Defining Reality

Everything we do and say has an eternal weight to it. This does not mean that we live with the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. To fear the LORD does not mean to be afraid of messing up. To fear the LORD means to hate evil (Prov 8:13). Rather than living in a place of fear, we can live in a place of faith and engage the disciplines that Jesus teaches us about in Matthew 6 through His grace. 

God enables His disciples to make Spirit-inspired judgments about people, places, and situations from a place of love and compassion. The truth sets people free and gives them permission to become all that God has called them to be. 

God does not just tell us to do something. He gives us the power to do what He asks of us. God calls us to a standard of obedience that we cannot reach within our own limited human abilities so that we might lean and depend on Him rather than on our own strength. The commands He gives us are not restrictive. Rather, within the protective boundaries of His commands, there is uncaged freedom and joy. 

Singing about God's love and faithfulness to us is just as much worship as singing about our love for Him. Meditating on His love and pursuit of us is the most selfless thing we can do. It reminds us that we are not sufficient within ourselves and that all we have is a gift from Him. We are who we are in Him because of Who He is in us. 

God speaks through His creation and His children have the privilege of tuning in and listening to His voice. 

God is doing some of the greatest things in the unlikeliest of places. In the places where we have had little to no expectations, God wants to redeem our expectations with a fresh understanding of His possibilities. The climate of the wilderness does not intimidate Him. It invites His power.

Paul says in Rom 9:3 that he would be cursed and cut off from Christ if it meant that the people of Israel might be saved. In this episode, Charles and Brian explore the significance of the Jewish people in God's redemptive plan for the world and how Gentiles can support God's work among the Jews today.

Jesus is the Word in the flesh. He became like us so that we could become like Him. He was born so that we could be born again. He took on the fullness of what it meant to be human so that we could take on the fullness of being like Him. The incarnation is permission for us to step into new creation living.

Jesus describes a relationship with the Father that is available to us where we overflow with the things of Heaven and reflect Him in the culture. It is a relationship where our depths connect with His depths. 

Jesus would not tell believers to pray "on earth as it is in heaven" if it was not possible. Those words define what is legal for His brothers and sisters to expect. He did not create us to expect or settle for another conclusion.