Verse by verse Bible teaching. James is Pastor of Green Meadow Community Church in Helena, MT. https://www.greenmeadowcc.org/ James is a retired US Air Force Master Sergeant who went on to earn an MA in Biblical Studies and an MDiv from Southern California Seminary. James brings a combined 25+ year experience from volunteer and vocational ministry as well as life and military experience into every episode. Here at the "FORGE" he offers his insights to the Bible, the inspired word of the one ...
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Keywords Ephesians, Paul, Gentiles, unsearchable riches, church, grace, gospel, diversity, wisdom, faith. Summary: In this sermon, Pastor James explores Ephesians 3:7-13, focusing on the Apostle Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and the unsearchable riches of Christ. He emphasizes the importance of grace, the diversity of God's creation, and the role…
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Summary: In this sermon, Pastor James explores Ephesians 3:1-13, focusing on Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and the unsearchable riches of Christ. He emphasizes the importance of grace, the role of the Church in displaying God's wisdom, and the eternal purpose behind God's plan for salvation. The sermon encourages us to study the Word of God and r…
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Summary: In this sermon, Pastor James explores the themes of God's calling, the transformation of Paul, and the Christian life characterized by self-denial and service to others. He emphasizes the importance of understanding one's calling, the mystery of inclusion of Gentiles in the gospel, and the necessity of living for others while maintaining o…
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In this sermon, Pastor James explores Ephesians 2, emphasizing the transition from being outsiders to becoming citizens of God's kingdom through Christ. He discusses the nature of the Church, the significance of the covenants, and the reconciliation achieved through Jesus' sacrifice. The message highlights the importance of understanding our identi…
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In this sermon, Pastor James explores the theological concepts of new birth and regeneration as presented in Ephesians. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of human effort. This sermon discusses the importance of understanding God's grace.
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Last week, we learned from Paul the nature of the blessings which are ours in Christ. Paul the Apostle now gives thanks to God for Gentile conversion and assures them of his prayers inverses 15–16. Paul goes on to pray that God will give the Ephesians that wisdom and knowledge of Himself. Paul reminds them and us that it is the Spirit who is the au…
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Paul wrote letters to the churches which he planted in the ancient world. So much of Christian theology comes from these letters. He wrote letters as a pastor charged with the watch-care of the flock of God. The Book of Ephesians is one of thoseletters.
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Abram and Lot are opposite in many ways. Abram walked by faith; Lot walked by sight. Abram was magnanimous; Lot was greedy. Abram looked for city whose builder and maker wasGod; Lot made his home in cities built by wicked men which were later destroyed by God. Abram becomes the father of all them that believe; Lot becomes the father (through incest…
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Faith is always tested, and now we learn that there was a famine in the land. Abram steps out in faith, and now comes face to face with famine. In fact, Abram now heads downto Egypt as if to be driven into a famine enforced exile from the very land God promised. I’m glad that God’s Word not only records the great victories of our great God, but it …
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There is a lot to study in chapter 11, and I encourage you to read it on your own time. It will lead us to the text for today. As a summary of the things you will find there, there is a genealogy that takes us from Shem, the son of Noah to Abram who will soon experience a name change to Abraham. The setting is a time of warriors, shepherds, and bui…
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I’m going to suggest to you today that the human heart is a Babylonian heart. God scattering the people at the Tower of Babel, but don’t forget that centuries later, Nebuchadnezzar took a look around and said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). Then …
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I would like you to think about forgiveness. It can be difficult. In fact, I’d be willing to say, we have a difficult text . It’s notdifficult because we cannot possibly understand it; it’s difficult because we have to live it. I’m sure that each of us have experienced situations which have required us to forgive someone. Perhaps you have found it …
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HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
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To understand what happened on what we call "Palm Sunday", we must understand history, prophecy, and context.
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Picking it up from last week, let’s imagine what it must have been like. The Bible gives us a picture of Noah and his family standing there in this new, and I believe replenished world inthe sunlight. Take the time to think about what it must have been like, and allow the Word of God to impress your imagination. It represented a new beginning, with…
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This one arrives late, but I had a lot going on over the last 2 weeks. How do you view covenant, blessing, and grace? What does propitiation mean? Why did Noah make a sacrifice when he got off the ark? How did Noah know what a clean or an unclean animal was? Answers to these questions and more await...…
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We continue to explore the life and times of Noah. During this study, we will see incredible judgment, but we will also see incredible grace. Remember Christ is our only perfect Savior!
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We come now to a part of Genesis which is the most debated subject in the entire Book of Genesis. It is more debated that the creation story itself. I honestly did not want to cover this, and in the interest of keeping us moving at a good pace through Genesis, I thought I would have a good excuse to either pick another subject entirely or just skip…
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Did people really live over 800 years? Where did Cain get his wife? What's in a name? Can we really trust Genesis? Hasn't science already shown us that there's no possible way Genesis can be true? What's any of this got to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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RC states of our text for today, “The prophesied hostility between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman (cf. 3:15) takes shape immediately in the hostility of ungodly Cain against godly Abel (vv. 1–16), and in the contrast of Cain’sungodly offspring (which we will see later) versus the godly line of Seth (4:17–5:32). There is…
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We continue on from where we left Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I did not bring this out last week, but in2:15 Adam was given a job to do.He was not to be idle doingnothing. His was a labor of keeping and tending the garden. Now, exactly what that looked like we are not told, but whatever it was- it was rewarding. It did not entail hard labor…
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Today, we will begin our study through the Book of Genesis. I love the Book of Genesis for a number of reasons which I’m sure will come out as we move through it. For the longest time, my approach to the Book of Genesis was defensive. I felt as though I had to be ready to give an explanation for everything Darwinian evolutionary and atheistic thoug…
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In Chapter 4 we have the wedding of Boaz and Ruth. If we were looking for a case illustrating the law of God as given in Dt. 25:5, there is no better example. But there’s a lot more going on here than a study in case law. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is here in pictures, shadows, and symbols. And, as I’ve brought out since the first chapter, a descen…
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At this point in our narrative, we are moving toward a major resolution for Ruth and Naomi. We are moving from despair to hope. We are going to see the power of faithfulness,courage, and hope. We’re going to see that even in the face of uncertainty, God’s loving-kindness, His steadfast love—what is called “hesed” in Hebrew will conquer all the thin…
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Up to this point in the Book of Ruth, we have seen the loving and excellent character of two women—Naomi and Ruth. Although others have been mentioned, these two women arethe only real actors up to this point. But now, in chapter 2 we will be introduced to the kinsman, Boaz. He’s the first male who’s not sick, dying, or disobedient to God we find i…
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Ruth has been called the most beautiful piece of literature in the not only the Bible, but the entire world. This book is about the providence of God and His covenant community. Providence is God’s care, preparation in advance, and His guardianship over you. Ruth is about the kindness of God’s people. BTW- We do not get to be God’s people because w…
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No other passage shows the heart of love of the Lord seen in the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, Jesus, more than this one. And all this 700 years before Christ lived on earth. The NT quotes more from Isaiah than all the other prophets combined, with an amazing 308 references in the various NT books. For example, John quotes Isaiah in chapter 12 of…
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Some of you may remember the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. There’s a scene where an exasperated Charlie Brown yells, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” I have to admit I’ve felt that way before. Amid the commercialism, materialism and the general confusion of the holiday, we probably all want to understand what happene…
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1. Are you troubled by the events, people, or circumstances in your life? 2. Are you worried about the events, people, or circumstances in your life? 3. Are you fearful because of the events, people or circumstances in your life? 4. Is your heart at peace? I’m going to suggest that if we’re honest, we are prone to being troubled, worried, and fearf…
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Today is our first Sunday of Advent. I love this time of year for a number of reasons. Advent is a time that we set aside each year to celebrate the birth of our Lord and King! It is a time when we are to long for or strongly desire His coming. The appropriate sense of the season is one of waiting with great anticipation for the Savior who will ran…
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This is the final installment of our verse by verse study through Mark's Gospel. We will look at the resurrection of Jesus, His ascension into heaven, and the Great Commission.
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In keeping with the theme of covenant, we are going to see today what I’m calling the covenant ratified through the death and burial of Jesus. In his book, The Roman Empire Colin Wells states, “The Romans had a highly developed and theatrical sense of the public ceremonial.” They loved the triumphal parade. You could say, “Everyone loves a parade.”…
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We are continuing on with the theme of the acknowledged covenant as the arrest and trial of Jesus comes to an end. Lord willing, next week up to the first week of Advent, we will see the covenant ratified through Christ’s death and burial, and we will see it vindicated in His resurrection. That will get us through Mark 16:1-8, and we will finish wi…
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Last week I gave us part 1 of what I’m calling “The Covenant Acknowledged.” What I mean by this is that the enemies of Christ have gathered around Him now to basically ask Him how He pleads to the charges they are bringing against Him, and in so doing they are in a way, acknowledging His teachings, miracles, and all other activities. One of the thi…
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Last week I made many references to this particular Passover feast as the last supper, or the final Passover feast. Obviously, the Jews still celebrate Passover even to this day. I used those terms in spite of these continuingfeasts because it was all fulfilled in Christ. These OT practices are finally fulfilled once and for all in Jesus. So, there…
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We continue to learn about the creation of the Kingdom as seen in 5 parts, and examined through the concept of covenant.
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Today is a special episode from the Book of Luke. We will be back to Mark, Lord willing, next week. There are religions out there, some of them even masquerading as some form of Christianity, which teach people in one form or another to work for salvation. They have a theology which requires certain things to achieve salvation. This kind of false t…
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Today we begin our journey through the last 3 chapters of Mark’s Gospel. In chapters 14-16, we are going to see the creation of the Kingdom.
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Today we will take a break from the Gospel of Mark and look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son. May this be a blessing to you. Don't forget to share this podcast with others.
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Something that we often miss in our culture today is the use of poetic, figurative, and judgment language in the Hebrew language. When we read of the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, stars falling from the sky, floods, fire, and smoke—these are very standard prophetic imagery for political and social collapse. It does not mean now…
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Today’s sermon is a continuation from last week’s sermon where we were discussing the Olivet Discourse. We are going to continue on today, but I am speaking specifically about what is called the “abomination of desolation”.
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We live in a world which seems to be in constant turmoil. In fact, it has been stated that the 20th century was the bloodiest century of known history. From 1900 to 1988 170 million men, women, and children were shot, beaten, tortured, knifed, burned, starved, frozen, crushed, or worked to death. Governments invented ways to kill people. Burning, d…
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When we left off in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus had silenced His questioners and He had told this last one in particular that he was not far from the Kingdom of God. We brought out at that time that, “To be ‘in the kingdom’ one must do more than simply approve of Jesus’ teaching; one must submit entirely to His authority and person. We are not told what b…
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Now, the elders, scribes, and Pharisees send the Sadducees and the Herodians to Jesus. Will they catch Jesus in a trick question this time?
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Pastor Jay Nelson was pulpit supply at Green Meadow Community Church. This is part of his series, "The Attributes of God". Here, he focuses on God's Holiness. May God bless the hearing and the reading of His holy word, the Bible.
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Mark could be split into 2 parts. The first 10 chapters would be the Person of Jesus Christ; thenbeginning at chapter 11, the focus shifts to the Authority of Jesus’ Office. From Chapters 11-13 we begin to see not only the authority of our King Jesus,but we find Him dealing with the Kingdom of Israel in crisis. Our passage today will deal with the …
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Spiritual blindness and pride can hinder us in our walk with Christ. We can fail to see just exactly how close He is to us. And, when we fail to see His closeness it often leads to fear and unbelief. So, I want to encourage you today, take note of His nearness. Consider what He endured for you. It is very personal. And, then, as you consider these …
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This was the message delivered at Green Meadow Community Church the day after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
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Our King Jesus is also a Prophet and our Priest, and what we see in verse 11 is a temple inspection. We have talked about our Lord’s offices in previous episodes, and He acts here within the duties of these offices. He is King of Israel, the Prophet of God –foretelling with 100%accuracy the future events soon to take place, and the only High Priest…
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We have been making our way through Mark’s Gospel, and in a sense we have been journeying with our Lordto His destination—the cross. We have heard the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” We have been called to action, and we have seen the power of forgiveness. We learned that not only is Christ the Lord of lord…
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