Honoring your parents is a matter of life and death... at least it was for Mulan. Is it the same case for us today? Why does the fifth commandment really matter?

What does it mean to be holy? God calls us to be holy because he is holy. 
That command seems impossible.... because it is... and it isn't. 
You may not realize it, but, in a way, you declare things holy all the time. 

Check your privilege. 
That's what someone said to Esther and her heart was changed. 
God gives us privilege and it is always attached to God-given purpose. In order for us to use our privilege for God, we have to be willing to give it all up and never benefit from it. Only then can our privilege be used for God's glory. 

But how do we get the power to surrender our privilege? Nobody wants to do that naturally...

It doesn't matter how much we know about God's forgiveness, unless we have had a personal experience with it. The story of Jonah and the Ninevites reveals to us what it means to encounter God's forgiveness personally versus encountering God's forgiveness from a distance. Jonah could "wow" the people with his theological insight to God's forgiveness. But the story ends before we can find out whether or not he truly received God's forgiveness for himself.

True repentance is something that is detestable to most people today. Yet, Jesus commands that if we are to have eternal life through the Gospel, then true repentance must be the first step on that path. 
The story of how David responds to his "big sin" shows us what it really means to repent. “I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:5.

When you read the Bible, it seems like God can't get enough of the "underdog" storyline. Over and over again, the underdog plot resurfaces. And it becomes most famous in the story of David and Goliath. 
But all these underdog stories point to something else. They point to the ultimate underdog story that the entire Bible is about. 

King Saul was a royal failure. With his very first act as king, he proved to be someone who didn't truly honor God. And the consequences were drastic. If he had only waited a few hours longer, things might have been much different. 

Special Guest: Travis Haberer

The story of the Battle of Jericho is not just something that happened thousands of years ago. It is also the guaranteed future for all Christians. The victory that God wins for the Israelites at Jericho is just a shadow of the far greater victory that God will win at the end of the age for all who believe in Him. 
And yes, there will be a trumpet section. 

12 spies were sent into the promised land. They all faced the same temptations, but only 2 acted in a way that pleased God.  They all faced the same cost, but only 2 esteemed God as more valuable. 

One thing is for certain: our faith will be tested. Only if we have lived like Joshua beforehand will we have victory like Joshua. 

God's plan from the beginning has been that He will make His final home with humanity. But, of course, mankind has messed things up so that we are unfit for God's presence. In order for God to dwell with us, things have to change. It's a bit like Little Italy...