Galena Bible Church Podcast

Jesus is on the throne! He is advancing His Kingdom through His Church and even through the bold, faithful death of His servants like Stephen.

Ministry was hoppin' in that first Jerusalem Church! Jesus was so obviously at work. Yet, we live in a fallen world, and even in times of great revival and growth, problems arise. We can learn so much from how the apostles handled this crisis that threatened to divide the church.

For 2000 years Christ's Church has swam upstream in a world that, at its core, hates Him. But He loves this world. And he enlists us, the Church, to proclaim His message. Are we ready to obey, no matter what?

We’ll see the first mention of the Christmas star, seen from afar, in time, by Balaam in Numbers 24:17-19. The Spirit takes hold of this pagan sorcerer to proclaim Christ’s Excellencies for His rebellious people who have rejected Him.

The story of Christmas is our rescue story. We needed a King so that we could be kings and queens again.

The Risen King sets His agenda for His kingdom people – and that includes us here!

What a fascinating and inspiring history is this Book of Acts in our Bibles! What makes it especially exciting is the fact that this history continues to be written — in the sense that the risen, ascended Lord continues to expand His reign in our world through His Spirit-empowered Church even today.

We conclude our walk through Ruth with the VERY happy ending (chapter 4)! But, also, Naomi’s joy can be our joy as we find our refuge under the wings of Naomi’s great, great… grandson: God’s Redeemer, Jesus.

The tension thickens in chapter 3 as Naomi sends Ruth on a clandestine, night-time mission to the threshing floor. In Naomi and Ruth we’ll see needed examples of holy and gutsy optimism.

We left Naomi and Ruth at the end of Ruth chapter 1 without much hope. Naomi insisted that she be called “Mara” (Bitter). But the invisible, gracious hand of God is at work.

We’ve all been there… those bitter seasons in life when all we can focus on is our pain and disappointment. But Naomi’s story can be our story.

As we conclude our journey through Ephesians, we’re reminded again that there’s nothing on this planet quite like the Church!

Summary: Paul calls Christians and churches to put on the whole armor of God through prayer.

The Cosmic Battle is real for every Christian.

We return to Ephesians where we will focus on 6:5-9. The focus will be on God’s design for Work in the Christian Life and how we imitate God through our labors.

We had VBS this past week and we focused on this verse in John 20:31. John gives his purpose in writing his gospel, namely, that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God AND that by believing we have life in His name! Often we forget the “and”!