This episode (part 2 of 2) discusses the seven mountains of culture, a concept first shared by Youth With a Mission founder Loren Cunningham -- Arts & Entertainment, Business, School, Family, Government, Media, and the Church. Islam has done a good job infiltrating these spheres and it's time for Christians to rise up collectively and become active, awake and informed. Pastor Joe suggests three practical ways for Christians to apply change in these areas, while keeping a love for the Muslim people as central in our hearts.

This sermon by Joe McIntyre was recorded more than 10 years ago but is perhaps even more relevant today. Listen to Part 1 here. 

Show notes, including links to all the people mentioned in this podcast, and a full transcript are at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast21.

This episode (part 1 of 2) discusses the seven mountains of culture, a concept first shared by Youth With a Mission founder Loren Cunningham -- Arts & Entertainment, Business, School, Family, Government, Media, and the Church -- and how Christians can apply our God-given authority, favor, and wisdom to affect change in these spheres. This sermon by Joe McIntyre was recorded more than 10 years ago but is perhaps even more relevant today. 

Islam has done a good job infiltrating these spheres and it's time for Christians to rise up collectively and become active, awake and informed. We need to gain vision for affecting culture within our individual spheres of influence. But spoiler alert: affecting culture starts with serving, not being a bull in a china shop, and thinking beyond revival to reformation.

This episode will give you big-picture vision as a church and inspiration to apply in your personal life.

Show notes, including links to all the people mentioned in this podcast, and a full transcript are at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast20. 

This short (15-min) episode wraps up part one and is pulled from Pastor Joe's MP3 series, Strong in the Lord.

The devil will have you believing that things are harder for you because you don’t have a certain gift or giftings. You'll think to yourself, “If I was like so-and-so, I would be able to be a good Christian.” But even pastors don't have any intrinsic gifting that makes them better able to stand in the face of trial compared to others.

This is actually GOOD news, because if the battle is the same for everybody, then victory is the same for everybody. Victory isn't easier personally for anybody -- and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with you that will prevent you from becoming strong in God and walking in victory and fulfilling your destiny. Let it get a hold of you that you cannot be stopped.

To be unstoppable, the Apostle Paul commands you to continually receive strength through your union with the Lord. That means, then, that strength is available, and perhaps we've been passive in our job to simply receive it. How do we receive it?

Additionally, the power to stand is closely related to the knowledge of love and our intimacy with God, knowing he loves us. Sometimes we kind of think of power in humanistic terms, just wanting to know where we can plug in the plug so we can get the electricity to flow.

Tune in to Episode 19 for answers! The full transcript and show notes are available at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast19. 

Have you ever said this to yourself? “If I was like so-and-so, I would be able to be a good Christian.”

The devil will have you believing that things are harder for you because you don’t have a certain gift or giftings.

Sometimes the people to whom we are comparing ourselves is our preachers. Did it ever occur to you that a preacher’s gifting is essentially telling others what they ought to do?

Pastor Joe says: “I can tell everybody what they ought to do. But honest preachers know that when they step out of the pulpit, they don't have any more grace to do it than you do. In other words, I have a special gifting to tell you about this. But when I step out from behind this pulpit and have to live it, I don't have any special gifting to live it.”

But this is good news!

Because if it's the same for everybody, then victory is the same for everybody. Victory isn't easier personally for anybody.

So in the words of the apostle Paul, “Stand, therefore.”

You may not know how right now; you may need to grow; you may need to learn; you may need to develop. But there's nothing intrinsically wrong with you that will prevent you from becoming strong in God and walking in victory and fulfilling your destiny. Let it get a hold of you that you cannot be stopped.

This episode is pulled from Pastor Joe's MP3 series, Strong in the Lord. The full transcript and show notes are at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast18. 

This special "throwback" episode was originally preached in 1994, but shares timeless truths. The full series is available in the Vintage Joe Vault. This episode further clarifies and reinforces the following from Part 1:

In John chapters 14 through 17, Jesus mentions preparing a place for his disciples, and that in his Father's house, there are many mansions. Many believers interpret this passage as a discourse about the second coming, heaven, and our future home there. Pastor Joe gets into the Greek (spoiler alert: the Greek translation for "mansion" is actually "an abiding place") and paints a picture for how we are designed to be God's abiding place, his new temple (mansion) here on earth.

Also discussed:

A full transcript and show notes are available at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast17.

This special "throwback" episode is pulled from the Vintage Joe Vault. It was originally preached in 1994, but shares timeless truths. 

In John chapters 14 through 17, Jesus mentions preparing a place for his disciples, and that in his Father's house, there are many mansions. But what many believers interpret as a discourse about the second coming, heaven and our future home there is actually Jesus' portrayal of how his Father will abide in his followers, here on earth.

Pastor Joe gets into the Greek (spoiler alert: the Greek translation for "mansion" is actually "an abiding place") and paints a picture for how we are designed to be God's abiding place, his new temple (mansion) here on earth.

A full transcript, link to the full series, and show notes are available at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast16. 

Whenever we begin to discuss God's willingness to heal the sick, one of the first questions raised is, "What about Job?" The Book of Job raises questions in the mind of the sincere seeker after truth and we will devote three podcast episodes to this subject. This is the third and final episode; listen to Part 1 and Part 2.

According to 2 Tim. 3.16, we can profit from the book of Job. Tune in to this episode, pulled from Pastor Joe McIntyre's series, "Traditions that Hinder Healing." Full transcript and show notes are available at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast15. 

Episode 14: What About Job? Part 2

Listen to Part 1 here. 

Whenever we begin to discuss God's willingness to heal the sick, one of the first questions raised is, "What about Job?" The Book of Job raises questions in the mind of the sincere seeker after truth and we will devote three podcast episodes to the following:

According to 2 Tim. 3.16, we can profit from the book of Job. Tune in to this episode, pulled from Pastor Joe McIntyre's series, "Traditions that Hinder Healing." Show notes and a full transcript are at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast14.

Whenever we begin to discuss God's willingness to heal the sick, one of the first questions raised is "what about Job?" The Book of Job raises questions in the mind of the sincere seeker after truth and we will devote the next four podcast episodes to the following:

According to 2 Tim. 3.16, we can profit from the book of Job. Tune in to this episode, pulled from Pastor Joe McIntyre's series, "Traditions that Hinder Healing." Show notes and a full transcript are at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast13.

In part two of "Don't Blame God! Why God isn't responsible for evil," Pastor Joe McIntyre addresses the remaining two of five questions we must ask when considering evil: 

4) Can God change his mind? 

5) Can God Suffer? 

This episode is pulled from Pastor Joe's introductory sermon in the series, "Don't Blame God."  Each sermon in the series covers one of these five questions at length.

Show notes, other resources and a full transcript can be found at www.empoweringgrace.org/podcast12.