Wildwood Assembly

Paul wrote, “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, from Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).

The cancer in the body. The sorrow in the heart. The child in the rehab center. The craving for whiskey in the middle of the day. The tears in the middle of the night. The thorn in the flesh. “Take it away,” you’ve pleaded.  Not once, twice, or even three times.  You’ve out-prayed the Apostle Paul and you’re about to hit the wall.  But what you hear Jesus say is this, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Sustaining grace. The grace that meets us at our point of need and equips us with courage, wisdom, and strength. Sustaining grace!  It doesn’t promise the absence of struggle. But it does promise the presence of God.

Read more Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Golden Light, Bronze Fire, and the Mirrors of Serving Women

Bezalel hammers the lampstand from a single piece of pure gold—75 pounds of it—shaping buds and blossoms and branches until it looks like a flowering tree made of light. There is something almost excessive about the beauty of this object, designed for a tent in the middle of a desert. But that is the point. God’s house is not utilitarian; it is glorious. The incense altar, the burnt offering altar, the courtyard with its linen walls—each piece is built with the same meticulous faithfulness to the original design. But tucked into this catalog of construction is a detail so small you might miss it: the bronze wash basin was made from mirrors donated by the women who served at the entrance of the tabernacle. These women gave up their mirrors—their vanity, if you will—so that the priests could wash themselves clean before approaching God. It is a tiny act of sacrifice that speaks volumes about the kind of community God is building. Then the inventory is tallied: over 2,000 pounds of gold, 7,500 pounds of silver, 5,300 pounds of bronze. Former slaves built this. People who owned nothing in Egypt gave everything for the dwelling place of God.

00:00 The Golden Lampstand
01:00 The Incense Altar and Anointing Oil
02:00 The Altar of Burnt Offering
03:00 The Bronze Wash Basin
04:00 The Courtyard
05:00 Inventory of Materials
06:00 The Silver and Bronze Totals

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 329) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

And for more great Bible podcasts for Christians and small groups, check out https://lumivoz.com or search for Lumivoz in your podcast app of choice.

Dr. Kathy Koch wants to help parents adjust to a “new normal” when their children become adults. The relationship has changed, and parents of adult kids need to change their expectations, listen more and advise less, break free from codependency, and give these new adults space and freedom to become the people God made them to be.

Receive a copy of Resolve Conflict and Find Peace and Hope with Adult Children and an audio download of "Finding Your New Normal in Relating to Your Adult Children" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Confession! It’s a word that conjures up many images—some not so positive!  Confession isn’t telling God what he doesn’t know.  That’s impossible. It’s not pointing fingers at others without pointing any at me. That may feel good, but it doesn’t promote healing.

Confession is a radical reliance on grace—a trust in God’s goodness. The truth is, confessors find a freedom that deniers don’t! Scripture says “If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right.  He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done” (1 John 1:8-9 NCV).

Tell God what you did.  Again, it’s not that he doesn’t already know, but the two of you need to agree! Then let the pure water of grace flow over your mistakes!

Read more Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

More Than Enough: When Generosity Overwhelms the Need

Moses calls for offerings, and what happens next is one of the most beautiful scenes in the entire Pentateuch. The people give. And give. And give—until the craftsmen have to come to Moses and say, ‘Please, tell them to stop. We have more than enough.’ When has that ever happened in the history of fundraising? There is no arm-twisting here, no guilt. The text says their hearts were stirred and their spirits were moved. This is what generosity looks like when it flows from gratitude rather than obligation—when people who were slaves in Egypt three months ago freely offer their gold and silver and fine linen for the house of God. Then Bezalel begins to build. The curtains with their embroidered cherubim, the frames of acacia wood overlaid with gold, the ark with its atonement cover—each item made exactly as God prescribed on the mountain. The narrative repeats the measurements and materials with a patience that mirrors the craftsmen’s own care. There is a kind of worship in the repetition: what God designed, human hands now faithfully construct. The tabernacle is taking shape, and with it the visible promise that God intends to dwell among His people.

00:00 Sabbath Instructions
01:00 The Call for Offerings
02:00 Eager Craftsmen
03:00 The People Give Generously
05:00 Bezalel and Oholiab Lead the Work
06:00 More Than Enough
07:00 Building the Curtains
08:00 The Framework
10:00 The Inner Curtain and Entrance
11:00 Building the Ark

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 329) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

And for more great Bible podcasts for Christians and small groups, check out https://lumivoz.com or search for Lumivoz in your podcast app of choice.

When you first put your faith in Jesus, there was no doubt a passion in your eyes. You wanted everyone to know the hope that you had found. But as the years go on and life gets in the way, that light may have begun to left your eyes. Kim Meeder uses her powerful storytelling to re-ignite your passion for your Creator. She gives you ideas for embracing freedom, love, and true joy, in order to start a revival in your heart that spreads to all of those around you. 

Receive Revival Rising and an audio download of "Reigniting Your Passion for Jesus" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

We can’t live with foreign objects buried in our bodies, or our souls. What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn’t work, the temptation you couldn’t resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface. Festering, irritating, sometimes so deeply embedded you don’t even know the cause of your pain.

And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Would you like an extraction? Here’s what you do: confess. Ask God to help you. Psalm 139:23-24 is a model prayer. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Confession. You see, confessors find a freedom that deniers do not. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He will.

Read more Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

The Name Proclaimed and the Face That Shone

Moses makes the boldest request any human has ever made of God: ‘Show me your glorious presence.’ And God’s answer is both yes and no. You may see my goodness pass before you, but not my face—‘for no one may see me and live.’ So God hides Moses in the cleft of a rock, covers him with His hand, and passes by. What Moses sees is the afterglow of God’s presence—glory from behind, like the light lingering after the sun has set. And as God passes, He calls out His own name—not a list of rules, but a self-portrait: ‘The Lord, the God of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.’ This is who God is before any command is given. Mercy is His nature; justice is His necessity. Moses falls on his face and asks one thing: ‘Travel with us.’ New tablets are cut, the covenant is renewed, and Moses descends the mountain with a face so radiant the people are afraid to come near him. He has to wear a veil. This is what happens to a human being who has been in the presence of God—they carry the light with them, whether they know it or not.

00:00 Moses Asks to See God’s Glory
01:00 The Cleft in the Rock
02:00 New Stone Tablets
03:00 God Proclaims His Name
04:00 The Covenant Renewed
05:00 Festival Instructions
07:00 Forty Days on the Mountain
08:00 Moses’ Radiant Face

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 329) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

And for more great Bible podcasts for Christians and small groups, check out https://lumivoz.com or search for Lumivoz in your podcast app of choice.

When you first put your faith in Jesus, there was no doubt a passion in your eyes. You wanted everyone to know the hope that you had found. But as the years go on and life gets in the way, that light may have begun to left your eyes. Kim Meeder uses her powerful storytelling to re-ignite your passion for your Creator. She gives you ideas for embracing freedom, love, and true joy, in order to start a revival in your heart that spreads to all of those around you. 

Receive Revival Rising and an audio download of "Reigniting Your Passion for Jesus" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.