Podcasts about when paul

Proper 16 First Psalm: Psalms 16–17 Psalms 16–17 (Listen) You Will Not Abandon My Soul A Miktam1 of David. 16   Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.2   I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;    I have no good apart from you.” 3   As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,    in whom is all my delight.2 4   The sorrows of those who run after3 another god shall multiply;    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out    or take their names on my lips. 5   The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;    you hold my lot.6   The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 7   I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;    in the night also my heart instructs me.48   I have set the LORD always before me;    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9   Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being5 rejoices;    my flesh also dwells secure.10   For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,    or let your holy one see corruption.6 11   You make known to me the path of life;    in your presence there is fullness of joy;    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. In the Shadow of Your Wings A Prayer of David. 17   Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry!    Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!2   From your presence let my vindication come!    Let your eyes behold the right! 3   You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night,    you have tested me, and you will find nothing;    I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.4   With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips    I have avoided the ways of the violent.5   My steps have held fast to your paths;    my feet have not slipped. 6   I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;    incline your ear to me; hear my words.7   Wondrously show7 your steadfast love,    O Savior of those who seek refuge    from their adversaries at your right hand. 8   Keep me as the apple of your eye;    hide me in the shadow of your wings,9   from the wicked who do me violence,    my deadly enemies who surround me. 10   They close their hearts to pity;    with their mouths they speak arrogantly.11   They have now surrounded our steps;    they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.12   He is like a lion eager to tear,    as a young lion lurking in ambush. 13   Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him!    Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,14   from men by your hand, O LORD,    from men of the world whose portion is in this life.8  You fill their womb with treasure;9    they are satisfied with children,    and they leave their abundance to their infants. 15   As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;    when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. Footnotes [1] 16:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 16:3 Or To the saints in the land, the excellent in whom is all my delight, I say: [3] 16:4 Or who acquire [4] 16:7 Hebrew my kidneys instruct me [5] 16:9 Hebrew my glory [6] 16:10 Or see the pit [7] 17:7 Or Distinguish me by [8] 17:14 Or from men whose portion in life is of the world [9] 17:14 Or As for your treasured ones, you fill their womb (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 22 Psalm 22 (Listen) Why Have You Forsaken Me? To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. 22   My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?2   O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,    and by night, but I find no rest. 3   Yet you are holy,    enthroned on the praises1 of Israel.4   In you our fathers trusted;    they trusted, and you delivered them.5   To you they cried and were rescued;    in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6   But I am a worm and not a man,    scorned by mankind and despised by the people.7   All who see me mock me;    they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;8   “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9   Yet you are he who took me from the womb;    you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.10   On you was I cast from my birth,    and from my mother's womb you have been my God.11   Be not far from me,    for trouble is near,    and there is none to help. 12   Many bulls encompass me;    strong bulls of Bashan surround me;13   they open wide their mouths at me,    like a ravening and roaring lion. 14   I am poured out like water,    and all my bones are out of joint;  my heart is like wax;    it is melted within my breast;15   my strength is dried up like a potsherd,    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;    you lay me in the dust of death. 16   For dogs encompass me;    a company of evildoers encircles me;  they have pierced my hands and feet2—17   I can count all my bones—  they stare and gloat over me;18   they divide my garments among them,    and for my clothing they cast lots. 19   But you, O LORD, do not be far off!    O you my help, come quickly to my aid!20   Deliver my soul from the sword,    my precious life from the power of the dog!21     Save me from the mouth of the lion!  You have rescued3 me from the horns of the wild oxen! 22   I will tell of your name to my brothers;    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:23   You who fear the LORD, praise him!    All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,    and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!24   For he has not despised or abhorred    the affliction of the afflicted,  and he has not hidden his face from him,    but has heard, when he cried to him. 25   From you comes my praise in the great congregation;    my vows I will perform before those who fear him.26   The afflicted4 shall eat and be satisfied;    those who seek him shall praise the LORD!    May your hearts live forever! 27   All the ends of the earth shall remember    and turn to the LORD,  and all the families of the nations    shall worship before you.28   For kingship belongs to the LORD,    and he rules over the nations. 29   All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;    before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,    even the one who could not keep himself alive.30   Posterity shall serve him;    it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;31   they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,    that he has done it. Footnotes [1] 22:3 Or dwelling in the praises [2] 22:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet [3] 22:21 Hebrew answered [4] 22:26 Or The meek (ESV) Old Testament: 1 Kings 5–6:1; 1 Kings 6:7 1 Kings 5–6:1 (Listen) Preparations for Building the Temple 5 1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David. 2 And Solomon sent word to Hiram, 3 “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.' 6 Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” 7 As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. 9 My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household.” 10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired, 11 while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors2 of wheat as food for his household, and 20,0003 cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. 12 And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. 13 King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft. 15 Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, 16 besides Solomon's 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. 17 At the king's command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. 18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house. Solomon Builds the Temple 6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. Footnotes [1] 5:1 Ch 5:15 in Hebrew [2] 5:11 A cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters [3] 5:11 Septuagint; Hebrew twenty (ESV) 1 Kings 6:7 (Listen) 7 When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. (ESV) New Testament: Acts 28:1–16 Acts 28:1–16 (Listen) Paul on Malta 28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people1 showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice2 has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. 7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly,3 and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. Paul Arrives at Rome 11 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods4 as a figurehead. 12 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found brothers5 and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. 16 And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him. Footnotes [1] 28:2 Greek barbaroi (that is, non–Greek speakers); also verse 4 [2] 28:4 Or justice [3] 28:10 Greek honored us with many honors [4] 28:11 That is, the Greek gods Castor and Pollux [5] 28:14 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 15, 21 (ESV) Gospel: Mark 14:27–42 Mark 14:27–42 (Listen) 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. Jesus Prays in Gethsemane 32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”1 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” Footnotes [1] 14:34 Or keep awake; also verses 37, 38

Dennis R Wiles FBC Arlington August 22, 2021 2021 A JOURNEY OF FAITH Celebrating 150 Years of Ministry: Appreciating Our Past Anticipating Our Future August 2021 A Faith-Filled Church August 1 – September 4, 2021 The Church: Saved, Sound, and Serving Acts 20:17-38 August 2021: A Faith-Filled Church A Faith-Filled Church Knows What Time It Really Is Understands God's Empowering and Equipping Presence Devoted Gospel-Centered The Church: Saved, Sound, and Serving Acts 20:17-38 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.' ” When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. Context: Paul's final Missionary Journey – destination Jerusalem The Church: Saved and Sound -Gospel is essential -Worship -Grace of God -Kingdom of God -Purpose of God -Faithfulness required for believers -Future inheritance The Church: Serving -Elders -Overseers -Shepherds -Sheep

Scaling Up Nation, I cannot wait to introduce you to Paul Edwards. We met in our Mastermind group and have learned a great deal from one another. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, “When you meet new people, you open the door to new ideas and better ways of doing things that you never would have never thought of if you stayed alone in a silo.” Paul is a first-generation Spanish-speaking immigrant to the US with African heritage and Middle East combat experience. Paul's lived in five different countries, speaks two languages, and holds three passports. Paul wears many hats – he is CEO of a ghostwriting and content creation agency, bestselling author, podcast host, and one of the best people I know at networking. And if that wasn't enough, he is a husband, father, mentor, amateur theologian, men's physique athlete, voice mimic, and recovering insurance salesman.  Yes, Renaissance Man, Paul Edwards does a lot of things really well, but in today's episode, he is going to speak into the power of great communication, generous networking, and authentic relationships. When Paul isn't writing content for clients, you're most likely to find him building relationships and creating opportunities for his network. Bottom line: Paul does two things well: words and people. Your roadside friend, as you travel from client to client.   -Trace    Timestamps:  James' Challenge: Test for microbiological activity in your cooling systems. [5:22] Introducing author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Paul Edwards [8:25] Everyone has a book in them waiting to be written [11:50] Effective internal and external communication [24:10] The key to effective networking is generosity [29:10] The power of Masterminds, shared wisdom, and relationships [35:03] Lightning round questions [45:00]   Quotes: “Our lives are made richer by relationships.”  - Paul Edwards “Stories are compelling and relatable.”  - Paul Edwards “The core of what we do is that we make leaders into better communicators.”  - Paul Edwards “When you have leaders who are great communicators, great things happen.” - Paul Edwards “If you are communicating well, you should see more engagement or sales.” - Paul Edwards “When you are vulnerable, you disarm accusers and make others feel safe.”  - Paul Edwards “If you own a business, you need to run it like you could sell it anytime.” - Trace Blackmore “The book inside us is in the depths, not the shallow end.” - Paul Edwards “When you are writing a non-fiction book, the most boring thing you can do is tell them facts and figures.”  - Paul Edwards   Connect with Paul Edwards: Website: www.thepaulsedwards.com Email: pe@thepauledwards.com   Social: @ThePaulsEdwards   Paul Edward's Published Content: Influencer Networking Secrets - by Paul Edwards Business Beyond Business: How to Gain Magnetic Influence, Meaningful Connection and Profitable Publicity by Becoming a Radically Generous Entrepreneur - by Paul Edwards 10 Secrets to Networking Sucess: How to Build a Network of Super Affiliates That Endorse and Recommend Your Brand In Only 90 Days by - Paul Edwards   Links Mentioned: Episode 205 with Marty Stephens  The Rising Tide Mastermind Last Pass   Events: The US Water Treatment Conference November 3-6   AWT Webinar: Exiting Your Water Treatment Business: How to Prepare for an Eventual Transition – with Michael Warady October 29    Books Mentioned: Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork - by Dan Sullivan The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment  - by John Lee Dumas  Business Secrets from the Bible: Spiritual Success Strategies for Financial Abundance - by Rabbi Daniel Lapin   

Jon and Justin talk about adoption--how God has brought us into his own family through the blood of his Son. We now call God, "Father." The guys also get into some law/gospel stuff and a biblical understanding of God's holiness. Giveaway: "The Bruised Reed" by Richard Sibbes Scripture References: John 2:13-17 Mark 2:23-27 Luke 6:6-11 Luke 13:1-5 Mark 7:1-23 Luke 18:18-27 Luke 15 Matthew 9:12-13 Matthew 11:28-30 Matthew 12:18-21 John 10:14-18 John 14:1-3 John 17:24 Luke 12:32 Luke 7:36-50 Romans 8:15 1 John 3:1 https://youtu.be/mrW_BEPI1Fw Semper Reformanda Transcripts Justin Perdue: Welcome to the Semper Reformanda podcast. I know we were being funny with the title For God So Hated the World, but that is so often how it comes across. "God is just really angry and reluctantly at best is saving sinners. But really, I don't even know if He wants to do that. If it didn't bring in glory, He surely wouldn't do it because He has no interest in our wellbeing." That's just so far from the biblical picture. He is holy, He is righteous, He is just, and He is gracious, merciful, tender, and delights to save sinners, and that's why He is so worthy of worship. Here we are to talk about that more. I'm mindful of Luke 12:32, about how Jesus says, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's delight to give you the kingdom." That's a wonderful thought here, too. But where I'd love to pivot this conversation to is like a Romans 8 idea, along with other passages, of how we have been adopted into God's family. Like 1 John: we're now sons and daughters of God. And how we've not been given a spirit of fear, but we have been given the spirit of adoption through which we cry, "Abba, Father," and God is no longer our judge. God is no longer scary. I'm preaching to myself here. He's no longer scary, He's no longer threatening, He no longer condemns us, He's not our judge anymore—He is our Father. We don't have to do anything to climb up into our Father's arms to be held by Him and to be loved by Him. That's already been given. Jon Moffitt: He picks you up. John 20, Jesus comes out of the tomb and Mary realizes that Jesus is not the gardener, but is Jesus. The King James mistranslated it and it was very confusing. It says, "Don't touch me." Justin Perdue: Don't you criticize the King James version. Jon Moffitt: Oh my. I got myself in trouble with that. She grabs him—I'm imagining that she's holding him around the legs as if she's saying, "I'm not letting you go." Jesus gives her motivation to let go. This is what he says: "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and to your God.'" I love it. It's like he's saying, "We're brothers. We're family. Your Father and my Father." Why can Jesus proclaim the inclusion that he makes? Because he gave the right to adoption to sinners. His blood is the ink on the page that says you belong. It's amazing. Justin Perdue: Thinking about adoption, JI Packer's book Knowing God is a Christian classic. I think the best chapter in that book is the chapter on adoption. Packer makes the argument—and this was written in the 1970s—that it is one of the most neglected doctrines in the Scriptures. Like you said, the ink is literally the blood of the son of God. Our adoption is secure and our status as adopted children is going nowhere. Just to think about God's love for us and how He did these things for us. If we thought more about it, we would be greatly helped—and I think he's right. Martin Luther famously wrote the hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. And there's that line, I think, at the end of the third verse (at least the way we sing it at CBC) where he's talking about the devil. That song is about God being our fortress and how the devil and spiritual warfare is real, but we're safe and secure in the Lord, and in particular in Christ and what he's done for us. But at the end of that one verse, Martin Luther writes that one little word that will fell the devil. Luther was cited as saying that that one little word, as he had it in mind when he wrote the hymn, was Abba and how us being able to call God "Father" is what ultimately undoes the devil in all of his work and power. That's a remarkable thought: God being our Father and us being able to call him that and being able to, with confidence, approach the throne of grace because of God's fatherly, gentle disposition toward us is the undoing of the evil one. What a blessed thought. Jon Moffitt: You said a couple of things. When you are dealing with someone who says, "Yeah, but I think you guys are deemphasizing the holiness of God. And because of that, if you continue to present this position of Jesus, then people will not see it necessary to be holy." Your response to that is? Justin Perdue: A number of thoughts. One of them is what I said in the regular show that I think that when we rightly present the totality of God's nature, rightly emphasizing His holiness, justice, righteousness, and His love and grace and mercy, and help us understand that the holy God is the one who delights to save sinners, what is actually produced by that whole accurate presentation is reverence and awe before the Lord. I am amazed that this God loves me and has saved me and sent His Son to live, suffer, bleed, and die for me to the extent that I am moved to worship and my desire is to love and serve and obey this God. So that's one of my responses. Yes, we uphold the holiness of the Lord and His righteousness so that we can accurately represent Him in His grace and mercy. That is most obviously seen in the work and in the cross of Christ, which I think is the most moving, gripping, epic message in the universe and would produce awe and reverence before the Lord. It would do anything but produce licentiousness, looseness, and apathy towards the things of God. I think, if anything, the message where holiness is overemphasized and it's all about righteousness and wrath and the like, what that ends up producing is either hatred of God or it produces a fear of God, like I said before, where the last thing in the world we want to do is be near Him. And it's like He's not really worthy of worship, except for the fact that like a dictator, I feel like I have to or I'm going to die. In the other position, my heart's cry is that I love God because of what He has done for me. I don't deserve it—I'm a wretch and He loves me. He is incredible and awesome. Praise be to His name and I will delight to live in His presence forever with the other redeemed saints. It's a disconnect for me. I think my other response is a basic law and gospel response. I was having this conversation the other day with the guy who was on staff with me here at the church, and we were on our way to a meeting with some people from our church. We got into just talking about some other churches in our area that we know of and some things that have been brought to our attention lately. Just talking about how there is such a lack of law and gospel preaching, and how if I or the guy on our staff were ever invited to a church like this particular church, our sermon is a law and gospel sermon. We just begin with what the Lord requires. The 10 Commandments are great, but let's just even simplify it more than that and let's take it straight from the lips of Christ himself: we're to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we're to love our neighbors as ourselves. How are you doing with that? We preach the law of God in all of its holiness, because the irony is many of the people that scream about wrath and scream about God's holiness else are over there relativizing the law. They are telling people to live a certain way, and they can, in one sense, please God. Or they take a scalpel to the law or a machete to the law and say, "I'm just going to cut some parts out and leave in other parts. I'm going to emphasize this and throw this over here." Whereas, I think what we need to do is preach the law in all of its holiness and frankly, in all of its terror apart from Christ because we are ruined and crushed by that. Then, having preached the law to people who cannot keep it and then showing us that we can't keep it, then we preach Christ and his work and what he came to do in his own words, that he, "did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." And then you begin to see that this is what the Lord has been doing all along. This is why he gave the law in the first place. This is what the sacrificial system, the priesthood, the day of atonement, the Passover, and all the feasts and all these things were about. This was about what God would accomplish through Christ, and we preach that message. That's my response. I agree with you that we need to emphasize holiness, and we need to do it in such a way where we are astonished at the grace of God and the fact that He loves sinners and actually celebrates when we come to faith and repent—which is His work anyway, but He celebrates that. And then preach the law and preach the gospel. I don't think anybody's going to get it twisted that we don't think God's holy. Jon Moffitt: As you were speaking, these are the thoughts that came to my mind: mercy, rightly taught, creates merciful, Christians. And grace, rightly taught, creates gracious Christians. But what ended up being taught in the modern Calvingelical legalistic context is law, and it creates legalistic Christians. Justin Perdue: Self-righteous Christians. Jon Moffitt: Right. Legalistic, self-righteous Christians. When I think about the woman at the feet of Jesus in Luke 7, what did Jesus constitute to her disposition? Much forgiveness. When I see people in my congregation who see that their sins have been massively forgiven, they tend to have a mass amount of mercy and patience and grace. When Paul says in Ephesians 4 to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called," and immediately points to graciousness, mercy, and longsuffering, God has been merciful and patient and long suffering towards us. He says, "Look, I will not forgive you if you are unwilling to forgive." The response of a Christian should be mercy and grace, and yet what I hear is legalism and law and self-righteousness. Justin Perdue: It's not surprising. I'm picking up on your idea and I think you're exactly right. I just jotted this down as you were talking. I think when the law is mishandled, which is what you're saying, 1 Timothy 1:8, we uphold the law when it's used lawfully, but when the law is not used lawfully and is used irresponsibly, damage occurs. And in particular, what often happens is the law is preached to Christians and it's confused. In our churches, Jon, you and I mean to do two things in preaching to the redeemed. We do mean to preach the first use of the law every week to continue to remind us all that we can't keep it and we need Christ for that and that he's done it. So we do that. But then we also preach the third use of the law as the guide for our lives, but we do that in a way that is gentle and not threatening and not condemnatory because the law can no longer condemn us in Christ. It doesn't mean that we don't love it and that we don't want to follow it—of course we do—but we're not afraid of the law anymore. But what happens often is that the third use of the law, in the minds of many Calvingelical preachers, the guide part is actually preached with this threatening tone like it's the first use. Then what occurs is when people are being told effectively to live better, it's done with this edgy and threatening tone, which then produces people that are edgy and threatening in how they interact with everybody else when it comes to obedience. It's always about doing something or else. That's how we interact with each other. It's not shocking. The tone and tenor of the preaching in how the law and the gospel are understood then affects the tone and tenor of all the relationships in the church. Jon Moffitt: Justin and I could do this all day—we'd go off each other. But as you're talking, what I hear is that preaching that should be relieving people of their burden and giving them hope for their burden, like in Galatians 2, bearing one another's burden, instead, we are putting a burden on top of them and we're exhausting Christians with the law inappropriately preached with the first use. And Jesus is saying, "No, no, no. My burden is light. The yoke that comes with me is a relief." Justin Perdue: Why is that? Because he's done. Jon Moffitt: That's right. So when I or any preacher of the gospel or even you who are sharing Jesus with your friends, neighbors, and your congregation, and you're building each other up, it should be the relief of the burden off of them. You weren't adding to the burden, but you're carrying that burden. Galatians 6:2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." What gets me upset is there are people preaching Jesus and they give more burden. Paul says you preach Jesus and carry burdens; you don't put more burdens on people. Justin Perdue: Suffice it to say that Jesus is gentle, lowly, and compassionate toward those who know that they need him. He is always that way: he is not scary, he is not threatening, he is not disappointed. He welcomes us in love, he invites us to come to him, he reminds us that in him are found peace and rest and life, and we can approach him for those things. And he wants us to be with him. If anything, for me, one of the takeaways is that God so loves us that He rejoices to save us. That is a reminder that I don't think we can hear enough. Grace and peace to you saints who are listening to this podcast. We hope sincerely that you've been encouraged in Christ and in the love of your heavenly Father today. We have been as we've talked about it. Keep pressing on, keep trusting Christ, keep loving each other in your local communities. We pray that things continue to develop with SR and the app and the groups and all that good stuff so that even more community and encouragement can ensue. So pray for us. Please continue to support this ministry. We're very grateful for you and your partnership. We look forward to more of this and more rest in Christ and more joy in him and all that stuff, should the Lord tarry in the months and years to come. Jon Moffitt: Join some groups. If you're not in a group, join an online group or a local group. Let's get this thing rolling. Justin Perdue: Jon's condemning all of you who haven't joined the group yet now that we're done with the gospel part. Jon Moffitt: I'm encouraging you, not condemning. Justin Perdue: Jon's encouraging you. He is your kind adviser. Anyway, before this goes off the cliff, we're going to say goodbye. We will talk with you guys again next week on SR. Peace.

How has the successor to the legendary Evel Knievel surpassed the master, and died five times along the way?The incredible Robbie Maddison shares how he confronts his fears by checking in with his soul for guidance before every major stunt as he joins Paul for this landmark 150th Living 4D conversation.Learn more about Robbie on social media via Facebook and Instagram.Check out our Living 4D YouTube channel to watch Robbie in action!Show NotesLearning how to connect mentally and spiritually from Paul to prepared Robbie for his world-record jump New Year's Eve 2008 in Las Vegas on ESPN. (5:34)A preview of Robbie's next big stunt challenge with skydiving. (11:35)How Robbie confronts his fears every day. (18:19)Robbie's challenges of feeling worthy before stunts then reinventing himself afterward. (23:19)The potential life-changing injury that Paul treated for Robbie when doctors wouldn't.  (31:29)Robbie's death-defying abilities began when he was 16 months old. (39:04)When Paul demanded that God heal him. (43:20)Jumping across a football field… twice. (54:46)The universe chose life partners for Paul and Robbie. (1:00:09)“Every single thing we're doing in life is made possible because somebody else was living their dream.” (1:17:54)Robbie's greatest fear. (1:23:25)Robbie's next challenges. (1:48:01)Robbie checks in with his soul before big stunts to see if he's worthy, even when it looks hard. (1:57:39)Robbie will be launching a YouTube channel to give people looks behind the scenes. (2:13:58) ResourcesRobbie performs his Pipe Dream and London Bridge jumps on YouTubeRobbie and his teammate Tyler Bereman doing the Duct Out through the streets of LA on YouTubeThe Book of Understanding: Creating Your Own Path to Freedom by Osho Paul's Living 4D conversation with Laird HamiltonPaul's video on releasing the abdominal wall with a foam roller on YouTubeMore resources for this episode are available on our website.Thanks to our awesome sponsors: The CHEK Academy, Paleovalley (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code chek15 at checkout), Organifi (save 20 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK20 at checkout), Cymbiotika (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK15 at checkout), BiOptimizers (save 10 percent on your purchase by using the code Paul10 at checkout), One Farm CBD Oils (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK at checkout) and Essential Oil Wizardry (save 10 percent on your purchase by using the code living4d at checkout).As an Amazon Associate, we earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Pastor Jason reflects on Ephesians 4:25-5:2. "I ride my bike to the Bowery every weekday morning. And there are some crazy drivers out there. One day, a truck nearly hit me. And I became angry, and just about lost my witness. I then recalled that I had recently learned that anger is a secondary emotion. And so I paused and searched my heart... I realized I was scared... When Paul says, “Don't let the sun go down on your anger.” This calls us to consider the deeper emotion we may be experiencing."

When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome, he was writing to a group of Christians who were deeply divided. In this week's sermon, Pastor Adam Hamilton considers how Paul's message in Romans can guide us today through the conflict we feel in our society.

With family: Ruth 3–4; Acts 28 Ruth 3–4 (Listen) Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor 3 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.” 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings1 over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the LORD lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, 17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.'” 18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.” Boaz Redeems Ruth 4 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.' If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you2 will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth3 the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.” Ruth and Boaz Marry 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. The Genealogy of David 18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. Footnotes [1] 3:9 Compare 2:12; the word for wings can also mean corners of a garment [2] 4:4 Hebrew he [3] 4:5 Masoretic Text you also buy it from Ruth (ESV) Acts 28 (Listen) Paul on Malta 28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people1 showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice2 has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. 7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly,3 and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. Paul Arrives at Rome 11 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods4 as a figurehead. 12 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found brothers5 and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. 16 And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him. Paul in Rome 17 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. 19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. 20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” 21 And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” 23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: 26   “‘Go to this people, and say,  “You will indeed hear but never understand,    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”27   For this people's heart has grown dull,    and with their ears they can barely hear,    and their eyes they have closed;  lest they should see with their eyes    and hear with their ears  and understand with their heart    and turn, and I would heal them.' 28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”6 30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense,7 and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Footnotes [1] 28:2 Greek barbaroi (that is, non–Greek speakers); also verse 4 [2] 28:4 Or justice [3] 28:10 Greek honored us with many honors [4] 28:11 That is, the Greek gods Castor and Pollux [5] 28:14 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 15, 21 [6] 28:28 Some manuscripts add verse 29: And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, having much dispute among themselves [7] 28:30 Or in his own hired dwelling (ESV) In private: Psalms 11–12; Jeremiah 38 Psalms 11–12 (Listen) The Lord Is in His Holy Temple To the choirmaster. Of David. 11   In the LORD I take refuge;  how can you say to my soul,    “Flee like a bird to your mountain,2   for behold, the wicked bend the bow;    they have fitted their arrow to the string    to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;3   if the foundations are destroyed,    what can the righteous do?”1 4   The LORD is in his holy temple;    the LORD's throne is in heaven;    his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.5   The LORD tests the righteous,    but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.6   Let him rain coals on the wicked;    fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.7   For the LORD is righteous;  he loves righteous deeds;    the upright shall behold his face. The Faithful Have Vanished To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.2 A Psalm of David. 12   Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;    for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.2   Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;    with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 3   May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,    the tongue that makes great boasts,4   those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,    our lips are with us; who is master over us?” 5   “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,    I will now arise,” says the LORD;    “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”6   The words of the LORD are pure words,    like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,    purified seven times. 7   You, O LORD, will keep them;    you will guard us3 from this generation forever.8   On every side the wicked prowl,    as vileness is exalted among the children of man. Footnotes [1] 11:3 Or for the foundations will be destroyed; what has the righteous done? [2] 12:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [3] 12:7 Or guard him (ESV) Jeremiah 38 (Listen) Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern 38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2 “Thus says the LORD: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. 3 Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” 4 Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” 5 King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud. Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern 7 When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate—8 Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king, 9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. 12 Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. 13 Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again 14 King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” 15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” 16 Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.” 17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. 18 But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” 19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” 20 Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me: 22 Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,   “‘Your trusted friends have deceived you    and prevailed against you;  now that your feet are sunk in the mud,    they turn away from you.' 23 All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.” 24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. 25 If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,' 26 then you shall say to them, ‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'” 27 Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. 28 And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken. (ESV)

This past Sunday, Pastor Ashley continued our Colossians series with "The Transformation You Long For." When Paul wrote his letter to the church at Colossae, he urged them to stay true to the Christian story, which starts with a funeral and ends with a wedding. The path to true transformation only comes through death, resurrection, and return.

In Mark 16:15, Jesus gives a command to His disciples. He says to them, "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." When Jesus said ALL CREATION, that meant people of all tribes, tongues, nations, and ethnicities no matter what their background or what they look like. When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, a BIG QUESTION rose up among believers: could Gentiles be saved and be Christians? Did God have a plan for them, too, and not just Jews? As we have seen in previous chapters, it was known in history that the Israelites/Jews were God's chosen people and who God had planned out to be Jesus's disciples, leaders of the church, etc. ​In this chapter, and as we have already seen throughout Ephesians, we will see how God opened the Gospel to all people- whether Jew or Gentile. At the current moment when Paul was writing this, there was some division in the church trying to decide if a Gentile that was a Christian would also have to become a Jew following Jewish customs and laws. As we dive into Ephesians chapter 3, we will see Paul discuss these issues and reveal what he refers to as a ''mystery.'' Click here to READ this devotional: https://meditatehope.weebly.com/blog/the-gospel-is-for-all-people-ephesians-3 Follow @meditatehope on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/meditatehope/

Jesus' baptismThe Work of the Holy SpiritLuke 3:21-22 MEV Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son. In You I am well pleased.”Here we see Jesus, after being baptized in water and then praying, receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Spirit descended...on Him,”.Acts 19:4-7 MEV Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.Again we see here that after being Baptized in Jesus, Paul laid hands on them and then they received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a separate baptism.What are the benefits of Spirit Baptism?The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is for fruit bearing.The infilling of the Holy Spirit is for service.11 Kenneth E. Hagin, The Holy Spirit and His Gifts, page 36.1 Corinthians 12:7-11 MEV But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the common good. 8 To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But that one and very same Spirit works all these, dividing to each one individually as He will.The work of the Holy Spirit related to a person's prayer languageRomans 8:26-27 MEV Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do notknow what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.1 Corinthians 14:2 MEVFor he who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands him, although in the spirit, he speaks mysteries.He intercedes for us and helps us to pray according to the will of God. My experience with the Holy SpiritI had a lot of doubt when I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.Doubt of self - could I receive - will I sound stupid - etceteraStarted with one word and over time grew.Now I can be in prayer and slide right into praying in tongues without consciouslydeciding to do so.Word of WisdomWord of KnowledgeGift of Faith or supernatural FaithSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=GHCC3SZ6XZYUQ)

Bible Reading: Acts 26:1-2, 22-23, 27-29; 1 John 5:12-13David turned off his alarm clock and stretched. Sunday morning's message still bothered him. Pastor Hill had stressed every person's need to trust Jesus as their Savior, and David had almost decided to talk to the pastor or his dad about it. Maybe I should have, he thought, butoh well, I'm almost sure I'm saved anyway. He shook the thoughts from his mind. Right now he had other things to think about--like baseball, for instance. David was shortstop for the Lions, and today they were playing the Bears for the city-wide championship.Soon it was time for the game to begin, and both teams were eager to win. As the game progressed, it became obvious they were well matched. First the Lions were ahead, then the Bears, and then the Lions went ahead again. Unfortunately for David and his teammates, the Bears scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and won the championship."That was a great game!" Dad said as they drove home. "You played very well.""A great game?" David shook his head. "We lost!""You ended up as the second-place team in the whole city. You should feel good about that," said Dad."Yeah," his sister agreed. "Your team almost won!""Well, almost isn't enough!" David replied. "We still lost.""I guess I can understand how you feel," Dad said, giving him a thoughtful look. "In fact, your game reminds me of the message we heard on Sunday.""Really? How?" David asked, curious since he had been thinking about Pastor Hill's sermon that morning."I was thinking of King Agrippa's answer to the apostle Paul in the Bible story Pastor Hill read. When Paul told him Jesus died and rose again so we could be saved, King Agrippa replied, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian.' And you're right, David. Almost isn't enough--not in winning baseball games or in getting saved."David was startled. He was almost certain he was saved--but what if he wasn't? He'd thought about talking to someone about it on Sunday. Now he knew he shouldn't put it off any longer. Being almost sure he was a Christian wasn't enough."Uh, Dad? Can we talk when we get home?" he asked. "I have to make sure about something." -Lucinda J. RollingsHow About You?Are you almost sure you're a Christian? Almost isn't good enough. Make sure right now. Check out "Have You Heard the Good News?" on page 102. If you need help understanding what trusting Jesus as your Savior means, talk with a parent, teacher, or other Christian adult. Don't wait any longer. Trust Jesus today and know you are truly saved.Today's Key Verse:Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." (NKJV) (Acts 26:28)Today's Key Thought:Trust Jesus today

When Paul tries to convince the Romans that the Gentiles can be brought into the covenant family of God without first being circumcised or being subjected to the law, he uses Abraham as his example why. By Paul's reasoning, Abraham was the original Gentile that God brought into the covenant and God considered him righteous not for his works or his circumcision or his following of the law (Abraham didn't yet know about such things), but for his faith. Therefore, faith is the definition of salvation for Paul and Abraham is the earliest example of proof. Though the law is good and upheld by the Christian (for it has not been abolished), obedience of the law is now found in the obedience of the law's ultimate interpreter, Jesus Christ, who has become the fulfillment of the law. Therefore, we are saved by the same formula that God's people have always been saved by throughout history: God's grace given to sinners on behalf of their faith/faithfulness/belief/commitment/believing loyalty/allegiance to God. What has changed in this formula in the New Testament, however, is the crux upon which all of our faith now hangs: King Jesus Himself, who is the fulfillment of the original covenant made to Abraham, the forgiveness of sins, and the one who has paved the way for us to enter into the resurrection life of the new heavens and new earth, where we will live with new resurrected immortal bodies. We have been given evidence of all of this through the downpayment of the Holy Spirit, through which full resurrection will one day come, and has also already begun now inside of us. We can only receive these promises by our faithful allegiance to Jesus, for to be faithful to Jesus, is to be faithful to God—for Jesus is God-in-flesh.

In this episode, we meet Paul Churchill, author, podcaster, and a person in long-term recovery. When Paul's life went into meltdown in the summer of 2014, he came to a realization that he needed to stop drinking. More importantly, though, he was ready to stop, and he wanted sobriety. Then, after about six months of […]

Morning: Psalms 56–58 Psalms 56–58 (Listen) In God I Trust To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam1 of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. 56   Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;    all day long an attacker oppresses me;2   my enemies trample on me all day long,    for many attack me proudly.3   When I am afraid,    I put my trust in you.4   In God, whose word I praise,    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.    What can flesh do to me? 5   All day long they injure my cause;2    all their thoughts are against me for evil.6   They stir up strife, they lurk;    they watch my steps,    as they have waited for my life.7   For their crime will they escape?    In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 8   You have kept count of my tossings;3    put my tears in your bottle.    Are they not in your book?9   Then my enemies will turn back    in the day when I call.    This I know, that4 God is for me.10   In God, whose word I praise,    in the LORD, whose word I praise,11   in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.    What can man do to me? 12   I must perform my vows to you, O God;    I will render thank offerings to you.13   For you have delivered my soul from death,    yes, my feet from falling,  that I may walk before God    in the light of life. Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam5 of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. 57   Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,    for in you my soul takes refuge;  in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,    till the storms of destruction pass by.2   I cry out to God Most High,    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.3   He will send from heaven and save me;    he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah  God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! 4   My soul is in the midst of lions;    I lie down amid fiery beasts—  the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,    whose tongues are sharp swords. 5   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!    Let your glory be over all the earth! 6   They set a net for my steps;    my soul was bowed down.  They dug a pit in my way,    but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah7   My heart is steadfast, O God,    my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody!8     Awake, my glory!6  Awake, O harp and lyre!    I will awake the dawn!9   I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;    I will sing praises to you among the nations.10   For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,    your faithfulness to the clouds. 11   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!    Let your glory be over all the earth! God Who Judges the Earth To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam7 of David. 58   Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?8    Do you judge the children of man uprightly?2   No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;    your hands deal out violence on earth. 3   The wicked are estranged from the womb;    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.4   They have venom like the venom of a serpent,    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,5   so that it does not hear the voice of charmers    or of the cunning enchanter. 6   O God, break the teeth in their mouths;    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!7   Let them vanish like water that runs away;    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.8   Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.9   Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!9 10   The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.11   Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;    surely there is a God who judges on earth.” Footnotes [1] 56:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 56:5 Or they twist my words [3] 56:8 Or wanderings [4] 56:9 Or because [5] 57:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [6] 57:8 Or my whole being [7] 58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [8] 58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence) [9] 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain (ESV) Evening: Acts 28:1–15 Acts 28:1–15 (Listen) Paul on Malta 28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people1 showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice2 has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. 7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly,3 and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. Paul Arrives at Rome 11 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods4 as a figurehead. 12 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found brothers5 and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. Footnotes [1] 28:2 Greek barbaroi (that is, non–Greek speakers); also verse 4 [2] 28:4 Or justice [3] 28:10 Greek honored us with many honors [4] 28:11 That is, the Greek gods Castor and Pollux [5] 28:14 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 15, 21 (ESV)

A monk named Telemachus lived a quiet life, but his death at the end of the fourth century changed the world. Visiting Rome from the East, Telemachus intervened in the blood sport of the gladiatorial arena. He jumped over the stadium wall and tried to stop the gladiators from killing each other. But the outraged crowd stoned the monk to death. The emperor Honorius, however, was moved by Telemachus’ act and decreed the end of the 500-year practice of gladiator games. When Paul calls Jesus “our peace,” he refers to the end of hostility between Jews and gentiles (Ephesians 2:14). God’s chosen people Israel were distinct from the nations and enjoyed certain privileges. For instance, while gentiles were allowed to worship at the Jerusalem temple, a dividing wall restricted them to the outer court—on punishment of death. Jews regarded gentiles unclean, and they experienced mutual hostility. But now, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for all, both Jew and gentile can worship God freely through faith in Him (vv. 18–22). There’s no dividing wall. There’s no privilege of one group over the other. Both are equal in their standing before God. Just as Telemachus brought peace to warriors through his death, so Jesus makes peace and reconciliation possible for all who believe in Him through His death and resurrection. So, if Jesus is our peace, let’s not let our differences divide us. He’s made us one by His blood.

“Our goal is to have a product that is so close to fresh produce as you can get it, but also making it shelf stable” Natalie Mariani Kling (04:48 - 04:55)   Attached to the Mariani name, Natalie Mariani Kling was already in the thick of growing produce and providing nutritious food to consumers. But that mindset elevated when she became a mother. In-depth research about eating habits from around the world led Natalie to focus on plant-based nutrients and whole foods in her own lifestyle. Now, Natalie and Mariani Dried Fruits are on a mission to elevate how we view nutrition and partnering with others to make it more accessible.    Mariani Dried Fruits goes back to the 1900's when Natalie's great grandfather, Paul, immigrated to the States from Croatia. Landing in NYC, the love of his life, Victoria, was across the country in California. Working in a coconut factory for $1 a day, he earned enough money to move to California and began working on Victoria's family farm in San Jose - now Silicon Valley. Soon after, he married Victoria and made enough money to put a down payment on his own orchard, and Mariani Dried Fruits was born. Known for his dedication to not only his family, but all the families in their community, Paul brought something special to the Mariani name.   As the business grew, Paul passed the farm along to his children, who then expanded it worldwide by buying land in Australia to grow produce year ‘round. With Paul's great grandson becoming the CEO in the 70's, Mariani Fruits continued to focus on quality, innovation, and family first. Now it's the fourth generation's turn as George Jr., Natalie's cousin, is at the helm as President. Even with many Mariani names involved, everyone has different roles to play in the innovation and “family first” mantra of the company. When it was their turn to run the company, everyone came together and discussed who they are as a company, as a family, and how they want to grow.    It simply came down to the ideals of living healthy with a family focus. They had a product they were able to take and deliver real nutrients to consumers just like them. The next step was figuring out how to elevate that into the next century.   “As a fourth generation, we sat down and realized that things are shifting and the success or failure of the company was going to be on our watch.” Natalie Mariani Kling (06:46 - 06:54)   After re-establishing their dedication to the value of health and family, Mariani Fruits began planning on how to convey that to consumers, as all changes start at home. They began working on programs to make healthy eating easier and more accessible for their community members, something the company continues to focus on. One of these adaptations is arranging how they can be a resource for busy people and families. That started with making their website a platform for things like healthier lunch boxes for kids and quick and easy recipes.   The innovation mindset didn't just start when the fourth generation took over. When Paul started the farm he immediately began working on better technology for drying fruit like adding moisture back to make a more enjoyable eating experience. These ideals continue to this day.    “We understand. We are those busy parents and those families that are trying to do it a little bit better all the time.” Natalie Mariani Kling (21:22 - 21:29)   Within months of these collaborative discussions, Natalie met with a company called Treasure 8. After hearing of their commitment to improving the food chain and especially supporting mothers and babies, she knew the combination of their technology and Mariani's ability to commercialize it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to impact the world together.    The two companies built this partnership by coming up with technology to preserve the cellular integrity of the food, thus locking in nutrients, flavor, texture and color so there would be no need for preservatives or artificial sweeteners. This took Mariani Dried Fruits to the next level when it comes to shelf stability. With that, Mariani dried fruits can not only be found in the dried fruits section in grocery stores, but in the produce section as well. Natalie points out this point was vital for customers to see them in a “fresh” area as 90% of shoppers at least pass through the produce section.   Treasure 8 can also take Mariani's food waste like prune or mango pits and make them into a nutrient dense ingredient that can be applied to other foods. The partnership between the two was a no-brainer between providing nutritious food to consumers, while also looking for ways to reduce waste and be more environment-friendly.    With partnerships like these, Mariani Dried Fruit can continue their mission statement of innovation while remaining relatable and convenient for families across the globe.   How to get involved Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!  Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.    If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

When Paul used the word “adoption” it was not related to how we use the term today. The implications of the word are remarkable. In Paul's day people were adopted as adults and as children, and when they were adopted four incredible promises became theirs. Spiritually the same promises become ours. Learn what it means to be adopted (in Christ we ALL are), and hear tremendous examples of living out this Great Exchange, our old life for Jesus' new life.

When Paul describes what a cultural downward spiral looks like, it's hard not to see America following along this path. The evidence is right before our eyes. But does this mean God has given up on our country? Join me for today's Daily Word & Prayer to find out.Do you want to have all your sins forgiven and know God in a personal way?  Check out my video "The Bridge Diagram" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Kjw...Make sure you check out my website, www.TomthePreacher.com where you can learn more about my ministry and also sign up for my daily email. And make sure to request a copy of my book, Takin' it to Their Turf when you visit my website.Check out my videos on this channel to learn how to answer tough questions that challenge our faith.Have you ever wanted to visit the Holy Land?Join me next February (2022) as I lead a tour of Israel!We'll study the life of Jesus at the very places He taught, performed His mighty miracles, was crucified, and resurrected! We'll also have plenty of worship, fellowship, and fun!For more info, check out my web page www.TomthePreacher.com

We continue with Exod. 6:6-8.  These verses are connected by the Sages/Rabbis of Judaism to four cups of the Passover Seder.  In the previous lesson, lesson 17, we also explored the debate the sages/rabbis had whether there should be four or five cups.  On top of that all this seemed to be related to the end times!  And we explored the possibility that what is known as the "rapture" is nothing more than the "ingathering" of the elect of God.  In Paul's day the INGATHERING was when the dead will rise first and along with those who are alive will be taken up and brought to Israel at the time of the coming of Messiah.  In 1 Thess 4:16-17 ... For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1Th 4:16-17) So the "rapture" is for all of us "grafted in to the olive tree of Israel" and us who are "joint heirs" with the covenants and promises of God to be taken up and "gathered" to Israel and to then to participate in the MARRIAGE FEAST OF THE LAMB and to be with our "husband" forever in Jerusalem.  This fits the rabbinic ideas of the ingathering of the elect.  Even Jesus uses the word of gathering us in.  See below ... "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Mat 24:29-31) Jesus is God and God said we would be GATHERED.  Any Jew then hearing these words knew it meant the INGATHERING as promised again and again in the Hebrew scriptures.  When Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians all He had was the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.  So who do you believe, some pastor teaching the "rapture" with no background in the Hebrew culture or the historical context of the Bible, or GOD?   The choice seems clear.   In this session we continue studying the cups of Passover.  It is possible that the idea of the 5th cup for the Passover meal, today called the Seder, was known in Jesus' day.  What is amazing is that the idea of the 5th cup seems to be related also to the cup of wrath that all nations will drink in the end times ... For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. "They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; (Jer 25:15-18) And it seems to be related to Jesus and the events in the Gat Sheminim - the olive press where He went to pray after His Passover meal.  I mentioned in this podcast that Jesus went to an olive press and not the garden of Gethsemane.  You can not find any records that there was a place called the garden of Gethsemane and neither is the phrase "garden of Gethsemane," those exact words, found in the Bible.  I did a video on this and here's the link so you can study this further - LINK - click here to watch the 11 minute video  Also, here is an amazing article from :Biblical Archaeolgy REview" from 1995 of the possible actual "cave" that Jesus visited to pray that was an olive press - LINK - click here for the article The Passover meal of the Messiah, called the Last Supper traditionally, was even more profound.  Those disciples of Jesus knew the meaning of the four cups of wine and the verse in Torah they represented.  They knew of the new covenant at Sinai that Israel entered into with the Lord at the Mountain of God (Exod. 3:1) and it was as if God became their "husband" and Israel was His "bride."  But, they also knew that the Mountain of God moved to Jerusalem (Isa. 2:1-3) and Jesus takes a cup, one of the cups in the Passover meal, and offers it to His talmideem (disciples), as a sign of a New Covenant they can enter at the Mountain of God.  When Jesus lifted up the cup He was giving us an AMAZING PROPOSAL to be His bride and He our Bridegroom - SINAI REPEATED!!   In this podcast I mentioned other links I would provide.  See these below. Link - article on Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread as practiced in Jesus' day and that all these events may have occurred in 30 A.D. and not 33 A.D. - click here for the article Link - to Hayyim Schauss' book, "The Jewish Festivals" at Amazon - click here to access this resource Link - Ray Vander Laan's DVD and study book entitled "The Path to the Cross" - click here for the DVD and the book Link - Dennis Prager's audio Torah study - an extremely valuable resource - even better than his books - click here for this important resource Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - click here for the teacher's background  

Have you ever been the subject of a false rumor? When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, the Christians rejoiced over the success of his Gentile mission. He also learns that in his absence a lot of Jews in Jerusalem have responded to the gospel. However, they are still very zealous of the Mosaic Law and see it as a part of their cultural and national identity. They have also expressed concern over rumors that Paul has been teaching Jews to abandon their traditional customs. As the saying goes, “we have a situation here”. How can we clear this up? Part 64 from the "Acts: We're on a Mission from God" series. North Chapel is a part of the Scottsdale Bible Church family Sunday Worship Services | 8:30am & 10am (Arizona Time) Join us live at https://www.nclive.net​ Previous Sermon Messages: https://www.northchapel.net/sermons-series

When Paul and Marilyn Hueper, owners of the beautiful Homer Inn and Spa, heard the crash of their door being broken down and saw the barrels of multiple guns pointed at them in their home, their minds remained on the Spirit that gave them life and peace.Was it frightening ? Yes. Was it startling ? Certainly.But they remained calm knowing their Savior was front and center and that they had nothing to hide.Marilyn even found it somewhat amusing. "They (the FBI) said, ‘Well, we're here for Nancy Pelosi's laptop.' And I said, ‘Oh, so it was stolen and it's at large, good to know. I thought maybe it was just conspiracy theory, so thanks for the intel.'" She was also asked who she was working for, and she instead responded with laughter stating "I don't mean to be disrespectful and laughing, but this is really surreal and strange."Join us today on Family Matters for a fascinating and encouraging discussion about Government overstep, an FBI bumbling on a hard to believe level and a couple using the opportunity to be light and salt on a national stage. Hope you can join us.Support the show (https://www.akfamily.org/donate/)

When Paul exhorts the Philippians to -rejoice,- he is calling on them to have the joy of the Lord pervade their lives-

There is more suffering in the Christian life than you ever thought you could handle but there is also more joy than you ever thought possible. It is necessary to understand the religious climate of the cities in which Paul visited. It's now believed that the cult of Caesar was the dominant religion of Paul's time in much of the Roman world. Caesar was deified and worshipped as a god in the flesh. It's been argued that this is why Rome had such success in ruling much of the known world because the people willingly swore their allegiance to the god Emperor. They even offered sacrifices to him. Who needs an army to control the population when you have the people worshipping you and believing that you are a gift from the heavens? This is especially true in the cities where Paul has been preaching, particularly Antioch and Iconium. In both places there has been discovered imperial temples that were created for the worship of Caesar. A good example of this deification of Caesar can be seen in an inscription carved into an ancient government building. It speaks of Caesar Augustus who ruled the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus.  Here's what the inscription says… Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our lives, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the gospel for the world that came by reason of him. Paul's world the main “gospel” was the news of, or the celebration of Caesar. When Paul speaks and uses the word gospel he's not inventing a new concept. He's not saying "I'm here to give you a new religion.” Rather, Paul was using a word from his time but he was focusing it on a different person. He takes the word “gospel” and applies it to Jesus. It's as if he says, “Everyone under Roman influence knows about the gospel of Caesar, but I'm here to tell you about the gospel of Jesus. My good news does not have Caesar at the center of worship, but rather it has Jesus as the center of worship. Jesus is the true king, not Caesar!” So Paul's gospel is a direct challenge to the gospel of Rome. This is a bold and inflammatory statement. And one that does not go unnoticed, after all, this is the reason why Paul gets run out of town. (Acts 17:6-8) Early believers were prepared for a life of hardship because their loyalty was to a different king. Obedience to this king will set you at odds with the kings of culture. Paul was not content to simply say, “Jesus is one of many gospels alongside Caesar", he said the gospel of Jesus is the only true gospel there is. It's as true today as it was then, if you are heralding the gospel of Jesus, understand that the larger culture in which you live will view you as belonging to a subversive little group. However, from the standpoint of God, you are setting your face toward His kingdom. Absolutely incredible!

When Paul was imprisoned for sharing the Gospel, he didn't ask fellow believers to pray for his safety or peace of mind. Instead, he made a striking appeal. Find out what he requested when you study along with us on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. Listen...

When Paul and his missionary team obeyed God's command to go to Macedonia, they met a woman named Lydia. This woman was wealthy and influential and a God-fearer, but she did not know Christ. In this sermon Pastor David Tarkington looks to this passage for the timeless principle that can change our lives for the good and God's glory.

When Paul writes to the Christians living in and around Ephesus, he refers to God's plan of salvation as a "mystery." To the Christians of today, hopefully this "mystery" sounds like a regular Sunday sermon. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is what we are called to preach and teach. What may not be so obvious to the Christians of today is we can follow the "mystery" of our salvation from before God created to our present day. God has consistently revealed His salvation in a most mysterious way – through the weakness and brokenness of those He calls to be His own.

Learn how to create courses live and fast with musician and membership site owner Paul Tobey. Paul is a serial entrepreneur, and he's currently running 3 successful businesses: Jazzmentl.com where he teaches people advanced jazz piano lessons.  TrainingBusinessPros.com where he teaches people the best strategies for training employees and clients from topics ranging from digital marketing to corporate training. ThatsAmbitious.com where he has business strategy courses about SEO, Facebook ads, and presentation skills. In this episode, he shares stories and his experiences working as an Infusionsoft certified expert to create multiple course websites with LifterLMS. When Paul got out of … How to Create Courses Live and Fast with Musician and Membership Site Owner Paul Tobey Read More » The post How to Create Courses Live and Fast with Musician and Membership Site Owner Paul Tobey appeared first on LMScast - LifterLMS Podcast.

II Corinthians 9-13 We are in the Church Stream reading from the New Living Translation. 7streamsmethod.com | @7StreamsMethod | @serenatravis | #7Stream | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis 9 - This is the continuation of the 2-chapter "giving passage" that starts in 8 - that we read last week.  It is the origin of why Christians throughout the world are noted as "the giving people" /or/ "the nice people" It's a banner passage instructing us to give cheerfully, generously, to not be surprised when blessing matches the proportion of our giving.  Paul's teaching is truly a headwater passage that created and thereby changed the nature of charity ever since he wrote this book. 10 - Paul's authority is what is presented here.  There had been some rabble/trouble-makers that were spreading around contrary opinions and insisting that Paul should not be listened to.  Gee, have you ever heard of someone doing this in a church, eh?  We sure have.  Anyway, Paul, undeterred, proceeds right along with the impetus of who the enemy is. [The Enemy is not the people around us.] It's a well timed bit of advice to remind us what is to be focused upon.  Note: -Paul uses his authority to build people up. -Those who are denouncing Paul's authority are using their self-appointed platform to cause dissension. This is self-evident proof of who should be listened to and who should be ignored. Paul's reminder of what priorities are and what is worth boasting about is "cut to the heart" stuff that is very relevant today. 11 - Paul takes a moment to deal with, explain, and expose the false prophets who are discrediting Paul no matter what he does. Whether Paul refuses an offering or Paul takes up an offering - they accuse him either way. Take a hint, when one cannot be pleased with whatever happens [e.g. Paul's critics], they are likely not a person to be listening to nor modeling life after and certainly not trying to learn anything from.  Their phoniness gives them away as Satan uses lies nearly 100% of the time.  Paul's trials are his testimony that authenticates His calling and Apostleship. No one would press on like He did with minimal pay unless they are doing it for God and according to God's calling. There is no other motivation, humanly speaking, to proceed if God Himself were not behind Paul's life guiding and directing him. 12 - When Paul talks about being caught up into the third heaven wherein he saw/heard things that were astonishing beyond description, the best argument for this experience is that it happened when he was unconscious after being pelted with stones in Ephesus and left for dead.  As people are likely to boast about when something marvelous happens to them, or after some great achievement, Paul on the other hand, boasts about his weakness - for it is through this that the Holy Spirit is allowed to shine through him v.s. having to compete with an illustrious personality.  This ends up being a greater testimony to "God at work" and therefore his life is something more so that is to be modeled.  And his pain [that does not go away, even through prayer] further asserts that Paul's life is powered by Christ Jesus Himself ... not his personal storehouse of sterling virtue rooted in him having a golden personality (rumor has it Paul was NOT a "looker" to behold either).  Paul is powered by Jesus and Jesus only. 13 - Paul gives some final advice prior to his plans for stopping in Corinth a third time.  He urges them to seek power in walking in Christ, to examine their heart and ways, do right and seek truth.  He ends with a lovely list that can best be summed up as a reminder to "act like Christians!"  His love for the Corinthians does come out quite clearly. The motif that surfaced in the reading this week, I am sure there are more but what we saw was, "do EXACTLY what God asks for".  When God has exact instructions, best not 'get creative' or careless ... Nadab and Abihu got punished by God that may seem extreme when they were burned to death by fire from God. No, they got careless with precise instructions. We don't do cabinet work with a hatchet, we don't clean our teeth with street sweepers, we don't help people up who have stumbled using a backhoe. Be precise. We demand precision of others. All the more-so with God. - Ahab was told to kill Ben-Hadad  but he called him over and started talking commerce and deals and trade for after the war was over. And in the next chapter; I Ki. 21 he sits back passively while his pagan wife, Jezebel, schemes to murder an innocent man. He's wrong against his own conscience and he's wrong with direct orders. So a prophet tells of his imminent death and Ahab dies from an arrow. -Ps. 86:11 nails the matter: "Teach me your ways Lord, so that I may live according to your truth. Grant me purity of heart so that I may honor you."  That's clear enough, yes? -Jeremiah is told to purchase land in a region that will very soon become a warzone. That is bad advice according to most every human scale of judgment. But God said to and Jeremiah did and it was a testimony to God bringing the people back as soon as all is ready for the return (after the 70 years of captivity) -In Amos the Lord said to the family of Israel, "come back to me and live".  If God says this it's obvious that he wants us to live. He has exact instructions and yet that does not make God an exacting ogre. He simply wants us to live. This should encourage us. -When Jesus told Simon/Peter to go out to where it's deeper and let down nets again, that is persistent instructions to give a weary experienced fisherman who's caught nothing after long night shift.  Imagine if Peter snapped back at Jesus and said, "no buddy, 'been fishing all night. We'll try later ([whoever you are!]...remember, Peter had scarcely met Jesus!)"  Peter would have missed his calling and it would have changed history -not for the better.. -After a protracted monologue to the Corinthians, wherein Paul breaks down how to deal with false prophets -and there are many facets to this advice-, he tells the Corinthians in II Cor. 13:5, "examine yourselves..."Paul wanted THEM to have genuine faith.  They were an impressionable people and the false prophets had affected some of them. After all this, it would be a nightmare to have them be guilty of straying -even out of sincerity.  It would have been wrong all the same. This would require they be honestly looking into their own hearts.  It's advice that never it outdated.

Solomon wrote in his melancholy state of mind that there is nothing new under the sun.  When Paul confronts the philosophers at Athens I am reminded of Solomon's words.  We often face the same dilemma as Paul did in our day with the state of academia.  Philosophers who love to debate their worldview but are not open to the truth of Jesus Christ. The opponents of Paul in Athens were either fools, ignorant or vain in their thinking, which made them all fools.  Foolishness is the failure to see and understand life as God has determined and created it.  Fools lack the wisdom of God and His truth.  They want to display their skills in proving their way is right without ever coming to know the truth. “These times of ignorance are over,” Paul declared.  To know the truth and the one true God it begins with repentance that leads to faith.

Philippians 1.6 NLT 'I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.' I love the confidence with which Paul writes about the future. When you hear most people talking about the future they are often hesitant and anxious. I'm sure, like me, you have often heard people saying, “Things just keep going from bad to worse,” or “What a terrible world to be brought up in.” Paul is so different. He looks at the Philippians' future from God's perspective and is sure that he won't let them down. He will complete what he has begun. Isn't it wonderful to know that our future is absolutely secure in God's hands? But that knowledge shouldn't cause us to become complacent. Paul certainly wasn't! In chapter three of this letter he talks about straining forward like an athlete (chapter 3.13) so that he could get to know the Lord better. One of the most valuable ways of getting to know God better is through reading the Bible. I hope these notes are helpful to you but I would always encourage you to read more and more of the Bible. Some might find it helpful to read through the Bible in one year and, having done so a few times in recent years, I strongly recommend this. But that's not for everyone and doesn't need to be. What matters is that we find effective ways of getting to know the Bible better and, whether we read a lot or a little, to give time to listening to God. When Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy he told him that, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Timothy 3.16) Given that the only Scripture available at the time was the Old Testament you will realise how much more blessed we are these days! If you want to become stronger in your Christian life I encourage you to read the Bible, enjoy it and get to know the Lord much better. QUESTION: Are you looking to the future with confidence? PRAYER: Thank you, loving Lord, that my future is entirely secure in your hands. Amen

We think our world, our society is in such bad shape today and it is, however it's nothing new. When Paul walked into Corinth he saw the same things you and I see today but it wasn't spread all over social media since it didn't exist. Corinth was a major city on a trade route that allowed people to bring and sell their goods there at the Agora, or marketplace. Perhaps this is where Paul met Aquila and Priscilla who, just like Paul, were tent makers. They hit it off so well that Paul stayed in their home for a year and a half and when he left Corinth, they left with him. Serving God isn't difficult so why do we make it that way? Like Paul, just take what you know, what talents you have, and strike a conversation with like minded people. During the conversation find a way to work Jesus in and let the Holy Spirit do the rest! On down the road, Aquila and Priscilla would literally save Paul's life so it was a good thing he met these two godly people! Just think of the people that God has allowed in your life and how encouraging they have been to you. Be sure to return the favor!

How would you describe a strong Christian? If you were to make a list of what characterizes a mature Christian, what would you put on that list? At Theocast, we are convinced that many would not answer these questions the way the apostles would have. As we look to the New Testament, what does it say about those who are strong in the church?Semper Reformanda: The guys discuss parachurch ministries and how they have often contributed to the confusion about what characterizes a strong Christian. Then, we talk more about the necessity of ordinary faithfulness in loving the weak in the church.Giveaway: “Spurgeon’s Sorrows” by Zack EswineFREE EBOOK: theocast.org/primerScripture references:Romans 15:1-4Galatians 6:1-21 Thessalonians 5:14Ephesians 4:1-3Hebrews 3:15John 13:34SUPPORT Theocast: https://theocast.org/give/ Podcast TranscriptJon Moffitt: Hi, this is Jon. Let me ask you this one question: what is a strong Christian? Is it one who is disciplined? Is it one who has read a thousand books on Christianity? How would you describe a strong Christian according to the Bible? That’s what Justin and I are going to talk about today on Theocast. We might have a little bit of a twist to the question. We’re going to look at it from Romans 15. We hope you enjoy. Stay tuned.What are the marks of a strong Christian? Often, things that can cripple us and drag us down are things like depression and the dark night of the soul. This conversation is birthed out of a conversation we had at a men’s Bible study and a sermon that I preached recently. We’ll put the sermon in the notes as well.The conversation we want to have today are the marks of a strong Christian and those marks, if we were to do a survey, it would probably have been fun to do and see what people would have come up with. I’ll throw a couple out, Justin. I’ll let you throw a couple out. Ones that we’ve heard that normally, when we think of someone who is strong, this is someone who for 20 years has been faithfully on their knees for 30 minutes in the morning, an hour in the word, and really just hasn’t missed unless they’ve been sick. The mark of a dedicated, faithful, disciplined Christian—that right there is a strong Christian.Justin Perdue: For me, whenever I’ve heard people talk about being a strong Christian, the first word that pops into my mind is discipline. It’s a person who is disciplined in their life—and that may be with respect to prayer, Bible reading, but it could be any number of things. It’s a regimented, ordered kind of life. I think a lot of times we think of Christians as being strong when they don’t struggle with particular kinds of sins—the more taboo, public, obvious kinds of sins—they don’t deal with those in the same way that others do, and so therefore they’re strong.Jon Moffitt: One of the guys described it as there are no extremes—you don’t see an extreme high, you don’t see an extreme low, they’re just steady. Steady Eddie, the guy with the gray hair who just always is: he’s always there and he’s always faithful. That’s the strong Christian. Some of these things are true.Justin Perdue: Some of these things are good. To be really clear, we’re not saying that discipline, steadiness, and not struggling with certain kinds of obvious sins are bad—all of those things are good.I’ll just go ahead and say this, Jon, that if you were to take a survey of the top five things that should characterize a Christian, I am relatively confident that most of us would not answer that and would not fill that out the way the apostles would have. As we’re getting to the number one thing that should mark us, it’s pretty obvious in the New Testament and it’s not what we would put first.Jon Moffitt: No, it is not.We’re going to look at several passages, but we’re going to look at Romans 15 as our starting point and. Our desire is that everyone would be a strong Christian—that they would find their firm foundation and effectiveness. As we have mentioned in the past, 2 Peter 1 talks about an effective Christian, and we would agree that Christians should be effective, but effective in what? What should they be effective in? When we think about strength, we think about the characteristics of strength, we need to allow Scripture to characterize those.I think often we have allowed businessmen, leadership skills, and I would even say self-made isolation tactics to determine what Christians are.Justin Perdue: When you hear us use the language of a strong Christian, you could also insert the word “mature”. We’re talking about what makes a strong Christian, what characterizes a strong or mature Christian according to the New Testament.Jon Moffitt: Right. Out of the gates, Paul uses a different way of describing it, but he’s saying, “Those of you who are strong, this is what you should be doing.” In other words, you should have the capacity to do this, or the ability to do this.Let me just read you the first verse of Romans 15. He says, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” And then he uses our motivation and example, “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.'” We’ll start there before I read verse four. Immediately, Paul is assuming strength with something that seems very contrary to modern day explanations of strength. He is saying strength is tied to the capacity and the ability to care for not yourself and your own sins, but to the ability to care for the sins and the failing of the strength of others.Justin Perdue: Verse one is just pretty epic. If you are strong, then you have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak. Your strength is actually meant to be used and poured out for the good of the weak in your midst. It’s gripping.Jon Moffitt: Verse four—this is becoming one of my favorite verses more and more as I read it—”For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What I love about it is he says not only must you deal with the failings and the weakness, but here’s your motivation, here’s your encouragement and endurance: it comes from looking at the hope of Christ in the Old Testament. (Of course, Paul is writing the New Testament at the moment. He was one of the writers.) He’s always pointing us to Christ as one, example, and two, as hope. So we gain our encouragement and our endurance by looking at Christ; not our stability, not our long track record, not our discipline.Some people say, “I’ve been doing this for 20 years.” They gain stability over the discipline or the longevity of whatever it is that they have accomplished, and Paul says, “No, your endurance and your encouragement come from what you’re not doing; it’s coming from what’s been done.”Justin Perdue: I love it. Consider Christ. He is the epitome of the one who is strong, giving himself away for the sake of the weak. Right. Consider him, seek to imitate him, strive to be like him, but he doesn’t stop there. He gives us the ground underneath it all. And the thing that’s actually going to drive, sustain, and propel us in that seeking to imitate Christ is to remember, recall, know, trust in the hope that you have in Christ, because this is what God has been revealing from the beginning. That’s wonderful.Another passage that is great with respect to this conversation we’re having today: Galatians 6. Just the first couple of verses of that chapter. I’m gonna go and read the verses and then we’ll comment on these a little bit.Paul writes, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Another mark of a strong Christian is shown by Paul right here. If anybody is caught in sin, if anybody is mired in sin and transgression, you who are spiritual—you who are mature, you who are strong—should restore that person in a spirit of gentleness. And keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted, lest you too fall.Marks of a strong Christian from Galatians 6 are gentleness toward people who are caught in sin and humility with respect to your own frame. Realize that were it not for the grace of God, there go you. And so what we ought to be doing—those of us who are mature, those of us who are strong by God’s grace—we ought to be seeking to restore those who have fallen and to restore those who are struggling, who are trapped and caught in sin. We ought not be proud, we ought not be haughty, we ought not be condescending, we ought not be harsh, we ought not bludgeon people and just drop hammers and bombs all the time. We should gently seek the restoration of the weak.And then verse two, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We ought to seek to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters. If the Lord has given you strength, if the Lord has given you some level of maturity, then use it to bear the burdens of your brothers and sisters in the church.Jon Moffitt: That’s right. It’s so powerful to think about the difference between how we see a strong Christian and how the New Testament describes a strong Christian. If someone who is underneath the weight of their sin, who is so immature that they are so introspective, looking at themselves all the time, only worried about themselves, Paul says the spiritual people—the strong people—are the ones who have the ability to look and carry other people. It’s not isolationism; it’s the exact opposite.Justin Perdue: It’s charity. It’s humility. It’s compassion.Jon Moffitt: One other passage from Paul… just a quick couple of verses. 1 Thessalonians 5, he again uses the gospel as our motivation: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you were doing.”And then later on, he continues the admonishment. He says in verse 14, “And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” Can you follow the transition here? He’s going to do this again in Ephesians. The glory of Christ, we’re not destined for wrath, live in that hope; and then he says to take the motivation that you get from that hope and admonish each other, encourage each other, and then be patient with all. The one thing I am trying to teach my congregation is the power of patience. I think I say it in every marital counseling issues that we’re dealing with, people who have their families trapped in some weird religion, or weird church organization, or the unbeliever, or they’ve got an unbelieving spouse, the thing that the gospel can provide and should provide is patience because we are waiting for Christ’s return and we’re waiting for God to do His work here on earth. Even 2 Peter 1 describes this. The capacity for patience and godliness and longsuffering are the acts of the fruits of the Spirit that we are to add to our faith. And then it says if these are missing or lacking, you have forgotten that you’ve been cleansed from your former sins. So a strong grasp of the gospel leads to a strong capacity in meekness, gentleness, and patience.Justin Perdue: When you say that, I can’t help but think about 1 Timothy 1:15 and 16 where Paul talks about how patient Jesus has been with him. So then his word to the saints is to consider how patient He will be with you as well.And I agree, brother, that the gospel should help us all be patient with one another because we consider how patient the Lord has been with us, and now we’re going to be patient with each other; we’re going to play the long game and we’re going to be longsuffering when it comes to our dealings with others.Jon Moffitt: In Romans 14:1, Paul says, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but do not quarrel over opinions.” This is why you will not see us in the Facebook group often jump into dumb stuff. The longer they listen and the stronger their faith will get, these quarrelsome things will go away.Justin Perdue: True. Ephesians 4:1 and following. Many will know that the first three chapters of Ephesians are all about the grace of God and the mystery that’s been hidden for ages in God, that is the plan of redemption that Jesus has accomplished—and it’s just absolute soaring, glorious stuff of what God has done for us, what Christ has accomplished for us, the security that we have in Jesus and the inheritance that we are awaiting, and the fact that we’ve been promised this wonderful kingdom that the Lord is just delighted to give us. That’s the first three chapters of Ephesians.And then Paul transitions in the last three chapters, as it’s divided in our modern translations, to exhort and encourage the church. In light of all that, here’s how we live together. How does he start? I remember when I preached through Ephesians and I got to this section, I set up the first sermon in Ephesians 4 with this question, and I think it’s relevant for now: if you were to write a letter to a church about how they’re to live together in light of everything that you’ve ever read, everything that you’ve ever heard, everything that you’ve ever been taught, how would you start that letter? How would you begin it? Here’s how you’re to live with each other. Let that sit in your mind and then consider how Paul begins. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you’ve been called.” Walk in a way that is commensurate with the gospel. And he goes on to describe it: “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”What does Paul say to a church? How do you live together? What’s the most important stuff that would mean that we’re walking in a way that’s commensurate with the gospel? We’re walking in a way that makes sense in light of what Jesus has done for us: with humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, pursuit of unity. There we have it.Those things should mark mature, strong Christians. If we’re talking in those terms, if you’re going to be one of those, then these things—humility and gentleness toward your brothers and sisters, patience with your brothers and sisters, bearing with one another in love (which is just another way to say be longsuffering), be patient, love each other even when it’s hard because people are going to fail and people are gonna be stupid and all those kinds of things. Pursue unity; don’t be dividing over everything, don’t bicker, don’t bite and devour each other, but pursue unity. That’s what the strong and mature among us need to be about doing.Jon Moffitt: He goes on to explain that and the rest of the chapter—which we have probably mentioned on every episode ever in the history of the podcast because I’ve been in love with Ephesians for my entire ministry—but Ephesians 4, he goes on to describe that maturity built up into Christ is not an individual effort, but it’s a corporate effort. Not only is a strong Christian one who cares for the needs of others, but the way in which one becomes a strong Christian, to do that is by others.Justin Perdue: It’s through the corporate ministry of the church, which is going to include pastors and teachers that the Lord has given to teach sound doctrine which gives us stability and keeps us from being knocked around. And it is through every member of the body playing his or her part, so that we together, when the body is functioning properly, as the text says, we build ourselves up in love.Jon Moffitt: Now this is probably mind-bending from many people who are listening and it’s probably very complicated. Justin, one of the things that you and I are facing is the longer we describe biblical Christianity, which is not me and Jesus, but it’s Jesus and his body—that is biblical Christianity -people are struggling because the church has just failed. Let’s just be frank here. The church has failed. I was on the phone with a pastor yesterday. Everybody in California is moving to Tennessee for whatever reason. I am not kidding—it is a weird sensation. You cannot rent a house or buy a house because there are none available; all the Californians took them up. I’m glad they’re here because they’re all in my church. We had nine families from California visit in one day at our church.The struggle has been people hear what we’re saying, and they want to experience that, but the churches that they’re in, they’re not experiencing what we’re describing. Not even on a simple level. The emphasis of the church is not on the corporate gathering or the corporate caring for each other; the emphasis is a pietistic, individualistic, go-home-and-try-harder emphasis. I get how that’s a struggle when you hear what we’re saying and you want to go apply it. In many ways, it’s really hard to do that because of the context that you’re finding yourself in—you can’t. We understand that struggle.But there comes a moment where you, if you believe this strongly enough, if you’re convicted by this, something’s got to change. You either try and change the context that you’re in or you change the context, meaning you got to go to a different one.Justin Perdue: I think that one of the ways that the church has failed—and I think this is been evident in the things that we’ve been saying today—is that the church has given us the impression, at least, there’s at least an implicit message of this, if not an explicit one often, that what the Christian life is about is our own individual strength and growth. That, I would say, is a very American perspective. That’s a very modern, obsessed-with-self kind of perspective, that what really matters is my own growth and my own arrival. We have absolutely lost the biblical emphasis of, like you said a minute ago, this is not about me and Jesus—this is about us and Jesus.I was having a conversation with a brother who I love dearly in our church and he’s going through some hard times. This has just popped into my brain and I feel like it’s applicable here and encouraging. He was talking about any number of things, we were talking about any number of things sitting on the tailgate of my truck. At one point, he is lamenting this: “I feel like right now, my faith would not exist if it were not propped up by other people around me.” And he was saying that as though that was a really bad thing. And I said, basically, “Amen, brother.” I said, “Do you hear what you’re saying? Do you hear yourself talk?” Because he and I have had some conversations recently about why we need the church. I said, “Why do we need the church?” He said, “Brother, it’s almost like that’s how the Lord set it up. It’s almost like God meant for it to be that way.” There are going to be times in all of our lives where if it were not for the brothers and sisters around me, more pointedly who are carrying me and I am propped up on them, I don’t know that I would even have faith. That’s how the church is designed to function. We need each other far more than we realize. And that’s not to say that we don’t need Christ and the Holy Spirit; of course we do. But Christ and his Spirit minister to us through the church. We will know Jesus most tangibly in this world through the church, and through our brothers and sisters in the local church that we’re a part of.We just don’t think in those terms. We often tend to think that there’s something wrong with me if I need other people so desperately. No, you actually are starting to understand it. We are all clinging to each other as we all cling to Jesus.Jon Moffitt: Let me just read to you the exact words from Hebrews, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it’s called “today,” that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confessing firm to the end.” So he’s saying we encourage each other to share in Christ, and we hold on to that to the very end because that’s what’s going to save us. So a strong Christian is one who has concern for others, but also a strong Christian, as Justin just said, is one who knows his strength does not come by his individualism, but his strength comes in numbers. It’s the gathered body that finds our strength as we share in Christ.Justin Perdue: Amen. And obviously it comes from God through the means of the saints. That’s why we’ll say things that sound flat out insane to people. For example—I believe this with all my heart and I know you do too, John—that assurance of salvation is a community project. That sounds bananas to people. Maybe this is even more scandalous to say: sanctification is a community project. Growth in the faith. I’m not saying that the Lord doesn’t do anything in us when we’re alone or in our private time. Don’t hear me say that. But I am absolutely confident, on the basis of the New Testament, that the primary way that we are grown, sustained, and assured is in the corporate context of the church, like you just read from Hebrews, as we encourage and exhort and admonish one another, we all cling to our confession and we all claim to our hope that we have been given in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we point one another to him.Jon Moffitt: It is a scary concept to think that I have to trust in something outside of myself in order to accomplish the thing that God has given me. We don’t want to hear that. And I get it. I love my church and Justin loves his church; I told Justin that if I ever get out of ministry, I’ll move to Asheville to be a part of his church. Our churches are so full of problems and all kinds of messes, but the one thing we get right is we get the gospel right. We are starting to understand community and sharing in Christ. Our church is starting to see this.Justin Perdue: Exactly. It takes time. I’m over five years in, you’re over three years in—this doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t microwave this.Jon Moffitt: No, because we had to change people’s perspectives of churches that they’ve come from. We do have new converts in our context, but we’re also in the Bible belt so we’re also dealing with a lot of people who grew up in Christianity. We have to reprogram people to not trust themselves. You are going to be deceived by sin and it will entangle you.I think it’s so interesting when someone comes into the counseling with us and we start unraveling the problem—they confess their sin, we start talking about how it was caused, and the solutions we hand them are not isolated steps. The end goal is to allow the church to now carry this with you to the end, and it terrifies people to think other people are going to know about this. How else do you think you’re going to get help? I don’t have the ability to carry this by myself as the pastor.As a matter of fact, Paul doesn’t say in Galatians 6 that pastors need to carry the burdens of the church. He says “you who are strong,” not pastors. Paul is writing to the congregation saying the congregation is to do that.Justin Perdue: And then tells them to bear one another’s burdens. It’s very clear that that’s an encouragement and an exhortation to everybody.Jon Moffitt: Yeah. To go back to Ephesians 4, he says the pastors and teachers are designed to equip the church for the work of ministry.Justin Perdue: Equip the saints for the work of ministry so that the body will grow and mature and build itself up in love.Jon Moffitt: Part of the Reformation that has to take place is not only theology, which Justin and I are heralding rest in Christ, but the transformation and reformation that must happen is we’ve got to get back to the biblical perspective of the church so that people can find rest again—and they can truly.Justin Perdue: And the gospel that we herald and the doctrine that we teach and confess in our respective churches drive that kind of culture in the church.Jon Moffitt: That’s right. There’s a massive drive for social justice on all levels right now in almost every brand of Christianity that is out there. Everybody’s throwing out the virtue signaling for racism and for everything that’s going on. The church now is focusing outward, but it’s leaving all of its members behind and they’re being exhausted by all of this. I think it’s easier to be involved in social justice movements because it’s at a distance, and you can see immediate movement towards a change.Justin Perdue: It’s easier to be involved in movements of social justice than it is to just love people in the church.Jon Moffitt: Right. Because some people’s weaknesses and failures… there is no improvement.Justin Perdue: There’s not a fix. This is a limp that they’re going to walk with for the rest of their lives, and they need to be loved.Jon Moffitt: Right. The burden of people in my church is their spouse left them or their child died or they were abused; that’s a burden that cannot be fixed but can only be carried. Those are the things that don’t sell. You don’t do conferences on those. Our first conference should be on how to carry the burdens of other people.Justin Perdue: We may get into this more in the SR podcast, but things like conferences and short-term mission trips and stuff like that, it’s easy to get excited about those things. It’s easy to get people fired up and geeked up about them. They’re just sparkle and fade type of things. The difficulty and the real marrow of the Christian life is what we are talking about today; it’s locking arms with other fallen human beings and loving one another as we so often limp our way by the Holy Spirit’s power toward the Celestial City. We’re just trying to love each other in such a way that we help one another to trust Christ and die with dignity—and that’s just not a sexy message for many people.Jon Moffitt: Christianity really is moving from one Super Bowl to the next—we’re just looking for that one high.Justin Perdue: If you’re saying American Christianity, then I agree with you completely.Even the movement thing that you’re talking about, Jon. There’s a reason why every 18 to 24 months, there’s something new.Jon Moffitt: It’s like we have to find motivation for what we’re doing.Justin Perdue: If you read the Christian blogosphere and you just go back over the last 15 years, I promise you that you’ll find five to eight big issues. Every four years you’ve got politics—the election cycle. But then there’s been a number of other things sprinkled in from various issues of social justice, whether that’s having to do with gender stuff or race stuff. There was a big emphasis on sex trafficking years ago.Again, we should pursue justice. Amen. But there’s always gotta be a new thing, it seems, that people can pay attention to.Jon Moffitt: The reason why there’s always a new thing is that modern Christianity is just one epic failure after the next because we aren’t paying attention to Scripture. There has been no success. You can’t even call numbers success because then Joel Osteen is the most successful strong Christian on the planet because he’s got one of the biggest churches in the world. Numbers are not success. When Paul describes a successful Christian or church, he is not describing these things that are changing culture or overcoming. We’re always going to have social issues. We’re always going to have problems. But when he describes a successful strong Christian, he describes something that is just not talked about today.I want to speak to the pastor out there and the Christian worker who’s been faithfully serving in their ministries year in and year out: success has nothing to do with the books you write, the podcasts you make, and the number of people in your church. That is not what success is. A successful pastor or a successful Christian is one who gets down and carries and cares for, and is patiently longsuffering with people day in and day out. No matter how many people those are—if it’s one, two, or 5,000, it does not matter. But you can go to bed at night and say, “You know what? According to 2 Peter 1, I was an effective Christian today because I cared for people. I cared for them and that’s what my job is.” I’m a good Christian not because of the sins I conquered—I’m not saying you can live in sin—not because of all of the things I did spiritually. No, we cared for the failings and the weak and those who are suffering and we carried burdens. I can die as a man going, “You know what? I did what God asked me to do, which is to care for the people around me in my church. That’s what I’ve been called to do. I’m a successful pastor.”Justin Perdue: And God has given me Christ’s very own righteousness and has dealt with my sin so that I am set free to do that work without fear of condemnation and judgment.A couple of thoughts for me to close—and I realize it’s not exactly related to what you just said, but I hope this makes sense.Two big ones: number one, back to that whole idea of a survey. If you were going to fill one out, what should mark a Christian? If we don’t put love for the brethren, then we are flat wrong when it comes to what the Bible reveals. Jesus himself says in John 13: how is the world going to know that we’re Christ’s? It’s by the way we love each other. And then John picks that up in his first epistle, in chapter two, verses seven and following, where his exhortation is to love each other. This is the commandment and this is what the redeemed do. So we need to talk in those terms.The second thing is related. If we’re going to really love one another and get down low and bear each other’s burdens, it requires a lot of things that we’ve been talking about today: humility, patience, gentleness, and the like. If that’s going to characterize us in the church, we’ve got to get rid of self-righteousness because self-righteousness and humility, gentleness, patience, compassion don’t go together. They’re like oil and water.I said this in a conversation this week, and this is kind of where I’m going to conclude my thoughts on this people think in the church: people think in the church today that the epidemic that’s plaguing us is nominalism, that the problem is that there are too many false converts or there are too many Christians in name only. That’s the issue for them. I think that’s a pretty myopic and short-sighted perspective. The problem that has always existed in the church from the jump, regarding the New Testament, is self-righteousness—people trusting in their own works, trusting in their own righteousness, going back to the law. It manifests itself in a number of ways, but that’s the issue.I said this to a guy this week: my main objective in terms of what I want to see in all of our lives is I want to make it my mission to destroy self-righteousness at CBC, and I want us to trust in Christ’s righteousness alone and despair of our own. If that actually starts to happen for us, guess what’s going to be produced? This stuff: love, compassion, patience, gentleness, and charity toward the weak and toward the struggler, rather than this kind of posture that we all contend to have where we look at the weak and the struggler and we say, “You should be better by now. You shouldn’t be doing that.”Jon Moffitt: Amen. We’re gonna end this podcast and we’re going to move over to our next one, which is called Semper Reformanda. This is a new ministry that we started for the purposes of those who want to join in what we’re doing. If you want to be a part of the Reformation, you want to see change happen, then we’d encourage you to join us. It’s two parts: we do a podcast and then we also have a ministry where you can gather with other listeners and talk about the podcast each week. We have an app for it, so you can join. Once you join, you can download our private podcast feed and then join a local group. We already have 20 groups we’ve started around the country and we’re working on doing more. We have several online groups and while you’re waiting for your local group, you can join in. We have a great time discussing the podcast.Today, Justin and I are going to head over there and we are going to talk about parachurch failures as it relates to the marks of a strong Christian. It’s going to be a fun conversation. We’ll see over there.For those of you that won’t make it with us, we’ll see you next week.

Welcome back to another episode with Paul Chambers. In the last episode, we discussed how to take care of our customers using recurring revenue models. Today, we're going to discuss the pros and cons of several different recurring revenue models, along with tips and tricks for each model.   Subscription Boxes   Today there are thousands of different subscription boxes we can subscribe to, such as Ipsy and Birchbox for beauty products, Naturebox and Urthbox for super yummy natural snacks, Bulubox for workout products, the Beard Club, and the Candy Club. There are a lot of opportunities with subscription boxes. People love to watch unboxings on YouTube or Instagram. They're great for holidays and events. There are boxes for travel, for kids, for lifestyle, or for your horse or dog that you get on a monthly basis. Paul said, “If there's a niche out there, there's an opportunity to build a subscription box.”    There can be many pros to subscription boxes. One of these is the recurring revenue it provides every month, which can take a lot of stress off an entrepreneur's shoulders. It also limits unnecessary expenses because we only have to order enough products to fulfill our subscriptions. Our customers can also have a lot of fun with the discovery and delight side of subscription boxes by introducing people to new products and working with a lot of different brands to put new items in the box. When Paul was working on the Gentleman's box, they worked with Manscaped and Dollar Shave Club.   A con of subscription boxes is they tend to have a faster turnover. After six or seven months, people can get what Paul calls box burnout and stop subscribing.   The Right Software   Picking the right software to run a subscription box business can be tricky. It's important to know what we're trying to accomplish. Cratejoy can be a one software option because it is fast and easy to build a subscription box. They also have a marketplace, so they already have an audience for us to sell to. However, it can have its challenges with products and flexibility.    Shopify is another platform that allows us to sell subscriptions through their widget where we can add on plugins and easily build on top of that. But it doesn't have an audience like Cratejoy, so we'd have to go market on mysubscriptionaddiction.com or other places like that.   There are OrderGroove and Zuora that take it to the next level. OrderGroove is making big waves; they have some cool AI features and they are getting tightly integrated with Shopify. Zuora is an enterprise software company that is good for larger companies like Nike.    When Paul launched the Gentleman's Box, Cratejoy didn't exist yet, so they used WooCommerce which is a little more flexible, but they had to play with it a bit to get their subscription box management the way they wanted it.   Discovery and Delight   Subscription boxes tend to go two ways: discovery and delight or replenishable. Discovery and delight boxes send new products that customers can find joy in. They aren't necessarily products that need to be replaced on a regular basis.    Paul said these kinds of boxes tend to work well on a quarterly basis rather than a monthly one. On a monthly basis, people often unsubscribe after about six or seven months, but they'll stay longer on a quarterly basis.   Replenishable    A replenishable service or product is something people continue to need. It's a great subscription model because customers must buy these every month or so anyway, so making it a subscription box that shows up right at their door makes it very easy for them. These are products like razors, which Dollar Shave Club does, or toothbrushes, which Quip does. However, this type of subscription isn't limited to boxes. SaaS products often work great in this category because customers need access to that service every month.   Early on in the days of Gentleman's Box, Paul and the founding team were thinking about raising capital, so they met with some investors. One of those people was Jack Abraham, a successful entrepreneur, and investor. He told them, “I love what you're doing. This is so cool, but it needs some sort of replenishable product inside.”   The team told him to thank you but they were happy with what they had. Abraham went on to co-found Hims, which is now one of the leading hair growth subscriptions, doing exactly what Gentleman's Box should have been doing, Paul said.   If we are doing a subscription box and there's an opportunity to put a replenishable product in it, we should take it because it will increase the longevity of our customers.   SaaS   The pros of SaaS are longevity and opportunity. “If you can build a good solution that people love and need, they're . . . less likely to leave you at some point in time. They'll stay on as long as they're using that solution,” Paul said. SaaS gives us that audience and the opportunity to build and expand our audience.   SaaS also has lots of opportunities. Paul said, “There [are] tens of thousands of SaaS companies out there, but tons of opportunity still to create solutions that people are looking for.”   We can look at a company like Canva, which is very popular and successful. They could have looked at Adobe's subscription for Photoshop and thought, there's no way we could compete with them. But they didn't give up and tried to find a way to make it easier. “My philosophy is to leave no stone unturned. Look at what your biggest pain points are and challenges in your day and if something doesn't already exist for that, then that's a great opportunity to build,” Paul said.    The challenge with SaaS is we must frequently evolve it. We can't just create the software, put it out in the world, and sit back as the money starts rolling in. Paul had this problem with Quotegine. They did just that and thought they were done, but then people started getting bugs, breaking the system, and requesting new features and integrations. Paul and his team hadn't anticipated that.    “You can't have that mentality of building a SaaS solution that you're not going to need to continue to invest in,” Paul said. Having a technical co-founder, especially in the beginning, can help because paying developers can be expensive.   Membership Models   The key to membership is consistently providing value. Paul described how the Subscription Trade Association is constantly putting out new content, and they're constantly deciding what they're going to give away for free. “We err on the side of giving more away than we probably even should, because . . . we want to grow the community,” Paul said. “We want to help people as much as possible, and if they find this helpful, then they'll engage and subscribe and become members.”   Being a member and being a subscriber can overlap. For example, Paul and I are both members of Amazon Prime, but we also subscribe to Amazon Prime. “A good membership,” Paul said, “is something you'll pay for on a monthly basis and never question that charge or not even know when that charges your credit card.”    Paul and I couldn't remember when Amazon charges us or even how much the membership is now. This is a great example of customers never questioning the value of that membership.   Amazon isn't perfect, however. Personally, I don't feel like part of a community when I say I'm a member of Amazon Prime. I pay for it—and I will continue to pay for it—but I get a service from it, not a community. Amazon is missing the opportunity to build that community. For example, with their streaming service, they could create a way to watch TV and movies with other members online as Disney+ and Netflix have done.    Community is a crucial part of membership. Without it, our audience may just feel like subscribers. We should be doing everything we can to foster our membership communities.   Access/Streaming   The next recurring revenue stream is what I call the access model, but it could also be referred to as streaming. This model is where customers pay to access something. Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu fit into this, but it can also include something like Adobe Stock Images where customers pay to have access to millions of images.   A concern that small businesses have with this model is they're too small to create something like Adobe's image library. They don't have the resources or the finances to build out that library.    The access model is a two-sided marketplace: there are creators putting content out there and people accessing content from the creators. It would be hard for a small business to create all that content themselves. If I want to start a stock photography site, instead of going out and taking thousands of pictures myself, I could let my audience provide pictures. It may still be a challenge to find photographers, provide them with value, and get them to feed my library, but it is easier than trying to do it all myself.    On the streaming side of access, we may think all the big companies (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu or Disney+, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Paramount Plus, etc.) have it covered, but Paul believes there's still a lot of opportunities out there. If the top 10 YouTube creators right now started their own streaming service, people would download that app immediately, and they would have a good chance at competing with the big companies.   Key Takeaways   Thank you so much Paul for sharing your stories and insights with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:   There are tons of opportunities with subscription boxes. Consider creating a box with a replenishable product to increase the longevity of customers. The SaaS model is a great way to have lifetime (or at least very long-term) customers. However, we need to ensure we are constantly providing value by evolving and upgrading the software. To think of a SaaS solution, find the pain points in your industry and see if there is existing software that could help fix that. Is there a way you could add a tectonic shift to an existing SaaS product, as Google Docs did by adding remote collaboration to a market that Microsoft Word used to dominate? The membership model should be about providing value and creating a community where your target audience can feel they belong. When building an access library, we can use our audience to help us provide content as long as we are also providing them value.   Connect with Paul   If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Paul or connect with him, you can find him on LinkedIn or visit subta.com.   Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?   Please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:   Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.  Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.   Share Your Story    What recurring revenue streams have you tried and what pros and cons have you seen from them? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.   Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-recurring-revenue-models/ 

When Paul dealt with diversity of religious beliefs in Rome, he insisted the onus was on the “strong” in faith to hold space for the “weak.” In this message, Part III, Pastor Colby finally explores what these two terms might mean, what the differences are, and how it is we shift from weak faith to strong. Don't sleep on this series!

"To live is Christ and to die is gain." When Paul wrote these words in His letter to the Philippians, he was living the sake of the gospel and others. His hope in this letter was that fellow believers would do the same. Be encouraged as we look at Philippians 1:18-26 to live out the call to show forth the glory of Christ consistently.

Question Time Stamps for Quick Reference: 0:00 - Introduction1. 0:43 {Why does John and Other Passages Not Mention Repentance?} If repentance is required to be saved, why is it not mentioned in the Gospel of John and other evangelical texts like Acts 16: 31 and Romans 10? Can repentance be somewhat synonymous with belief?2. 10:41 {About Orthodox Beliefs} What do Orthodox Christians believe vs. Protestants? Is their doctrine as problematic as Catholic doctrine? (I heard Hank Hanegraaf converted to it.)3. 15:43 {About the Greek in Bible Translations} Pastors often say, "what the Greek REALLY says is…" Why don't translators use the Greek that pastors cite in sermons then? (Like how Peter is akin to pebble but is translated as rock.)4. 19:41 {Explanation of Ezekiel 14 – Prophets} In Ezekiel 14:9 it says if a prophet is deceived, it’s the Lord who deceived him. Could you offer some explanation to this verse, as it seems out of character for God?5. 25:38 {About Saving Faith in the OT} Romans 4 tells us that Abraham was saved because of his faith. He believed in God. How can we say that just because he was saved that way, everyone else in the OT was saved that way? Also, if they were saved that way, why did they have to sacrifice lambs? And if people were always saved by just believing in God, why was it necessary for Christ to come?6. 31:15 {Fruit of the Spirit – Longsuffering} Could you please explain what longsuffering means, in regard to the fruit of the Spirit?7. 32:40 {Is All of Scripture Inspired?} When Paul says, "I say, not the Lord but I..." in 1 Corinthians 7: 12, does that mean that portion of Scripture was not inspired? 8. 36:12 {Assurance of God’s Love & Salvation} Does God really love me, and am I really saved? I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but I am still sinful and I struggle with sin. However, it seems that God answers my prayers. Am I really saved?9. 39:47 {Has Mankind always only had One Spirit?} What are your views that God only created one spirit and gave it to Adam which was then passed through generations? This explains how God doesn’t create an impure spirit at birth, or generational curse.10. 42:44 {About Witnessing and Exemplifying Christ} My husband isn’t open to hearing me speak truth, so I have stopped correcting him. Is this a sin?? If he dies, he will go to hell.11. 45:00 {Promises vs. Prophecies} Is there a difference between a promise and a prophecy? Are all God's promises prophecies? Am I responsible if a prophecy told about me doesn't come to pass? A church leader told me these things.12. 47:54 {How to Be Kind when it’s Difficult} What specific actions can one who has no empathy do to be kind? (Thinking 1 Corinthians 13 "kind.")13. 50:27 {Help with Marital Conflict} I feel led by God to homeschool my teens. My husband disagrees. He doesn't want them to be sheltered. I want to submit, but I’m conflicted. Thoughts?14. 53:13 {“Free Grace” Theology, Faith, & Works} Free grace theology says that "save" in James 2: 14 means from physical death or harm. All uses of the word “save” in James 2: 14 are in the context of physical harm, so why is this different for you in 2: 14?15. 57:31 {When is Kissing Sinful?} Is all kinds of romantic kissing outside of marriage a sin? Could a Christian actor/actress do a kissing scene?16. 1:00:28 {Do Jew. & Gent. Christians Worship Together?} I’m an ethnically Jewish Christian and have seen that some believe that Jewish & Gentile Christians worship together, but with different lifestyle callings. This has been stressful. Input?17. 1:03:25 {Did God Promote Adultery in Genesis?} In Genesis 38:7-10, Someone was commanded to lay with his brother’s wife and impregnate her. He didn’t impregnate her, and the Lord struck him down. Is G

When Paul & Eli receive a massive "Price of Shite" package in their PO Box, it becomes quickly apparent that it's way too large to use in just one segment of the show... So let's make it the whole show! There is so much to wade through that the pressure begins to show, especially when there is a chance to gamble to grab some BIG P'twings. Eli gets carried away, Paul almost rage quits and someone forgot the P.O.S answers which makes things awkward. It's a show that veers from charity shop tat, football World Cup anthems, magic eye images, kid's comic annuals and a board game that makes Paul WAY TOO excited! Who will win in this epic edition of CheapShow? Find out, why don't you? See pictures and/or videos for this episode here: https://www.thecheapshow.co.uk/ep-236-a-massive-p-o-s And if you like us, why not support us: www.patreon.com/cheapshow If you want to get involved, email us at thecheapshow@gmail.com And if you have to, follow us on Twitter @thecheapshowpod or @paulgannonshow & @elisnoid Like, Review, Share, Comment... LOVE US! Oh, and you can NOW listen to Urinevision 2021 on Bandcamp... For Free! Enjoy! https://cheapshowpodcast.bandcamp.com/album/urinevision-2021-the-album MERCH Official CheapShow Merch Shop https://www.redbubble.com/people/cheapshow/shop Www.cheapmag.shop www.tinyurl.com/rbcheapshow Send Us Stuff CheapShow PO BOX 1309 Harrow HA1 9QJ

As Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled they would start to leave for a certain city and the Holy Spirit would sometimes say "No," so they would go in a different direction. When they are in Troas, Paul has a vision of a man in Macedonia asking him to come help there so one would think since Paul has this "Macedonian Call" that things would be rockin' and rollin' but that's not the case. When Paul arrives at Philippi there's not even a synagogue to visit, there's no huge crowd welcoming him, and they didn't roll out the red carpet for him. What he found was a few women that had gathered by the river so he shares the gospel with them as they carry on a conversation. How many times have you said, "If God would just show me what I need to do I'd do it?" Would you really? Procrastination should never exist in the vocabulary of a Christ follower!

Full Text of ReadingsSolemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Lectionary: 171All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint BarnabasBarnabas, a Jew of Cyprus, comes as close as anyone outside the Twelve to being a full-fledged apostle. He was closely associated with Saint Paul—he introduced Paul to Peter and the other apostles—and served as a kind of mediator between the former persecutor and the still suspicious Jewish Christians. When a Christian community developed at Antioch, Barnabas was sent as the official representative of the church of Jerusalem to incorporate them into the fold. He and Paul instructed in Antioch for a year, after which they took relief contributions to Jerusalem. Later Paul and Barnabas, now clearly seen as charismatic leaders, were sent by Antioch officials to preach to the gentiles. Enormous success crowned their efforts. After a miracle at Lystra, the people wanted to offer sacrifice to them as gods—Barnabas being Zeus, and Paul, Hermes—but the two said, “We are of the same nature as you, human beings. We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God” (see Acts 14:8-18). But all was not peaceful. They were expelled from one town, they had to go to Jerusalem to clear up the ever-recurring controversy about circumcision, and even the best of friends can have differences. When Paul wanted to revisit the places they had evangelized, Barnabas wanted to take along his cousin John Mark, author of the Gospel, but Paul insisted that since Mark had deserted them once, he was not fit to take along now. The disagreement that followed was so sharp that Barnabas and Paul separated: Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus, Paul taking Silas to Syria. Later they were reconciled—Paul, Barnabas and Mark. When Paul stood up to Peter for not eating with gentiles for fear of his Jewish friends, we learn that “even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (see Galatians 2:1-13). Reflection Barnabas is spoken of simply as one who dedicated his life to the Lord. He was a man “filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Thereby, large numbers were added to the Lord.” Even when he and Paul were expelled from Antioch in Pisidia—modern-day Turkey—they were “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” Saint Barnabas is the Patron Saint of: Cyprus Saint of the Day Copyright Franciscan Media

We have a very real propensity to let our past dictate our future, whether that past was good or whether it was bad. When Paul tells the Philippian church that he is forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, he is giving us a heavy dose of wisdom that we need right now, especially in light of the past year.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians and referred to the Messiah performing a circumcision (not with human hands), what did he mean? How can we get a "spiritual" circumcision of our heart?

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 23–24 2 Samuel 23–24 (Listen) The Last Words of David 23 Now these are the last words of David:   The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,    the oracle of the man who was raised on high,  the anointed of the God of Jacob,    the sweet psalmist of Israel:1 2   “The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me;    his word is on my tongue.3   The God of Israel has spoken;    the Rock of Israel has said to me:  When one rules justly over men,    ruling in the fear of God,4   he dawns on them like the morning light,    like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,    like rain2 that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 5   “For does not my house stand so with God?    For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,    ordered in all things and secure.  For will he not cause to prosper    all my help and my desire?6   But worthless men3 are all like thorns that are thrown away,    for they cannot be taken with the hand;7   but the man who touches them    arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,    and they are utterly consumed with fire.”4 David's Mighty Men 8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.5 He wielded his spear6 against eight hundred whom he killed at one time. 9 And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. 10 He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the LORD brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain. 11 And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,7 where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. 12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the LORD worked a great victory. 13 And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the LORD 17 and said, “Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. 18 Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty.8 And he wielded his spear against three hundred men9 and killed them and won a name beside the three. 19 He was the most renowned of the thirty10 and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three. 20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man11 of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels12 of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. 21 And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. 23 He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard. 24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, 27 Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro13 of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all. David's Census 24 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,14 who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer,15 and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;16 and they came to Dan, and from Dan17 they went around to Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000. The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin 10 But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 11 And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer18 you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.'” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three19 years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” 15 So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.” David Builds an Altar 18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad's word, as the LORD commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels20 of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. Footnotes [1] 23:1 Or the favorite of the songs of Israel [2] 23:4 Hebrew from rain [3] 23:6 Hebrew worthlessness [4] 23:7 Hebrew consumed with fire in the sitting [5] 23:8 Or of the captains [6] 23:8 Compare 1 Chronicles 11:11; the meaning of the Hebrew expression is uncertain [7] 23:11 Or gathered together as a camp [8] 23:18 Two Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts three [9] 23:18 Or slain ones [10] 23:19 Compare 1 Chronicles 11:21; Hebrew Was he the most renowned of the three? [11] 23:20 Or the son of Ishhai [12] 23:20 The meaning of the word ariel is unknown [13] 23:35 Or Hezrai [14] 24:2 Septuagint to Joab and the commanders of the army [15] 24:5 Septuagint; Hebrew encamped in Aroer [16] 24:6 Septuagint; Hebrew to the land of Tahtim-hodshi [17] 24:6 Septuagint; Hebrew they came to Dan-jaan and [18] 24:12 Or hold over [19] 24:13 Compare 1 Chronicles 21:12, Septuagint; Hebrew seven [20] 24:24 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams (ESV) New Testament: Acts 27–28:15 Acts 27–28:15 (Listen) Paul Sails for Rome 27 And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. 2 And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. 3 The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. 4 And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. 5 And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. 7 We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. 8 Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. 9 Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast1 was already over, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. The Storm at Sea 13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,2 we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,3 and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. 21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.' 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.” 27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms.4 A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.5 29 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. 33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength,6 for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 2767 persons in the ship.) 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. The Shipwreck 39 Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. 40 So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. 41 But striking a reef,8 they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. 42 The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, 44 and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land. Paul on Malta 28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people9 showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice10 has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. 7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly,11 and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. Paul Arrives at Rome 11 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods12 as a figurehead. 12 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found brothers13 and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. Footnotes [1] 27:9 That is, the Day of Atonement [2] 27:16 Some manuscripts Clauda [3] 27:17 That is, the sea-anchor (or possibly the mainsail) [4] 27:28 About 120 feet; a fathom (Greek orguia) was about 6 feet or 2 meters [5] 27:28 About 90 feet (see previous note) [6] 27:34 Or For it is for your deliverance [7] 27:37 Some manuscripts seventy-six, or about seventy-six [8] 27:41 Or sandbank, or crosscurrent; Greek place between two seas [9] 28:2 Greek barbaroi (that is, non–Greek speakers); also verse 4 [10] 28:4 Or justice [11] 28:10 Greek honored us with many honors [12] 28:11 That is, the Greek gods Castor and Pollux [13] 28:14 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 15, 21 (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 122 Psalm 122 (Listen) Let Us Go to the House of the Lord A Song of Ascents. Of David. 122   I was glad when they said to me,    “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”2   Our feet have been standing    within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3   Jerusalem—built as a city    that is bound firmly together,4   to which the tribes go up,    the tribes of the LORD,  as was decreed for1 Israel,    to give thanks to the name of the LORD.5   There thrones for judgment were set,    the thrones of the house of David. 6   Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!    “May they be secure who love you!7   Peace be within your walls    and security within your towers!”8   For my brothers and companions' sake    I will say, “Peace be within you!”9   For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,    I will seek your good. Footnotes [1] 122:4 Or as a testimony for (

Murder in the name of God? When Paul came to Jerusalem, we knew it was only a matter of time before he would run afoul of the Jewish authorities. As we're reading Acts 23, now the Roman authorities are involved, too. And apparently the Sanhedrin despaired of winning their case at law, because some of them - more than 40 - planned to take matters into their own hands. But everything was in God's hands, as always. Here's Jim with the third-and-final part of his sermon called, The Roman Trial of Heaven's Ambassador. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS06022021_1.mp3Scripture References: Acts 22:21-24:27

Andy’s determined not to keep telling stories about baseball now that the Astros have started losing, but he’ll tell one more. And that’s of a player whose gifts were considered unworthy. When Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, he’s writing to a church that is allowing spiritual gifts to rip them apart. It was his challenge to teach them that each of these gifts were equally worthy. What are you good at? Where do you see your gifts? And are you putting those gifts into service? If you’d like to take a spiritual gifts assessment to learn more about where God has gifted you, you can find one online at fmhouston.com/sunday this week. fmhouston.com

Paul knew he had started the last lap of his race. When Jesus had set His face toward Jerusalem, His disciples didn't understand what would happen there. When Paul started his final trip toward that same city, his disciples and friends knew it was a death march. And it was heartbreaking. Jim promised we would see a Riot, a Resurrection and a Revival in Acts 19. We'll begin today with the riot in Ephesus. Here's the middle segment of the sermon, To Finish My Course - Paul. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS05252021_0.mp3Scripture References: Acts 19:21-20:38

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for May 19th, 2021. The hope is that we’re seeing the last of the worst. India’s total cases since the pandemic began crossed over 25 million yesterday and there was a record 4,329 deaths in 24 hours. Argentina also had a record one-day coronavirus death toll of 745 as it deals with a second wave of infections. However, in India, there’s at least a trend of falling cases. Lots of buzz after Dr. Anthony Fauci’s appearance on Good Morning America, on which he admitted he’s been wearing a mask for the sake of public perception. The comment was notable due to public exchanges with Sen. Rand Paul in which he’s emphatically denied he was masking for any reason other than his own health. When Paul asked if his mask wearing after vaccination is theater, Fauci replied that variants were a good reason for a mask. It should be easier to work with the Pfizer vaccine now. The European Medicines Agency said it can be stored at refrigerated temperature much longer than previously recommended. The EMA extended the approved storage period for an unopened thawed vial when kept in a fridge between 2C and 8C from five days to one month. A new and very large survey shows that Covid-19 vaccines tend to alleviate the symptoms of long Covid. Some have been experiencing symptoms for months on end ranging from chronic fatigue to organ damage. 56.7% of respondents experienced an overall improvement in symptoms, with 24.6% unchanged and 18.7% reporting deterioration of their symptoms. In general, those who got mRNA vaccines like Phizer and Moderna reported more improvements. The New York Yankee breakthrough mystery continues. Nine fully vaccinated members of the organization have tested positive. Symptoms have been mild or absent. But because a cluster of breakthrough cases like this is such a rarity, the CDC is looking into it. All nine got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In the United States cases were down 35%, deaths are down 12%, and hospitalizations are down 20% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since April 14. There are now 5,920,288 active cases in the United States. The current top 5 states by number of active cases: California, Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Kentucky. The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Armstrong, TX. Chattahoochee, GA. Conejos, CO. Adams, MS. Luce, MI. Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK. Calhoun, WV. Karnes, TX. Alamosa, CO. And Shelby, MO. The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Alabama, Rhode Island, Colorado, Michigan, and Maine. There have been 587,199 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.79%. The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: Florida 97. Michigan 87. New York 43. Texas 42. Pennsylvania 36. Illinois 29. Georgia 26. California and Ohio 25. And New Jersey 23. The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose, Vermont at 65.2%, Massachusetts at 62.6%, and Hawaii at 62.2%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Mississippi at 32.5%, Louisiana at 34%, and Alabama at 34.7%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 37.3%. Globally, cases were down 24% and deaths down 12% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since April 23. There are now 17,656,808 active cases around the world. The five countries with the most new cases: India 267,174. Brazil 74,379. Argentina 35,543. The United States 27,506. And France 17,210. There have now been 3,399,045 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. For the latest updates... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Paul the Apostle wrote to the Christians in Galatia, he wanted to address a debate about the evidence of righteousness. Circumcision was at the center of the debate and it was both a theological and cultural issue. Paul makes a clear case that our only hope for righteousness is God's spirit. And the fruits of the spirit are the evidence of his spirit at work in us.

When Paul the Apostle wrote to the Christians in Galatia, he wanted to address a debate about the evidence of righteousness. Circumcision was at the center of the debate and it was both a theological and cultural issue. Paul makes a clear case that our only hope for righteousness is God's spirit. And the fruits of the spirit are the evidence of his spirit at work in us.

When Paul stood in the Athenian court on the Hill of Mars (the Areopagus) to plead his case for Christianity before the Epicureans and Stoics, no one knew what would happen. Would he be laughed out of town? Or put in chains? What nobody expected was what eventually came to pass. In this episode of "Young Heretics," Spencer Klavan discusses how the obscure faith of this Jewish scholar took over the world. -- Everyone wants a beard that looks like Spencer Klavan's. Visit minimoustachery.com/heretics and use the code HERETICS to get 20% off men's grooming and shave kits. -- America is under siege. As the new president of Young America's Foundation, Governor Scott Walker is launching The Long Game to fight back. It's a bold plan to win the culture battle and the culture war. Get your free copy at yaf.org/longgame. -- "Young Heretics" is now on Locals! You can become a Young Heretics VIP by visiting youngheretics.com/locals and subscribing for only $4.99 per month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices