Podcasts about today's scriptures

Today Heather shares a devotional that reminds each of us of the place of hope. She says hope is how she gets out of bed in the morning. Hope is how she leans into the tensions of this life. It requires our vulnerability, but it also provides us with strength to keep going. Heather will be bringing you one more meditation next week to close out 2023. We hope these devotionals have challenged your mind, encouraged your heart, and strengthened your hands. Today's Scriptures, as rendered in the Christian Standard Bible, are Genesis 14:14 and Philippians 4:12: “When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household…” “I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.” Host Bio Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including I'll See You Tomorrow and It's Not Your Turn. Reach out to Heather on X, the app formerly known as Twitter at @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Get Heather's weekly inspirational email delivered to your inbox every Friday night at 7 PM EST. Sign up now at: www.heatherthompsonday.com/links. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Judge of heaven's courtroom has come from behind the bench, and invited us to come home with him.Today's Scriptures are: Psalm 5; Psalm 6; Exodus 15:1–21; 1 Peter 1:13-25; John 14:18–31This morning's Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90);following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://yhebrew.com/2022/04/22/gods-patterns-shvii-shel-pesach-7-count-omer-6-nissan-21-with-todays-scriptures/ Zola Levitt is remembered this day. He connected The Lord's Feast with a baby's gestation time. It is fitting that he be recognized on Day 7 of Pesach. Today, is also a Sabbath day. There are only six days to eat 'matzah'. Do you know when they are. The Hebrew calendar is God's calendar. He certainly works on both but don't you want to see him everywhere? I do! Listen in...plus I posted the Scriptures prescribed for today. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hadassah-lau/message

Happy Sunday Beautiful People!! Today's Scriptures are John 11:17-27 NIV! Music today is by Robin Mark- Days Of Elijah!! Remember guys ANYTHING is possible with God! I hope you enjoy this episode! #PraiseGod --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/emily-otero-malave/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emily-otero-malave/support

Similar to the difference between "happiness" and "joy", there is a big difference between "love" and...well, "love". Unfortunately the English language is woefully inadequate to distinguish the difference using mere words, but the  Hebrew and the Greek have a much better ability to convey the meaning. This is wonderful news, as there is no question the love that the Godhead has for His creation, and there is no question how we are to love Him, and each other. At least there shouldn't be any question. The fourth Sunday in Advent brings us the Love candle. Join Pastor Jason as he unfolds what the Bible has to tell us about what love is...and isn't. As part of our Advent Season, the Love candle and reading was done by Denyse Stanford   Reverend Jason Robbins Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org)   Today's Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 13 NIV John 13:1-9 NIV Deuteronomy 7:6-9 NIV Isaiah 53:2-5, 10-12 NIV   Morning Service December 19, 2021   If you feel led to support our ministry, you can find us on Tithe.ly.  You can either click here to create an account and give online, or you can download the app for Apple or Android.  (Note: use the "green" app).  Create an account and search for "Highlawn Baptist Church" in "Saint Albans, WV".  Thank you!   FIND US ON YOUTUBE!  Sunday Morning sermons (as well as this sermon) can be found by searching for "Highlawn Baptist" on YouTube, or by clicking here.   Live Streams of Sunday morning services can also be found on YouTube at about 11:00 AM, every Sunday.  Subscribe and "ring the bell" for our YouTube page to be alerted when the live stream starts!  We've now added live streams of our Wednesday evening "Journey Through the Bible" lessons! Join us at 7:00 to walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. PROGRAMMING NOTE: THE "JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE" SERIES IS BACK!   As with this podcast - Subscribe, Like, and Share our YouTube channel to help us get the message of the Good News out to a world in need of hope!

Happy Sunday Beautiful People!! Thank you for listening to this weeks episode!! Today's Scriptures are John 3:16-21 NIV. Today's music is Way Maker By Leeland. I do want to apologize in advance for this sound this week. Im working with what I got lol! But As always I Love you Guys, Jesus Loves you, GOD Loves you! Happy early Birthday to Jesus Our Lord And Savior AMEN

Sermon from the Rev. Barbara Ballenger for the First Sunday of Advent. Today's readings are: Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 Psalm 25:1-9 Readings may be found on LectionaryPage.net: https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Advent/CA... Let us pray. In our family, we are the relatives that travel home. We have always tended to live several hours away from the family core, and so rather than being the ones that host Thanksgiving or Christmas, we're the ones that drive - in our case to all the way to Northeastern Ohio. Now, when we lived in Rochester, New York, we made the arduous trek through Erie, PA every December - for which we should get a special family medal. When we lived in Baltimore MD, the six hour trip home could sometimes become 12 hours because of the curse of The Pennsylvania Turnpike. And as any of you know when you are traveling with young children on such journeys that are long and boring year after year you search for those signs that will help them to know that the journey is nearly over. Are we there yet? "No, but look, it's the Sapp Brothers Coffee Pot. That means we're near Clearfield, we only have an hour to go." And there it would be rising up out of the mountains of Central Pennsylvania , as a sign that we were almost done with that trip home from Cleveland back to State College where we lived at the time. Now apparently that coffee pot is a landmark from Omaha to Pennsylvania and it will lead you if you follow it to a truck stop. I appreciated it more as a sign that better coffee lay ahead if we were only patient. Regardless, it was a sign of hope on a long car trip home. Signs are essential to the upkeep of hope - especially in the long journey that we're on with God. That's because a big part of the life of faith is waiting - waiting for delivery from exile, waiting for an end to oppression and injustice, waiting for the Messiah to arrive, the Kingdom to Come, waiting for Christ to return. Today's Scriptures are a good example - they acknowledge that longing of God's people. "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah," promises Jeremiah. "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith," writes Paul to the dear community of the Thessalonians; the first community he founded. "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near," Luke's Gospel quotes Jesus as saying, after he enumerates the various things that will happen before God's glory is fully revealed. Advent is a season that relishes waiting - waiting for a coming Christmas that we know has already arrived. Waiting for a second coming of which we know not the time or the place. To help us through, God sends signs that acknowledge our longing. Burning Bushes and 12 plagues. Oil that does not run out. Transfigurations. The Scriptures also offer us prophetic performances and veiled apocalyptic imagery like we have in today's Gospel. And people of faith are notorious for misreading them. God's signs are characteristically inexplicit in their timing, and when made into predictions, they invariably let us down. There is an art to reading God's signs. Now, when my husband Jess and I met in college and began to spend lots of time together, we often found ourselves looking for someplace to eat. We'd leave a class wondering which of the half dozen dining establishments in Kent, Ohio, would we choose that day. Let's follow the signs, Jess would say. A fallen branch on the sidewalk would suggest we go left. A crumpled piece of notebook paper sent us forward. A shadow pointing a certain way would steer us in another direction. Inevitably we'd end up at Wendy's. I would not say that this was God's will. Divine signs don't work like that. Now the Apostle Paul, on the other hand, was very good at reading God's signs. I think he saw them everywhere, especially in the communities of faith that he helped to found. Listen to his delight in the Thessalonian community that he is separated from and longing for: "How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?" he writes to them. They are the sign that Paul turns to in order to endure the long slog of his work as an apostle. They give him hope as the Body of Christ in action in real time. The Thessalonians are not perfect - he knows that their faith is lacking in places. But that doesn't limit his joy. They are enough for him, because they speak to the presence of Christ among the faithful, even as they await Jesus' coming in glory. Here is the true power of God's signs; of Christ's promises. They answer some of our most persistent questions, though not the one we usually find ourselves asking. More often than not, we cry out with the psalmist, "How long O Lord?" And we think what we want is a day and a time. But the questions that God answers are: Are you still with us, Lord? Will everything be OK? And to those questions God answers: "stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." The Kingdom of God is at hand. Redemption is drawing near. God is with us. This is what God's signs reveal as we journey from the now of God's will to the not yet of God's promises. Because God knows that it hardly helps us to know how much time it will be exactly before our longing ends, when it's the present moment that feels like an eternity and seems so hard to endure. Often when things are very near their completion, time seems to slow down and stand still. I remember this from when I was in labor with my kids, and in that last week before they were born, everything just stopped and the inevitable seemed like it was never going to happen. Waiting for news - good or bad - can feel like this. Keeping vigil at a death can feel like this. And then in an instant everything changes, and the end begins. So we can't really trust our sense of time, and the impatience we find ourselves in because of it, but we can acknowledge our longing for the fullness of God's love to be revealed, for the return of Christ in glory, for the new world coming. And at the same time, we can relish the evidence of it along the way. And very often it is not in the earthquakes or the roaring of the seas that God's presence is signified, as much as it's in communities of faith, like Paul's dear Thessalonians or our faith community here. God's signs abound here. Quotidian maybe, but astonishing to me all the same - the compassionate listening, the waiting by the bedside, the checking in on one another, the sharing at morning prayer, the ability to forgive or to try something new. These too are God's signs. They answer the questions: Are you still with us, Lord? Will everything be OK? And in these signs God answers:" I am here. I am with you. And all will be well." Amen. Permission to podcast/stream music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187 and CCLI with license #21234241 and #21234234. All rights reserved. Video, photographs, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org

Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:13 John 14:13,14 John 16:24 Psalm 37:4 Mark 11:12-14 Matthew 15:8 Mark 11:20,21, 22, 23,24 Thank you for listening to Light Words with Pastor Scott Huffman from Lighthouse Church. Follow and like us Facebook.com/LNLighthouse and Instagram.com/LNLighthouse

Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:13 John 14:13,14 John 16:24 Psalm 37:4 Mark 11:12-14 Matthew 15:8 Mark 11:20,21, 22, 23,24 Thank you for listening to Light Words with Pastor Scott Huffman from Lighthouse Church. Follow and like us Facebook.com/LNLighthouse and Instagram.com/LNLighthouse

Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:13 John 14:13,14 John 16:24 Psalm 37:4 Mark 11:12-14 Matthew 15:8 Mark 11:20,21, 22, 23,24 Thank you for listening to Light Words with Pastor Scott Huffman from Lighthouse Church. Follow and like us Facebook.com/LNLighthouse and Instagram.com/LNLighthouse

Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:13 John 14:13,14 John 16:24 Psalm 37:4 Mark 11:12-14 Matthew 15:8 Mark 11:20,21, 22, 23,24 Thank you for listening to Light Words with Pastor Scott Huffman from Lighthouse Church. Follow and like us Facebook.com/LNLighthouse and Instagram.com/LNLighthouse

Christians throughout history have experienced periods of peaceful existence wedged into an overall existence of persecution and oppression. We were never promised our "best life now" as many health, wealth, and prosperity preachers contort the Bible to say, in fact quite the opposite. Jesus promised us that the world would hate us, because it hates Him. Even today we see areas of extreme persecution, areas of relatively peaceful existence, and areas we clearly observe shifting sands of change. True believers aren't focused on the here and now. Yes, we are to be lights in this world, to be in the world but not like the world, we are commanded to GO and TELL, but this is not our home - we are strangers in a strange land. Our home, our destination is Heaven. And as if a life in the full presence of our Savior, in Paradise isn't enough, we have been promised "rewards"..."crowns" based on how we lived our lives on this spinning, celestial ball. And, as if it could possibly get better than that...it does! We will take the crowns we've earned while on earth and lay them at the feet of the very one that laid down His life for us. How...amazing...is...that?? Join Pastor Jason as he looks ahead, looks to our eternal home, and specifically to the crowns that have been promised to us for a life of worship and obedience to our God and Savior!   Reverend Jason Robbins Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org) Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:6-11 NIV 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NIV Revelation 2:8-10 NIV 2 Timothy 4:1-8 NIV 1 Peter 5:1-7 NIV 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NIV 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 NIV   Morning Service August 15, 2021   If you feel led to support our ministry, you can find us on Tithe.ly.  You can either click here to create an account and give online, or you can download the app for Apple or Android.  (Note: use the "green" app).  Create an account and search for "Highlawn Baptist Church" in "Saint Albans, WV".  Thank you!   FIND US ON YOUTUBE!  Sunday Morning sermons (as well as this sermon) can be found by searching for "Highlawn Baptist" on YouTube, or by clicking here.   Live Streams of Sunday morning services can also be found on YouTube at about 11:00 AM, every Sunday.  Subscribe and "ring the bell" for our YouTube page to be alerted when the live stream starts!  We've now added live streams of our Wednesday evening "Journey Through the Bible" lessons! Join us at 7:00 to walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. PROGRAMMING NOTE: THE "JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE" SERIES IS BACK!   As with this podcast - Subscribe, Like, and Share our YouTube channel to help us get the message of the Good News out to a world in need of hope!

 Today's Scriptures reveal to us the importance of a Sacred Meal.To read this week's readings, go to: usccb.org

Throughout all of history, the concept of "freedom" has been debated over, fought over, won, and lost. Today there are countries where people are struggling for any freedom they can get, other countries are in a gray area of freedom, and still others are getting very nervous that their freedoms are being lost. As we, in the United States of America celebrate our July 4th, Independence Day holiday, we are among the peoples becoming more and more concerned that our freedoms in general and our religious freedoms specifically are being threatened.  Regardless of that debate, those of us that are truly saved in Christ know that our truth, our foundation is found in God's Word. We may be citizens of a country, but we are also (and more importantly) citizens of Heaven. Our freedom, our liberty, is truly and eternally found in one place - Jesus Christ. Although the human side can be frail, we know that the Born-Again Christian locked in the deepest, darkest dungeon of the most oppressive country run by the most tyrannical ruler is more free than one who is unsaved, living a life of decadence in an earthly paradise. For the unsaved individual, life is imprisonment and enslavement to sin and death, despite what it may appear on the human surface.  Join Pastor Jason as he further reveals what God's Word has to say about the freedom we have in Jesus Christ and the responsibility that comes with that freedom.    Reverend Jason Robbins Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org)   Today's Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 NIV Galatians 5:2-6 NIV Ephesians 2:1-5 NIV 2 Corinthians 3:13-18 NIV Romans 6:15-23 NIV   Morning Service July 04, 2021   If you feel led to support our ministry, you can find us on Tithe.ly.  You can either click here to create an account and give online, or you can download the app for Apple or Android.  (Note: use the "green" app).  Create an account and search for "Highlawn Baptist Church" in "Saint Albans, WV".  Thank you!   FIND US ON YOUTUBE!  Sunday Morning sermons (as well as this sermon) can be found by searching for "Highlawn Baptist" on YouTube, or by clicking here.   Live Streams of Sunday morning services can also be found on YouTube at about 11:00 AM, every Sunday.  Subscribe and "ring the bell" for our YouTube page to be alerted when the live stream starts!  We've now added live streams of our Wednesday evening "Journey Through the Bible" lessons! Join us at 7:00 to walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. PROGRAMMING NOTE: THE "JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE" SERIES WILL BE TAKING A BREAK OVER THE SUMMER. Join us again in August when we restart the series!    As with this podcast - Subscribe, Like, and Share our YouTube channel to help us get the message of the Good News out to a world in need of hope!

Today Mr. Quinton Jones was the guest speaker at Highlawn. Mr. Jones is a member of The Gideons International, a ministry consisting of, "...Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through associating together for service, sharing personal testimony, and by providing Bibles and New Testaments." If you've ever opened a drawer in a hotel and found a Bible, odds are it came from The Gideons. But that sector of their ministry is just one of many The Gideons are involved in.  Listen as Mr. Jones shares his personal experience and shows in the Bible how we should expect God to move in unexpected ways, if we're faithful to the calling to share the Gospel.  If you would like to help support the ministry of The Gideons, you can do this in a variety of ways, a few of which are: Online directly: https://www.gideons.org/donate Sending your donation to Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org for more information) and designating that you'd like your donation to be forwarded to The Gideons International.    Guest Speaker: Mr. Quinton Jones Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org)   Today's Scriptures: 2 Kings 5:9-14 KJV   Morning Service June 27, 2021   If you feel led to support our ministry, you can find us on Tithe.ly.  You can either click here to create an account and give online, or you can download the app for Apple or Android.  (Note: use the "green" app).  Create an account and search for "Highlawn Baptist Church" in "Saint Albans, WV".  Thank you!   FIND US ON YOUTUBE!  Sunday Morning sermons (as well as this sermon) can be found by searching for "Highlawn Baptist" on YouTube, or by clicking here.   Live Streams of Sunday morning services can also be found on YouTube at about 11:00 AM, every Sunday.  Subscribe and "ring the bell" for our YouTube page to be alerted when the live stream starts!  We've now added live streams of our Wednesday evening "Journey Through the Bible" lessons! Join us at 7:00 to walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. PROGRAMMING NOTE: THE "JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE" SERIES WILL BE TAKING A BREAK OVER THE SUMMER. Join us again in August when we restart the series!    As with this podcast - Subscribe, Like, and Share our YouTube channel to help us get the message of the Good News out to a world in need of hope!

Happy Mother's Day!  We pray all the blessings of God for mothers everywhere.  You hold a very special, very crucial role in the lives of your children, your family, and your world!  Thank you! Paul had a very special relationship with Timothy, calling him his "son in the faith".  Because of this special bond, and the promise that Paul saw, Paul invested very heavily into Timothy, with the entirety of his being. A parallel can easily be drawn between the way Paul invested into Timothy, and how a mother should invest into the life of her child. This can be further expanded to all Christians, investing into the lives of others.  Join our guest speaker, once again, Pastor Todd McClure, as he outlines how Paul took the time and expended the effort to invest into Timothy, for God's glory, and the sake of the kingdom.    Guest Speaker: Pastor Todd McClure, Minister of Missions and Finance, West Virginia Baptist Convention Highlawn Baptist Church (www.HighlawnBaptistChurch.org)   Today's Scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:1-7 ESV   Morning Service May 9, 2021   If you feel led to support our ministry, you can find us on Tithe.ly.  You can either click here to create an account and give online, or you can download the app for Apple or Android.  (Note: use the "green" app).  Create an account and search for "Highlawn Baptist Church" in "Saint Albans, WV".  Thank you!   FIND US ON YOUTUBE!  Sunday Morning sermons (as well as this sermon) can be found by searching for "Highlawn Baptist" on YouTube, or by clicking here.   Live Streams of Sunday morning services can also be found on YouTube at about 11:00 AM, every Sunday.  Subscribe and "ring the bell" for our YouTube page to be alerted when the live stream starts!  We've now added live streams of our Wednesday evening "Journey Through the Bible" lessons! Join us at 7:00 to walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.    As with this podcast - Subscribe, Like, and Share our YouTube channel to help us get the message of the Good News out to a world in need of hope!

What were you doing in your early teen years? Making friends in high school? Playing video games? Fighting bears and lions to protect your sheep and being anointed future king of your entire country? Hm. One of those three began the story of a major Biblical character (you can probably guess which one) - and for good reason! Today, we dive into the highs and lows of David's life, exploring the lessons that come from both power and humility as we seek God's will. Today's Scriptures: 1 Samuel 16:4-13 // Acts 13:22

It would be easy to give the "greatest commander of all time" award to Patton or Sherman, but let's be honest: they had tanks. Who else in history can claim that they conquered a small fortified city-state with marching and trumpets? THAT takes some divine intervention. Of course, today we're exploring the life and story of Joshua. Joshua has a fascinating story that extends far before and beyond Jericho's walls coming a-tumbling down. A river that stops flowing, supernatural fear in the hearts of foreign kings, an angelic messenger, and an incredible number of monuments and memorials -- there is SO MUCH to learn from Joshua's story. Today, Pastor Greg unpacks all of this and more as we learn today's lessons from history's greatest. Today's Scriptures: (you might notice a theme) Joshua 3:15-17 // Joshua 4:1-7 // Joshua 5:1 // Joshua 5:13-15 // Joshua 7:24-26 // Joshua 24:14-18

Here's a twist of terminology you may not recognize if you're over 30: today, it's a good thing to be called a goat. That's right, G.O.A.T. is now an acronym representing the "Greatest Of All Time" -- who's the GOAT basketball player, Lebron or Jordan? Who's the GOAT boxer? Who's the GOAT DJ? Arguments and theories abound in every category. Only one thing is consistent across the board: there's something uniquely worthy of admiration and emulation from everyone nominated for the title. Here at Light of the World, we're taking a Biblical view: who's the greatest prophet? The greatest disciple? The greatest disciple-maker? We're going to make a few educated guesses, and support our hypotheses with scripture. More than that, though, we're excited to dig into those qualities and attributes of GOAT-hood worthy of our study, learning how to better represent Jesus on earth. Today's Scriptures: 1 Kings 17:1-16 // 1 Kings 18:1-2 // James 5:17 // Matthew 5:3-12

Today's Scriptures come from Luke 6.31; Mark 12.31; Deuteronomy 6.5; Leviticus 19.18; Romans 5.8. As always, you can download our free journal resource at unitedchurch.love/2020

Today's Scriptures come from Psalm 105.43; Isaiah 51.11; Luke 2.10; Luke 10.21; Matthew 5.21 As always, you can download our free journal resource at unitedchurch.love/2020

Today's Scriptures come from Isaiah 8.17; Psalm 130.5-7; Psalm 39.7; 1 Peter 1.3-4. As always, you can download our free journal resource at unitedchurch.love/2020

Today's Scriptures come from Isaiah 9.5-6; John 14.27; Romans 5.1-2; Ephesians 2.14-15; Colossians 1.19-20. As always, you can download our free journal resource at unitedchurch.love/2020

Today's Scriptures are from Psalm 146.7-9; Jeremiah22.3; Mark 12.28-34. You can download the BREAD Journal from unitedchurch.love/2020

Romans 6 Living a Life of Gods Rest as One in Christ Verses 6 Through 8 welcomes you to our continued explanatory view on the High Call of God in Christ Jesus. Today's Scriptures are taken from the Amplified Version Bible and it is here that Sister Lara shares more about God's breath to shape, mold, form, bring to the size and image in Christ through His breath so that He can enter into through the Door--who is His Dear Son, and live in each of our hearts. It is there in that place, that as we choose as the act of our will to recognize that position of God in our hearts that we are vitally connected and joined to His ability perfectly positioned in Life in the power of the Resurrection. For prayer: Windows of Heaven Prayer Group Foundations of God's Rest & Righteousness Thanks for listening in today, Steal Away in the Secret Place, Today! Sister Lara --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sister-lara7/message

Welcome in to the show that my middle daughter says is a little bit too long, but C.S. Lewis has called the finest podcast he's ever listened to. Today's Scriptures feature the emotional reuniting of Joseph with his brothers and Benjamin in Genesis 43. We also find out the interesting tidbit that Egyptians consider it disgusting to eat at the same table as Hebrews for some odd reason. Sadly, the sin and stain of racism finds a foothold in almost every culture and people. In Job 9 we see Job answering the charges of his 'friend' Bildad, who has suggested that Job's children were killed because of their sins and he has urged Job to turn to God and be healed and refreshed, but Job says that he is too afraid of God to seek Him. Mark 13 is a much shorter version of the Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24, and it is centered on the end-times teaching of Jesus. Romans 13 urges Christians to submit to governing authorities, to be good citizens and to put on the person and ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of the ways of the world. Today we will conclude (or, rather pause) our discussion of dreams, visions and the more supernatural gifts of the Spirit. It is a subject we will return to in earnest at the end of February when we read 1 Corinthians 12-14, which represents the longest extended teaching in the Bible on the gifts of the Spirit. We received an anonymous bit of feedback on the the website today, and also heard from quite a few people on social media, most of whom seemed to indicate that they had an experience or two with God communicating to them via dreams. I have dreamed a true dream. I will not give the details, because it does not reflect well upon the dreamer nor those dreamt of. But it happened on a Saturday night, and it came to pass, with some metaphorical license, the following morning. From this dream I learned that the praise and worship of the Living God is of infinitely more importance than our individual strife. In considering whether or not spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy and the like have ceased, and the very related question of whether God still speaks to His people via dreams and visions, it should be noted that the Bible does not make an obvious separation between what most would call 'supernatural' gifts and the more mundane gifts. For instance, consider our passage from yesterday in Romans 12, and then read the short list in 1 Corinthians 12: 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:6-8  28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But desire the greater gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:28 In these two lists, we see that there seems to be no delineation between gifts like healing, tongues and prophecy and gifts like teaching, helping, administrating, giving and service. If the Bible somehow taught that SOME of those gifts (that we are twice commanded to desire) will cease very soon after the compilation of the New Testament, then one would think that the New Testament writers would clearly categorize the gifts between temporary and permanent, but the very opposite is true. They are all mixed together in spiritual gift lists in a way that seems to argue against some of them being temporary and some permanent. Sam Storms, writing for the Gospel Coalition (which is a group of Christians that are devoted to Jesus and His Word - and includes BOTH cessationists like Thomas Schreiner and continuationists like Storms) makes the case that there does not seem to be any Scripture that indicates that some of the listed gifts will cease at some point. (With the exception of 1 Corinthians 13:8, discussed yesterday) Furthermore, beginning with Pentecost and continuing throughout the book of Acts, whenever the Spirit is poured out on new believers they experience his charismata. There is nothing to indicate these phenomena were restricted to them and then. Such appear to be both widespread and common in the NT church. Christians in Rome (Rom. 12), Corinth (1 Cor. 12-14), Samaria (Acts 8), Caesarea (Acts 10), Antioch (Acts 13), Ephesus (Acts 19), Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5), and Galatia (Gal. 3) experience the miraculous and revelatory gifts. It's difficult to imagine how the NT authors could have spoken any more clearly about what new covenant Christianity is supposed to look like. In other words, the burden of proof rests with the cessationist. If certain gifts of a special class have ceased, the responsibility is his or hers to prove it. We must also give room to the explicit and oft-repeated purpose of the charismata: namely, the edification of Christ's body (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3, 26). Nothing I read in the NT or see in the condition of the church in any age, past or present, leads me to believe we've progressed beyond the need for edification—and therefore beyond the need for the contribution of the charismata. I freely admit that spiritual gifts were essential for the birth of the church, but why would they be any less important or needful for its continued growth and maturation? There is also the fundamental continuity or spiritually organic relationship between the church in Acts and the church in subsequent centuries. No one denies there was an era or period in the early church that we might call “apostolic.” We must acknowledge the significance of the personal, physical presence of the apostles and their unique role in laying the foundation for the early church. But nowhere does the NT ever suggest that certain spiritual gifts were uniquely and exclusively tied to them or that the gifts passed with their passing. The universal church or body of Christ that was established and gifted through the ministry of the apostles is the same universal church and body of Christ today. We are together with Paul and Peter and Silas and Lydia and Priscilla and Luke members of the same one body of Christ. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/continuationist/ Sam Storms Ultimately, I agree with Storms. The burden of proof is on the cessationist to show that certain New Testament teachings are no longer valid or applicable, and I have yet to read a cessationist argument from Scripture that demonstrates this. Yes, there are absolutely people who go way beyond the bounds of the Bible in their practice of some spiritual gifts but this counterfeit behavior (which could be demonic in some cases, or simply fleshly immaturity in others) does not disprove the genuine and biblical operation of some spiritual gifts any more than the prevalence of false teachers in the U.S. today invalidates the possibility of any real Bible teaching. I believe that Peter's quote in Acts 2 settles the issue of the contemporary occurrence of dreams and visions from God for us. God promises in the Old and New Testament that He will pour out His Spirit on people "in the last days," and that they will see visions and dream dreams. This passage indicates that dreams and visions will happen in the last days. Since Peter suggests that Pentecost is a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy about the Spirit being poured out and dreams/visions coming, then I can't see how that is not valid for us today. I don't think we've moved past 'the last days,' and I see no Scripture in the entire Bible that indicates that God has stopped speaking to His people in these ways. And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 Let's be real: Would it be easier if God ONLY spoke to Christians through His Word? Would it be less messy, easier to manage, etc? Absolutely it would. There are way too many false prophets and false dreamers out there, and you can see them daily in your social media feed, and you can easily find them by turning on your television. So many false teachers and believers out there that are preying on widows and stealing from the vulnerable. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be of the continuationist/charismatic bent. But humans and church leaders don't get to make the call that God no longer does this or that because some people are abusing it. We don't have that power. Instead, we must seek to hold people to the Word of God, rather than nullify it. We uphold the absolute authority of God's Word - not by changing it to stamp out heresy, but by walking according to it. 19 Don't stifle the Spirit. 20 Don't despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 DON'T stifle the Spirit DON'T despise prophecies Test ALL things HOLD on to what is GOOD STAY AWAY from every kind of EVIL. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn't a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Go to God's instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. Isaiah 8:19-20 Should we separate over these issues? I do not believe so. We will discuss this question in depth in two days, when we get to Paul's beautiful and majestic call to oneness in Romans 15. I'll close with two more gems from Spurgeon. One a dream with a profound meaning and the other a caution about the importance of esteeming dreams and extra-biblical revelation overmuch. A certain king would build a cathedral, and, that the credit of it might be all his own, he forbade anyone to contribute to its erection in the least degree. A tablet was placed in the side of the building, and on it his name was carved as the builder. But one night he saw in a dream an angel, who came down, and erased his name; and the name of a poor widow appeared in its stead. This was three times repeated, when the enraged king summoned the woman before him, and demanded, “What have you been doing, and why have you broken my commandment?” The trembling widow replied, “I loved the Lord, and longed to do something for his name, and for the building up of his church. I was forbidden to touch it in any way, so in my poverty I brought a wisp of hay for the horses that drew the stones.” Then the king saw that he had laboured for his own glory, but the widow for the glory of God, and he commanded that her name should be inscribed upon the tablet C. H. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes & 2: Genesis to Malachi, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 369–370. Remember, it is “whosoever calls upon the name of God,” not whosoever dreams about him. Dreams may do good. Sometimes people have been frightened out of their senses in them; and they were better out of their senses than they were in, for they did more mischief when they were in their senses than they did when they were out; and the dreams did good in that sense. Some people, too, have been alarmed by dreams; but to trust to them is to trust to a shadow, to build your hopes on bubbles, scarcely needing a puff of wind to burst them into nothingness. Oh, remember, you want no vision, no marvellous appearance! If you have had a vision, or a dream, you need not despise it; it may have benefited you: but do not trust to it C. H. Spurgeon, Words of Wisdom for Daily Living (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 89–90.

Welcome in to the show that my middle daughter says is a little bit too long, but C.S. Lewis has called the finest podcast he's ever listened to. Today's Scriptures feature the emotional reuniting of Joseph with his brothers and Benjamin in Genesis 43. We also find out the interesting tidbit that Egyptians consider it disgusting to eat at the same table as Hebrews for some odd reason. Sadly, the sin and stain of racism finds a foothold in almost every culture and people. In Job 9 we see Job answering the charges of his 'friend' Bildad, who has suggested that Job's children were killed because of their sins and he has urged Job to turn to God and be healed and refreshed, but Job says that he is too afraid of God to seek Him. Mark 13 is a much shorter version of the Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24, and it is centered on the end-times teaching of Jesus. Romans 13 urges Christians to submit to governing authorities, to be good citizens and to put on the person and ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of the ways of the world. Today we will conclude (or, rather pause) our discussion of dreams, visions and the more supernatural gifts of the Spirit. It is a subject we will return to in earnest at the end of February when we read 1 Corinthians 12-14, which represents the longest extended teaching in the Bible on the gifts of the Spirit. We received an anonymous bit of feedback on the the website today, and also heard from quite a few people on social media, most of whom seemed to indicate that they had an experience or two with God communicating to them via dreams. I have dreamed a true dream. I will not give the details, because it does not reflect well upon the dreamer nor those dreamt of. But it happened on a Saturday night, and it came to pass, with some metaphorical license, the following morning. From this dream I learned that the praise and worship of the Living God is of infinitely more importance than our individual strife. In considering whether or not spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy and the like have ceased, and the very related question of whether God still speaks to His people via dreams and visions, it should be noted that the Bible does not make an obvious separation between what most would call 'supernatural' gifts and the more mundane gifts. For instance, consider our passage from yesterday in Romans 12, and then read the short list in 1 Corinthians 12: 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:6-8  28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But desire the greater gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:28 In these two lists, we see that there seems to be no delineation between gifts like healing, tongues and prophecy and gifts like teaching, helping, administrating, giving and service. If the Bible somehow taught that SOME of those gifts (that we are twice commanded to desire) will cease very soon after the compilation of the New Testament, then one would think that the New Testament writers would clearly categorize the gifts between temporary and permanent, but the very opposite is true. They are all mixed together in spiritual gift lists in a way that seems to argue against some of them being temporary and some permanent. Sam Storms, writing for the Gospel Coalition (which is a group of Christians that are devoted to Jesus and His Word - and includes BOTH cessationists like Thomas Schreiner and continuationists like Storms) makes the case that there does not seem to be any Scripture that indicates that some of the listed gifts will cease at some point. (With the exception of 1 Corinthians 13:8, discussed yesterday) Furthermore, beginning with Pentecost and continuing throughout the book of Acts, whenever the Spirit is poured out on new believers they experience his charismata. There is nothing to indicate these phenomena were restricted to them and then. Such appear to be both widespread and common in the NT church. Christians in Rome (Rom. 12), Corinth (1 Cor. 12-14), Samaria (Acts 8), Caesarea (Acts 10), Antioch (Acts 13), Ephesus (Acts 19), Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5), and Galatia (Gal. 3) experience the miraculous and revelatory gifts. It's difficult to imagine how the NT authors could have spoken any more clearly about what new covenant Christianity is supposed to look like. In other words, the burden of proof rests with the cessationist. If certain gifts of a special class have ceased, the responsibility is his or hers to prove it. We must also give room to the explicit and oft-repeated purpose of the charismata: namely, the edification of Christ's body (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3, 26). Nothing I read in the NT or see in the condition of the church in any age, past or present, leads me to believe we've progressed beyond the need for edification—and therefore beyond the need for the contribution of the charismata. I freely admit that spiritual gifts were essential for the birth of the church, but why would they be any less important or needful for its continued growth and maturation? There is also the fundamental continuity or spiritually organic relationship between the church in Acts and the church in subsequent centuries. No one denies there was an era or period in the early church that we might call “apostolic.” We must acknowledge the significance of the personal, physical presence of the apostles and their unique role in laying the foundation for the early church. But nowhere does the NT ever suggest that certain spiritual gifts were uniquely and exclusively tied to them or that the gifts passed with their passing. The universal church or body of Christ that was established and gifted through the ministry of the apostles is the same universal church and body of Christ today. We are together with Paul and Peter and Silas and Lydia and Priscilla and Luke members of the same one body of Christ. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/continuationist/ Sam Storms Ultimately, I agree with Storms. The burden of proof is on the cessationist to show that certain New Testament teachings are no longer valid or applicable, and I have yet to read a cessationist argument from Scripture that demonstrates this. Yes, there are absolutely people who go way beyond the bounds of the Bible in their practice of some spiritual gifts but this counterfeit behavior (which could be demonic in some cases, or simply fleshly immaturity in others) does not disprove the genuine and biblical operation of some spiritual gifts any more than the prevalence of false teachers in the U.S. today invalidates the possibility of any real Bible teaching. I believe that Peter's quote in Acts 2 settles the issue of the contemporary occurrence of dreams and visions from God for us. God promises in the Old and New Testament that He will pour out His Spirit on people "in the last days," and that they will see visions and dream dreams. This passage indicates that dreams and visions will happen in the last days. Since Peter suggests that Pentecost is a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy about the Spirit being poured out and dreams/visions coming, then I can't see how that is not valid for us today. I don't think we've moved past 'the last days,' and I see no Scripture in the entire Bible that indicates that God has stopped speaking to His people in these ways. And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 Let's be real: Would it be easier if God ONLY spoke to Christians through His Word? Would it be less messy, easier to manage, etc? Absolutely it would. There are way too many false prophets and false dreamers out there, and you can see them daily in your social media feed, and you can easily find them by turning on your television. So many false teachers and believers out there that are preying on widows and stealing from the vulnerable. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be of the continuationist/charismatic bent. But humans and church leaders don't get to make the call that God no longer does this or that because some people are abusing it. We don't have that power. Instead, we must seek to hold people to the Word of God, rather than nullify it. We uphold the absolute authority of God's Word - not by changing it to stamp out heresy, but by walking according to it. 19 Don't stifle the Spirit. 20 Don't despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 DON'T stifle the Spirit DON'T despise prophecies Test ALL things HOLD on to what is GOOD STAY AWAY from every kind of EVIL. 19 When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn't a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Go to God's instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. Isaiah 8:19-20 Should we separate over these issues? I do not believe so. We will discuss this question in depth in two days, when we get to Paul's beautiful and majestic call to oneness in Romans 15. I'll close with two more gems from Spurgeon. One a dream with a profound meaning and the other a caution about the importance of esteeming dreams and extra-biblical revelation overmuch. A certain king would build a cathedral, and, that the credit of it might be all his own, he forbade anyone to contribute to its erection in the least degree. A tablet was placed in the side of the building, and on it his name was carved as the builder. But one night he saw in a dream an angel, who came down, and erased his name; and the name of a poor widow appeared in its stead. This was three times repeated, when the enraged king summoned the woman before him, and demanded, “What have you been doing, and why have you broken my commandment?” The trembling widow replied, “I loved the Lord, and longed to do something for his name, and for the building up of his church. I was forbidden to touch it in any way, so in my poverty I brought a wisp of hay for the horses that drew the stones.” Then the king saw that he had laboured for his own glory, but the widow for the glory of God, and he commanded that her name should be inscribed upon the tablet C. H. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes & 2: Genesis to Malachi, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 369–370. Remember, it is “whosoever calls upon the name of God,” not whosoever dreams about him. Dreams may do good. Sometimes people have been frightened out of their senses in them; and they were better out of their senses than they were in, for they did more mischief when they were in their senses than they did when they were out; and the dreams did good in that sense. Some people, too, have been alarmed by dreams; but to trust to them is to trust to a shadow, to build your hopes on bubbles, scarcely needing a puff of wind to burst them into nothingness. Oh, remember, you want no vision, no marvellous appearance! If you have had a vision, or a dream, you need not despise it; it may have benefited you: but do not trust to it C. H. Spurgeon, Words of Wisdom for Daily Living (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 89–90.

MAIN POINTS: Romans 8:28-39Romans 8:28 is easy to quote to someone else. But what about when it's your turn to suffer? Is there comfort in this passage? Notice two important things as you consider Paul's words here: (1) All things work together for good but not all things are good. The loss of a job, an overbearing boss, physical illness, or family troubles are not good per se - In fact, often they are the direct result of evil. That's important to observe. Believers are never promised immunity from the problems and pains of the world. Every day we must put up with much that is not good. (2) Nevertheless, good can come out of bad! This verse promises that God uses all the circumstances of our lives - both good and bad - to shape outcomes that accomplish His purposes for us. And His purposes can only be good, because He is good by definition (James 1:17). So how can you make this verse work for you as you face tough, troubling times? Affirm you trust in God's presence. Align your goals with God's purposes. Accept the reliability of God's promises.TODAY'S SCRIPTURES:1 Peter 4:12-192 Corinthians 4:17Ephesians 2:10Philippians 1:6; 2:13Romans 8:10Ephesians 1:5, 11Colossians 1:15, 18John 17:22