and contagious and strong and wonderful and something that we all absolutely can learn from. 21 (50m 22s): True disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Why, why do they endure again? Because they build their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding with obedience to God. So it's not like I'm reading the word and I'm deciding, am I going to do this? Now you read the word and you say, oh, I'm not doing this. I'm going to do this. It's not optional. Right? It's like, I'm just going to align my life with Jesus and his word. They have built their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding in first, John two, three through six says this, and we can be sure that we know him. 21 (51m 5s): If we obey his commandments, if someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey. God's commandments. That person is a liar. It is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word surely show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. So John, the apostle wrote this brief book first, John second, John third, John revelation. 21 (51m 47s): So they tried to kill John because they didn't like his message. He didn't like what he stood for. So they try to kill him. What do they do? They boil him in oil. Hm. He survives. If God's not done with you, they cannot kill you. And so they can't, they don't know what to do with John. So they exile him to an island and he endures hardship as a faithful faithful man of God. And while he's on that island and angel, the Lord appears to him and speaks to him, gives him the book of the revelation. 21 (52m 34s): So he's exiled, but he's a man of integrity. He's able to endure hardship. And in the midst of hardship, do incredible and wonderful things for God, because he's just figured out how to endure because he's a disciple, a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Those who say they live in God shall live their lives. As Jesus did, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms of life. And his 33 years of life endured, obviously the last three years, especially he endured some hardship. 21 (53m 18s): If he was faithful and enabled and able to endure the storm storms of rejection, maybe you can identify with some of these storms, storms of rejection storms of Tim Taishan says he was tempted in every way, but without sin, he endured the storm of temptation storms of ridicule, storms of false accusations, storms of abandonment, storms of pain and humiliation. 21 (54m 0s): Finally, the storm of death, he went to death as a faithful, as a faithful servant of God. He on the cross, he's told one of the thieves hanging next to him today, you will be with me in paradise. He was always about the father's business because no matter what was thrown at him, he was able to endure because his life was built on a solid foundation. So no matter what is being thrown at us, we have a responsibility and opportunity, a even an obligation to make sure that God is glorified in the midst of the storm. 21 (54m 42s): If we can only glorify God when things are good, are we really his disciples that we really built on a solid foundation? If, if our good works are the fruit of our life is only dependent on the good things that are happening in our lives. And we're, we're not really demonstrating a solid foundation. We're demonstrating that anybody can do good when things are good. What do we do when things are bad? When really things are really bad, we endure because of the solid foundation. If we haven't been able to endure, we need to go back and look at our foundation. What is the foundation of our lives? Is it Jesus, his word? Is it obedience to Jesus? 21 (55m 22s): And to his word, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms because he was here to do the will of his father. He was here to do the will of his father. Maybe we're not here to do the will of our father. And so our ability to endure during the storms is questionable. But if we understand what our purpose in life is, as believers in Jesus Christ, then we are here to do the will of the father. And to only do the will of the father. Now God blesses us with the ability to do other wonderful things, but foundationally speaking, our role as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ as disciples, is to make disciples, to make sure that our lives reflect that priority in every arena of our lives, that we are building a solid foundation of understanding that we are here as God's kids with God's purpose, with God's understanding and power to do the things that he's called us to do. 21 (56m 30s): So we have to figure out how to endure. The only way we can endure is by having a solid foundation. The only way we can have a solid foundation is by just constantly being in the word of God, by constantly praying. So we pray without ceasing. I don't know if you've tried that lately, but it's really powerful. It's like, really? Life-giving, it's really good. It's just, you're just walking around whatever you're doing, you're driving your work. And you're just praying, always inviting God in always asking for the power of the holy spirit in your lives, always seeking the wisdom of God, availing yourself to the word of God so that you can do the will of God. This is just what God has called us to. He's called us to be in constant communion, intimacy with him, availing ourselves to his plans and his purposes. 21 (57m 12s): No matter what, if we do that, we will endure the storms back to Matthew seven, verse 25, though, the rain comes and the rain always comes. If you're not in a rain storm right now, you will be soon. It just always comes as part of the fallen nature of the sin sick world that we live in, though, the rain comes and torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. It's built on bedrock, Matthew 7, 26, but anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obeyed is foolish. 21 (57m 57s): Like a person who builds a house on sand. We watched these old repair shows. And last night we were watching shows about these old a hundred year old houses that you know, all over the country and people are wanting to restore these old houses. You know, these houses have survived the, the, the decades and even more than a century because they built, been built on a solid foundation. There there's something of stability and strength in the foundation of these houses that allow them to stand after a hundred or 200 years. And these people are able to come through and refurbish and rebuild and fix so that they last another hundred or 200 years. 21 (58m 44s): There's something about the stability of a good foundation that each of us need. And when we don't have it, we're always vacillating. We're always confused. We're always lukewarm or always half in and half out. We're always just marginal in what we believe in. And our convictions are marginal and our obedience is marginal and it's dependent on what's going on externally instead of the decision that says, no matter what's going on externally, I'm just going to make Jesus my priority. I'm going to be obedient to his word. This is what Jesus has called us to when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, the house built on Santa will collapse with a mighty crash. 21 (59m 26s): We don't want that because storms are promised in this Christian life storms are promise. We will experience storms. And so we might as well get ready by building our foundation on bedrock on solid stone. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were amazed at his teachings. People were always amazed at what Jesus said, because he spoke. He spoke with such wisdom when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teachings for, he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. 21 (1h 0m 11s): Why did Jesus speak with authority? Because he knew what his purpose in the earth was, what he was called to do. His mission was to make disciples to die for the sins of the world. Go to be with the father and forever, make intercession for the saints. Number one, shoe disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms and number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority. We cannot be true disciples of Christ. If we're not willing to submit our lives to God's authority, what does submitting to someone's authority look like? 21 (1h 0m 59s): Let's take a look at Roman Matthew eight, the faith of a Roman officer. You probably read this story before Matthew eight, five through 10, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, may Roman officer came and pleaded with him. Lord, my, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and in terrible pain, Jesus said, I will come and heal him. But the officers said, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are. And my servant will be healed. I know this because I under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need you say, go. And they go or come. 21 (1h 1m 40s): And they come in. If I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. This Roman soldier understood something of about authority. And Jesus said, Matthew, eight, 10. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him. He said, I tell you the truth. I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel and all Israel. When, when God is our authority, when God is your authority, he oversees every arena and area of our, he is our authority. 21 (1h 2m 23s): His plan is what we follow is just he's our authority. So we follow his plan. His purpose is now our chief purpose. The word slave do loss in the Greek is the, in this verse is the word the apostles use for themselves that the apostles understood that they were slaves of God. They were bond servants of God. They were do loss. They were slaves. And so, because they understood their place, they had no problem doing the will of God. Sometimes we forget who we are. We are sons and daughters, but we're also bond servants. 21 (1h 3m 4s): We have decided to come under the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have that responsibility, that calling to be not just sons and daughters, but slaves of God to do loss is a slave of God. If you don't want to be God's slave, you have signed up for the wrong God, because old Testament, new Testament, this is the message that we are called to be servants. I do loss of God, Romans one, one. This letter is from Paul, a slave. 21 (1h 3m 47s): I do loss, a slave of the Lord, Jesus Christ, James. One, one. This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Paul and James. They understood their role, their purpose. And it wasn't a, it wasn't even like a demeaning thing. It was like a life giving thing. Like I've got purpose. I'm here to serve the king. I know what my life is about. I'm not confused about my purpose and my calling. I know who I am and to whom I belong. And so I will serve Jesus with joy and with peace and with gratitude and appreciation. There's nothing oppressive about it. It's life-giving and good. What's oppressive is when we're trying to balance our affairs with God's affairs. 21 (1h 4m 32s): And we're trying to figure out who it is that we're serving Paul and James and Peter. Second Peter, one, one, this letter is from Simon Peter's slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, Jude Jude. One, one. This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James and revelation. One, one, John writes, this is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants. His do loss, the, the events that must soon take place. So John understood. 21 (1h 5m 13s): He was writing to the church, the people of God who are the servants of God, the do loss of God. We are bond servants. We have decided. And if we haven't decided to be the bond servants, the due loss of God, then we haven't decided to follow Jesus. That's the reality. If we haven't decided to be a servant of God, then we haven't decided to serve Jesus where to do what Jesus did. You just said, I didn't come to serve or to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. So do we understand the authority of Jesus in our lives? Do we submit to his authority in our lives? 21 (1h 5m 55s): And if not, where in our lives are we not submitted to the authority of God? And what are we going to do about that? We will constantly be made aware of the areas where we're not submitted to his authority. And the answer is, yes, Lord. I want to submit, I want to align. I want to fix repent of and follow you Lord. There was a blind spot in my life, in my understanding, in my experience and Lord, I am seeing clearly now that you would have me to be a servant, and that means every arena of my life. It's all under your authority. Lord, I submit to you in all things, whereas Jesus authority not recognized in our lives. 21 (1h 6m 40s): What are we doing about that? We can't really see clearly on this. We just open up the word all the time and avail ourselves to the truth of God's word. Be students of the Bible and that you can't call yourself a student. If you're just showing up here and listening to me, teach or going to a Bible study where somebody else is teaching or where you're tuned into a podcast or to a radio station or to a TV station to let somebody else teach you. You're a student of God's word. When you open up the word yourself, when you decide I'm going to learn the Bible, I'm going to figure out what God has communicated through the pages of scripture. 21 (1h 7m 24s): And I'm going to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. So you just have to open up the scripture and just see what God will say. Maybe you're not a very good reader. I tell you you'll become a great reader. If you just commit yourself to reading the scripture, maybe you don't know how to read it all, just get Bible on tape or whatever it is. There's plenty of that. Just figure out how to get that word in your soul and your heart. And in your mind, are we disciples of Christ or do we just go to church? Are we disciples of Christ or would he just kind of keep Christ marginalized in our lives? 21 (1h 8m 6s): The making of a true disciple of Christ, true disciples of Christ, do the will of the father. So we ask ourselves this question, am I a disciple? We all need to ask ourselves this question. Am I disciple? Do I follow? Do I do the will of the father? Am I able to endure storms? Because my life is built on a solid foundation or my wishy-washy and lukewarm and tossed to and fro constantly confused, disappointed, frustrated in sin, doing the wrong stuff because my life is built on sand. Only. You can answer that question. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority are we submitted? 21 (1h 8m 51s): And if not, let's get submitted, we're gonna take communion. And so hopefully everybody received their elements. I'm going to be reading out of first Corinthians 11. So listen, communion is a celebration of the cross and what Jesus accomplished on the cross 2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and for my sin. So we celebrate communion. We break bread as it were. We drink juice. We do this in remembrance of Jesus. So if you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ take communion today. 21 (1h 9m 33s): If you are not, please don't take communion today. Communion is for believers, disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so maybe it's a moment for people in the room who have figured out. I'm not really a disciple, but Lord, I want it to be a disciple. So maybe this is your prayer. As we bow our heads, Lord, I, I haven't been a very good disciple. I, your, your word, the teaching this morning is, has helped me to see that I've been about my own agenda. 21 (1h 10m 15s): Fill with my own desires, following my own lead and doing the stuff that I shouldn't be doing. I, I haven't been submitted to your authority. I have I'm wishy-washy I, I, the storms blow me around. I'm not really doing what you've asked me to do Lord. So God, I repent. I I'm changing my mind about how I'm living. God. I give my life to you. I want to do this. I want it to be a disciple, a true disciple of yours, Lord God. So if that's your prayer today, maybe you've prayed that prayer for the first time. Maybe you've prayed for a thousands of time. God hears the humble, broken and contracts. 21 (1h 10m 58s): Prayers of people. He, he hears in his heart is to help you to do what you're created to do and belonging to do as a result of his, this understanding of what it means to be a disciple. So have you here today and you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Let's go ahead and take communion. Paul wrote in first Corinthians for I pass onto you. What I received from the Lord himself on the night, when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which has given for you. 21 (1h 11m 39s): Do this to remember me. Let's take the wafer. Thank you though. You allowed yourself to be beaten, crucified pierced, Because I am a sinner in need of redemption. Thank you for the redemptive work on the cross. 21 (1h 12m 21s): Thank you Lord. In the same way, verse 25, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's take the cup. 21 (1h 13m 1s): Thank you, Lord. For the juice that represents the blood, that was spilled because I'm a sinner because I need your forgiveness. Yeah, we are centers. We have missed the mark. The Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. So Lord, thank you that on the cross, Because of the cross, because Of your body and blood, God, you've imputed righteousness to us. 21 (1h 13m 46s): Our sin was imputed to you and your righteousness has been imputed to us. That means we have become the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. When we are covered by your blood and filled with your spirit and adopted into your family and called servants of the living. God. So thank you, Lord God, that you've imputed your righteousness to me and to those who have come under your authority and Lordship and leadership. So Lord we say, thank you. We honor you today. We bless you today. We're so humbled by your presence and your grace and your love. Florida's we get ready to worship, pray God that you would just be glorified by our hearts. 21 (1h 14m 27s): Lord, let us worship in spirit and in truth. And then as we go over to the open house, the new worship center, I pray that it would be a time of celebration and just thankfulness Lord. So thank you for who you are. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand and we will worship some more. 25 (1h 15m 10s): Speed. speed. To speak the name of Jesus, Dark addictions Declaring there is hope and there is free speech. 17 (1h 16m 2s): Your name is Your name is your name. 17 (1h 17m 30s): shine through this Jesus. Jesus for my family. High speed the whole day. 25 (1h 19m 30s): In the name of Jesus. We have hope we have peace. We have love, we have power. We have authority. And I just pray that we would just go this week with the name of Jesus. Ready on our lips. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Holy spirit for your sweet presence here this morning In Jesus name. Amen.

This Roman emperor spread Christianity to most of the civilized world, on THIS DAY, March 28th with Chris Conley. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 201, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Measuring Up 1: There are 3 teaspoons in this unit of measure. tablespoon. 2: 37 degrees Celsius equals 98.6 degrees on this scale. Fahrenheit. 3: Equal to 1,000 grams, this metric standard is abbreviated KG. kilogram. 4: Of 6 miles, 16 miles or 60 miles, the one closest to the length in miles of a 10-kilometer run. 6 miles. 5: This unit can be 1/60 of a degree or 1/60 of an hour. minute. Round 2. Category: Turn Me Lewis 1: He died on Oct. 11, 1809 of a gunshot wound in Tennessee; murder or suicide has never been proven either way. Meriwether Lewis. 2: The father of John L. Lewis, first president of the CIO, had this job back in Wales. a coalminer. 3: The No. 2 man for the No. 2 man, he was Dick Cheney's chief of staff until he was indicted. Scooter Libby. 4: He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sinclair Lewis. 5: It's not nonsense (or is it?) to say this author was ordained a deacon in 1861. Lewis Carroll. Round 3. Category: Lesser-Known Ancient Romans 1: This little-known Roman was exactly half as wide as his Greek friend Diameter. Radius. 2: This ancient Roman had trouble understanding others because of the ringing in his ears. Tinnitus. 3: Everything this Roman did was counterfeit or fake. Bogus. 4: He was difficult to understand because his jaw muscles were always locking up. Tetanus. 5: This Roman was always interrupting his projects for an extended break, especially over the summer. Hiatus. Round 4. Category: Facial Hair 1: This symbol of America has a type of beard named for him. Uncle Sam. 2: Women have a special pencil for them. Eyebrows. 3: Wearing this kind of beard would turn a nanny into a billy. Goatee. 4: A soupstrainer moustache is also known by this aquatic mammal's name. Walrus. 5: This long moustache with ends that droop past the chin is named for a Sax Rohmer villain. Fu Manchu. Round 5. Category: When Was That, Pierre? 1: Une annee horrible was this year of Napoleon's death, 6 years after Waterloo. 1821. 2: Tres tragique was this year when France was first occupied in World War II. 1940. 3: C'est tout! The armistice ending "La Grande Guerre" was signed in the Compiegne Forest in this year. 1918 (World War I). 4: Alors! In this year France lost the battle of Dien Bien Phu and saw revolution begin in Algeria. 1954. 5: Vive la Revolution Francaise! which began in this year. 1789. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Wednesday, The Second Week of Lent (Mar. 3)Narrated by Kate Oshima“I Am Not Worthy”The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:8 This Roman army officer understood something most people, even today, fail to grasp. Jesus' care and blessing were not reserved only for those who “deserved” it. The unworthy centurion simply believed that Jesus’ aid did not have to be earned.Our Savior's mission was, and is, to extend God's healing grace to foreigners, to outcasts, even to undeserving sinners such as you and me. We never need to wonder if we are good enough to be healed of the sickness of sin. Our salvation has nothing to do with our worthiness; it is based only on the wounds of our gracious, loving Savior, who did it all for us unworthy sinners.REFLECT: How can you show love to those outside of your circle? PRAY: I am not worthy, Lord, but you are, and I welcome your grace. Amen.Devotional content provided by Creative Communications for the Parish.

Jesus rewards faithful people. A Roman centurion is helped by Jesus because he believes in Jesus. This Roman officer pleased Jesus because of his great faith. Key Verses: Luke 7:1 – 10Support the show (https://centralnow.com/give/)

I want the kind of faith at which Jesus will marvel...you? This Roman officer is our model.

In Luke 7 we read of a Roman Centurion asking Jesus to miraculously heal his servant. The final attribute I want to highlight in this series is this Centurion’s courageous faith. This Roman soldier had heard about Jesus and His miracles. Even though the Centurion was a Gentile, not a Jew, he believed that Jesus [...]

In this series we’re examining four attributes of an amazing man who impressed Jesus. In Luke 7, we read of a Roman Centurion asking Jesus to miraculously heal his dying servant. The third attribute I noticed about this amazing leader was his generosity. This Roman solider was likely despised by most Jews. He had little [...]

In June of 1990, I was fortunate to be in Berlin on a performing tour.  After leaving Denmark, we entered what was then East Germany.  This happened to be just days before borders came down, and we then made our way to Berlin.  While we were in Berlin, the borders that had divided east from west did come down.  And, while we were in Berlin, we were able to chop down our own piece of the wall.  My piece of that memorable, insidious, hostile wall now sits on a bookshelf in my kitchen as a reminder of that trip and that historic event.  It also always reminds me of something else - that walls of hostility, whether concrete or metaphoric, are created because of fear and they ultimately divide families and nations as the Berlin wall did for so many years.    As we look at today’s reading in Ephesians, we hear about dividing walls, the dividing wall of hostility that had existed between “Jew” and “Gentile.”  The heart of this reading is Paul’s reminder that in Jesus Christ these two distinctive peoples have become “one new humanity.”  The powerful image of the dividing wall of hostility being broken down provides for us the good news that this world desperately needs to hear because we continue to fall into habitual battles that create walls of hostility. Walls are created by conflict.   While unfortunate, conflict is one of the most ordinary spaces in which we live.  And, conflict creates both physical and metaphorical walls.  Encampments form, and the dividing wall of hostility is constructed and often reconstructed, in spite of our best intentions.  We don’t have to go too far to find walls of hostility that divide people today.  There are plenty of them right here in front of our eyes.  Instead of “Jew” and “Gentile,” it is now orthodox and progressive, mainline and evangelical, right and left, Republicans and Democrats, Israelites and Palestinians.  Walls of hostility are built and the mudslinging we see between these divided groups just seems to increase.  This petty pattern of mudslinging and wall construction often reminds me of when my children were little as they sat in the back seat of our car.  Those sweet, little, innocent boys would draw an imaginary line between them and spit out venomous words like, “Don’t cross that line!  Mom, he is touching me!” Well, today the writer of Ephesians calls us to dream of and live into another day, a day without dividing walls.  It says that Christ has already “made both groups into one, putting to death that hostility.”  The peace of Christ that is proclaimed in this text is truly a shocking new reality in which former enemies who would not touch one another, let alone eat with one another, now reach out to one another in recognition of their common humanity.  To further comprehend the astonishing proclamation in this reading we must gain a better understanding of what these words meant to the Ephesians.  Living under the iron rule of Rome, these words directly challenged the boastful claims of Rome’s emperors, who saw themselves as the semi-divine forger of a new world peace.  Likewise, these words would have seemed to undermine all systems that secure insider distinction and top-down privilege by setting up barriers that identify some as outsider or inferior.  Theologian, Sally Brown, articulates the power these words had to the Ephesians who heard them.  She writes:  It is crucial to recognize that any talk of peace within the context of Asia Minor in the late first century under Roman rule would be politically charged talk. Roman emperors, Augustus in particular, were hailed as the semi-divine inaugurators of an unprecedented peace that would settle the turbulent rivalries of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. This Roman brand of "peace," of course, was an enforced peace wrought through military dominance. When necessary, terror would be used -- specifically, the terror of crucifixion for anyone foolhardy enough to challenge peace on the Empire's terms. On state occasions and festival days such as the birthday of the emperor, when the emperor's "lordship' would be celebrated, the emperor as "peace-bringer" would be lauded in public speeches….  Therefore, to say “Christ is our peace” would be a pronouncement bordering on treason. What is being claimed, after all, is that despite all the swaggering claims of Rome's emperors, true peace has been inaugurated by a man the empire crucified. The dissonance between the chilling rhetoric of the state and the thrilling rhetoric of the Gospel would set any listener's blood racing.    The writer of Ephesians is declaring peace on new terms.  It is a peace forged not by the "lords" of Empire in its manifold forms, but in the blood and bone of the Crucified One. The cross undermined the wall dividing Jew and non-Jew, but that is only the beginning.  The new household of God is not a purely spiritual reality that we visit briefly on Sundays -- a weekly "time out" in which we pretend peace is possible by sitting next to people we scrupulously avoid the rest of the time. The church is the daring practice of a new politics -- a different kind of power, the self-outpoured, boundary-crossing power of Christ's cross.   And we who are named and claimed by this boundary-crossing Christ, trust this power, letting it undermine every wall, until we are "built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God." The destruction of the “dividing wall” that has been accomplished by Christ is good news for our divided communities, divided households, and divided selves.  And, now, Kim is going to say more about how this really connects to our everyday life, about how this peace becomes incarnate within our very lives. KIM O’BRIEN - It’s pretty much a joke in my family now that I cry when Pastor Ellen gives me communion.  Just about every week. This past week, despite the bra advertisement that popped up on YouTube I still found myself tearing up at the words “The Body of Christ, given for you”. As I continued to kneel and accept this gift, my daughter finally looked over at me and said, “Are we going to get up or stay here for round two?” Later in the week as I was driving Zakaria to the Williamston Fitness Center my anger was sparked by the Recall Petition Signing tent in McCormick Park.  That spark ignited a meaningful discussion between Zakaria and I about religion. Zakaria described to me that Islam is like a boat that guides him, first learning to love himself and then spreading that love outward toward neighbors.  As we continued on our separate ways I reflected on his message. I realized that his message was an unexpected gift that I needed to hear and I cannot give these gifts to myself. I need to live in community with other people to receive these gifts, and Zakaria was the gift-giver I needed that day. I think that the second reading from Ephesians connects these two experiences from my week.   I think another round of communion would be nice sometimes and I think Zakaria is right: love is the answer.  Today we hear of the unity, peace, and membership gifted to us and to all people by God through the blood of Christ Jesus.  Our culture today gives us countless options for dividing ourselves. (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim, Republican, Democrat, Immigrant, Citizen, gay, straight, white, black, young, old. . .the list goes on) Pick a side and take a stand.  So many divisions can often lead to feelings of anger, resentment, alienation and separation.          When I’m completely honest, I admit that sometimes I don’t limit my feelings of alienation and separation to other people in distant lands or family members who don’t see things the way I do.  Sometimes I feel alienated even within myself, and even alienated from God. When I hear “The body of Christ, given for you” my first reaction is to look over my shoulder to see this amazing “you” that must be standing behind me.  This enormous gift of grace cannot possibly be for me. But it is. Every time. For me. So, I kneel, and cry, and sometimes long for another round, as I accept this gift into the brokenness of my heart and feel its healing power.  I need to accept the Grace of God who is calling something out of me, an ordinary stay-at-home mom in middle class Okemos, MI.  I have to first accept this love into myself before I can share it with my neighbor.  I need to recognize that I, like each one of you, am called to create peace, reconciliation and togetherness.  God calls us to build His holy temple with the combined gifts that each one of us already has inside our hearts.  Join me. Add your brick.

Mark Bigney of All the Games you Like are Bad fame takes a moment to ponder something good in his gaming experience: Tribune Primus Inter Pares. This Roman game designed by Karl-Heinz Schmiel and published by Fantasy Flight in 2007 sees players competing for the favor of various interest groups in Roman Society. It's an early worker placement game that's maintained a high status despite its age. Join Joe and TC as Mark guides us through the gladiator pits and the senate while we fight for the prime pears! Thanks to our sponsor www.gamesurplus.com for their continued support of the show. Go and check out how Elaine and Carmen are bringing the world of board games to youl! Thanks as well to Punchboard Media! Check out a wealth of excellent board game media at www.punchboardmedia.com!

Aired Wednesday, 14 February 2018, 8:00 PM ETDebra Silverman - The Missing ElementValentine’s Day…love is in the air! This Roman pagan festival, turned day of remembrance of two Christian martyrs named Valentine by the Church, was romanticized by Shakespeare and Chaucer in their works and turned into the Hallmark Holiday that we know and love (or dread) in 1913. Each year more than 144 million Valentine cards are exchanged, making it the second largest greeting card holiday, not to mention flowers, chocolates, jewelry and other tokens of affection. Projections are that 18.2 billion dollars will have been spent in the United States alone when this day is over! While love may be in the air, many ask, is love in their stars? Is there a connection between romantic compatibility and our birth and progressive astrological charts?Joining me this week on Destination Unlimited to address this question and other matters astrological is Debra Silverman. Debra is part comedienne, part psychologist, part astrologer and All Real! She helps people turn on their own inner observer to see the things they say and do in a totally objective way. In private practice for more than 38 years, Debra uses astrology and her own system called “The 4 Elements” or “4E” for short as tools to help people step into their own power. She’s the author of The Missing Element: Inspiring Compassion for the Human Condition, numerous columns, hosted her own radio show and her YouTube channel has more than 3 million views! Her websites are: thestarcommunity.com and debrasilvermanastrology.com

Every guy has experienced 'the cough' at the doctor's office. This Roman doctor had some pretty unconventional remedies... most of them involving testicles. Of course this is our first episode.

Rebroadcast of the long running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour", a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org It is believed that Saint Marcellus was born in Arzas of Galicia. A brave pagan, he entered upon the career of arms, hoping to gain a large fortune. He married a young lady named Nona and they were blessed with twelve children. Saint Marcellus was a valorous solider and was promoted to the charge of centurion; he had no thought for any advancement except the sort pertaining to his military life, when he heard the fervent preaching of a holy bishop of the church of Leon. He was converted with his entire family to the Christian religion. All of them except his wife would soon give their blood in honor of their Faith. The birthday of the Emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298 with extraordinary feasting and solemn rites. Marcellus, as a centurion of the army, a captain in the legion of Trajan then posted in Mauritania or Spain, in order not to defile himself in these impious sacrifices, left his company, throwing down his cincture and his arms and declaring aloud that he was a soldier of Jesus Christ, the eternal King. He was at once committed to prison. When the festival was over, he was brought before a judge, and having reiterated his faith, was sent under a strong guard to a prefect, Aurelian Agricolaus. This Roman officer passed upon him a sentence of death by the sword. Marcellus was immediately led to execution and beheaded on the 30th of October of the year 298. Cassian, the secretary or notary of the court, refused to record the sentence pronounced against the martyr, because of its injustice. He was immediately hurried to prison, and was beheaded in his turn on the 3rd of December. A Church was built in his family's honor in Leon.

0265-595 09-18-96 This Roman officer will receive eternal blessing and reward as a record holder.