Grace 809

Kori Pennypacker tells a powerful story of a young boy who became a Christian.
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The struggle to give our kids a biblical education is real. Kori Pennypacker shares how her ministry, Bible2School, provides free Bible programs to help young students grow their faith in public school. Tune in to hear her explain how to develop Christian values in our kids from an early age!
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Do you recall the day God sent fire from heaven? The display of power occurred on Mount Carmel in the days of Elijah. The prophet laid the ground rules for the event: Your team has 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah; my team has me. You ask Baal for fire, and I’ll ask Jehovah for fire “…and the God who answers by fire, He is God” (1 Kings 18:24 NASB).

And when it came time to blast a fire, the devil was powerless. No spark, no flames. In the decisive moment Baal was shown to be no match for the living God. Satan is impotent to defy the plans of God. He is bound by the ropes of God’s sovereignty, gagged by God’s righteous plan.

Read more Unbreakable Courage

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Today is History Tuesday. We’ll read Ezra chapters 1-5. I’m calling today’s episode “Unlikely Allies.”

The previous book, 2 Chronicles ended with the fall of Jerusalem. All the articles from the temple removed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and the temple itself was set ablaze. The walls of the city were torn down. The people were taken into what would be a 70 year captivity, as was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah.

And now as Ezra opens, the 70 years have come and gone. God has judged Babylon as Jeremiah also prophesied. It has been wiped out. And God moves on the heart King Cyrus of Persia, who is ruler of the land that once belonged to Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus decreed that the Jewish exiles may return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. And notice that this happens in Cyrus’ first year as king. God’s judgement of 70 years of exile is over, and He sees to it that they are set free.

Having been in bondage all this time, the people are poor, so Cyrus volunteers to pay for the rebuilding of the temple out of his own resources, and he returns all of the temple articles to them. 

Missing from the list of returned items is the altar of incense, the table of showbread, the bronze altar, the golden lampstand and the ark of the covenant. These were probably lost, destroyed or stolen when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.

Once the people got to Jerusalem and settled into their towns, the first thing they did was build the altar on the exact same spot that the original altar had been. Even before beginning construction on the temple, they built the altar. I believe they did this because of their desire to be obedient to the Lord. They wanted to resume the burnt offerings for the atonement of sin, and the morning and evening burnt offerings that were required according to the Law. They wanted God’s blessing on the entire project, and to neglect this would not be a good beginning. Commentator Alexander Maclaren said, “There cannot be a temple without an altar, but there may be an altar without a temple. God meets men at the place of sacrifice, even though there be no house for His name.”

Later in the chapter when the construction begins, the old men who had seen the previous temple, before it was destroyed, wept when the foundation was laid. Listen to Adam Clarkes words, “They saw that the glory had departed from Israel; in their circumstances it was impossible to

The late Steve Farrar invites listeners to consider life not as an accident, but as a purposeful design rooted in God’s sovereign plan. Beginning with God rather than self, he uses Scripture to show that every life is intentionally formed, spiritually awakened by faith, and prepared in advance for meaningful good works. Through trials, growth, and obedience—including a call to sexual purity — Dr. Farrar underscores that God’s wisdom can be trusted, offering deep comfort and direction for a blessed, purpose-filled life.
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The late Dr. Steve Farrar talks about how our culture needs more godly men.
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We cannot win both the applause of people and the “well done” of Christ. Do you play both sides?

Many in the West did in the years leading up to World War II. In 1938 Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler. The British prime minister had long championed a policy of appeasing the dictator’s aggressions, so he agreed to Hitler’s demands. Six months later Hitler occupied all of Czechoslovakia. Next he invaded Poland, and the war began. For a decade the world watched as Hitler flexed his muscles. Yet freedom-loving nations waffled between apathy and fear. Many simply couldn’t pick a side.

The prophet Elijah once asked, “How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the Lord is God, follow Him” (1 Kings 18:21 NASB).

Read more Unbreakable Courage

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Today is Monday so we’ll read from the Law. We’re still in Deuteronomy, the last book we’ll read from the Law, and our chapters tomorrow will be 13-15. I do have an on this date in church history for you. I’m calling today’s episode “What’s In It For You?”  

Have you ever heard someone make a statement like, “You should give, without any expectation of receiving anything in return”? In general, I agree with that statement as it relates to our attitude toward people. We should not give with the expectation of receiving something back from them. If we do, great. But don’t give with the motivation of getting something back from them. 

Do you agree with that? It seems like a good way to avoid being disappointed if they don’t reciprocate, doesn’t it? And if we only give to those who have the ability to give back to us, we probably won’t be giving to people who really *need* the help. So there’s that.

But in Deuteronomy 15, the people were told to be generous to those in need because God would bless them for it. So it seems to me that it is alright for us to be generous with the expectation that there will be a blessing for us from God.

And of course, this is not the only place that this principle is spoken of in the Bible. In Luke 6:38, Jesus says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” To tell you the truth, I would much rather receive a blessing from God than from man!

One more thing. Because God has made it clear that He will bless us when we give, I don’t think it’s bad that we expect a blessing. But we need to remember that we cannot manipulate God. He will never be beholden to us. We can’t *obligate* Him. This promise of His does not give us license to say, “Okay, God. I gave a thousand dollars to such-and-such, so You have to give it back to me.” I doesn’t work that way, in my opinion. God blesses us in ways we might not see until we see Him in Heaven. Yes, sometimes He does bless us materially, but not always. He might bless us with good health, or the friendship of someone, or keeping something we own from breaking. The possibilities are endless. And sometimes it might just be the satisfaction of knowing we did something good for someone. 

The point I’m trying to make here is this: Don’t be mercenary in your giving. Give cheerfully and generously out of the goodness of your heart. And as a plus, I believe that is when God is most generou

Transcript

Today is Epistles Sunday, and our reading is 1 Peter 4-5. I’m calling today’s episode “Perspective.”  

In today’s comments I’d like to address chapter 5, verses 1 through 6.

Peter tells the older members to be shepherds to God’s flock from a sincere desire and not for money, and do so by providing a good example, not by lording it over them. And then he tells the younger folks that they should be willing to submit to the older people. He wraps up this section by saying that they should all be very humble with each other.

These verses grabbed my attention because I have been involved in the church since I was in my teens. So I’ve been one of the younger crowd, and now I’m definitely one of the older crowd. I’ve been on both sides. 

You know, it’s funny how we move through life. (We’re taking a side trip here. I’ll get back to 1 Peter in a moment.) Right now, my newest granddaughter, Penny…have I told you about her? LOL…right now, pretty much any room she’s in, any crowd she’s in, she’s the youngest person in the room. Of course she doesn’t know that, but she is. So as we move through life, we go from being the youngest person in the room, to being the average age of the population, and in most rooms you’re in, many of the people are generally your age, to being an older person like I am, and in many cases…more every year…I’m the oldest person in the room. It’s kind of a funny feeling. And to go from being the youngest person in your family, including extended family, to being the oldest, as I am for the Webb branch of the family, is kind of a humbling thing. Back now to first Peter. 

When I was young, there was no doubt that the elders were in charge. Church was pretty much entrenched in the way things were done. But I gave my heart to the Lord right around the time that the Jesus Freak movement was born in the late 60s, early 70s, and a lot of changes began to happen. I guess in some part of the world, like Australia, Jesus Freak is a derogatory term. Here, it was not generally meant that way. It just meant someone who was a bit of a hippy and loved Jesus. That was me.

But now, somehow we have come to a point in today’s culture where the older people in many churches no longer have a voice. If you’re older than 35 or 40, you might as well just find a seat.

Well, having been a young person right there when things began to change, and now being one of the elders, I’m currently much closer to 70 than 60, I have the benefit of perspective that the younger folks don’t have. It’s something

Transcript

Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Paul of Seattle.

Today is Gospel Saturday and we’ll read Acts 13-14. I’m calling today’s episode “How To React To Rejection.”

We see the beginning of Paul’s first missionary journey in chapter 13. It’s important to note that Paul and Barnabas did not begin this journey based on their own ideas. They were called by the Holy Spirit to this work. And then, the church at Antioch fasted, prayed, laid hands on them and sent them on their way.

Everything was done according to the leading of the Lord.

And yet, they did not have success in every place. Far from it, in fact. But notice what they did in verse 51, after they were run out of Antioch of Pisidia. “So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.” In shaking the dust off their feet, they were saying they didn’t want to take anything of that city with them. They didn’t take the rejection of the people of the city personally, and they didn’t doubt God’s call on them. They just moved along to the next town. 

Too often, beloved, when we feel called to do something for the Lord, we begin with stars in our eyes. We think that if God has called us, then we will have nothing but success. And when resistance comes, or when we experience what we interpret as failure, we withdraw from the work, thinking that we must have misinterpreted God’s call, because if He was in it, we would have success. 

To be sure, maybe we did misinterpret the call. Often times, we do get excited about something and think that our enthusiasm is from God, when actually it’s just our own emotions. That discussion is for another day.

The takeaway here, beloved, is that even when we are doing God’s will, or perhaps I should say, especially when we are doing God’s will, we should expect resistance. Why? Because the enemy does not want the cause of Christ to advance. We are in a spiritual battle when we are laboring for the Lord. But we are not in the battle alone. If God has called us, He is with us. And if He is with us, if He is on our side, if He is for us, who can be against us? In other words, it doesn’t matter if we have opposition, because God’s purposes will always prevail. Sure, there may be skirmishes, but those are the times when we should rejoice, because it is then that we have confirmation that we are on the right track.