Rinse and Repeat with Carol Eskaros

Have you ever faced a tough decision when you just had no idea what to do?

Did you find yourself taking charge of the situation, coming up with plans, and worst-case-scenario strategies?

Or were you more paralyzed by fear or indecision?

Or were you angry at even having to make the decision in the first place?

We often find ourselves facing hard choices and vacillating between one or more of these reactions, and yet, God's Word shows us someone who faced an impossible situation and chose a better way!

If you have faced, or think you will be facing, hard choices, this episode may hold some great truth for you from God's Word! Turn to 2 Chronicles, Chapter 20, for this lagniappe edition of Rinse and Repeat!

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You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free...

These words, spoken by Jesus in John 8:32, may be some of His most quoted, even among secular audiences.

And yet, so often, I wonder if we truly understand freedom as the Bible describes it. Do we know what it means to be truly, fully, and deeply FREE?

On today's lagniappe edition, I explore Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

Join me as we learn not only what it means to be free from sin, but also from the shame that we can carry all too often!

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In the final program in the series on suffering, we glean an incredibly encouraging message: that we can count it all joy when we suffer, because our suffering makes us ever more like Christ.

James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Being joyful during suffering may seem counterintuitive, but the fact is - we can rejoice in seasons of suffering, for four specific reasons we will explore today, as we Rinse and Repeat!

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When something bad happens, we naturally want to find someone to blame.

The disciples even did this, when they saw a man born blind, and asked Jesus, "“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answers them, saying,“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him" (John 9:1-3)

While some forms of suffering come as a direct consequence of our own sinful choices, some come simply to give God an opportunity to do a great work through a difficult circumstance.

As our series on suffering continues, we explore the difficult question of "Who's to Blame?" today. The answer may even surprise you!

Turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 4. It's time to Rinse and Repeat!

It can be the question that absolutely paralyzes us.

What is God's will for me? What does He want me to do in this situation? At this time in my life? Or WITH my life?

On today's special edition of Rinse and Repeat, I address how God's Word says we are to go about discerning God's will. In particular, I define three specific aspects of God's will, which work together at all times in the life of a believer. Then I explain four key components to discerning the will of God - and most importantly, the role our time with God plays in our understanding His will for us.

Join me now for this lagniappe edition of Rinse and Repeat, as you seek His will for you!

I didn't have an inch on my legs that wasn't covered with mosquito bites.
An insect had burrowed into my arm, died, and stained the interior of my skin, leaving this alien-like scarring.
It was over 100 degrees, full humidity as we hiked to minister to leper colonies in the heart of the Amazon. I likely contracted my latent tuberculosis in that colony, but I also had the opportunity to lead people to abiding new life in Christ, so I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!
And still, as a missionary in Brazil, there were so many days that I just thought "I just can't do this! It's just too hard."
And then, God spoke His Word to me, "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
THAT essential truth - the fellowship of Jesus' suffering and the experience of His resurrected life - is ON, today on Rinse and Repeat.

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I have this fascination with the engineering of lighthouses.

How for them to withstand hundreds of years of saltwater, sun, waves, and storms of all kinds, lighthouse foundations must go way, WAY down deep into the depths of the sea floor. What's more, the foundation of each lighthouse is often screwed down, not simply poured down, into the depths of the ocean to guarantee that the lighthouse will remain standing amidst even the worst storms.

Likewise, God has called believers faith to run deep, that we might be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Today, we look at how the Apostle Paul himself offers us an excellent example from his own life of how to be steadfast and immovable in the face of tremendous suffering. The lessons in this episode are hard, but valuable ones.

Turn your Bibles to Acts, Chapter 20, for this week's episode of Rinse and Repeat!

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Even after the resurrection, the disciples experienced a fair amount of confusion. Despite Jesus' predictions that He would be crucified, buried, and on the third day He would rise again, His own men found it very hard to believe that they were actually seeing the truly risen, flesh-and-blood Savior.

In the last of a three-part lagniappe series looking at moments of betrayal and questioning among the followers of Jesus, I explore Thomas's well-known interaction with Jesus. In this message, I examine how critically important it is to stay part of the body of believers so that we do not allow isolation to breed spiritual confusion.

I also explore the unforgettable words of Jesus in John 20:29b, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," words that offer encouragement to each of us who today seek to walk by faith and not by sight.

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Have you ever surprised yourself by doing something so seriously wrong, something you never considered yourself even capable of doing?

And worse, have you ever experienced deep shame over that stumble?

Peter, of course, endured such a well-known mistake, which Jesus predicted in Luke 22:31-34:

31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”

34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”

In the days that follow, we see not only Peter betraying Jesus, but we also see Jesus faithfully restoring Peter in a famous scene on the beach by the Sea of Tiberias. In studying this, I learned things I NEVER KNEW before about how PERSONAL Jesus' restoration of Peter was and how even the words "Do you love me?" are incredibly powerful and meaningful, to Peter and to each of us!

Beloved, join me on this journey and explore how God is not shocked by our stumbles, but He is so loving and faithful to restore us to Himself!

The Betrayal of the Follower, today on Rinse and Repeat!

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Has someone betrayed you?

Has a spouse turned their back on your marriage?

Or has a friend recently lied and just changed, seemingly out of nowhere?

Jesus felt the pain of betrayal deeply in the days leading up to the cross.

As I explored this subject of betrayal in preparing this lagniappe episode, God showed me so much about myself, how I worship God, and what I understand of Him, even as I explored the simple phrase:

Hosanna!

God convicted me deeply in preparing this lagniappe, and I pray it ministers to you as much as it did to me as we briefly pause our series on suffering and examine the Betrayal of the Fickle.

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