My wife and I just returned from six days in Israel. The people speak of both breathing a sigh of relief that the conflict is over, and holding their breathe that tensions do not reignite.
Peace is evasive. So it will always be until the Prince of Peace reigns in Jerusalem! In the meantime, the kingdom of God is within us. May He rule in our hearts today.
Ret. Gen. John Teichert knows how to lead because he learned how to follow. But, the real question is captured in the title of his message today, "Who Are You Following?"
Many of us spend our lives looking back to see who's following us. It is not only difficult to walk while looking backwards, it's dangerous to the point of fatal!
God has something specific for us today. Let's listen with an open heart and an open Bible.
Psalm 22 describes the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. What cleansing!
Psalm 23 presents the Great Shepherd who gives His life to the sheep. What care!
Today we will answer the repeated question of Psalm 24, "Who is this King of glory?"
He is the Chief Shepherd who will return soon to live eternally with the sheep. What a Conqueror!
May I urge you to trust in God for now and eternity? For He alone is worthy!
In Psalms 22, the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. In more the thirty-three places, we clearly see Jesus fulfilled its Messianic prophecies in providing our eternal salvation.
Today we move to what many acclaim is the most beautiful piece of literature ever written, Psalms 23. It presents the Great Shepherd as giving His life to the sheep.
Sheep are helpless creatures! They are a perfect metaphor for us, wandering and defenseless without our Great Shepherd. Thank God, He is all we need.
Our theme for 2025 takes our national motto and makes it our personal declaration: In God I Trust.
The psalmist declares, "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O, my God, I trust in Thee." Yet, why should we offer our mind, our will, and all we desire to one whom we've never seen?
David could do this because he had laid the foundation of his faith upon the Messiah. Specifically, in Psalm 22, he saw the coming Messiah who would give His life as a sacrifice for all of our sin.
Have you heard? God gave us some direction this past Friday. We were walking on, with no further light on our path, when the call came: OUR BID HAD BEEN ACCEPTED! It felt like a flash of lightening across our way.
What do we do first? What if we don't move fast enough? What if we do something wrong?
Then I opened the Bible to Isaiah 50. A calming warning came to remind me: even those who obey God will experience times when they can't see the way ahead. This is when we must declare, without hesitation, "In God I still trust."
The woven vine bridge swung above the jungle mountain river 20' below. With space for only one foot at a time, the key was to hang on and step confidently forward.
The Psalms of King David are full of instructions on how to walk this journey we call life. Many times he cried out for help to steady his step, but he always kept boldly putting one foot in front of the other.
It is through much tribulation that we will enter the kingdom of God. But let's step forward without a single doubt that God will deliver us to the other side!
In a moment, one single shot changed everything. It has been called a "watershed moment." I looked up that idiom. It means "a significant turning point." This is what Charlie Kirk prayed for, preached for, and ultimately died for.
GraceWay, may God turn our hearts back to His Word and Way! Apostle Peter said the time will come when "judgment must begin at the house of God." That time is now. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
For nearly six months we have been studying our way through the rich book of Leviticus. We have noted Moses began outside of the tabernacle. For twenty-five chapters, God has meticulously described how to get into His presence. In a word: HOLINESS.
Here we are at the end and God closes by giving an ultimatum: disobey His Word and face disaster, or dedicate everything to Him and be guaranteed success.
Well, what are we waiting for? Let the dedication begin!
What if every 50 years all debts were canceled and people were restored to the place of their birth? Sounds like an answer to a lot of problems...or does it? Just think of the implications for our economy!
Though it was commanded, like a lot of things God said, His people seemed to ignore it.
So what was the purpose of the Year of Jubilee? We'll never discover it all, but the Bible gives us some wonderful glimpses into its meaning for you and me.
The Seven Feasts of the LORD are a glimpse into the character and calendar of our Almighty, Eternal God. Four of the Feasts have already been fulfilled in the Person and Work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The next to be fulfilled is the Feast of Trumpets - picturing the rapture of the Bride of Christ, the Church. It falls on September 23 this year. Could this be the year? We can always hope!
The Law has been given, the Tabernacle built, the sacrifices instituted, the purification of the priests performed, and the sanctification of the people begun.
Now, there's one last area of life to cover: holy days. God wanted His people to remember and celebrate all He had done -- and would do -- for them. He called these special days the "Feasts of the Lord" and they are a roadmap of His prophetic plan to save, sanctify, and stay with His people forever.
General John Teichert reminds us we are called to live “behind enemy lines” with a mission from God, just as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did in Babylon. Their oversized impact came from three traits: an excellent spirit, trusting obedience, and a pursuit of excellence—traits we must embrace to represent Christ well in our own Babylon today.
We are back to the study of Leviticus. We've seen the five offerings, proper worship, ritual purity, the Day of Atonement, and God's view of morality.
Today we turn to the high calling of priesthood. It was exclusively based on birth in the Old Testament. And it still is: the new birth!
Also, just as priests had different jobs, so it is in the priesthood of believers. The qualification in the New Testament is consecration to God.
Our first president, George Washington closed out one of his prayers with these words, "For his sake, who lay down in the Grave and rose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."
My friends, that's the Glorious Gospel in a nutshell--the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Thus far in our series we have seen Abraham's Faith, David's Victory, Elijah's Prayer, and today...Paul's Gospel.
Wait, what? How dare we call it "Paul's Gospel"? Give me a few minutes to tell you why.
A group of statesmen gathered in late June in Philadelphia to pen the words that would eventually govern our great nation. After weeks of no progress, Mr. Franklin arose and stated, "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men." He went on to encourage them to ardently pray. Eyewitnesses cited this renewed dependence upon god as the turning point in the creation of our grand and glorious constitution.
Our Father of Faith, Elijah also called his nation back to conscience through fervent PRAYER.
Who will do so today?
"From war's alarm...be Thy strong arm ever sure defense..." These words of the third verse of the poem "God of Our Fathers" were written by Daniel Roberts to celebrate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1876.
Unfortunately, war is a reality of human existence in our fallen world. And how much more in a spiritual sense! My fellow-soldiers, it is high time to fight and win the victory.
Yet before victory, we must embrace certain disciplines found in the life of our Father of Faith, the Warrior David.
"God of our fathers, whose almighty hand, leads forth in beauty, all the starry band..."
This is a direct reference to our forefather of faith, Abraham, who believed God's promise to multiply his descendants as many as the stars. God saw his faith and counted him righteous.
Abraham is the father of all who believe God for righteousness by faith. Though, as we will see today, Abraham didn't begin as a hero, he grew to trust God completely.
Our nation was founded upon the faith of Abraham. Without it, we will never please God - neither can we endure.
"We have staked the whole future of the American civilization not upon the power of the government, far from it...we have staked (it) upon the capacity of each of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments."
Thus was the conviction of the Honorable James Madison, "Father of the Constitution" and 4th president of our great nation.
Today, please welcome a modern Patriot- one who assents to and lives by the vision of our founding fathers. General John Teichert will challenge our hearts to rise to our call of duty as Christian Americans.
Summer is here in full swing! The word "summer" is mentioned in one context in the New Testament: the soon return of the Lord Jesus. Let us look with eager hearts toward the day when all things will be made new!
As we see the sign unfold, Peter says we should do two things: live a holy life and preach salvation (2 Peter 3). God is always calling His people into holiness and He is always sending His people to give the Gospel.
This is the focus of the message from Leviticus 20 today.