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Today's Scripture comes from Galatians 6:1-2
Today's Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Today's Scripture comes from Matthew 24:24
This is the third part of the series on the the three personal natures of God. It finishes with God, The Father. Today's Scripture reading is Matthew 6-1-13.
Today's Scripture comes from Job Chapter 6
Today's Scripture comes from 1st Samuel Chapter 3
Today's Scripture is Exodus 32.
Today's Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-18
Today's Scripture is Proverbs 26:20-22.
Today's Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 YouTube: https://youtu.be/sWw-xGjtugw
Today's Scripture comes from Luke 11
Today's Scripture comes from Judges Chapter Four
Today's Scripture is Philippians 4:8.
Welcome to the May 3, 2020 worship service of Hope Bible Church of Tampa. Our desire is that this service will encourage your faith to be stirred up and filled with zeal in pursuing our forever King, the Lord Jesus. Today's Scripture reading is Psalm 42 from the NASB and our hymn for this morning is -The Love of God.- We invite you to read along with the Scripture reading and sing along with the hymn.
Today's Scripture comes from Malachi Chapter Four
Hello friends, and happy Thursday to you. A bit of a heavy topic today - depression - but there us much hope in the Word when we go beyond the surface. This will be a continuing series for us also, and like our discussion of the Perseverance of the Saints, it will be spread out, rather than consecutive. Today's Scripture readings include Numbers 7 (the longest chapter we've read thus far, and the fourth longest chapter overall in the entire English Bible.), Psalms 42-43, Song of Solomon 5 and Hebrews 5. Can a Christian be depressed is our big question of the day. Medical doctor and Christian author John Lockley writes: “Being depressed is bad enough in itself, but being a depressed Christian is worse. And being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who do not understand depression is like a little taste of hell.” Psalms 42 is our focus passage, and it is a wonderful Psalm full of soaring emotion that goes up and down. I am finding a greater and greater appreciation of the Psalms as we are reading them through during quarantine. I generally do the podcast late at night, once the kids and my wife are in bed. I finish quite late, take a walk, wind down, and go to bed. I find that the Psalms have been occupying my thoughts in the morning, and that it has been very fruitful to reread the Psalms from the previous night's reading first thing as I am waking up. The Psalms are such a wonderful expression of thoughts, prayers and praises to God - I find they are teaching me to pray and worship utilizing the Words of Scripture more and more. Consider the powerful emotions found in the words of Psalms 42: My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 I am deeply depressed; Psalms 42:3-6 You can see where we get our focus question for the day - right here in the Holy-Spirit inspired words of Scripture, the Psalmist notes that he is depressed, and that tears have been his food. I note here, as I've noted many times, that reading the Bible dispels one of any notions that the Word of God is full of the kind of sunshine pumping, pollyannish, your best life now kind of faith that is so often proclaimed by televangelists on various 'Christian' tv channels. The Word of God is genuine, authentic, deep and often reflects the real anguish and pain of being an actual living and breathing human. This is one of the most honest and genuine passages in the Bible, and there are dozens. Most of us are unfamiliar with the depth and genuineness of the Bible. I honestly blame preachers for that. They/we tend to avoid passages like Psalms 42, and negative things. NOTE the switch between vs 8 and 9 - the flip flop. That is so characteristic of us - especially when in the throes of depression. The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” Psalms 42:8-9 If you've ever had this kind of jarring flip-flop from faith to fear and back again - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It happened to many of the spiritual giants in the Bible. Let's go read Psalms 42-43, and then come back and briefly discuss the possibilities of a Christian being depressed. If you define depression in a very general and sort of vague way - maybe that depression is an extended and persistently depressed mood - keeping in mind that I'm neither a doctor, nor psychologist, I think you'll find that several giants in the Bible qualify as depressed. The Sons of Korah, authors of our Psalm today, and others count. As does Elijah and Moses, both mighty men of God that were so downcast that they told God they were ready to die. Jeremiah also fits that bill, wishing he hadn't been born, and worse. Hannah in 1st Samuel declares that she is a woman with a broken heart, and King David (Psalms 69) also went through several periods of seeming depression. Other giants of the faith have too, such as Charles Spurgeon: “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.’” Charles Spurgeon. “It is all very well for those who are in robust health and full of spirits to blame those whose lives are sicklied or covered with the pale cast of melancholy, but the [malady] is as real as a gaping wound, and all the more hard to bear because it lies so much in the region of the soul that to the inexperienced it appears to be a mere matter of fancy and diseased imagination. Reader, never ridicule the nervous and hypochondrichal, their pain is real; though much of the [malady] lies in the imagination [thought-processes] it is not imaginary.” Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 3 vols. (Newark, Del.: Cornerstone, 1869), 2.132. And John Piper: I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times in the last twenty-eight years at Bethlehem I have fought back the heaviness of discouragement with these very words: “Hope in God, John. Hope in God. You will again praise him. This miserable emotion will pass. This season will pass. Don’t be downcast. Look to Jesus. The light will dawn.” It was so central to our way of thinking and talking in the early eighties that we put a huge “Hope in God” sign on the outside wall of the old sanctuary and became known around the neighborhood as the “Hope in God” church. John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014). So - can a Christian have depression, or be depressed? You bet they can! I see nothing in Scripture that would lead me away from that conclusion, and volumes that affirm it. If you are now fighting depression know that you are NOT alone - many saints in the Bible and throughout church history also waged war against depression. I do not have an easy antidote for you, or a fake cure-all. I do want to close out with a hopeful passage from God's Word, though: Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit. I'd also like to recommend David Murray's book, Christians Get Depressed Too. 5 stars, and very helpful, comforting, and faithful to God's Word! I do realize that this is short commentary, but do not despair, as this will be a topic we return to fairly regularly as we go through the Psalms!
Hello friends, and happy Thursday to you. A bit of a heavy topic today - depression - but there us much hope in the Word when we go beyond the surface. This will be a continuing series for us also, and like our discussion of the Perseverance of the Saints, it will be spread out, rather than consecutive. Today's Scripture readings include Numbers 7 (the longest chapter we've read thus far, and the fourth longest chapter overall in the entire English Bible.), Psalms 42-43, Song of Solomon 5 and Hebrews 5. Can a Christian be depressed is our big question of the day. Medical doctor and Christian author John Lockley writes: “Being depressed is bad enough in itself, but being a depressed Christian is worse. And being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who do not understand depression is like a little taste of hell.” Psalms 42 is our focus passage, and it is a wonderful Psalm full of soaring emotion that goes up and down. I am finding a greater and greater appreciation of the Psalms as we are reading them through during quarantine. I generally do the podcast late at night, once the kids and my wife are in bed. I finish quite late, take a walk, wind down, and go to bed. I find that the Psalms have been occupying my thoughts in the morning, and that it has been very fruitful to reread the Psalms from the previous night's reading first thing as I am waking up. The Psalms are such a wonderful expression of thoughts, prayers and praises to God - I find they are teaching me to pray and worship utilizing the Words of Scripture more and more. Consider the powerful emotions found in the words of Psalms 42: My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 I am deeply depressed; Psalms 42:3-6 You can see where we get our focus question for the day - right here in the Holy-Spirit inspired words of Scripture, the Psalmist notes that he is depressed, and that tears have been his food. I note here, as I've noted many times, that reading the Bible dispels one of any notions that the Word of God is full of the kind of sunshine pumping, pollyannish, your best life now kind of faith that is so often proclaimed by televangelists on various 'Christian' tv channels. The Word of God is genuine, authentic, deep and often reflects the real anguish and pain of being an actual living and breathing human. This is one of the most honest and genuine passages in the Bible, and there are dozens. Most of us are unfamiliar with the depth and genuineness of the Bible. I honestly blame preachers for that. They/we tend to avoid passages like Psalms 42, and negative things. NOTE the switch between vs 8 and 9 - the flip flop. That is so characteristic of us - especially when in the throes of depression. The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” Psalms 42:8-9 If you've ever had this kind of jarring flip-flop from faith to fear and back again - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It happened to many of the spiritual giants in the Bible. Let's go read Psalms 42-43, and then come back and briefly discuss the possibilities of a Christian being depressed. If you define depression in a very general and sort of vague way - maybe that depression is an extended and persistently depressed mood - keeping in mind that I'm neither a doctor, nor psychologist, I think you'll find that several giants in the Bible qualify as depressed. The Sons of Korah, authors of our Psalm today, and others count. As does Elijah and Moses, both mighty men of God that were so downcast that they told God they were ready to die. Jeremiah also fits that bill, wishing he hadn't been born, and worse. Hannah in 1st Samuel declares that she is a woman with a broken heart, and King David (Psalms 69) also went through several periods of seeming depression. Other giants of the faith have too, such as Charles Spurgeon: “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.’” Charles Spurgeon. “It is all very well for those who are in robust health and full of spirits to blame those whose lives are sicklied or covered with the pale cast of melancholy, but the [malady] is as real as a gaping wound, and all the more hard to bear because it lies so much in the region of the soul that to the inexperienced it appears to be a mere matter of fancy and diseased imagination. Reader, never ridicule the nervous and hypochondrichal, their pain is real; though much of the [malady] lies in the imagination [thought-processes] it is not imaginary.” Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 3 vols. (Newark, Del.: Cornerstone, 1869), 2.132. And John Piper: I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times in the last twenty-eight years at Bethlehem I have fought back the heaviness of discouragement with these very words: “Hope in God, John. Hope in God. You will again praise him. This miserable emotion will pass. This season will pass. Don’t be downcast. Look to Jesus. The light will dawn.” It was so central to our way of thinking and talking in the early eighties that we put a huge “Hope in God” sign on the outside wall of the old sanctuary and became known around the neighborhood as the “Hope in God” church. John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014). So - can a Christian have depression, or be depressed? You bet they can! I see nothing in Scripture that would lead me away from that conclusion, and volumes that affirm it. If you are now fighting depression know that you are NOT alone - many saints in the Bible and throughout church history also waged war against depression. I do not have an easy antidote for you, or a fake cure-all. I do want to close out with a hopeful passage from God's Word, though: Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit. I'd also like to recommend David Murray's book, Christians Get Depressed Too. 5 stars, and very helpful, comforting, and faithful to God's Word! I do realize that this is short commentary, but do not despair, as this will be a topic we return to fairly regularly as we go through the Psalms!
Today's Scripture comes from Malachi 2
Today's Scripture is Matthew 6:26.
Today's Scripture comes from Malachi 1:1-3
Welcome to today's worship service. We trust that you are seeing the faithfulness of God and experiencing His comfort through faith during this time that we are being challenged by the isolation brought on by COVID-19. Today's Scripture reading is 1 Corinthians 15-50-58 from the New American Standard Bible. Our hymn is -Praise to the Lord, the Almighty- for which we invite you to sing along.
Today's Scripture is John 10:1-15.
Welcome to the Resurrection Sunday Worship Service of Hope Bible Church of Tampa. It is our desire that you will be able to experience the freedom of forgiveness that results from the power of His resurrection poured out into our hearts during this time of worship. -Today's Scripture reading is Luke 24-1-12. You are also invited to sing along with today's hymn, -He Arose-- -We remind you that you can find additional resources and links to Pastor Hogan's blog by going to www.hopebiblechurch.us.
Today's Scripture comes from Romans 8:36-37
Today's Scripture is John 13.
Today's Scripture is Song of Solomon 2:14-15.
Today's Scripture is Romans 8:28 and 2 Corinthians 4:15.
Today's Scripture is John 18:10-11.
Today's Scripture comes from 2 Corinthians 8:7-8
Today's Scripture is Matthew 6:25-34; 22:37-39.
Today's Scripture is Deuteronomy 10:12.
Today's Scripture comes from: Jeremiah 17:21-23 Genesis 2:1-3
Today's Scripture comes from Hebrews 11:7
Today's Scripture is Galatians 5:22-26.
Today's Scripture is Psalm 139:1-18.
Today's Scripture is Romans 7:15.
Today's Scripture is Matthew 11:28-30.
This is the first episode of our daily devotionals that will be released in light of COVID19. Today's Scripture is Mark 2:18-22.
Today's Scripture comes from Psalms 29
Today's Scripture comes from 2 Corinthians 4:7
Happy Leap Year, Friends! Today is the rarest day in our calendar, with the one exception being the legendary February 30th that sometimes shows up on milk carton expiration dates. Because the Robert Murray M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan that we are following does not include February 29th (or February 30th, for that matter) we could have had a free day today, but that wouldn't be seemly. The pod must go on! Today's Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter. Let's read it and then come back and discuss some reasons to believe in the resurrection and some reasons to believe in the reliability of the Bible. For more reasons to believe: Easter Fact or Fiction - 20 Reasons to Believe Jesus Factually Rose From the Dead Book Jesus Defeated Death - How Can We Know For Sure?! (Episode 44) What Was The Central Event of Christianity? (Episode 17) http://chaseathompson.com/2017/05/17/1-20-reasons-believe-jesus-factually-rose-dead-1-empty-tomb/ http://chaseathompson.com/2017/05/17/2-20-reasons-believe-jesus-factually-rose-dead-2-hysterical-women/ “So if you were going to make up a story about the resurrected Jesus Christ, you would never make up a story like this. You might have some luminescent, radiant Jesus bursting through the doors and everyone shielding their eyes, but instead what do you have? Would you, if you were making up a story do this? He just appears in their midst and says, “Do you have anything to eat?” Look how magnificent. Look what a faith-building experience. “And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it.” Seriously, if you were making up a story about the resurrected Jesus, you just wouldn’t say things like this. Why would this be there? How mundane. How odd. How completely uninspiring. Why would that be there? The only right answer is, if you’re reading literature, it must have happened. Why else would you put it in? Legends are not like this." Pastor Tim Keller - Sermon, Redeemer New York. One of the oddest things about the resurrection accounts in all four gospels is their obvious lack of drama and embellishment. As Dr. Keller points out, Jesus just kind of appears in the midst of the disciples. They do cower, thinking he is a ghost, but after getting their courage back, Jesus quite anticlimactically asks for some boiled fish. If Hollywood had scripted the resurrection, Jesus would have come back in a blaze of glory, surrounded by a fiery glow. Thomas, upon expressing doubts, would have either been divinely smited down, or, Jesus would have answered his doubts with such a perfect put-down, that the disciples would have spent the rest of their lives reminding him how he’d been put in his place by the master. After Jesus met with the disciples, He would have flown off and utterly wiped the floor with Pilate and Herod…maybe even Caesar over in Rome. It would have been a blaze of glory and revenge, and every bad guy would have learned their lesson the hard way. When all was said and done, Jesus would have rocketed back up to Heaven with an amazing display of light and sound. Jesus is back…and this time, it’s personal. That’s what would have happened if the resurrection of Jesus had been mythically embellished or fabricated, or exaggerated or invented. There would have been more drama – more comeuppance for the bad guys, and more adoration for Jesus. Instead, He ate some fish. He had a discussion with Peter about John. He broke bread with Cleopas and another guy walking on the Emmaus road. Other than the coming back from the dead part…it just seems kind of mundane, doesn’t it? Even the ascension into Heaven is downplayed in the Gospels and Acts. Think about it: JESUS FLOATED UP INTO HEAVEN! How amazing that must have been to see, and yet Luke (who describes the ascension in the greatest detail) merely writes this, “51 And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” (Luke 24:51-52) Matthew and John don’t even write about the ascension, and when Luke revisits it in Acts, all he adds is a small little detail about the disciples view of Jesus being blocked by a cloud, and the appearance of two guys (angels?) in white clothes who chide the disciples for looking up at the sky. Any writer – even a mediocre one – could have made that scene sound AMAZING, and could have done so without embellishing or exaggerating even a little bit! And yet, they didn’t…the drama was kept to an absolute minimum. I propose that this is a signifier of real historical testimony, and the trustworthiness and sobriety of the Gospel writers. They didn’t have to add to the story. They didn’t have to stir up drama. They just told it like it happened, and even seemingly downplayed some of the more amazing things. Upon His return, Jesus appeared to the women first, and His brother and Peter and 500 other believers. None of them seem to be particularly important! Why not Herod? Why not Pilate? Why didn’t Jesus seek revenge on His executioners? Maybe organize a beat down of the Roman soldiers who had flogged Him? Alternatively, why didn’t He meet with somebody important like Joseph of Arimathea, or the high priest? Wouldn’t it have been great to have seen Caiaphas’ face when Jesus returned? Wouldn’t that have been a better story? And yet, none of that happened. Instead, what we get is narrative that does not exaggerate nor embellish, and is therefore all the more reliable because of it. Every now and then, I get a bit of a wild hair and promote a Bible Reading Podcast post on Facebook. Please like the Bible Reading Facebook page on Facebook, by the way! Recently, I promoted a post that really brought out some trolls with some interesting swears and anti-Christian memes. No problem there. Also some people came out with some reasons NOT to believe in Jesus. Usually when I hear those, they are quite erroneous, but some folks had some decent responses, so I'd like to share a little bit of the dialog that we had. Lawrence Bible Reading Podcast No Roman historian had actually met Jesus. Elastic stretches and truth ceases to be truth once it is retold. None of the stories in the bible were recorded by anyone who was there at the time that the bible claims that they allegedly happened. The bible stories were written by people without first hand eyewitness account centuries after they were supposed to have happened. I have heard people refer to this as mythology Bible Reading Podcast Lawrence - This is, quite frankly, an absurd argument to make. Why would a Roman historian journey to Israel to meet a Jewish man who - according to the Bible - stayed the entirety of His ministry inside a country that is about 1/3 the size of Scotland? There would be no reason in the world for such a thing to happen. #2 There are exactly THREE Roman historians of any significance that were writing during the time of Jesus' active ministry. Were you aware of this? Here they are: #1 Seneca the Elder. He died in A.D. 39. He wrote a history of Rome, but it is almost entirely lost to history, as are MANY of the books and writings of the first century due to age, disintegration, intentional destruction and events like the fires at the libraries of Antioch and Serapeum. #2 Claudius the emperor - He died in A.D. 49. He wrote copiously - an 8 volume history of Carthage and a 20 volume history of the Etruscans. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST. Did he write about Jesus? I suppose it is possible, but highly unlikely that you would write about Jesus in a history of Carthage and the Etruscans. #3 Marcus Cluvius Rufus - He was a Roman historian and statesmen who wrote during the first century. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST TO HISTORY. So, Lawrence - given that we have THREE Roman historians writing during the time of Jesus, and given the fact that almost 100 percent of their historical works are LOST to history - what conclusions can we draw from this? That's correct - no conclusions whatsoever. Later Roman historians wrote extensively about Jesus. They possibly did during His lifetime too - Or not! - but we have no idea either way. As to the second half of your paragraph - you are again making wild claims without the least bit of evidence backing them up. The New Testament accounts claim to be first hand. They are very early, and there are thousands of Greek manuscripts that back up the claim that they are very early. Were they written in the first century by eyewitnesses? I believe they absolutely were, but I cannot prove that beyond a shadow of doubt. (how could you, really?) I believe the preponderance of evidence over the years indicate they were. There is absolutely ZERO proof - ZERO! That the New Testament accounts were NOT written in the first century by eyewitnesses. Not every scholar agrees on that one way or the other, but there is no evidence - historical, paleographical, or linguistic that indicates that the New Testament accounts were anything other than what they claim to be. Bible Reading Podcast Philip Basically what you are saying, Philip is that you don't trust the reports of the eyewitnesses that were on site for the ministry of Jesus, and that you would only trust the reports of historians that were hundreds of miles away - in their own country - and who's works are lost to history. For a geography refresher, it is worth noting that the distance from Rome to Jerusalem is over 3,500 kilometers. The length of the entire nation of Israel is around 400 kilometers, for perspective. In other words, your skepticism is completely without basis. The four Gospels are eyewitness accounts written by people who lived in the land where the events occurred and lived during the time the events occurred. I suspect the only reason you reject them as reliable is because you don't like their conclusions. Also on your Josephus contention - you are way outside the bounds of modern critical Bible scholarship. I'm not talking about Christian scholars, but scholars of antiquity. There are at least two mentions of Jesus in Josephus. The first and most extensive may indeed be an interpolation, but that has not been 'proved,' as you say. It is quite the matter of debate, though the consensus is that it is indeed an interpolation. The modern scholarly consensus is also that the interpolation was laid on top of an authentic passage about Jesus - just one that was added to by later Christian scholars. The other major mention of Jesus in Josephus is doubted by very few scholars, and almost all of them believe it to be genuine. So the overwhelming consensus of modern critical scholars is that Josephus wrote about Jesus. It is fine if you want to be a skeptic, but you need to know that the vast majority of the skepticism that you have expressed in this post is actually based on faulty historiography, and skeptical theories that most modern scholars dismiss. In an era that lacked internet, telegraph, television and newspapers, the news about Jesus - who spent his entire life in a country 1/3rd the size of Scotland - travelled slowly and organically, but it did indeed reach and transform the ENTIRE Roman Empire. Nobody doubts that fact. A question for you to grapple with in your skepticism is this: How did the testimony and message of Jesus take hold of and transform the entire Roman Empire?? Lest you just assume that they were morons who would believe anything, it might be worth remembering that, historically, many people of this time claimed to be gods, including many of the Roman emperors. How did their message not transform the world, while the message of Jesus did? You can't explain it by money, power, ethnicity, clever strategy or really any other way. Something has to explain the power of the message of Jesus. I believe the explanation is the Resurrection and the Holy Spirit. How do you explain it? One other note - given what you have written so far, I suspect you have a great respect for Roman historians. One of the earliest Roman historians we have surviving works from is Pliny the Younger. He wrote about Christians in the early second century. However, in terms of manuscripts, we have only ONE portion of Pliny's writing that dates to earlier than the 9th century, and it is from the late 5th century - hundreds of years after the events that Pliny records. Historians don't have a problem with this at all, considering we actually have a total of ZERO manuscripts from Greek historians or Roman historians that date to the first century on ANY subject. Pliny the younger's historical records are considered quite reliable, despite the paucity of manuscript evidence to document their connection to the second century. There are many Greek New Testament fragments and manuscripts of the Bible that date MUCH earlier than the oldest surviving Pliny the Younger manuscript. There are old Latin ones, and Coptic ones as well - all scattered across the Middle East. The sheer volume of extant and old New Testament manuscripts dwarf any other ancient document from Greece or Rome. This should demonstrate some level of remarkable reliability to all but the most hardened skeptic. If your skepticism doesn't stand up to evidence that seems to disprove it, is it really intellectually honest or just an unwillingness to believe despite significant evidence to the contrary?
Happy Leap Year, Friends! Today is the rarest day in our calendar, with the one exception being the legendary February 30th that sometimes shows up on milk carton expiration dates. Because the Robert Murray M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan that we are following does not include February 29th (or February 30th, for that matter) we could have had a free day today, but that wouldn't be seemly. The pod must go on! Today's Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter. Let's read it and then come back and discuss some reasons to believe in the resurrection and some reasons to believe in the reliability of the Bible. For more reasons to believe: Easter Fact or Fiction - 20 Reasons to Believe Jesus Factually Rose From the Dead Book Jesus Defeated Death - How Can We Know For Sure?! (Episode 44) What Was The Central Event of Christianity? (Episode 17) http://chaseathompson.com/2017/05/17/1-20-reasons-believe-jesus-factually-rose-dead-1-empty-tomb/ http://chaseathompson.com/2017/05/17/2-20-reasons-believe-jesus-factually-rose-dead-2-hysterical-women/ “So if you were going to make up a story about the resurrected Jesus Christ, you would never make up a story like this. You might have some luminescent, radiant Jesus bursting through the doors and everyone shielding their eyes, but instead what do you have? Would you, if you were making up a story do this? He just appears in their midst and says, “Do you have anything to eat?” Look how magnificent. Look what a faith-building experience. “And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it.” Seriously, if you were making up a story about the resurrected Jesus, you just wouldn’t say things like this. Why would this be there? How mundane. How odd. How completely uninspiring. Why would that be there? The only right answer is, if you’re reading literature, it must have happened. Why else would you put it in? Legends are not like this." Pastor Tim Keller - Sermon, Redeemer New York. One of the oddest things about the resurrection accounts in all four gospels is their obvious lack of drama and embellishment. As Dr. Keller points out, Jesus just kind of appears in the midst of the disciples. They do cower, thinking he is a ghost, but after getting their courage back, Jesus quite anticlimactically asks for some boiled fish. If Hollywood had scripted the resurrection, Jesus would have come back in a blaze of glory, surrounded by a fiery glow. Thomas, upon expressing doubts, would have either been divinely smited down, or, Jesus would have answered his doubts with such a perfect put-down, that the disciples would have spent the rest of their lives reminding him how he’d been put in his place by the master. After Jesus met with the disciples, He would have flown off and utterly wiped the floor with Pilate and Herod…maybe even Caesar over in Rome. It would have been a blaze of glory and revenge, and every bad guy would have learned their lesson the hard way. When all was said and done, Jesus would have rocketed back up to Heaven with an amazing display of light and sound. Jesus is back…and this time, it’s personal. That’s what would have happened if the resurrection of Jesus had been mythically embellished or fabricated, or exaggerated or invented. There would have been more drama – more comeuppance for the bad guys, and more adoration for Jesus. Instead, He ate some fish. He had a discussion with Peter about John. He broke bread with Cleopas and another guy walking on the Emmaus road. Other than the coming back from the dead part…it just seems kind of mundane, doesn’t it? Even the ascension into Heaven is downplayed in the Gospels and Acts. Think about it: JESUS FLOATED UP INTO HEAVEN! How amazing that must have been to see, and yet Luke (who describes the ascension in the greatest detail) merely writes this, “51 And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” (Luke 24:51-52) Matthew and John don’t even write about the ascension, and when Luke revisits it in Acts, all he adds is a small little detail about the disciples view of Jesus being blocked by a cloud, and the appearance of two guys (angels?) in white clothes who chide the disciples for looking up at the sky. Any writer – even a mediocre one – could have made that scene sound AMAZING, and could have done so without embellishing or exaggerating even a little bit! And yet, they didn’t…the drama was kept to an absolute minimum. I propose that this is a signifier of real historical testimony, and the trustworthiness and sobriety of the Gospel writers. They didn’t have to add to the story. They didn’t have to stir up drama. They just told it like it happened, and even seemingly downplayed some of the more amazing things. Upon His return, Jesus appeared to the women first, and His brother and Peter and 500 other believers. None of them seem to be particularly important! Why not Herod? Why not Pilate? Why didn’t Jesus seek revenge on His executioners? Maybe organize a beat down of the Roman soldiers who had flogged Him? Alternatively, why didn’t He meet with somebody important like Joseph of Arimathea, or the high priest? Wouldn’t it have been great to have seen Caiaphas’ face when Jesus returned? Wouldn’t that have been a better story? And yet, none of that happened. Instead, what we get is narrative that does not exaggerate nor embellish, and is therefore all the more reliable because of it. Every now and then, I get a bit of a wild hair and promote a Bible Reading Podcast post on Facebook. Please like the Bible Reading Facebook page on Facebook, by the way! Recently, I promoted a post that really brought out some trolls with some interesting swears and anti-Christian memes. No problem there. Also some people came out with some reasons NOT to believe in Jesus. Usually when I hear those, they are quite erroneous, but some folks had some decent responses, so I'd like to share a little bit of the dialog that we had. Lawrence Bible Reading Podcast No Roman historian had actually met Jesus. Elastic stretches and truth ceases to be truth once it is retold. None of the stories in the bible were recorded by anyone who was there at the time that the bible claims that they allegedly happened. The bible stories were written by people without first hand eyewitness account centuries after they were supposed to have happened. I have heard people refer to this as mythology Bible Reading Podcast Lawrence - This is, quite frankly, an absurd argument to make. Why would a Roman historian journey to Israel to meet a Jewish man who - according to the Bible - stayed the entirety of His ministry inside a country that is about 1/3 the size of Scotland? There would be no reason in the world for such a thing to happen. #2 There are exactly THREE Roman historians of any significance that were writing during the time of Jesus' active ministry. Were you aware of this? Here they are: #1 Seneca the Elder. He died in A.D. 39. He wrote a history of Rome, but it is almost entirely lost to history, as are MANY of the books and writings of the first century due to age, disintegration, intentional destruction and events like the fires at the libraries of Antioch and Serapeum. #2 Claudius the emperor - He died in A.D. 49. He wrote copiously - an 8 volume history of Carthage and a 20 volume history of the Etruscans. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST. Did he write about Jesus? I suppose it is possible, but highly unlikely that you would write about Jesus in a history of Carthage and the Etruscans. #3 Marcus Cluvius Rufus - He was a Roman historian and statesmen who wrote during the first century. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST TO HISTORY. So, Lawrence - given that we have THREE Roman historians writing during the time of Jesus, and given the fact that almost 100 percent of their historical works are LOST to history - what conclusions can we draw from this? That's correct - no conclusions whatsoever. Later Roman historians wrote extensively about Jesus. They possibly did during His lifetime too - Or not! - but we have no idea either way. As to the second half of your paragraph - you are again making wild claims without the least bit of evidence backing them up. The New Testament accounts claim to be first hand. They are very early, and there are thousands of Greek manuscripts that back up the claim that they are very early. Were they written in the first century by eyewitnesses? I believe they absolutely were, but I cannot prove that beyond a shadow of doubt. (how could you, really?) I believe the preponderance of evidence over the years indicate they were. There is absolutely ZERO proof - ZERO! That the New Testament accounts were NOT written in the first century by eyewitnesses. Not every scholar agrees on that one way or the other, but there is no evidence - historical, paleographical, or linguistic that indicates that the New Testament accounts were anything other than what they claim to be. Bible Reading Podcast Philip Basically what you are saying, Philip is that you don't trust the reports of the eyewitnesses that were on site for the ministry of Jesus, and that you would only trust the reports of historians that were hundreds of miles away - in their own country - and who's works are lost to history. For a geography refresher, it is worth noting that the distance from Rome to Jerusalem is over 3,500 kilometers. The length of the entire nation of Israel is around 400 kilometers, for perspective. In other words, your skepticism is completely without basis. The four Gospels are eyewitness accounts written by people who lived in the land where the events occurred and lived during the time the events occurred. I suspect the only reason you reject them as reliable is because you don't like their conclusions. Also on your Josephus contention - you are way outside the bounds of modern critical Bible scholarship. I'm not talking about Christian scholars, but scholars of antiquity. There are at least two mentions of Jesus in Josephus. The first and most extensive may indeed be an interpolation, but that has not been 'proved,' as you say. It is quite the matter of debate, though the consensus is that it is indeed an interpolation. The modern scholarly consensus is also that the interpolation was laid on top of an authentic passage about Jesus - just one that was added to by later Christian scholars. The other major mention of Jesus in Josephus is doubted by very few scholars, and almost all of them believe it to be genuine. So the overwhelming consensus of modern critical scholars is that Josephus wrote about Jesus. It is fine if you want to be a skeptic, but you need to know that the vast majority of the skepticism that you have expressed in this post is actually based on faulty historiography, and skeptical theories that most modern scholars dismiss. In an era that lacked internet, telegraph, television and newspapers, the news about Jesus - who spent his entire life in a country 1/3rd the size of Scotland - travelled slowly and organically, but it did indeed reach and transform the ENTIRE Roman Empire. Nobody doubts that fact. A question for you to grapple with in your skepticism is this: How did the testimony and message of Jesus take hold of and transform the entire Roman Empire?? Lest you just assume that they were morons who would believe anything, it might be worth remembering that, historically, many people of this time claimed to be gods, including many of the Roman emperors. How did their message not transform the world, while the message of Jesus did? You can't explain it by money, power, ethnicity, clever strategy or really any other way. Something has to explain the power of the message of Jesus. I believe the explanation is the Resurrection and the Holy Spirit. How do you explain it? One other note - given what you have written so far, I suspect you have a great respect for Roman historians. One of the earliest Roman historians we have surviving works from is Pliny the Younger. He wrote about Christians in the early second century. However, in terms of manuscripts, we have only ONE portion of Pliny's writing that dates to earlier than the 9th century, and it is from the late 5th century - hundreds of years after the events that Pliny records. Historians don't have a problem with this at all, considering we actually have a total of ZERO manuscripts from Greek historians or Roman historians that date to the first century on ANY subject. Pliny the younger's historical records are considered quite reliable, despite the paucity of manuscript evidence to document their connection to the second century. There are many Greek New Testament fragments and manuscripts of the Bible that date MUCH earlier than the oldest surviving Pliny the Younger manuscript. There are old Latin ones, and Coptic ones as well - all scattered across the Middle East. The sheer volume of extant and old New Testament manuscripts dwarf any other ancient document from Greece or Rome. This should demonstrate some level of remarkable reliability to all but the most hardened skeptic. If your skepticism doesn't stand up to evidence that seems to disprove it, is it really intellectually honest or just an unwillingness to believe despite significant evidence to the contrary?
Today's Scripture comes from 1 John 3:16
Today's Scripture comes from Acts 26 with special guest Gideon (Greg's youngest son)
Today's Scripture comes from Exodus 23:19
Today's Scripture comes from Hebrews 4
Today's Scripture comes from Luke 1:76-79.
Today's Scripture comes from Galatians 5:22-26
Today's Scripture comes from Hebrews 10:37-39
Today's Scripture comes from 2nd Peter 1:8
Today's Scripture comes from Romans 12:11
Aug 4, 2019 12:00 PM "Discouragement is a common experience for all of us. What varies is the cause or resons for our discouragement. Issues of extreme importance to one person may not even be a concern to another. What are you presently discouraged over, or what have you recently been discouraged by? Today's Scripture shows us five ways that God will encourage us."
Today's Scripture comes from Luke 6:36
God brings to fruition prophecies from Elijah; Hazael becomes king of Syria, Jehu becomes king of Israel and the Avenger of God against Ahab and Jezebel. Today's Scripture: 2 Kings 8:27-29; 2 Chron 22:7; 2 Kings 9:30-37; 2 Kings 10:1-11; 2 Kings 10:12-17; 2 Chron 22:8-12;2 Kings 10:18-31.
Elisha reconfirms prophecies from Elijah that will carry our God's plans. Today's Resources: 1 Kings 19:13-18. Today's Scripture: 2 Kings:23-24;2 Chron 21:19-20;2 Kings 8:25-27; 2 Chron 22:1-4; 2 Kings 8:7-15; 2Kings 8:28-29; 2 Chron 22:5-6; 2Kings 9:14b-15;2 Kings 9:1-26.
Ms.Teniecka shares with us on today about Emotional Safety Planning. Self Care is important for those in and out of Domestic Violence. Take a listen as shares prayers and a very important message. Domestic Violence is very serious. If you are caught in the cycle please reach out. Ms.Teniecka will be happy to listen and encourage you. Please also call the #NationalDomesticViolenceHotline at: 1-800-799-SAFE. Remember it is not your fault. Learn the signs and gain more knowledge. When you know better you are truly able to better. You have to make informed decisions. Today's Scripture is from Isaiah 32:18. This Show Sponosors: "The Gift of Finding God's Love: Guilt and Shame Turned into my Shine" The LAFF, Inc. Podcast and LAFF, Inc organization. This organization helps Veterans touched by Domestic Violence. It also helps thise who have children with Austism. They help by crafting Purpose, healing families& Creating New Paths. For volunteer opportunities please contact (657) 222-1597. LAFF, Inc is also looking for available spaces to host activities. Please contact them and help them as they help others. Website: www.lovingarmsforfamilies.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/GGTHW/message
God helps Jehoshaphat against the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites. We explore the meaning of the word "Selah" found in so many psalms. Today's Resources: Job 28:15-16, 19; Lamentations 1:15; I Chron 15:199-22; www.mountainretreatorg.net Today's Scripture: 2 Chronicles 20:1-12,13-30; Psalm 115; Psalm 46
Hey there! I am Jami Amerine and today’s episode is brought to you by Jennifer Willerton: Independent Beauty Consultant. Follow this link to see all the AMAZING beauty and skin care products Jennifer offers and message her to learn about a special offer she has JUST FOR MY LISTENERS! And, you won't believe what a great deal it is! Today's Episode Season 2 Episode 2 Coping with Unanswered Prayer: Jesus Hurt my Feelings... This is just one of the blog posts I will be doing a sound recording of and I think it is an important one. We are all faced with the test of choosing to believe when we haven't been heard the way we hoped. Today's Scripture is: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18 If you would like to delve deeper into this topic you can find an extension in my Etsy shop! Just follow this link https://www.etsy.com/listing/667089951/digital-download-sacred-ground-sticky and it will take you to the download which is just $3.00 and a portion of all the purchases in my Etsy benefit upbring.org. A non-profit foster care, adoption, and foster care reform program I adore!. Until next time friends, Jesus be all over you! Love, Jami
In this episode, David's dynasty in Judah goes from Rehoboam to Abijah to Asa. Israel's kings go from Jeroboam to Nadab to Baasha. Today's Scripture: 1 Kings 14:30; 2 Chronicles 12:13-16; 1 Kings 15:1-2; 2 Chronicles 13:4-22; 2 Chronicles 14:1-8; I Kings 14:19-32, 9-15; 2 Chronicles 15:1-19.
Predestination can be a sticky topic, but we’re talking about it today. Why? Because according to Ephesians 1, it’s glorifying to God. And anything glorifying to God is nothing to ignore or be ashamed of or afraid to bring up at the dinner table. So if you’re ready, because you know I’m ready, let’s dive in and dig a little deeper into God’s Word today.Website >>>> https://deeperdevos.org/Today's Scripture >>>> https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=ESV
Today's Scripture portion focuses on what "they" do to Jesus, and naturally asks the question to us, What will we do with Jesus?
On Good Shepherd Sunday, Dr. Larry R. Hayward looks at how the scriptures can be a mirror through which we see ourselves and our world--in both our beauty and our fallenness. Today's Scripture lesson is John 10:22-39.
On this Transfiguration Sunday, the Rev. Casey W. FitzGerald looks at this strange story--of a mysterious, wild, and holy mountaintop encounter--and wonders what is going on in the valley. Today's Scripture is Luke 9:28-36.
Today, Westminster ordains and installs this year's class of elders and deacons, our lay leaders of the church. Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward looks to God's call of Jeremiah to show us how we can serve not just Westminster, but our community, our city, our nation, and the world. Today's Scripture passage is Jeremiah 1:4-10.
Rev. Patrick A. Hunnicutt asks, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" Today's Scripture lesson is Luke 3:7-18.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward preaches about the benefits of faith in the face of fearfulness. Today's Scripture lesson is Leviticus 26:36-37 and Psalm 1:1-3.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward concludes the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we have been taking a look at our past, present, and future of our congregation. Today, Dr. Hayward explains how the organizational changes in the challenge budget issued by our Session can benefit Westminster as we move forward into 2016. Today's Scripture lesson focuses on various verses: 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Galatians 2:7-10; 2 Timothy 1:14; 1 Peter 2:23; and Jude 1:3.
Rev. Casey W. FitzGerald continues the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. Today's Scripture lesson is Matthew 28:16-20, and is read by Rev. Dr. George A. Pera, Pastor Emeritus.
Rev. Patrick A. Hunnicutt continues the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. Today's Scripture lesson is Mark 10:17-27.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward continues the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. This Sunday, Dr. Hayward examines how and why people find a church home at Westminster. Today's Scripture lesson is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward continues the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. This Sunday, Dr. Hayward talks about the purpose of preaching and how faith comes by hearing. Today's Scripture lesson is Romans 10:14-15, 17 (KJV).
Rev. Casey W. FitzGerald continues the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. This Sunday, Rev. FitzGerald took a cue from RENT and asked us, "How do you measure a year?" Today's Scripture lesson is Mark 9:30-37.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward begins the fall sermon series, "Westminster at 75." As our 75th anniversary approaches, we take a look at our past, present, and future as a congregation. This Sunday, we explored how genuine friendships in the life of the church comfort us in times of need and lift us in times of joy. Today's Scripture lesson is Romans 16:1-16.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward concludes the summer sermon series, "Christ and Culture." Today's Scripture lesson is Romans 3:21-26.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward continues the summer sermon series, "Christ and Culture." Today's Scripture lesson is John 3:16-21.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward continues the summer sermon series, "Christ and Culture." Today's Scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:16--5:10.
Rev. Dr. Larry R. Hayward begins a seven-week summer series, "Christ and Culture." Today's Scripture is Romans 6:9a, 10-11 and Hebrews 4:14a, 16.
Kingdom Intervention is a daily inspirational empowerment message used to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. Each week Monday-Friday you will receive a fresh word of encouragement to empower you to overcome the world we live in with a Kingdom perspective. Today's Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Today's Prayer: Father allow my light to shine before men that they may see my good works and to cause them to praise you. Let not my light be hide from the world but rather it be liek on a rooftop for the world to see. Thank you father, in the name of Jesus. Amen!