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Christopher Gillespie

Lutheran Pastor (https://sjrl.org), Coffee roaster (https://gillespie.coffee), Media producer (https://gillespie.media), Podcaster (https://1517.org)

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Last Notes

2026-07-27 16:09:08 UTC

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📖 New sermon
You Were Carried Through the Door Before You Could Walk
Two cries stand side by side in this Sunday's readings: "Lord, Lord" and "Abba, Father." The first belongs to an applicant outside the office door with his accomplishments in a folder; the second to a child who never wondered whether he was allowed in the house. Jesus doesn't dispute the applicants' resume. He disputes that it ever mattered. What every false prophet wants is to turn sons back into applicants.
Read it: #naddr1qp…3xzk
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/ysdzSQ4xz3M
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/You-Were-Carried-Through-the-Door-Before-You-Could-Walk-Trinity-8-2026-e3mk420
🔗 https://sjrl.org/you-were-carried-through-the-door-before-you-could-walk-eighth-sunday-after-trinity-2026/

2026-07-23 14:08:35 UTC

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📖 New sermon
They Kept the Husk and Threw the Kernel Away
On the Sabbath, the Pharisees found a rule to keep and lost the mercy it was meant to carry — husk without kernel. James diagnoses the same disease in the church: zeal that hides self-seeking envy. Christ, the One greater than the temple, was Himself crushed like the grain, so that guilty husk-keepers might be fed with mercy instead of judged by the letter.
Read it: #naddr1qp…nwdh
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/PQYU4Kqa1Tc
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/They-kept-the-husk-and-threw-the-kernel-away--Friday-of-Trinity-7-2026-e3meq7m
🔗 https://sjrl.org/they-kept-the-husk-and-threw-the-kernel-away-friday-of-the-seventh-week-after-trinity-2026/

2026-07-20 16:53:07 UTC

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📖 New sermon
You Have Come from Afar
The four thousand Jesus feeds in Mark 8 are Gentiles — outsiders with no claim on the God of Israel. Paul says the same of us: once strangers, far off, until brought near by the blood of Christ. What Christ did on that Gentile shore, He does again in the Sacrament, filling those who have no right to the table with more than enough.
Read it: #naddr1qq…ecqs
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/cIkx0OGxEVw
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/I-Have-Compassion-on-the-Crowds-Trinity-7-2026-e3mahi1
🔗 https://sjrl.org/you-have-come-from-afar-the-seventh-sunday-after-trinity-2026/

2026-07-20 16:04:08 UTC

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📖 New biblestudy
Jeremiah Chapter 9
This week's class takes up Jeremiah 9, where the prophet names the root sickness twice — **"they do not know Me"** (Jer. 9:3, 9:6) — and hands us the one boast that survives it: **"that he understands and knows Me"** (Jer. 9:24). Paul later routes the whole Gospel through that verse: no flesh may boast, unless it boasts in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).
Read it: #naddr1qq…jzk5
▶️ Watch: https://youtube.com/live/5vGiC089c_A
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Jeremiah-Chapter-9--July-19--2026-e3mahlj
🔗 https://sjrl.org/jeremiah-chapter-9/

2026-07-17 20:55:21 UTC

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Sorry @npub153x…ryu8 , no offense.
#nevent1q…2nth

2026-07-16 15:24:35 UTC

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📖 New sermon
He Crossed the Water for This
The Gerasene demoniac was a man no one could bind. James names the wisdom that builds a life like that: earthly, unspiritual, demonic, breeding envy and self-seeking until it makes "every evil thing." Then Jesus crosses the sea to unclean pagan ground for this one man, and with a single word, "Come out," He drowns Legion under the water. The man is left sitting, clothed, in his right mind. That is his Baptism, and ours, where the same word of Christ still drowns what binds us and seats us at His table.
Read it: #naddr1qq…zeu2
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/dwttk9J7_gk
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/He-Crossed-the-Sea-for-This-Friday-of-Trinity-6-2026-e3m5oh1
🔗 https://sjrl.org/he-crossed-the-water-for-this-friday-of-trinity-6-observed-2026/

2026-07-12 20:17:12 UTC

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📖 New biblestudy
Jeremiah Chapter 8
Jeremiah 8 is a chapter of missed chances. Judah will not turn back — the stork in the sky knows her seasons, but God's people do not know the time of the LORD's judgment — and the prophets cry 'Peace, peace' where there is no peace. 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.' And then the ache that gives the chapter its name: 'Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?' — a question the whole Gospel rises up to answer.
Read it: #naddr1qq…cchl
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/s3dHIMhOZLE
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Jeremiah-Chapter-8--July-12--2026-e3m068b
🔗 https://sjrl.org/jeremiah-chapter-8/

2026-07-12 20:04:15 UTC

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📖 New sermon
Christ's clean heart is reckoned to you
Jesus stops the worshiper at the altar: first be reconciled to your brother. The Fifth Commandment reaches the heart — anger, 'Raca,' the grudge nursed since Easter — so no one comes with clean hands, and God will not accept half a sacrifice. But this altar faces the other way: God left His throne and reconciled us by Christ's blood while we were still His enemies. So the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees is not one we scrub up in ourselves; Christ's clean heart is reckoned to us and given again at the rail.
Read it: #naddr1qq…zx30
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/DieAejMZ_0s
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Christs-clean-heart-is-reckoned-to-you-Trinity-6-2026-e3m060j
🔗 https://sjrl.org/christs-clean-heart-is-reckoned-to-you-trinity-6-2026/

2026-07-06 12:15:45 UTC

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📖 New biblestudy
Jeremiah Chapter 7 Bible Study — July 5, 2026
This Sunday Jeremiah stands in the gate of the temple and preaches against the one thing Judah trusted most — the building itself. "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD," they chanted, certain God would never let His own house fall, even while they stole, murdered, and burned incense to Baal. But the house is no shelter for the people who profane it. The Lord names what it has become — a den of robbers — the very words Jesus would carry into that same temple, overturning the tables and driving out those who had made His Father's house a market.
Read it: #naddr1qq…pp8u
▶️ Watch: https://youtube.com/live/5fVbsgL_Otk
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Jeremiah-Chapter-7--July-5--2026-e3lnd8g
🔗 https://sjrl.org/jeremiah-chapter-7-bible-study-july-5-2026/

2026-07-06 11:59:29 UTC

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📖 New sermon
The freedom no country can give you
Beneath all our Fourth-of-July talk of freedom lies a deeper freedom no fireworks can give and no tyrant can take away. Out on the open sea Simon Peter thought himself free — his own boat, his own water, his own catch, answerable to no one — and pulled up empty nets all night long. Then Christ climbs uninvited into the boat, the nets tear with the catch, and Peter falls down terrified: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." The Lord does the one thing the open sea never can: He does not depart, but catches the sinner alive — "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men."
Read it: #naddr1qq…m9u0
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/z_8NQceoVuE
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/The-freedom-no-country-can-give-you-Trinity-5-2026-e3lncqg
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-freedom-no-country-can-give-you-trinity-5-2026/

2026-07-02 14:43:01 UTC

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📖 New sermon
Clouds Without Water
St. Jude will not let us grow comfortable: the Lord saved a people out of Egypt and then destroyed those who would not believe. Faith can die, and a baptized man can become a cloud without water — all the look of a Christian with no rain in him. But the same Lord who judged the unbelieving in the wilderness comes down the mountain to a demon-tormented boy and a father who can barely pray, and He is faithful where our faith is little. Our safety is not the strength of our grip on Christ but His grip on us.
Read it: #naddr1qq…rue2
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/NR3zKysZ1Ok
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Wednesday-of-Trinity-4-observed-2026-e3limhc
🔗 https://sjrl.org/clouds-without-water-friday-of-trinity-4-observed-2026/

2026-06-29 23:33:59 UTC

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📖 New sermon
The Teacher Who Is Mercy Itself
You have been somebody's disciple since the day you were born, and Jesus warns that you never rise above your teacher — given enough time, you simply become him. The world is a blind guide that trains us to judge first and forgive slowly, and we have become blind guides ourselves, reaching for the speck in a brother's eye with a plank in our own. But there is another Teacher: Jesus is the Father's mercy in the flesh, who takes our score-keeping heart to the cross and trains us in Baptism, Word, Absolution, and the Supper until we begin to look like Him.
Read it: #naddr1qq…w8uw
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/tIyrLMGH8MI
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/The-Teacher-Who-Is-Mercy-Itself-Trinity-4-2026-e3lerb0
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-teacher-who-is-mercy-itself-trinity-4-2026/

2026-06-25 13:32:17 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“Cursed on the tree so the barren tree could live.” Friday of Trinity 3 (observed) 2026
A fig tree in full leaf promises fruit and has none. Jesus walks from the cursed tree into a temple just as green—a house of prayer turned into a market—and James names it a third time: a church that seats the poor man at the footstool. All leaves, no figs. But the Lord of glory is hanged on a tree and made a curse in the barren tree’s place. He becomes the poor man so the poor man can be seated in glory, and He is Himself the new house of prayer where you are welcomed and fed. Living faith receives Him, and the figs follow—not to be saved, but because the tree is alive.
Read it: #naddr1qq…t7ap
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/V3v9E2U0bxo
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Cursed-on-the-tree-so-the-barren-tree-could-live--Friday-of-Trinity-3-observed-2026-e3l92jp
🔗 https://sjrl.org/cursed-on-the-tree-friday-of-trinity-3-observed-2026/

2026-06-22 16:20:31 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“He isn’t using a club. It is a broom. He’s sweeping you home.” Trinity 3 2026
The affliction that sweeps through your life is not a club driving you out but a broom sweeping you home: His pursuit, not your punishment. He answers the charge that He receives sinners with the lost sheep and the lost coin—lighting the lamp of His Word, laying the sheep on His own shoulders rejoicing, carrying you to the rail. You came in a lost coin and go out treasure in the King’s own hand.
Read it: #naddr1qq…8anp
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/fLtWSNtVpEY
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Trinity-3-2026-e3l4mlf
🔗 https://sjrl.org/he-isnt-using-a-club-it-is-a-broom-hes-sweeping-you-home-trinity-3-2026/

2026-06-18 12:08:02 UTC

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📖 New sermon
There's Always More Where That Came From
For twelve years she had been unclean — exiled from the assembly, emptied by physicians who took everything and healed nothing. So she comes to steal a cure from the fringe of Jesus' garment, certain God's mercy runs out like everything else has. But His power goes out from Him and nothing is subtracted: she came to take a cure and leaves a daughter. There is always more where that came from.
Read it: #naddr1qp…zg49
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/3HntNRng2I8
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Theres-Always-More-Where-That-Came-From-Friday-of-Trinity-2-observed--June-17--2026-e3kv777
🔗 https://sjrl.org/theres-always-more-where-that-came-from-friday-of-trinity-2-observed-2026/

2026-06-17 16:15:15 UTC

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Thanks for the shoutout. It’s been a long labor of love.

2026-06-15 00:17:39 UTC

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📖 New biblestudy
Jeremiah: Chapter 3 — Bible Study, June 14, 2026
In Jeremiah 3:1–4:4, the Lord does the legally impossible: He calls back the wife the Law itself would bar from return. Yet mercy overrules statute — "Return, backsliding Israel," He says, "I am merciful." The one condition He names is not penance or probation but honest confession: "Only acknowledge your iniquity."
Read it: #naddr1qq…fy8r
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/BqQsfTE0ttQ
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Jeremiah-Chapter-3-e3kpotd
🔗 https://sjrl.org/jeremiah-chapter-3-bible-study-june-14-2026/

2026-06-12 18:00:38 UTC

Ivan Karamazov cannot believe, as long as one child is in torment; Camus’ hero cannot accept the divinity of Christ, because of the massacre of the innocents. In this popular pity, we mark our gain in sensibility and our loss in vision. If other ages felt less, they saw more, even though they saw with the blind, prophetical, unsentimental eye of acceptance, which is to say, of faith. In the absence of this faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is a tenderness which, long since cut off from the person of Christ, is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced-labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.
--Flannery O'Connor

2026-06-11 15:22:27 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“A mustard seed faith in the Lord of heaven and earth moves mulberry trees”
Jesus warns that offenses are inevitable, and the worth of a single soul makes leading one of His little ones to fall worse than drowning. Yet He commands forgiveness seven times a day — a demand that drives the disciples to cry, “Lord, increase our faith.” The answer is not a bigger faith but a faith fixed on the right object: a mustard seed will do, because the power belongs to the Lord of heaven and earth, not to the one believing. Even when every duty is done we remain unprofitable servants, standing not on our works but on our Master — who girds Himself and serves His own at the Supper.
Read it: #naddr1qp…qqwm
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/R3P8EH4vb0s
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/A-mustard-seed-faith-in-the-Lord-of-heaven-and-earth-moves-mulberry-trees-Friday-of-Trinity-1-2026-e3klh99
🔗 https://sjrl.org/a-mustard-seed-faith-in-the-lord-of-heaven-and-earth-moves-mulberry-trees/

2026-06-07 22:54:01 UTC

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📖 New biblestudy
Jeremiah: Chapter 2 — Bible Study, June 7, 2026
"For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. 2:13)
Read it: #naddr1qq…wpdq
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/6FTsMYhv19Q
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Jeremiah-Chapter-2-e3kfdem
🔗 https://sjrl.org/jeremiah-chapter-2-bible-study-june-7-2026/

2026-06-07 22:40:50 UTC

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📖 New sermon
"The poor one has a name. Lazarus. God is my help." Trinity 1 2026
You have what Lazarus had. You have a name, given in the water. You have the promise — eternal life on account of the promise, not on account of your merits. You have Moses and the Prophets and the One they promised, who is here, on this altar, in your mouth and in your body.
Read it: #naddr1qq…xh8y
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/Oj9Zh3b0HUw
🎧 Listen: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stjohnrandomlake/embed/episodes/The-poor-one-has-a-name--Lazarus--God-is-my-help--Trinity-1-2026-e3kfe4l
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-poor-one-has-a-name-lazarus-god-is-my-help-trinity-1-2026/

2026-06-06 11:48:38 UTC

Banned Books 442: Giertz — A Shepherd's Letter
Riley and Gillespie sit with Bo Giertz and read his open letter to the churches. Crisis, liberal theology, the shallow eschatology of liberalism, and the church's endurance through every age of the evil world.
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/HQkh5U08jZg
🎧 Listen: https://www.1517.org/podcast-overview/442-giertz
📖 Show notes: https://bannedbooks1517.org/episodes/ep-442
#BannedBooks #Lutheran #Giertz #Theology #Podcast

2026-06-04 15:06:01 UTC

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📖 New sermon
"The age to come arriving in this age, located, given out" Wednesday of Holy Trinity 2026
You went into that water still carrying the old premise — still asking what resurrection could possibly mean, still uncertain whether the age to come is anything more than this age with the dying removed. And you came out having been given something you did not generate, extra nos, outside yourself, from the One whose Name was spoken over you.
Read it: #naddr1qq…cqvr
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/BkbxvKURF_c
🎧 Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0HzOFXeFoupzfvvfd3TifJ?si=WOVZlhhcRey0ekYmQ_IxBQ
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-age-to-come-arriving-in-this-age-located-given-out/

2026-06-01 16:53:01 UTC

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📖 New article
Teaching Evangelical Repentance to Children
Your kid bullied another kid. You said, “Tell him you’re sorry.” You taught him penance, not repentance. Penance trusts the child’s willpower. Repentance kills the old child and raises a new one. New blog: how parents and teachers preach the Gospel in real time.
Read it: https://njump.me/naddr1qq4hgetpvd5xjmn894jhvctwvajkc6trv9kz6un9wpjkuarpde3k2tt5dukkx6rfd3j8yetwqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hszrthwden5te0dehhxtnvdakqygpy35rhu9ex3hhz2w33cv7dtj5gatqrr57e3awapvuhen4nwlrz9upsgqqqw4rstr06f3
🔗 https://sjrl.org/teaching-evangelical-repentance-to-children/

2026-06-01 16:52:29 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“The Spirit gives you the peace Christ bought” Pentecost 2026
He who scattered at Babel gathers here at Pentecost. He who divided the tongues there of evil, now unites them here for good. The same Spirit. The same fire. At Babel, God came down and scattered. At Pentecost, God came down to gather, and He gathered by preaching. Not by making the nations speak one language. By making the one Gospel spoken in every language. Every tongue heard the same thing: the Spirit gives you the peace Christ bought.
Read it: https://njump.me/naddr1qqahg6r994ehq6tjd96z6emfwejhxtteda6j6argv5khqetpvdjj6cmgwf5hxapdvfhh2emgwskhqetww3jkxmmnwsknyvpjxcq3gamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7qgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcq3qyjxswlshy6x7uff6x8pne4w23r4vqvwnmx84m59njlxwkdmuvghsxpqqqp65wx5ps7d
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/T0IzCfhVJ_Y
🎧 Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/The-Spirit-gives-you-the-peace-Christ-bought-Pentecost-2026-e3js2he
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-spirit-gives-you-the-peace-christ-bought-pentecost-2026/

2026-06-01 16:51:51 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!” Friday of Exaudi (observed) 2026
Take heart. He did not say try harder. He did not say believe more. He did not say feel something. He said take heart. Be of good cheer. Because — and this is the only because that holds — “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has done it. It stands done. It will be done tomorrow morning, and the morning after that, and the morning your believing finally collapses entirely. The I that holds you is not yours.
Read it: https://njump.me/naddr1qpykyefddanz6em0dajz6cmgv4jhyttf945xzan994hhvetjvdhk6efdw35x2tthdaexcepdveexjerp0ykk7e3dv4uxzatydykk7cnnv4e8vety95erqv3kqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hszrthwden5te0dehhxtnvdakqygpy35rhu9ex3hhz2w33cv7dtj5gatqrr57e3awapvuhen4nwlrz9upsgqqqw4rs5x3mpm
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/VkMQCJZKEvo
🔗 https://sjrl.org/be-of-good-cheer-i-have-overcome-the-world-friday-of-exaudi-observed-2026/

2026-06-01 16:43:01 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?” Holy Trinity 2026
You look, and you live. You do not first understand, and then live. The teacher came carrying everything he knew and was handed two things he could do nothing with: a birth he could not perform and a cross he could only behold. And even the looking is not the last small work left to his credit — the eyes that turn to the lifted Son are opened by the same Spirit who blows where He wills, the birth of water and the Spirit, not of the will of the flesh, not of any man’s deciding. It is given the whole way down.
Read it: https://njump.me/naddr1qpf8jmm494shyefdw35x2tt5v4skx6r9wgkk7e3dd9ehyct9dskkzmny94uk2apd09hh2ttydukkumm5946kuer9wfehgctwvskhg6rfwvkksmmv0ykhgunfde5hg7fdxgcrydspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dspzqfydqalpwf5dacjn5vwr8n2u4z82cqca8kv0thgt897vavmhcc30qvzqqqr4gudh6hz6
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/qhQ-wZ0XnPY
🎧 Listen: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/t9VU6UJvC3b
🔗 https://sjrl.org/you-are-the-teacher-of-israel-and-yet-you-do-not-understand-this-holy-trinity-2026/

2026-06-01 16:05:59 UTC

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📖 New sermon
“The Holy Spirit makes you a temple of His glory” Ember Wednesday of Pentecost 2026
He is coming upon you, by His Spirit. He is drawing you with the net of His Word. And He is doing more than draw you — He is making His home in you.
Read it: https://njump.me/naddr1qpghg6r9945x7mre94ehq6tjd96z6mtpddjhxtteda6j6cfdw3jk6urvv5kk7e3ddp5hxtt8d3hhy7fdv4kkyetj94mk2erwv4ekgcte94hkvttsv4h8getrdaehgtfjxqervqg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqgszfrg80ctjdr0wy5arrseu6h9g36kqx8fanr6a6zee0n8txa7xytcrqsqqqa28kzz80l
▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/AlDhLZC95zk
🎧 Listen: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/8pOFEYtOv3b
🔗 https://sjrl.org/the-holy-spirit-makes-you-a-temple-of-his-glory-ember-wednesday-of-pentecost-2026/

2026-05-07 14:59:35 UTC

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The new commandment is a finished love. Christ made it on a cross. He gives it to you here in water and word and bread and wine. It is yours. The commandment and the gift are one. Faith and love are baked together like one loaf. Christ holds the one, and you hold the other, and there is no separating them. Christ went where you could not go, so that you could love as you have been loved.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…n5h6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLXy2EAzvWg

2026-05-05 20:02:38 UTC

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This is the advantage. Not God near in the way you wanted. Better than that. The Spirit who convicts — your sin named and buried, Christ’s righteousness declared and given, the ruler’s judgment executed and delivered — doing his work here, in this service, for you.
#naddr1qv…degd
https://youtu.be/Wk9spwWAZug

2026-05-05 19:55:29 UTC

The garden in Genesis has no prices. God gives, Adam and Eve tend, nothing is traded.
Scarcity enters in chapter three. Need, surplus, and something to measure both accumulate across twenty chapters before Abraham weighs four hundred shekels of silver at a gate in Hebron to buy a grave.
That weighing is the Bible's first monetary transaction. After it: a boy sold for twenty shekels, Passover plunder redirected into a tabernacle, a hidden gold bar buried in a tent, 666 talents filling Solomon's treasury, a denarius with Caesar's face, two bronze coins worth almost nothing, thirty pieces the priests refused to touch.
https://christophergillespie.substack.com/p/when-nothing-had-a-price?r=eye8m
https://blossom.primal.net/07208001ad4fbddb39331ab1ede6895596a0b526a8fa72d46e1cca189e67c9d9.jpg

2026-04-27 14:44:28 UTC

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Two kinds of time run through this Gospel. Chronos, which counts every loss and draws its conclusions. And kairos, which speaks the word of the risen Christ into the middle of those losses and names them for what they are: labor pains, not graves.
#naddr1qv…3m2z
https://youtu.be/fiFt8wFHQXc

2026-04-19 20:50:10 UTC

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The hireling runs. That is the only fact Jesus gives you about him. He sees the wolf coming, and he runs. The sheep scatter, the wolf takes what it wants, and the hireling is already down the road. Jesus does not tell you the hireling's reasons. He does not need to. The man ran. That is his whole character, stated in a single act. Set that figure next to the Good Shepherd, and you have the entirety of the Gospel for this Sunday: He stayed.
#naddr1qv…clu6
https://youtu.be/NWxDdkWmpNk

2026-04-16 13:50:56 UTC

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You want joy without the terror of standing before the God who raises the dead. Or you settle for dread with no hope of mercy. The women leave the tomb with both, and Matthew does not apologize. He tells you: this is what the resurrection does. It gives you fear and joy together, because the One you meet at the empty tomb is both Judge and Savior, both Holy God and your Brother.
#naddr1qv…u39r
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGtF7k-S2T4

2026-04-09 14:48:26 UTC

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The risen Christ opens what we cannot. He opened Scripture and showed them it was all about Him. He opened His wounds and proved He is no ghost but God in flesh. He opened His mouth and ate their food to demonstrate the resurrection of the body. He opened their understanding so they could comprehend what Moses and the prophets had been saying all along. He opened the mission to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, proclaiming repentance and remission in His name. He continues to open these gifts—opening eyes in the Word, opening mouths at the Altar, opening the kingdom of heaven and bringing us through.
#naddr1qv…yz9e
https://youtu.be/49OBNRkuVW0

2026-04-07 10:49:10 UTC

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Thank God for the gift of surgeons and medicine, and all under His mercy.

2026-04-03 21:52:16 UTC

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You are here this afternoon because the Holy Spirit has not finished building. He still calls by the Gospel. He still places stones. The cornerstone holds. The building rises. The Church endures — not by your effort, not by any human strategy, not by the wisdom of her architects — but by the blood of the Lamb laid into the earth's foundation, and raised again on the third day.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…8v4u
https://youtu.be/6A2Gz1kzXZw

2026-04-03 21:42:10 UTC

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God is Most High. His eyes look down. He sees what you are — the poverty, the squalor, the weight of it all. He sees it, and He does not look away. He comes down. He comes all the way down, down to the floor, down to the cross, down to this altar. The Most High becomes the Most Low so that the lowly might be raised to the Most High.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…qvs9
https://youtu.be/m5CgSsbyGq8

2026-04-01 16:22:37 UTC

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There was no one to help. So He helped. "He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" — which is to say, for all of us standing here with nothing in our hands, who fled and denied and handed over and washed our hands and turned, every one, to our own way. He did not need your help. He needed your sin. He took it. This is He whom you kneel before. Your Helper.
#naddr1qv…dg7m
https://youtu.be/MJBniUSocyw

2026-04-01 16:21:17 UTC

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You might be tempted to read those men as the villains of the story and yourself as a bystander. But sit with the word inconvenient. Every one of us has found Jesus inconvenient at some point — His claim on our time, His call to die to what we want, His refusal to be the kind of Savior we would have designed. We have all wanted a Jesus who costs less. Who asks less. Who fits more neatly into the life we have already arranged. The conspirators spoke aloud what the rest of us are thinking silently.
#naddr1qv…rlt6
https://youtu.be/XWryrtbjw4w

2026-03-30 15:57:42 UTC

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"Zechariah saw it all. Isaiah saw it all!" Holy Monday 2026 #biblestr
#naddr1qv…h8hw
https://youtu.be/By7KTnBnF-g

2026-03-29 20:40:23 UTC

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The Son who from eternity has known nothing but the Father's love cries out of abandonment. Real abandonment. He goes all the way in — to the bottom of the forsakenness, to the place where there is nothing left, no comfort, no light, no answer. He goes there, so you will not have to. He is forsaken so that you will not be. That is the exchange. That is the whole thing.
#naddr1qv…9x53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUa9UQu4dMA

2026-03-26 15:02:02 UTC

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The cross is coming. You can feel it gathering through these weeks. Every story this season — the plotting, the stones, the thickening opposition — it is all converging on Jerusalem, converging on one man walking steadily toward it. No one takes His life from Him. He lays it down. For sheep who wander. For sheep who sleep in Gethsemane. For sheep who deny three times before the rooster finishes crowing. For you.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…l49p
https://youtu.be/KKsAVaXvfyY

2026-03-26 15:00:19 UTC

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This is where the whole Old Testament has been driving. For centuries, the blood of bulls and goats was poured out. Morning and evening, the smoke of the burnt offering rose from the altar. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest passed through the veil into the Most Holy Place, carrying the blood of the sacrifice for himself and for the people. All that blood. All those animals. All that smoke. And none of it could take away a single sin. The sacrifices covered. They pointed forward. They were a constant reminder that something else was needed, someone else was coming. The blood of animals could purify the flesh, could make a man ritually clean. But it could not touch the conscience. It could not reach the place where sin lives.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…nuhr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKAUU6xpYbI

2026-02-15 12:25:13 UTC

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Yes, in our ten children. But now that three moved out, we have to freeze them.

2026-02-15 00:24:45 UTC

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I think this is a consequence of social media fatigue. Very few want to move again. Of course, that the point of Nostr. But convincing others without more banning, soft censorship, or ad spamming, is unlikely.
#nevent1q…xvhx

2026-02-13 14:57:39 UTC

The Lord Promises Deliverance—Exodus 6:1-13 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/natXx32oFJY

2026-02-07 02:18:30 UTC

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Solid.
#nevent1q…ktr3

2026-01-29 15:58:17 UTC

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Nazareth couldn’t handle Jesus—not because He was flashy, but because He was too close: “just the carpenter.” That’s the old sin in us too: we want a manageable God, not a Lord who calls us to repent. Romans 2 cuts through our excuses—“God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:11)—and exposes our habit of judging others to dodge our own guilt. The good news: the righteousness God demands is the righteousness God gives in Christ. Stop treating Jesus like background noise. Receive Him where He actually gives Himself—His Word, forgiveness, and gifts—and live as an adopted heir, not a self-justifying critic.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…cuxh
https://youtu.be/mXMwWf2GLjQ

2026-01-27 14:53:58 UTC

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So the Transfiguration teaches you how to be in church. It teaches you what to expect: not entertainment, not novelty, not spiritual fireworks—but Christ, hidden and given. It teaches you what to fear: not long readings, not a slow sermon—but ignoring the Son. It teaches you what to desire: not the pastor’s charm, not the congregation’s warmth, not a fog machine of “experience”—but the clear, saving voice of Jesus.
#biblestr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z-D0pJba9E
#naddr1qq…5epk

2026-01-23 15:02:30 UTC

Joseph Feeds Brothers, Sends Them to Jacob—Gen. 42:25-38 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/XXjwAkPjzXA

2026-01-22 14:44:38 UTC

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So yes—there is a “not yet.” Your body still breaks. Your heart still aches. Your house still gets sick. Your relationships still strain. The grave still waits. And Christ will come again to finish what you cannot see finished yet: the dead raised, the blind seeing, the oppressed fully freed, the captives fully released, the whole creation set loose from corruption.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…8vg4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm1Wf25gIHQ

2026-01-21 15:53:19 UTC

Joseph Becomes the Prince of Egypt—Genesis 41:37-57
#bliblestr
https://youtube.com/live/08bf0rnCTDQ

2026-01-20 14:56:48 UTC

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams—Genesis 41:1-36 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/Bkpq9g4oqTQ

2026-01-20 12:35:11 UTC

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Coffee is as diverse as the people who drink it. Stay curious, friends.
#nevent1q…ek0z

2026-01-19 21:37:12 UTC

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Here is the good wine kept until now. Forgiveness that does not run out. Joy that does not depend on your mood. Hope that does not collapse when the test results, the bank statement, or the family meeting go badly. Fellowship with Him and with one another at a table that outlasts death. We are not playing religious pretend. He truly gives Himself. #biblestr
#naddr1qv…6nyu
https://youtu.be/fHRDTsMvrOk

2026-01-19 21:14:19 UTC

The things you're not supposed to talk about in polite company are the very things we need to talk about. Don't be snookered into laying down your ideological arms and allowing the enemy to destroy family, church, and state.

2026-01-19 14:56:23 UTC

Joseph Interprets Dreams in Prison—Genesis 40:1-23 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/mlo2U9E90EQ

2026-01-19 12:44:09 UTC

While @nprofile…ag7t has accepted BTC via @nprofile…w85c for a long time, we’ve put our sats where our mouth is. Now you also get sats back rewards for every single origin coffee, blend, subscription, whatever, via @nprofile…xhvs.
https://gillespie.coffee/pages/pay-with-bitcoin-lightning

2026-01-18 02:47:20 UTC

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It’s about time.
#nevent1q…ls7n

2026-01-17 14:59:37 UTC

Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Amos 9:11-15; Romans 12:6-16a #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/B6wsmZdMYYo

2026-01-17 14:31:50 UTC

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The way of the world is to refuse to call a thing what it is. This leads to malaise, despair, grayness, nihilism. The way of the cross tells the truth, calling evil and good what is.

2026-01-15 23:34:50 UTC

The first Lightning payment processor on Shopify WITH an Express Checkout button is going to crush e-commerce similar to Square did with POS. I’m betting on @nprofile…5egz and @nprofile…0j5p doing it first.
Remember what the PayPal “Buy Now” button did?

2026-01-15 23:27:21 UTC

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See John 6.

2026-01-15 15:52:38 UTC

Joseph’s Brothers Sell Him into Slavery—Gen. 37:1-36 #biblestr
https://www.youtube.com/live/DDczO-l2tXI

2026-01-15 14:51:06 UTC

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You have been baptized into Christ. That means where He is, you are. If He has stepped into the sinner’s water and taken your sin as His, then your sin is not free-floating anymore. It has an address: on Him. And if His righteousness is His—and He gives Himself to you—then His righteousness has an address too: on you. #biblestr
#naddr1qv…g8a6
Audio: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/stjohnrandomlake/episodes/Baptism-is-Gods-public-claim-This-one-belongs-to-Me--Octave-of-Epiphany-2026-e3dmpec

2026-01-14 14:57:52 UTC

LIVE THIS AM:
The Baptism of Our Lord—Matthew 3:13-17 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/o2n41lHZYNk

2026-01-13 16:32:45 UTC

Radical proposal: give a tithe of your time to hearing, study, meditation, and prayer of God's Word.

2026-01-13 14:56:31 UTC

John the Baptist Prepares the Way of the Lord—Mt 3:1-12
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/eOScV50g88Y

2026-01-12 17:30:45 UTC

10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
sjrl.org/media/bible-study-1-thessalonians-41-12-november-30-2025-e6zb3-rhbps-4wg2y-r8rbc #biblestr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936sqYvMXo4

2026-01-12 17:13:26 UTC

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So what is the Father’s “business”? To send His Servant, His Son, filled with the Spirit, to bring justice, to be a covenant, to open blind eyes, and to free prisoners. That is not a vague “mission statement.” That is concrete: forgiveness for the guilty, light for darkened consciences, and release for people chained to their sins and fears.
#naddr1qv…npft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjgB6z4DAGk

2026-01-12 14:57:55 UTC

The Boy Jesus in the Temple—Luke 2:41-52 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/FpMz_E-yoXc

2026-01-10 15:48:33 UTC

Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Isaiah 42:1-9; Rom. 12:1–6a #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/BMsUkguF5gY

2026-01-09 15:53:59 UTC

The Slaughter of the Holy Innocents—Matthew 2:16-23 #biblestr
https://www.youtube.com/live/cCnfXJDs9VE

2026-01-06 14:57:54 UTC

Simeon and Anna Receive the Christ-child—Luke 2:25-40
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/_qUr0qJTy-0

2026-01-05 14:59:59 UTC

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God places His salvation in the hands of people the world has already moved past. Not kings. Not managers of religion. Not the impressive. An old man ready to die. An old church lady who will not stop talking. That is the Lord’s way.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…kyr2
https://youtu.be/PNe5jBJgzP8

2026-01-05 14:49:48 UTC

Bible Study: 2 Thessalonians 2 — January 4, 2025
#biblestr
https://sjrl.org/media/bible-study-1-thessalonians-41-12-november-30-2025-e6zb3-rhbps-4wg2y

2026-01-03 14:59:31 UTC

Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Jeremiah 31:31-34; Galatians 4:1-7
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/dzQKJ6Y-U_s

2026-01-02 15:09:24 UTC

The Ark of the Covenant into the Temple—1 Kings 8:6-13 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/qprlKV-VRWM

2026-01-01 14:54:02 UTC

Circumcision and Name of Jesus: Luke 2:21 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/74ZhRatcDuM

2026-01-01 13:00:03 UTC

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What does this have to do with the turning of the year? Everything. We are tempted to treat a new year like a blank page where we finally get to write a better story about ourselves. Resolutions. Reinvention. Image management. Control. But that’s not how Christians enter a year. Christians enter time under a Name already given, under a mercy already promised, under a Savior already bleeding for them. You don’t walk into this year alone. You walk into it branded—sealed—named.
#naddr1qv…r8j0
#biblestr
https://youtu.be/EXpDGOD-dSo

2026-01-01 12:36:54 UTC

The Feast of the Circumcision and Name — December 31, 2025
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/_85JvBKZAAM

2025-12-31 15:42:40 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/d84ab101ff4d09d67932ea959b36f33a348c1c06732e68522e4abf95b9a652eb.png

2025-12-31 14:55:43 UTC

New Year’s Eve: Luke 12:35-40 #biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/O9Uy3UjfBho

2025-12-30 14:57:50 UTC

“Do Not Be Afraid to Go to Egypt”—Genesis 46:1-7
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/Jmy3h_cX764

2025-12-29 14:59:50 UTC

David’s Son Will Build the House of the Lord—2 Sam 7:1-16
https://youtube.com/live/YaUe178eIqE

2025-12-29 12:44:50 UTC

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Christ’s kingdom on earth is a cross-kingdom. Not because God enjoys pain, but because this is how He conquers. The throne is a cross. The crown has thorns. The victory is hidden under weakness. And if that is true for the King, it will not be different for the people who belong to Him.
#naddr1qv…a68a
#biblestr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b40OjyDC-Xc

2025-12-25 19:42:41 UTC

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The Word became flesh so that nothing human would be left unredeemed. Not only the “spiritual” parts of you. You. Your body. Your mind. Your will. Your suffering. Your death. Christ has entered the whole human condition so that He can heal the whole human condition.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…jhk6
https://youtu.be/BWeKoT-958o

2025-12-25 13:53:28 UTC

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This is where joy breaks wide open: God is not waiting for you to get your act together before He comes near. He comes near to rescue you. He comes near to carry what you cannot carry. He comes near to take what is yours—your frailty, your vulnerability, your mortality—so that He can give you what is His: righteousness, life, and peace.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…2hqa
https://youtu.be/VsW-C86p7KA

2025-12-25 13:46:33 UTC

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If you come tonight with fear, or questions, or weariness, you are not out of place. The angels preached first to people in the dark. If you come tonight with guilt, you are not beyond hope. This is exactly why a Savior is born. And if you come tonight with joy, then let it be this kind of joy: not fragile and forced, but anchored in what God has done.
#naddr1qv…ykc8
https://youtu.be/Zq00dmVhfoA

2025-12-24 15:00:17 UTC

Christmas Eve: The Nativity of Our Lord—Matthew 1:18–25
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/yXvCUxp1Cb0

2025-12-23 14:56:52 UTC

The Shepherds Visit Bethlehem—Luke 2:15-20
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/aguzuEJlLfk

2025-12-22 14:57:23 UTC

The Birth of Christ Is Announced to Shepherds—Luke 2:8-14
https://youtube.com/live/XOl21BtpvCo
#biblestr

2025-12-21 22:41:28 UTC

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John is a voice. Not the Word. A voice. And that’s what faithful preaching always is: a mouth that points not to itself but to Christ. John is doing exactly what Isaiah foretold, as the Angel Gabriel proclaimed and Zechariah confessed. Right after that fierce, tender opening, God gives John this work: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” (Isa. 40:1) How does God comfort? Not by pretending sin is small or telling people they’re “fine.” He comforts by sending a messenger who tells the truth and by sending the Lord Himself to save.
#naddr1qv…samc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-sIWEAi_IA

2025-12-20 14:57:44 UTC

Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Philippians 4:4-7
https://youtube.com/live/zUG6GwALI1Y
#biblestr

2025-12-19 14:56:53 UTC

The Nativity of Our Lord—Luke 2:1-7
https://youtube.com/live/Rke5G2wJC7k
#biblestr

2025-12-18 14:59:16 UTC

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist—Luke 1:57-66
#biblestr
https://youtube.com/live/_iyqb-c2z3Q

2025-12-18 14:39:21 UTC

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Stop trying to keep God at a manageable distance. He will not be managed. He will be received. “The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28). And the One who is with you is not an idea. He is Jesus—true God and true man—your Brother in the flesh, your Savior from sin, your King whose reign does not end.
#biblestr
#naddr1qv…86zt
https://youtu.be/-hAB8seQgAw

2025-12-17 14:56:06 UTC

The Visitation—Luke 1:39-45
https://youtube.com/live/4MFvkkQW_CU
#biblestr

2025-12-16 14:58:52 UTC

Christ’s Birth Is Foretold to Joseph—Matthew 1:18-25
https://youtube.com/live/sZ2NxSu5WZ8