May 11, 2025 • 27 mins
Transcript
Today's Bible Translation
Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 4-5 GNT
Associate Producer
Lifespring! Family Berean Sister Ann, Anonymous
Podcast Introduction
Today is Epistles Sunday. We’ll complete 1 Thessalonians with the reading of chapters 4-5. I’m calling the episode “Coming Events.” And because I was unable to do an essentials segment last Wednesday, we’ll do one today. On our last Essentials, we talked about the fact that Jesus is the Living Word. Today we’ll discuss His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth.
Design: Jason Paschall | Photo: Melissa Askew on Unsplash
Comments on 1 Thessalonians 4-5
Thoughts on 1 Thessalonians 4
Today in my comments, I’m going to explain a bit of how I do my Bible studies, and how you can enrich your reading of the Bible, and I’ll do it in the context of today’s reading. Sound good?
Most of us who are serious about Bible study know that reading from more that one translation is a good thing, especially if we’re going to be teaching or preaching. Today’s reading is an excellent example of why this is a good idea.
The translation we read from today is the Good News Translation. Chapter 4, verses 4 and 5 in the GNT reads like this: “Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and honorable way, 5not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God.”
As I read that, it seemed just a little “off” to me. Not that there’s anything wrong with living “with your wife in a holy and honorable way”, but tying this thought with “not with a lustful desire, like the heathen” just didn’t sit right with me, because sexual desire between a husband and wife is a gift from God. I decided that I should look at how other translations rendered this passage.
Here are some examples of verse 4:
The English Standard Version says: that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
The NIV says: that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
And for good measure, the KJV says: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
So the ESV and the NIV agree on the translation the “body”. But as you heard, the KJV said “possess his vessel”. None of the three referred to the “wife”.
So I read this verse in several other translations: the NASB, Young’s Literal Translation, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, New Living Translation. All of them agreed on the “body”.
The God’s Word translation, and Contemporary English Version used “wife” in one way or another.
So what to do? How should this verse be properly translated? We need to go to the original language. Thankfully, we don’t need to take a complete course in Greek, which is the language used in the New Testament. The first thing I do is consult what is called an Interlinear New Testament.
An interlinear NT has the complete text of the NT, with the Greek words appearing either directly above or below the English words, so you can see which exact Greek word is used. That’s the first step.
The next step, if you don’t know Greek, is to use either a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance or Young’s Analytical Concordance. Today, I used Young’s. Both Young’s and Strong’s use the KJV, so I looked up the word “vessel”.
I found that there are two Greek words used in the NT that are translated into the English word “vessel”. One of them is used only twice, in the book of Matthew. In this case, the word means “vessel, or utensil”. The other Greek word is used eighteen times and it means “vessel, utensil or instrument”, and this is the word in our reading today.
In my opinion, the thought that Paul wanted to convey to us is this: our bodies are the vessel or instrument that contains our souls, and we should not allow our vessels to be controlled by lust, as do those who do not know God.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Steve Webb (00:00):
This event is often called the rapture.
This is the Lifespring! One YearBible coming to you from
Riverside, California Andpodcasting since 2004. I'm your
OG Godcaster. Steve Webb, it'sepistle Sunday And will complete
(00:21):
First Thessalonians with areading of chapters four And
five. I'm calling the episodecoming events. And because I was
unable to do an essentialsegment this last Wednesday,
we'll do one today. On our lastessentials, we talked about the
fact that Jesus is the livingword. Today we'll discuss his
miraculous conception by theHoly Spirit And his virgin
(00:41):
birth. But before we getstarted, let's have a word of
prayer. Our heavenly Fatheragain, we thank You for Your
Word. And we thank you for ourtime together, I pray God that
you would bless us as we study,I pray this in Jesus name, amen.
Okay, let's begin.
First Thessalonians chapterfour. Finally, our friends, you
(01:03):
learn from us how you shouldlive in order to please God.
This is of course, the way youhave been living. And now we beg
And urge you in the name of theLord Jesus to do even more. For
you know the instructions wegave you by the authority of the
Lord Jesus. God wants you to beholy And completely free from
sexual immorality. Each of youshould know how to live with
(01:24):
your wife in a holy Andhonorable way, not with a
lustful desire, like the heathenwho do not know God in this
manner, then none of you shoulddo wrong to other Christians or
take advantage of them. We havetold you this before. And we
strongly warned you that theLord will punish those who do
that. God did not call us tolive in immorality, but in
(01:45):
holiness. So then whoeverrejects this teaching is not
rejecting a human being, but Godwho gives you His Holy Spirit.
There is no need to write youabout love for each other, you
yourselves have been taught byGod, how you should love one
another. And you have in factbehaved like this toward all the
believers in all of Macedonia.So we beg you, our friends, to
(02:07):
do even more, make it your aimto live a quiet life, to mind
your own business, And to earnyour own living just as we told
you before. In this way, youwill win the respect of those
who are not believers. And youwill not have to depend on
anyone for what you need. Ourfriends, we want you to know the
truth about those who have died,so that you will not be sad, as
(02:29):
are those who have no hope. Webelieve that Jesus died And rose
again. And so we believe thatGod will take back with Jesus,
those who have died believing inHim. What we are teaching you
now is the Lord's teaching. wewho are alive on the day of the
Lord comes will not go ahead ofthose who have died, there will
be the shout of command, thearchangels voice, the sound of
(02:53):
God's trumpet, And the LordHimself who will come down from
heaven. Those who have diedbelieving in Christ will rise to
life first, then we who areliving at that time will be
gathered up along with them inthe clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air. And so we will alwaysbe with the Lord. So then
encourage one another with thesewords.
(03:14):
First Thessalonians chapterfive. There is no need to write
to your friends about the timesAnd occasions when these things
will happen. For you yourselvesknow very well that the day of
the Lord will come as a thiefcomes at night. When people say
everything is quiet And safe,then suddenly destruction will
hit them. It will come assuddenly as the pains that come
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upon a woman in labor And peoplewill not escape. But you friends
are not in the darkness And theday should not take you by
surprise like a thief. All ofyou are people who belong to the
light, who belong to the day, wedo not belong to the night or to
the darkness. So then we shouldnot be sleeping like the others.
We should be awake And sober. Itis at night when people sleep.
(04:00):
It is at night when they getdrunk. But we belong to the day
And we should be sober. We mustwear faith And love as a
breastplate And our hope ofsalvation as a helmet. God did
not choose us to suffer hisanger, but to possess salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ,who died for us in order that we
might live together with himwhether we are alive or dead
(04:23):
when he comes. And so encourageone another And help one another
just as you are now doing. Webeg you, our friends to pay
proper respect to those who workamong you who guide And instruct
you in the Christian life. Treatthem with the greatest respect
And love because of the workthey do. Be at peace among
yourselves. We urge you, ourfriends to warn the idol.
(04:46):
Encourage the timid, help theweek. Be patient with everyone.
See that no one pays back wrongfor wrong but at all times. Make
it your aim to do good to oneanother And to all people. Be
joyful. Always pray at alltimes. Be thankful in all
circumstances. This is what Godwants from you in your life in
(05:07):
union with Christ Jesus. Do notrestrain the Holy Spirit. Do not
despise inspired messages. Putall things to the test, keep
what is good, And avoid everykind of evil. May the God who
gives us peace make you holy inevery way, And keep your whole
being spirit, soul And body,free from every fault at the
(05:29):
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.He who calls you will do it
because he is faithful. Prayalso for us friends, greet all
the believers with a kiss ofpeace. I urge you by the
authority of the Lord to readthis letter to all the
believers, the grace of our LordJesus Christ be with you.
(05:51):
All right, well, today in thisfirst section of my comments,
I'm going to explain a littlebit about how I do my Bible
study. We're talking aboutchapter four here. And in doing
this, I hope I can help youenrich your reading of the
Bible. And so let's get started.Now, most of us who are serious
about Bible study, know thatreading for more than one
(06:11):
translation is a good thing,especially if you're going to be
teaching or preaching. well,today's reading is an excellent
example of why it's a good ideato have more than one
translation. The translation weread from today is the Good News
Translation. And in that chapterfour, verses four And five says,
Each of you should know how tolive with your wife And a holy
(06:33):
And honorable way, not with alustful desire, like the heathen
who do not know God. well, as Iread that, it seemed just kind
of off to me. Not that there'sanything wrong with living with
your wife And a holy Andhonorable way. But tying this
thought to, not with a lustfuldesire, like the heathen just
really didn't sit right with mebecause sexual desire between a
(06:56):
husband And a wife is a giftfrom God. So I decided that I
should look at how othertranslations rendered this
passage. And here are someexamples of verse for the
English Standard Version saysthat each one of you know how to
control his own body Andholiness And honor. The NIV says
(07:16):
that each of you should learn tocontrol your own body in a way
that is holy And honorable. Andthen for good measure, the King
James says that every one of youshould know how to possess his
vessel in sanctification, Andhonor. So the English Standard
And the NIV agree on thetranslation of body. But as you
heard, the King James said,possess his vessel. And none of
(07:40):
these three referred to thewife. So I read this verse in
several other translations, theNew American Standard Young's
Literal translation, the Holman,Christian Standard Bible, the
New Living Translation, And allof them agreed on the body, And
the God's word translation Andcontemporary English version
used wife And one way oranother. So what do we do? How
(08:04):
should this first properly betranslated, we need to go to the
original language. Andthankfully, we don't need to
take a complete course in Greek,which is the language used in
the New Testament. To find out,the first thing I do is consult
what is called an interlinearNew Testament, And interlinear
New Testament has the completetext of the New Testament, with
(08:27):
the Greek words appearing eitherdirectly above or directly below
the English words, so you cansee which exact Greek word is
used. That's the first step. Thenext step, if you don't know
Greek, is to use either aStrong's exhaustive concordance
or a Young's analyticalconcordance. When I did this
(08:47):
study, I used the Young's bothYoung's And Strong's use the
King James. So I looked up theword vessel, I didn't look up
body, I looked up vessel becausethat's the word that we want to
look at. And I found out thatthere are two Greek words used
in the New Testament that aretranslated into the English word
vessel. One of these words isused only twice in the book of
(09:09):
Matthew. And in this case, theword means vessel or utensil.
The other Greek word is used 18times in the New Testament, And
it means vessel utensil orinstrument, And this is the word
in our reading today. Now, in myopinion, the thought that Paul
wanted to convey to us is this.Our bodies are the vessel or
(09:32):
instrument that contains oursouls. And we should not allow
our vessels to be controlled bylust, as do those who don't know
God. There is no mention ofhusbands or wives in the
original language, And Itherefore don't think that it
should be included in the textof the verse. Now, in the
(09:53):
defense of the translations thatdo include it. The argument can
be made that Paul implied thethought of husband Sandor wives,
because sexual desire is onlyproper in the context of
marriage. And since he wasteaching against what the King
James refers to as fornication,in this section of the Bible, or
what we today would call sexualimmorality, he would be saying
(10:16):
that sexual desire should onlybe for your husband or your
wife. And so now you know alittle bit about how I study the
Bible, having severaltranslations of the Bible is a
good thing. But as you readthem, it's important to take
into consideration that some aremore faithful to the original
language, And others are lessconcerned with word for word
(10:37):
accuracy, And they emphasizemore of an idea for IDEA
approach to Bible translation.When we compare different
translations to each other, Andthen use tools like the
Strong's, or the Young'sconcordances, And an interlinear
Bible combined with prayer Andthe Holy Spirit's guidance, I
believe that we can reach a morecomplete understanding of the
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Scripture. And it really doesadd a whole lot to your
understanding And your enjoymentof Bible study. Now, let's take
a look at verses 13 through 18.Here in chapter four, these
verses deal with the return ofJesus. These verses tell us that
at His return, the believers whohave died will be resurrected.
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And then those who are believersAnd are alive will be gathered
up or caught up along with theones who have just been
resurrected to meet the Lord inthe air. This event is often
called the rapture. well, wheredo we get that term? We didn't
see the word rapture in thatchapter, right? well, the Latin
Vulgate, translated the phrasecaught up as rupt tourists,
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which is where we get the wordrapture. Now, I know it sounds
like a fantastic event. Itsounds like it could be a fairy
tale. But listen, this eventwill happen. Paul said, what we
are teaching you now is theLord's teaching. So in saying
this, Paul was emphasizing thatthis is not his idea, but it
came directly from Jesus. Biblecommentator Adam Clarke wrote
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this, in no place does theapostle speak more confidently
And positively of hisinspiration than here in we
should prepare ourselves toreceive some momentous And
interesting truth. So therereally should be no doubt on the
part of the believer that thisis something this rapture, this
catching up, is something thatwill happen at some time in the
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future. well, that brings us tochapter five. And I believe that
it's important to reiterate whatJesus said in Matthew 2436. He
said, however, no one knows theday or hour when these things
will happen. Not even the angelsin heaven, or the Son himself,
only the Father knows. I thinkwhenever we study in Times
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prophecy that we need toremember that I've talked a lot
about that recently. So I won'texpand on that thought anymore
at this point. So here in versetwo, in chapter five, Paul told
the Thessalonians, that the dayof the Lord will come as a thief
comes at night. Now a thief doesnot make an announcement letting
his victims know when he'llarrive right? In the same way we
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don't know when Jesus willreturn. But like the prudent
homeowner who prepares for thethief, we must also be prepared.
And then Paul continued in versethree, when people say
everything is quiet And safe,then suddenly destruction will
hit them. So for those who areunprepared for the unbeliever,
(13:34):
this day will be a sad one.Indeed, destruction will hit
them. Yeah, it'll be too late atthat point for them. Now,
listen, there was also a clue inthis statement as to the
conditions in the world whenJesus returns. Again, Paul said,
when people say everything isquiet And safe, then suddenly
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destruction will hit them. Sowhen the rapture happens, it'll
come when there is quiet insafety in the world. But in
Matthew 24, the disciples askedJesus when they'll know that his
return is coming. And he toldthe disciples what signs to look
for. He talks about theabomination of desolation from
the book of Daniel, thedestruction of the temple. Now,
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some people believe that thishappened in AD 70. Others
believe the temple will berebuilt in Jerusalem at some
time in the future, And thatthis is where the abomination of
desolation will take place. Now,we don't have time on the show
to get into that debate. And asI've said, I'm pretty dogmatic
about not being dogmatic when itcomes to end times prophecy. But
(14:39):
what we can know for sure, isthat Jesus talked about a
terrible time coming prior tohis return. So then what do we
do with the quiet And safe thatPaul talked about here before
the rapture, And with theturmoil that Jesus spoke of in
Matthew 24? well, it seems to methat the rapture is going to
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occur before the tribulationbegins, but let me hurry to say
that others believe it'll happenhalfway through the Tribulation.
And still others think thatit'll be at the end of the
Tribulation. And there are lotsof plausible arguments for each
theory. And many books have beenwritten by people who have spent
lots of time poring over thescriptures. I read several of
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them back in the 80s. But sincethen I've not read any others, I
think it's more important, justto know that Jesus will return
And that we must be ready. well,how do we get ready? Good
question. It's an importantquestion. Here's the answer. We
have to know that we have placedour faith in Jesus Christ.
That's it. Jesus has to be ourLord And Savior. Really,
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preparing for his return is nodifferent than preparing for
eternity. Each of us if Jesusdoesn't come back, first, we'll
die. Nobody gets out of herealive. So what happens when we
die? well, if we've placed ourfaith in Jesus will go to
heaven. So preparing for hisreturn is no more than living
our lives in such a way thatpleases God. First, we accept
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Jesus as our Savior. And then wewant to live in such a way that
we glorify God. We're here onplanet Earth, to do just that,
to glorify God, were to sharethe good news of a risen Savior.
We're to be salt And light asJesus said, we are to make
disciples, as he said, In theGreat Commission, just before He
ascended into heaven, we are notin anticipation of His coming to
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withdraw from the world And justwait. That would be a terrible
waste of time, talent Andtreasure, as in Jesus parable in
Luke 19, verses 11 through 27.In the Lord would not be
pleased. If you don't know whatthat parable is. Look it up Luke
19 verses 11 through 27. Are youprepared? I hope so. Because if
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we never meet here on Earth, Isure do want to meet you there.
What are your thoughts call theLifespring family Hotline at
plus 1-951-732-8511. You canalso comment via boostagram or
go tocomment.lifespringmedia.com.
Tomorrow we'll be the law MondayAnd we'll read Leviticus 22
through 24.
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Family Berean Sister Ann sent in$100. And Anonymous sent in
$33.33. I should have a bell!dings Thanks so much to both of
you, And may God bless youboostagram. And once again 500
sats came in from user 2558.Over there at fountain on the
(17:46):
Luke 23 And 24. The QuickenedHeart episode. 2558 said thank
you, And I say back to you,thank you And God bless you
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Steve Webb (18:09):
This is number eight in our series on the essentials
of the faith. Today we're goingto continue talking about what
we believe about Jesus. Toreview this is the statement
that we're looking at. Webelieve that Jesus Christ is
God, the Living Word who becameflesh through his miraculous
conception by the Holy SpiritAnd his virgin birth. Hence he
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is perfect deity And truehumanity united in one person
forever. So today we're going totalk about the third And fourth
part of that Jesus who becameflesh through his miraculous
conception by the Holy Spirit inhis virgin birth. He is perfect
deity And true humanity unitedin one person forever. Okay,
enough preamble huh? Let's getto it. Jesus was not conceived
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in the same way that all otherbabies are conceived. We're told
in Luke chapter one that theangel Gabriel came to Jesus
mother, Mary before she wasmarried to Joseph And told her
in verses 28 through 33.Greetings, oh, favored one, the
Lord is with you. But she wasgreatly troubled at the saying
And tried to discern what sortof greeting this might be. In
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the angel said to her, Do not beafraid, Mary, For you have found
favor with God. And behold, youwill conceive in your womb And
bear a son And you shall callhis name Jesus, He will be great
And will be called the Son ofthe Most High And the Lord God
will give him the throne of hisfather David, And he will reign
over the house of Jacob forever,And of His kingdom there will be
(19:35):
no end. well, in response, Marysaid, How can this happen since
I have never known a man? AndGabriel answered, The Holy
Spirit will come upon you Andthe power of the Most High will
overshadow you. Therefore thechild to be born will be called
holy, the Son of God. And thenin Matthew chapter one, we're
told that when she becamepregnant And Joseph found out
(19:56):
about it, he put two And twotogether And decided that she
had been on faithful, And he wasgoing to quietly break off the
engagement not wanting to bringher shame. But verses 20 through
23 says, But as he consideredthese things behold, an angel of
the Lord appeared to him in adream, saying, Joseph, son of
David, do not fear to take Maryas your wife, for that which is
(20:18):
conceived in her is from theHoly Spirit. She will bear a son
And you shall call his nameJesus, for he will save his
people from their sins. All thistook place to fulfill what the
Lord had spoken by the prophet,Behold, the virgin shall
conceive, And Barisan. And theyshall call his name Immanuel,
which means God with us. And bythe way, the prophet there was
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Isaiah And you can find thatprophecy in Isaiah chapter
seven, verse 14. So the Bibletells us that Mary became
pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Andthen Matthew 124. And 25 says,
When Joseph woke from sleep hedid as the angel of the Lord
commanded him, he took his wife,but knew her not until she had
given birth to his son, And hecalled his name, Jesus. Now,
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it's important to remember thatthe Holy Spirit is Spirit, not
flesh. Genesis one two says, Theearth was without form And void
And darkness was over the faceof the deep And the Spirit of
God was hovering over the faceof the waters. well, Mary's womb
at the time of Jesus conceptionwas also void or empty, when the
Holy Spirit created life withinher. So just as the Earth came
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into being by an act of God, sodid the incarnation of Jesus.
But as we've learned, Jesus, theSon of God has always existed.
He is the second person of theTrinity, right. And with his
birth to this woman, he was alsofully human, but without sin.
Hebrews 726 says, For it wasindeed fitting that we should
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have such a high priest, whollyinnocent unstained, separated
from sinners, And exalted abovethe heavens. So beloved, by
being completely without sin, hewas the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God worthy to be thesacrifice for my sins And for
yours. This Wednesday, Lordwilling, we'll talk about the
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fact that Jesus lived a sinlesslife And voluntarily atone for
the sins of men by dying on thecross as their substitute, thus
satisfying divine justice ataccomplishing salvation for all
who trust in Him alone. I hopeyou'll be here Wednesday.
(22:36):
Praises and prayer requests,I've got a praise report, some
men from Del and Kathi's Churchcompletely rebuilt the stairs
leading down to their house fromtheir parking area this past
week, you'll remember that theytook a big fall a couple of
weeks ago, maybe more than twoweeks, yeah, more than two weeks
ago. But they they took a fallbecause one of those stairs
(22:58):
leading down to their landingfrom their parking area
collapsed when they werestanding on it, And they fell 12
to 15 feet down to the ground.Kathi had to be in the hospital
for a few days. Del wasn't badlyhurt, he was bruised up, but the
church heard about it, And theydecided to take action. They
didn't just replace the stairtreads. Though they replaced the
(23:19):
whole kit And caboodle. I'llhave a couple of pictures up at
Lifespringmedia.com slash s 13 eto 11. If you'd like to take a
look. And they'll be coming backthis week to paint. So how cool
is that? And they did it all atno charge to Del And Kathi, And
that, beloved is how a church ismeant to work. Praise the Lord
for that. And Kathi had sometests run early this week at
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City of Hope her cancer markersare up 29 points, which is not
the direction we want to see.But the doctor said that it's
still too early to make anyconclusions about the
effectiveness of the medicationsthat she's taking for the
cancer. They'll be doing anotherpet scan in late May or early
June to take a look at thecancer to see whether or not it
(24:02):
is responding. And Bryan DuncanAnd I have a standing
appointment to have breakfasttogether every Thursday morning.
But this Thursday, we won't beable to keep that date. Because
that's the day that he's takinghis wife, Cassie to USC Medical
Center to meet with a doctor whowill see about doing her surgery
for that very painful nerveinterface that has made life so
(24:24):
miserable for the last fewyears. We're praying that he'll
take her case. So let's pray.Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for who you are. You are theAlpha And the Omega, the creator
of all that is you are the Godof heaven And earth. The
Sovereign one, the RighteousOne, the Merciful One, the Holy
One. Oh God, we seek your faceAnd we ask forgiveness for the
(24:45):
many times that we have not beenholy people set apart, different
striving to be the people youwant us to be. We acknowledge
that we've not done all we canto be salt And light, Lord.
We've not spoken the name ofJesus when you've prompted us to
And now we're reaping what wehave sown, Lord God, let there
be a revival in the world Andlet it begin with us. Give us
(25:07):
courage, Lord, to live our livesin such a way that people around
us know that we belong to you.Give us the determination to
boldly speak the name of Jesuswhen your Holy Spirit tells us
to help us to share the goodnews have arisen Christ whenever
we have an opportunity. AndLord, help us to see the
opportunities when you presentthem to us. We know that you are
(25:28):
the answer for what is wrong inthe world today. And we ask you
to give us the courage to do allyou call us to to help lost And
dying people find you. Father,we thank you for these good
people at Del and Kathi's churchwho have been so giving of their
time And their finances And whohave followed you're leading to
care for the needy And the aged.I pray that you would pour out
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Your blessings on that church,And on the men who worked so
hard to provide them with a safeAnd sturdy staircase. Bless
them, Lord, And we pray thatthis cancer medication will
really begin to kick in And putthe cancer into remission Lord.
And when Kathi has that PET scanAnd a few weeks we pray that it
shows that to be true. And nowLord, we pray that Cassie And
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Brian will have good news thisweek when the doctor examines
her Lord, she's become so weakfather, bring healing, either
through your miraculous touch,or through this doctor. And
father now I thank you for theLifespring family And I pray
that You would bless them today.I know that there are needs of
various kinds, Lord, but thereis nothing that you cannot do.
(26:34):
And you know each And everyperson And each And every need.
I pray that you will be thesupply to every need, Lord And I
ask that You would bless theLifespring family. We pray these
things in Jesus name. Amen.Beloved, our next time of prayer
together here on the show, we'llbe Wednesday if there's a praise
that you'd like to share with usor if there's something you'd
(26:56):
like us to pray with you about.Tell me about it on the
Lifespring family Hotline atplus 1951732 at 511 or go to
prayer dot Lifespring media.com.
Jason Paschall did today's showart. Thank you, Jason. And
(27:17):
Thanks to Sister Denise AndMichael Haner, Scott Snider, And
sister Brittaney. God bless youguys. And beloved, thank you for
inviting me along with youtoday. Until tomorrow may God
bless you richly. My name isSteve Webb, Bye.
Announcer (27:30):
The Lifespring media family of programs are made
possible by the generous supportof listeners like you. Thank you
This event is often called the rapture.
This is the Lifespring! One YearBible coming to you from
Riverside, California Andpodcasting since 2004. I'm your
OG Godcaster. Steve Webb, it'sepistle Sunday And will complete
(00:21):
First Thessalonians with areading of chapters four And
five. I'm calling the episodecoming events. And because I was
unable to do an essentialsegment this last Wednesday,
we'll do one today. On our lastessentials, we talked about the
fact that Jesus is the livingword. Today we'll discuss his
miraculous conception by theHoly Spirit And his virgin
(00:41):
birth. But before we getstarted, let's have a word of
prayer. Our heavenly Fatheragain, we thank You for Your
Word. And we thank you for ourtime together, I pray God that
you would bless us as we study,I pray this in Jesus name, amen.
Okay, let's begin.
First Thessalonians chapterfour. Finally, our friends, you
(01:03):
learn from us how you shouldlive in order to please God.
This is of course, the way youhave been living. And now we beg
And urge you in the name of theLord Jesus to do even more. For
you know the instructions wegave you by the authority of the
Lord Jesus. God wants you to beholy And completely free from
sexual immorality. Each of youshould know how to live with
(01:24):
your wife in a holy Andhonorable way, not with a
lustful desire, like the heathenwho do not know God in this
manner, then none of you shoulddo wrong to other Christians or
take advantage of them. We havetold you this before. And we
strongly warned you that theLord will punish those who do
that. God did not call us tolive in immorality, but in
(01:45):
holiness. So then whoeverrejects this teaching is not
rejecting a human being, but Godwho gives you His Holy Spirit.
There is no need to write youabout love for each other, you
yourselves have been taught byGod, how you should love one
another. And you have in factbehaved like this toward all the
believers in all of Macedonia.So we beg you, our friends, to
(02:07):
do even more, make it your aimto live a quiet life, to mind
your own business, And to earnyour own living just as we told
you before. In this way, youwill win the respect of those
who are not believers. And youwill not have to depend on
anyone for what you need. Ourfriends, we want you to know the
truth about those who have died,so that you will not be sad, as
(02:29):
are those who have no hope. Webelieve that Jesus died And rose
again. And so we believe thatGod will take back with Jesus,
those who have died believing inHim. What we are teaching you
now is the Lord's teaching. wewho are alive on the day of the
Lord comes will not go ahead ofthose who have died, there will
be the shout of command, thearchangels voice, the sound of
(02:53):
God's trumpet, And the LordHimself who will come down from
heaven. Those who have diedbelieving in Christ will rise to
life first, then we who areliving at that time will be
gathered up along with them inthe clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air. And so we will alwaysbe with the Lord. So then
encourage one another with thesewords.
(03:14):
First Thessalonians chapterfive. There is no need to write
to your friends about the timesAnd occasions when these things
will happen. For you yourselvesknow very well that the day of
the Lord will come as a thiefcomes at night. When people say
everything is quiet And safe,then suddenly destruction will
hit them. It will come assuddenly as the pains that come
(03:36):
upon a woman in labor And peoplewill not escape. But you friends
are not in the darkness And theday should not take you by
surprise like a thief. All ofyou are people who belong to the
light, who belong to the day, wedo not belong to the night or to
the darkness. So then we shouldnot be sleeping like the others.
We should be awake And sober. Itis at night when people sleep.
(04:00):
It is at night when they getdrunk. But we belong to the day
And we should be sober. We mustwear faith And love as a
breastplate And our hope ofsalvation as a helmet. God did
not choose us to suffer hisanger, but to possess salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ,who died for us in order that we
might live together with himwhether we are alive or dead
(04:23):
when he comes. And so encourageone another And help one another
just as you are now doing. Webeg you, our friends to pay
proper respect to those who workamong you who guide And instruct
you in the Christian life. Treatthem with the greatest respect
And love because of the workthey do. Be at peace among
yourselves. We urge you, ourfriends to warn the idol.
(04:46):
Encourage the timid, help theweek. Be patient with everyone.
See that no one pays back wrongfor wrong but at all times. Make
it your aim to do good to oneanother And to all people. Be
joyful. Always pray at alltimes. Be thankful in all
circumstances. This is what Godwants from you in your life in
(05:07):
union with Christ Jesus. Do notrestrain the Holy Spirit. Do not
despise inspired messages. Putall things to the test, keep
what is good, And avoid everykind of evil. May the God who
gives us peace make you holy inevery way, And keep your whole
being spirit, soul And body,free from every fault at the
(05:29):
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.He who calls you will do it
because he is faithful. Prayalso for us friends, greet all
the believers with a kiss ofpeace. I urge you by the
authority of the Lord to readthis letter to all the
believers, the grace of our LordJesus Christ be with you.
(05:51):
All right, well, today in thisfirst section of my comments,
I'm going to explain a littlebit about how I do my Bible
study. We're talking aboutchapter four here. And in doing
this, I hope I can help youenrich your reading of the
Bible. And so let's get started.Now, most of us who are serious
about Bible study, know thatreading for more than one
(06:11):
translation is a good thing,especially if you're going to be
teaching or preaching. well,today's reading is an excellent
example of why it's a good ideato have more than one
translation. The translation weread from today is the Good News
Translation. And in that chapterfour, verses four And five says,
Each of you should know how tolive with your wife And a holy
(06:33):
And honorable way, not with alustful desire, like the heathen
who do not know God. well, as Iread that, it seemed just kind
of off to me. Not that there'sanything wrong with living with
your wife And a holy Andhonorable way. But tying this
thought to, not with a lustfuldesire, like the heathen just
really didn't sit right with mebecause sexual desire between a
(06:56):
husband And a wife is a giftfrom God. So I decided that I
should look at how othertranslations rendered this
passage. And here are someexamples of verse for the
English Standard Version saysthat each one of you know how to
control his own body Andholiness And honor. The NIV says
(07:16):
that each of you should learn tocontrol your own body in a way
that is holy And honorable. Andthen for good measure, the King
James says that every one of youshould know how to possess his
vessel in sanctification, Andhonor. So the English Standard
And the NIV agree on thetranslation of body. But as you
heard, the King James said,possess his vessel. And none of
(07:40):
these three referred to thewife. So I read this verse in
several other translations, theNew American Standard Young's
Literal translation, the Holman,Christian Standard Bible, the
New Living Translation, And allof them agreed on the body, And
the God's word translation Andcontemporary English version
used wife And one way oranother. So what do we do? How
(08:04):
should this first properly betranslated, we need to go to the
original language. Andthankfully, we don't need to
take a complete course in Greek,which is the language used in
the New Testament. To find out,the first thing I do is consult
what is called an interlinearNew Testament, And interlinear
New Testament has the completetext of the New Testament, with
(08:27):
the Greek words appearing eitherdirectly above or directly below
the English words, so you cansee which exact Greek word is
used. That's the first step. Thenext step, if you don't know
Greek, is to use either aStrong's exhaustive concordance
or a Young's analyticalconcordance. When I did this
(08:47):
study, I used the Young's bothYoung's And Strong's use the
King James. So I looked up theword vessel, I didn't look up
body, I looked up vessel becausethat's the word that we want to
look at. And I found out thatthere are two Greek words used
in the New Testament that aretranslated into the English word
vessel. One of these words isused only twice in the book of
(09:09):
Matthew. And in this case, theword means vessel or utensil.
The other Greek word is used 18times in the New Testament, And
it means vessel utensil orinstrument, And this is the word
in our reading today. Now, in myopinion, the thought that Paul
wanted to convey to us is this.Our bodies are the vessel or
(09:32):
instrument that contains oursouls. And we should not allow
our vessels to be controlled bylust, as do those who don't know
God. There is no mention ofhusbands or wives in the
original language, And Itherefore don't think that it
should be included in the textof the verse. Now, in the
(09:53):
defense of the translations thatdo include it. The argument can
be made that Paul implied thethought of husband Sandor wives,
because sexual desire is onlyproper in the context of
marriage. And since he wasteaching against what the King
James refers to as fornication,in this section of the Bible, or
what we today would call sexualimmorality, he would be saying
(10:16):
that sexual desire should onlybe for your husband or your
wife. And so now you know alittle bit about how I study the
Bible, having severaltranslations of the Bible is a
good thing. But as you readthem, it's important to take
into consideration that some aremore faithful to the original
language, And others are lessconcerned with word for word
(10:37):
accuracy, And they emphasizemore of an idea for IDEA
approach to Bible translation.When we compare different
translations to each other, Andthen use tools like the
Strong's, or the Young'sconcordances, And an interlinear
Bible combined with prayer Andthe Holy Spirit's guidance, I
believe that we can reach a morecomplete understanding of the
(10:59):
Scripture. And it really doesadd a whole lot to your
understanding And your enjoymentof Bible study. Now, let's take
a look at verses 13 through 18.Here in chapter four, these
verses deal with the return ofJesus. These verses tell us that
at His return, the believers whohave died will be resurrected.
(11:21):
And then those who are believersAnd are alive will be gathered
up or caught up along with theones who have just been
resurrected to meet the Lord inthe air. This event is often
called the rapture. well, wheredo we get that term? We didn't
see the word rapture in thatchapter, right? well, the Latin
Vulgate, translated the phrasecaught up as rupt tourists,
(11:43):
which is where we get the wordrapture. Now, I know it sounds
like a fantastic event. Itsounds like it could be a fairy
tale. But listen, this eventwill happen. Paul said, what we
are teaching you now is theLord's teaching. So in saying
this, Paul was emphasizing thatthis is not his idea, but it
came directly from Jesus. Biblecommentator Adam Clarke wrote
(12:07):
this, in no place does theapostle speak more confidently
And positively of hisinspiration than here in we
should prepare ourselves toreceive some momentous And
interesting truth. So therereally should be no doubt on the
part of the believer that thisis something this rapture, this
catching up, is something thatwill happen at some time in the
(12:30):
future. well, that brings us tochapter five. And I believe that
it's important to reiterate whatJesus said in Matthew 2436. He
said, however, no one knows theday or hour when these things
will happen. Not even the angelsin heaven, or the Son himself,
only the Father knows. I thinkwhenever we study in Times
(12:52):
prophecy that we need toremember that I've talked a lot
about that recently. So I won'texpand on that thought anymore
at this point. So here in versetwo, in chapter five, Paul told
the Thessalonians, that the dayof the Lord will come as a thief
comes at night. Now a thief doesnot make an announcement letting
his victims know when he'llarrive right? In the same way we
(13:14):
don't know when Jesus willreturn. But like the prudent
homeowner who prepares for thethief, we must also be prepared.
And then Paul continued in versethree, when people say
everything is quiet And safe,then suddenly destruction will
hit them. So for those who areunprepared for the unbeliever,
(13:34):
this day will be a sad one.Indeed, destruction will hit
them. Yeah, it'll be too late atthat point for them. Now,
listen, there was also a clue inthis statement as to the
conditions in the world whenJesus returns. Again, Paul said,
when people say everything isquiet And safe, then suddenly
(13:55):
destruction will hit them. Sowhen the rapture happens, it'll
come when there is quiet insafety in the world. But in
Matthew 24, the disciples askedJesus when they'll know that his
return is coming. And he toldthe disciples what signs to look
for. He talks about theabomination of desolation from
the book of Daniel, thedestruction of the temple. Now,
(14:17):
some people believe that thishappened in AD 70. Others
believe the temple will berebuilt in Jerusalem at some
time in the future, And thatthis is where the abomination of
desolation will take place. Now,we don't have time on the show
to get into that debate. And asI've said, I'm pretty dogmatic
about not being dogmatic when itcomes to end times prophecy. But
(14:39):
what we can know for sure, isthat Jesus talked about a
terrible time coming prior tohis return. So then what do we
do with the quiet And safe thatPaul talked about here before
the rapture, And with theturmoil that Jesus spoke of in
Matthew 24? well, it seems to methat the rapture is going to
(14:59):
occur before the tribulationbegins, but let me hurry to say
that others believe it'll happenhalfway through the Tribulation.
And still others think thatit'll be at the end of the
Tribulation. And there are lotsof plausible arguments for each
theory. And many books have beenwritten by people who have spent
lots of time poring over thescriptures. I read several of
(15:21):
them back in the 80s. But sincethen I've not read any others, I
think it's more important, justto know that Jesus will return
And that we must be ready. well,how do we get ready? Good
question. It's an importantquestion. Here's the answer. We
have to know that we have placedour faith in Jesus Christ.
That's it. Jesus has to be ourLord And Savior. Really,
(15:45):
preparing for his return is nodifferent than preparing for
eternity. Each of us if Jesusdoesn't come back, first, we'll
die. Nobody gets out of herealive. So what happens when we
die? well, if we've placed ourfaith in Jesus will go to
heaven. So preparing for hisreturn is no more than living
our lives in such a way thatpleases God. First, we accept
(16:08):
Jesus as our Savior. And then wewant to live in such a way that
we glorify God. We're here onplanet Earth, to do just that,
to glorify God, were to sharethe good news of a risen Savior.
We're to be salt And light asJesus said, we are to make
disciples, as he said, In theGreat Commission, just before He
ascended into heaven, we are notin anticipation of His coming to
(16:31):
withdraw from the world And justwait. That would be a terrible
waste of time, talent Andtreasure, as in Jesus parable in
Luke 19, verses 11 through 27.In the Lord would not be
pleased. If you don't know whatthat parable is. Look it up Luke
19 verses 11 through 27. Are youprepared? I hope so. Because if
(16:56):
we never meet here on Earth, Isure do want to meet you there.
What are your thoughts call theLifespring family Hotline at
plus 1-951-732-8511. You canalso comment via boostagram or
go tocomment.lifespringmedia.com.
Tomorrow we'll be the law MondayAnd we'll read Leviticus 22
through 24.
(17:24):
I have two associate producersto thank today. Lifespring
Family Berean Sister Ann sent in$100. And Anonymous sent in
$33.33. I should have a bell!dings Thanks so much to both of
you, And may God bless youboostagram. And once again 500
sats came in from user 2558.Over there at fountain on the
(17:46):
Luke 23 And 24. The QuickenedHeart episode. 2558 said thank
you, And I say back to you,thank you And God bless you
Jingle (17:56):
Lifespringmedia.com slash support
Steve Webb (18:09):
This is number eight in our series on the essentials
of the faith. Today we're goingto continue talking about what
we believe about Jesus. Toreview this is the statement
that we're looking at. Webelieve that Jesus Christ is
God, the Living Word who becameflesh through his miraculous
conception by the Holy SpiritAnd his virgin birth. Hence he
(18:29):
is perfect deity And truehumanity united in one person
forever. So today we're going totalk about the third And fourth
part of that Jesus who becameflesh through his miraculous
conception by the Holy Spirit inhis virgin birth. He is perfect
deity And true humanity unitedin one person forever. Okay,
enough preamble huh? Let's getto it. Jesus was not conceived
(18:52):
in the same way that all otherbabies are conceived. We're told
in Luke chapter one that theangel Gabriel came to Jesus
mother, Mary before she wasmarried to Joseph And told her
in verses 28 through 33.Greetings, oh, favored one, the
Lord is with you. But she wasgreatly troubled at the saying
And tried to discern what sortof greeting this might be. In
(19:13):
the angel said to her, Do not beafraid, Mary, For you have found
favor with God. And behold, youwill conceive in your womb And
bear a son And you shall callhis name Jesus, He will be great
And will be called the Son ofthe Most High And the Lord God
will give him the throne of hisfather David, And he will reign
over the house of Jacob forever,And of His kingdom there will be
(19:35):
no end. well, in response, Marysaid, How can this happen since
I have never known a man? AndGabriel answered, The Holy
Spirit will come upon you Andthe power of the Most High will
overshadow you. Therefore thechild to be born will be called
holy, the Son of God. And thenin Matthew chapter one, we're
told that when she becamepregnant And Joseph found out
(19:56):
about it, he put two And twotogether And decided that she
had been on faithful, And he wasgoing to quietly break off the
engagement not wanting to bringher shame. But verses 20 through
23 says, But as he consideredthese things behold, an angel of
the Lord appeared to him in adream, saying, Joseph, son of
David, do not fear to take Maryas your wife, for that which is
(20:18):
conceived in her is from theHoly Spirit. She will bear a son
And you shall call his nameJesus, for he will save his
people from their sins. All thistook place to fulfill what the
Lord had spoken by the prophet,Behold, the virgin shall
conceive, And Barisan. And theyshall call his name Immanuel,
which means God with us. And bythe way, the prophet there was
(20:41):
Isaiah And you can find thatprophecy in Isaiah chapter
seven, verse 14. So the Bibletells us that Mary became
pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Andthen Matthew 124. And 25 says,
When Joseph woke from sleep hedid as the angel of the Lord
commanded him, he took his wife,but knew her not until she had
given birth to his son, And hecalled his name, Jesus. Now,
(21:06):
it's important to remember thatthe Holy Spirit is Spirit, not
flesh. Genesis one two says, Theearth was without form And void
And darkness was over the faceof the deep And the Spirit of
God was hovering over the faceof the waters. well, Mary's womb
at the time of Jesus conceptionwas also void or empty, when the
Holy Spirit created life withinher. So just as the Earth came
(21:30):
into being by an act of God, sodid the incarnation of Jesus.
But as we've learned, Jesus, theSon of God has always existed.
He is the second person of theTrinity, right. And with his
birth to this woman, he was alsofully human, but without sin.
Hebrews 726 says, For it wasindeed fitting that we should
(21:52):
have such a high priest, whollyinnocent unstained, separated
from sinners, And exalted abovethe heavens. So beloved, by
being completely without sin, hewas the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God worthy to be thesacrifice for my sins And for
yours. This Wednesday, Lordwilling, we'll talk about the
(22:14):
fact that Jesus lived a sinlesslife And voluntarily atone for
the sins of men by dying on thecross as their substitute, thus
satisfying divine justice ataccomplishing salvation for all
who trust in Him alone. I hopeyou'll be here Wednesday.
(22:36):
Praises and prayer requests,I've got a praise report, some
men from Del and Kathi's Churchcompletely rebuilt the stairs
leading down to their house fromtheir parking area this past
week, you'll remember that theytook a big fall a couple of
weeks ago, maybe more than twoweeks, yeah, more than two weeks
ago. But they they took a fallbecause one of those stairs
(22:58):
leading down to their landingfrom their parking area
collapsed when they werestanding on it, And they fell 12
to 15 feet down to the ground.Kathi had to be in the hospital
for a few days. Del wasn't badlyhurt, he was bruised up, but the
church heard about it, And theydecided to take action. They
didn't just replace the stairtreads. Though they replaced the
(23:19):
whole kit And caboodle. I'llhave a couple of pictures up at
Lifespringmedia.com slash s 13 eto 11. If you'd like to take a
look. And they'll be coming backthis week to paint. So how cool
is that? And they did it all atno charge to Del And Kathi, And
that, beloved is how a church ismeant to work. Praise the Lord
for that. And Kathi had sometests run early this week at
(23:41):
City of Hope her cancer markersare up 29 points, which is not
the direction we want to see.But the doctor said that it's
still too early to make anyconclusions about the
effectiveness of the medicationsthat she's taking for the
cancer. They'll be doing anotherpet scan in late May or early
June to take a look at thecancer to see whether or not it
(24:02):
is responding. And Bryan DuncanAnd I have a standing
appointment to have breakfasttogether every Thursday morning.
But this Thursday, we won't beable to keep that date. Because
that's the day that he's takinghis wife, Cassie to USC Medical
Center to meet with a doctor whowill see about doing her surgery
for that very painful nerveinterface that has made life so
(24:24):
miserable for the last fewyears. We're praying that he'll
take her case. So let's pray.Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for who you are. You are theAlpha And the Omega, the creator
of all that is you are the Godof heaven And earth. The
Sovereign one, the RighteousOne, the Merciful One, the Holy
One. Oh God, we seek your faceAnd we ask forgiveness for the
(24:45):
many times that we have not beenholy people set apart, different
striving to be the people youwant us to be. We acknowledge
that we've not done all we canto be salt And light, Lord.
We've not spoken the name ofJesus when you've prompted us to
And now we're reaping what wehave sown, Lord God, let there
be a revival in the world Andlet it begin with us. Give us
(25:07):
courage, Lord, to live our livesin such a way that people around
us know that we belong to you.Give us the determination to
boldly speak the name of Jesuswhen your Holy Spirit tells us
to help us to share the goodnews have arisen Christ whenever
we have an opportunity. AndLord, help us to see the
opportunities when you presentthem to us. We know that you are
(25:28):
the answer for what is wrong inthe world today. And we ask you
to give us the courage to do allyou call us to to help lost And
dying people find you. Father,we thank you for these good
people at Del and Kathi's churchwho have been so giving of their
time And their finances And whohave followed you're leading to
care for the needy And the aged.I pray that you would pour out
(25:51):
Your blessings on that church,And on the men who worked so
hard to provide them with a safeAnd sturdy staircase. Bless
them, Lord, And we pray thatthis cancer medication will
really begin to kick in And putthe cancer into remission Lord.
And when Kathi has that PET scanAnd a few weeks we pray that it
shows that to be true. And nowLord, we pray that Cassie And
(26:12):
Brian will have good news thisweek when the doctor examines
her Lord, she's become so weakfather, bring healing, either
through your miraculous touch,or through this doctor. And
father now I thank you for theLifespring family And I pray
that You would bless them today.I know that there are needs of
various kinds, Lord, but thereis nothing that you cannot do.
(26:34):
And you know each And everyperson And each And every need.
I pray that you will be thesupply to every need, Lord And I
ask that You would bless theLifespring family. We pray these
things in Jesus name. Amen.Beloved, our next time of prayer
together here on the show, we'llbe Wednesday if there's a praise
that you'd like to share with usor if there's something you'd
(26:56):
like us to pray with you about.Tell me about it on the
Lifespring family Hotline atplus 1951732 at 511 or go to
prayer dot Lifespring media.com.
Jason Paschall did today's showart. Thank you, Jason. And
(27:17):
Thanks to Sister Denise AndMichael Haner, Scott Snider, And
sister Brittaney. God bless youguys. And beloved, thank you for
inviting me along with youtoday. Until tomorrow may God
bless you richly. My name isSteve Webb, Bye.
Announcer (27:30):
The Lifespring media family of programs are made
possible by the generous supportof listeners like you. Thank you
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