church of Christ Christian Ekklesia Podcast

Why was Heaven so Happy? Take two

December 25, 2009 – 4:37 pm
Can there be joy without a cause? Can there be a celebration without a reason? On the night that Jesus was born, just after his birth, Luke 2:8-13 tells us that some shepherds who were close to Bethlehem had a visit from an angel. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the angel was standing in front of them, and the Lord's glory was shining all around them. And they were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, a joy that is for everyone." The angel then told them of Jesus' birth and told them where to find him. Just as suddenly as the angel appeared, then there appeared a multitude of heavenly beings with the angel. These heavenly beings were praising God, declaring, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth among men with whom He is pleased." Question: why was heaven ...

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And God Said It Never Happened Part 2

December 14, 2009 – 5:26 pm
Welcome back to God’s Message on the Web. My name is Greg and I want to welcome you to listen to God’s great plan of salvation for us. If you are a new listener I welcome you to study with us and learn the truth as put forth for us from the Bible itself. We do not add or take anything away from the Gospel. Nor do we follow the commandments of men when it comes to religion. The Bible is our sole guide and Jesus Christ himself in all of his Glory is the head of the Church If you are a returning listener I want you to know that you are part of something much bigger than any of us. You are part of a family of those in Jesus Christ who want to understand what the Bible is really saying to us, ...

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And God Said It Never Happened Part 1

December 13, 2009 – 4:56 pm
A judge who had three cases scheduled for the day called his court room to order. The first case involved mean-spirited, destructive vandalism. The judge handled the case in highly questionable manner. He looked at the broken, grieving defendant and immediately declared, "I wish to see the defendant and the plaintiff in my chambers without counsel." In chambers the defendant remorsefully acknowledged his guilt and his sorrow. The judge mediated a resolution. Then the judge reentered the courtroom and declared, "I rule that this alleged crime never occurred. Case dismissed." The second case involved a violent act of hatred. Again, the judge saw the broken, grieving defendant. Again he declared that he wanted to see the defendant and the plaintiff in chambers without counsel. Again the defendant remorsefully acknowledged his guilt and expressed his sorrow. Again the judge mediated a resolution. Then the judge reentered the court room and declared, ...

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Psalm 19 14 in four part a cappella by me.

December 3, 2009 – 10:13 pm
I feel odd addressing everyone so casually here on the blog after celebrating 105,670 Podcast downloads and 157,000 audio Bible downloads in the last two years. I guess it's time I stop and said; Hey, I'm Greg, nice to meet you. Thanks for checking out the blog and celebrating Jesus Christ. If you have been listening for a while you probably noticed a stark shift in the way the Podcast started sounding around Easter in 2008. It has been a great year in spiritual growth for me as I have been going through the Bible daily at Kingdom concepts. I invite you to stop over there sometime at http://kingdomconcepts.wordpress.com I enjoy listening to Brian Hardin and the Daily Audio Bible as well as doing the podcasting and ad hoc world ministry delivering many Bibles into China, Punjabi, and other needed places. I am glad that you follow ...

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Unity God Can Handle Our Differences

December 2, 2009 – 11:32 pm
UNITY: GOD CAN HANDLE OUR DIFFERENCES (Part 4) With all the differences God handled successfully in the first century, we need to allow God to teach us that He can handle ours. It was we, not God, that decided He could not handle our differences in the church. It was we, not God, who decided our differences were too much for God to handle. Let us begin with a very brief review of our past lessons. First, we examined our concept of unity. We noted that God's concept of unity includes diversity. Second, to illustrate God's concept of unity, we noted the differences between Jesus the Son and God the Father when Jesus prayed John 17. Third, we noted from Ephesians 2 that even though Christians did not fully understand what God had done for them in Christ, God still did it. God's achievements in Jesus Christ do not depend on human understanding ...

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Unity a divine or human accomplishment? Part Three

September 21, 2009 – 8:08 pm
UNITY: A DIVINE OR HUMAN ACCOMPLISHMENT? (Part 3) After considering the last two sermons, some of you might think this preacher is completely crazy. It is possible that you have been challenged to consider some things you have never considered before. Generally, in religious matters, we do not like to consider thoughts that we have never considered before. We find great comfort in believing that someone or some group within our religious movement has everything all figured out. All we have to do is "plug in" and we are okay. We do not have to think, or to ask questions, or to understand--all we have to do is to "plug in" and we are fine. It is not a matter of "believing" but a matter of "doing." We just need to be very careful to "do" the correct things. It is true that all we have to do is to "plug in," but ...

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The Naked Church – Chapter 21 – Naked No Longer

September 19, 2009 – 8:34 am
Over the course of these pages we’ve examined the failure of contemporary Christianity to bring believers into a vital relationship with the Living God. Our wealth and influence only pretend to mask emptiness that leaves many brutalized by our systems, and still others disillusioned by God. I have no doubt that we are as naked as the Laodicean church in Revelation. I am not alone in saying that, for many voices in recent decades have pointed out the deficiencies of our systems and the pain they inflict on many. Though the terms I’ve used have been clearly distinguishable hues of black and white, I’ve done so only to make the grays more visible. The shades of compromise are the most deceptive. My purpose in exposing the church’s nakedness is not to breed cynics who jeer from the sidelines, but to show us how we have been willingly duped because of our own ...

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The Naked Church – Chapter 20 – A Real Jesus in an Unreal World

September 14, 2009 – 8:57 pm
Not only can God make it here, but it’s the only place he does make it. He is not afraid to meet people in the real world, where every battle is not won, where people hurt and die, where all don’t repent and are saved. He’s not afraid of hospital rooms and screams of anger by people who misunderstand his love. He knows better than we that everything in this age will not end in temporal joy, and that rarely are the righteous rewarded in the world. He is not a God who can be real only in stained-glass hues on velvet pews. If that’s the only place we’re finding him, then we’re not finding the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What we’re finding may be an aesthetic feeling or a surge of compassion, but not the God of the universe filling our lives with the reality of his presence. God ...

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The Naked Church – Chapter 19 – Stained Glass and White Linen

September 12, 2009 – 3:43 pm
The Naked Church - Chapter 19 - Stained Glass and White Linen The larger question, however, is whether Jesus is relevant to anything in our lives. Os Guiness reiterates that indictment: “The damning comment has been made of Christianity that it is privately engaging but socially irrelevant.”1 Until the church can answer the difficult questions that emerge from the application of our theology into real human experience, the world will only sit back and laugh. To them our gospel is irrelevant, a placebo designed to set the ignorant at ease and not a real answer for desperate needs.

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The Naked Church – Chapter 18 – Clothed with Power

June 1, 2009 – 8:30 pm
Find all Naked Church Podcasts Here The voice on the phone was calm. “Reverend Jacobsen, this is the emergency room at Kaweah-Delta Hospital. There’s been an accident involving people from your congregation. Could you come down here right away?” Even beneath the nurse’s professionalism flowed an unmistakable current of urgency. I phoned my co-pastor and left immediately.  As I drove I began to pray. Only then did I realize how little I knew about the situation into which I was headed. Who was it? What kind of accident? The Spirit of God knew better than I, so I let him do the praying for me as I opened my heart to God’s presence. I was almost there when the thought raced across my mind: “I want that child to live.” What child? Was that you, God? The voice on the phone was calm. “Reverend Jacobsen, this is the emergency room at Kaweah-Delta Hospital. ...

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Unity The Meaning Of Oneness

April 27, 2009 – 6:23 am
Unity is not a simple subject to discuss. I am surely aware of that. I sincerely request that you be aware of it also. I also sincerely request that each of you be aware of my objective. I am NOT trying to get you to agree with my concept or with me as a person. (I surely acknowledge that I have much to learn about unity.) I AM seeking to get you to think. It is so easy to assume that we have the answer that we stop searching scripture, stop seeing what we already are sure we "know", and stop thinking about matters we are certain we have figured out. If we stop searching scripture, stop seeing, and stop thinking, we make ourselves ideal subjects for self-deception. Were I to ask you about God's concept of Christian unity, where would you begin in order to explain God's concept to me? ...

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Unity the concept Part One

February 14, 2009 – 11:24 pm
Too often we make assumptions about a concept. We assume our concept is God's concept. The result is that we never examine the concept to see if it is correct. We simply build on our assumption as if it is God's concept. Often we generate unquestionable conclusions in the full conviction that our foundation assumption is NOT an assumption, but rather is God's concept. Let's try to illustrate what I just said to see the problem as clearly as possible. For a few minutes, consider our concept of unity. Do you know what the concept unity is? Could you define unity? Are you certain your concept of unity is God's concept? Are most of your declarations about what it means to be unified in a congregation or in the religious world based on your definition of unity, therefore based on your concept of unity? Is it your complete conviction that your ...

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Free To Be Just A Christian

December 28, 2008 – 9:25 pm
Free To Be – Just a Christian All over the world today, there is a vast renewal of interest in studying the Bible. Thousands of people are reading the Bible to find the answers as to where they come from, why they are here on earth, and where they are going after this life is over. Searching the Scriptures with an open and honest heart toward God will enable you to gain knowledge of God’s total plan for all of His people. The Bible is divided into two major parts – the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament tells of the beginnings of the earth, of man, of sin, and of God’s way of salvation in Christ. Abraham was selected to become the father of the Hebrew nation and these people, when they were about seventy in number; they went into Egypt to live. ...

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Hell – Eternal Torment or Complete Annihilation?

November 3, 2008 – 6:56 pm
INTRODUCTION— I grew up in the church. For many years, I believed in the traditional view of Heaven and Hell—that souls are taken from the body immediately following death and are placed in either Heaven or Hell where they will spend eternity in bliss or unending torture. This is what most of the Christian church right now believes. For the last six or seven years, however, I have found countless scriptures that have changed my thinking considerably in this area. It seems to me that nearly the entire Bible teaches that eternal life is only experienced in Heaven, that Hell is a place of complete destruction and annihilation. There are many scripture passages that seem to clearly teach this, but there are others that admittedly seem to teach the traditional view as well. The Bible must never be thought to contradict itself, regardless of what simple meanings may be found in ...

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God Claims Ownership

October 11, 2008 – 8:48 am
You send your son to a university that has an excellent academic reputation. For four years he is an exceptional student. He maintains a 3.9 grade point average. He is involved in the leadership of several campus organizations. He graduates with honors. His academic success presents him with an excellent job opportunity. But there is an unusual requirement. As his father, you must write a cover letter for his job application. The first thing the potential employer will see and read when he receives your son's application is your cover letter. The cover letter is to answer one question: "How do you want me to look at your son?" What would you write in your cover letter? Would you write, "Look at him as the success that he is. You can see his ability and potential by looking at his grade point average, his course grades, and the honors he received. Consider ...

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