revivanary

This week we begin a series of podcasts about the topic of adoption. On today's podcast we have Emily Myers sharing part of their families experience with fostering and adoption. A few years ago Emily and her husband Daniel adopted three children that they added to the there own three children they already had. Now a family of eight, Emily shares the joys, the struggles, the excitement, and the tears that were felt throughout their journey. 

This study focuses on Revelation 11:7-13

The Church is the family which we are "born again" into. It is not our carefully crafted, personally percolated, acutely articulated design; it is God Almighty who places each member of the body where He chooses for His purpose. Too often we try to create a particular "vibe" in order to attract a specific demographic or societal subset into our congregations to appeal to our own selfish, prideful idea of what we feel is our identity. That is total error. Let God be God, let Him do what He wants to do with us as a Church. Let's just do what Jesus told us...love God, love each other, celebrate His Word, be His children and let Him create among us a pure and genuine "family". 

On today's episode special guest Dave Webb joins us as we discuss Paul's words to Timothy, specifically his instruction to Timothy on how pastors must endure conflict with the grace of God. It is very easy to be offended as a pastor, as it is very often that the parishioners will experience suffering in life that spills over into the treatment of the pastor and other church members. While we must be faithful to correct error and instruct folks in righteousness, pastors must always exhibit the same mercy and patience that Jesus exemplified. Unfortunately some pastors allow their feelings, opinions, attitude, and actions to be controlled by the flesh and not led by the Spirit. The Church should be the most beautiful entity on the Earth...not in it's perfect actions, but in it's perfect of love. Pastors should be the one to model this love for their church.

Do you ever find it hard to live in today because you are so overwhelmed about what may happen tomorrow? Jesus spoke directly to this subject, telling us to just focus on today's problems because we cannot foresee the future and what it holds. I am sure that many relate to the crippling anxiety brought on by the constant thoughts of what may happen tomorrow, fears based off of our past experience that have no basis in the future actualities. We create horrific scenarios of what might happen. Instead we should understand and believe that regardless what may happen tomorrow, the same God that has been with us in the past and that is with us in the present will certainly be with us tomorrow. 

Irrational fears. We all deal with them. We make something out of nothing and live as if the nothing is something. On today's podcast we will address the effect that irrational fears have on the believer and discuss how we can overcome them. David gives us a formula in Psalm 34 for how to handle fear, both real and imagined fear, and we will break that down in our episode today. 

Jesus did not stand at a distance and comment on the people around him, complaining and ridiculing them for their sin. He actively loved them, even going so far as touching and allowing Himself to be touched by the unclean. Running afoul of the law keepers, the legalists of His day, Jesus taught the Church a very important lesson about what loving God looks like; it is all about showing His love to the unlovable. We are not called to torch, we are called to touch. We are not called to bring the death sentence, we are called to give life. We cannot do that from the sidelines, we must get in the game and love the way Jesus modeled for us while He was here, by "touching" the lost and broken. 

Yes, I know the title is not a real word, and yes we will explain what it means in the podcast. In the meantime, let me introduce today's topic. Introvert. One who is shy. On today's podcast we discuss the introverted believer and how that affects the process of being member of a church family, a witness in the world, and making disciples. We discuss the reason, the cause if you will for introverted behavior and the sometimes debilitating effects of it. We also discuss how the introvert is the way they are because of a valuable trait they possess. 

Paul makes a bold statement in Romans 15:17. He states that all of his work that he is proud of was done "in Christ". Join us as we discuss Paul's "accomplishments" in his work as a Pharisee before coming to Christ, and how being born again changed his outlook and his trajectory in life.