Grace 809

People skills are essential for building meaningful relationships. Debra Fileta explores the different levels of communication that determine how we care for others, even through hard times. By looking at how we show up in conversation, Debra encourages us to walk in our relationships with greater humility and awareness, no matter the social temperature.
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Debra Fileta shares a life-changing perspective that helped cured her social anxiety.
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Most Christian parents want their children to grow up with a strong faith—but it can be hard to know how to nurture that faith in everyday life. Tim Shoemaker shares creative and practical ways parents can make family devotions engaging, memorable, and meaningful for kids of all ages. You’ll discover how simple, intentional moments at home can help pass faith to the next generation while also growing parents in their own walk with God.
Receive a copy of "The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions, Volume 2" and an audio download of "More Unforgettable Faith Lessons to Do with Your Kids" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.
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Tim Shoemaker encourages parents to not just stick with one activity for helping your kids understand who God is.
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There’s a reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror: your future matters more than your past. God’s grace is greater than your sin. You thought the problem was your calendar, your marriage, your job. In reality, it’s this unresolved guilt. Don’t indulge it. Don’t drown in the bilge of your own condemnation. What you did was not good, but your God is good, and he will forgive you. He is ready to write a new chapter in your life.

Say with Paul, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us” (Phil 3:13-14 TLB). Your salvation has nothing to do with your work and everything to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross. Rejoice in the Lord’s mercy.

Read more Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Today is Monday, so we will read from one of the books of the Law. We’ll read Numbers  29-32. I’m calling today’s episode  “Balaam Gets His Due.“

Chapters 28 and 29 tell us about the offerings that the Lord told Moses the children of Israel were to make during the year. 

There were:

1) Daily offerings (Numbers 28)

2) Sabbath offerings (Numbers 28)

3) Monthly offerings (Numbers 28)

4) Passover offerings (Numbers 28)

5) Feast of Weeks offerings (Numbers 28)

6) Feast of Trumpets offerings (Numbers 29)

7) Day of Atonement offerings  (Numbers 29)

8) Feast of Tabernacles offerings (Numbers 29)

In order for Israel to fulfill these offerings each year, the priests sacrificed 113 bulls, 32 rams, over 2,000 pounds of flour, about 1,000 bottles of oil and wine, and 1,086 lambs without blemish. These totals do not include sacrifices made by individuals or families. 

Since these sacrifices were to be made every year, we know that they were inadequate to forgive sin. This was a perpetual demonstration of the need for the One who would bring forgiveness.

Notice the number of lambs without blemish. These pointed to the coming Messiah. In John 1:29 He is called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Only Jesus could accomplish this. His one sacrifice was sufficient to bring forgiveness to anyone who put their faith in Him. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV

In Numbers 22 Balak, the king of Moab, sent a contingent made up of elders Moab and the elders of Midian  to Balaam to bring him to meet with Balak so that he could ask Balaam to put a curse on the children of Israel so that he could defeat them. Balak offered Balaam a large reward if he would curse them. Of course, God would not allow it. So Balak told Balaam that he would not get the reward. 

But what God would not allow the Moabites and Midianites to do to the children of Israel, they did to themselves.   

In Numbers 25 we read the Israelite people were seduced into sexual sin with the women of Moab, and they worshipped false gods with them. And God became angry with the people of Isr

Transcript

Today is epistles Sunday. We’ll read Hebrews 5-7. I’m calling today’s episode “A Clean Slate.”

Melchizedek is a bit of a mystery man. As it said in chapter 7, we don’t know anything about his genealogy. Verse three tells us “There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life.” Well that’s kind of strange, especially for those times when genealogies were kept in great detail, because it was important to know what tribe of Israel a person was from. 

We are told that his name means “king of righteousness” and “king of peace.” Now we’re beginning to see that Melchizedek prefigured, or foreshadowed Jesus, because these are titles that He holds.

We are told that the priesthood of Melchizedek was perpetual, it never ended.

Also, the author goes into great detail as to why he (Melchizedek) was greater than Abraham, and therefore greater than Levi. This is important when we remember who the primary audience of this book is…the Hebrew people, or Jews. To them, the Law was paramount. Establishing that the priesthood of Melchizedek was superior to the Levitical priesthood was key, since the object of this book is to help the Jews to understand that the priesthood of Jesus supersedes the old Law, or old covenant. 

Why is this important? Because the old Law was not able to bring man into perfection, or righteousness before God. The old Law could only put a band-aid on the wounds caused by sin. Only the new covenant, with Jesus as our Great High Priest can do that.

By the way, it might be helpful to give a brief definition of the word “priest”. A priest is a person who intercedes for man to God. Being sinful, we are unable to approach a perfect and holy God. We must have, as it were, a representative who takes our case to God. Jesus, having been a man and having lived a sinless life, is qualified to do just that. And if we are His, when we are in relationship with Jesus, we approach God the Father through Jesus. He is our mediator. He is our representative. He is our Priest. Without Him, we have no standing before God.

Now, I quickly want to mention what God said near the end of chapter eight. He said,”The day is coming when I will make a new covenant…”  And then at the end of his statement He said, “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

What a marvelous promise! “I will never again remember their sins.” When we are in a relationship with Jesus, when He is our Great High Priest, God forgives our sins, and they are

Transcript

Today is gospel Saturday, and we’ll begin the last book of the books of the gospels. We’ll read Acts 1-2.  I’ll have some comments after the reading. And of course I’ll have an “On This Date In Church History” segment for you, too. I’m calling today’s episode “Dynamite.”

The Acts of the Apostles, which is the full name of the book of Acts, was written by Luke. At one time, the Gospel of Luke and Acts were considered one book of two volumes, with Acts being the second volume. Acts is a sort of a bridge between the four gospels and the epistles. Without Acts, there would be no record of how Christianity spread from Jerusalem, which is where the Gospel of John ended, to Rome which is where the book of Romans takes place. 

The book of Acts is about the dawning days of the Christian church. How it began. It’s about the empowerment of the seemingly defeated followers of Jesus after His crucifixion and resurrection. 

Jesus knew that his disciples would need encouragement and courage and ability from God to be able to take the message of the Gospel to the world, so just before He ascended to Heaven, He told them stay in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.

Put yourself in their place. Yes, they had seen and spoken with the resurrected Christ over a period of forty days before his ascension. But they had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit. What was Jesus talking about? How would this happen, and how would they know?

They gathered in an upper room of a house in Jerusalem and spent their time praying. The remaining eleven disciples (remember that Judas Iscariot had been one of the twelve, but he betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide), Jesus’ mother, some other women, and Jesus’ brothers were there, and they waited…for what?

Well, when the Holy Spirit arrived, there was no doubt that His presence was a game-changer. When the day of Pentecost arrived, which was 50 days after Passover, He came into the upper room accompanied by the sound of a strong wind. Note that the text doesn’t say it was a wind. It was the sound of a strong wind. 

And then there were what looked like tongues of fire which came and rested on each one of the people. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in languages which they had never spoken before, led by the Holy Spirit.

All of this noise drew a crowd. Some thought that the speakers were drunk, but it was early in the day. Of those that heard, many were from other lands who were not Jews. And they heard what the belie

Lisa Steven tells a powerful story of a woman whose story God redeemed.
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Teen moms face tremendous challenges – from difficulties finding housing, education, and childcare to dysfunctional families and generational poverty. Lisa Steven shares her story of becoming a mom at 17. After becoming involved with MOPS, Lisa realized there were no resources for parenting teen moms who needed a place to live. She started Hope House. Over the last twenty years, God provided in miraculous ways. Hope House now serves over 280 women with GED classes, self-sufficiency programs, residential facilities, and childcare. An amazing story of God’s provision and faithfulness!
Receive a copy of "A Place to Belong " and an audio download of "One Teen Mom's Journey to Making a Difference" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.
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