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The man who wrote him did!

Yes, the man who knew him best …

The Bible is the unchanging standard of yesteryear, this year, and forever! - Timothy

@@loredanaschwertfeger3369 Thank you! May you and your family enjoy a blessed Christmas! - Timothy

@lancecooper1414 Thanks for the kind words. The crazy thing about Jonah is that God granted him his power and authority to serve the people of Nineveh, and he ran the other way because of hatred. It gives me pause to examine my own biases, have compassion for all, and allow God to work through me. - Timothy

@@Biblocus True. We're all willing to follow Jesus as long as it means going to church with a bunch of people that look familiar, but if it means walking into the inner city or talking to people that are different from us--even opposed to us--then things get real.

@loredanaschwertfeger3369 Wow! Thank you for the high praise! It means a lot to us. I too found Obadiah to be a surprisingly challenging book. Ever since we recorded that lesson, I have been trying to use every opportunity I am given to bless others rather than judge them. I wish I was better at it, but I'm working on it. - Timothy

Thank you! The Lord bless you and keep you.

@PierreEvaL Thank you! Michael is a genuine guy and a Knoxville original. Let us know if you have other suggestions of people of faith for future interviews. - Timothy

@ Would love to see Mayor 💪🏻Kane🔥 on here. I know he’s a believer.

Great idea! I will call his office. - Timothy

@ 😂

Thanks brother.

@@wendygillis2704 Thank you! I’m glad your family could be a part of the story. Greensburg is one of my favorite places. Please subscribe to @Biblocus and you will be notified of future episodes. God bless! - Timothy

Great to hear! Our family has roots in PA, so we were proud to bring a Pittsburgh figure like Michael on as our first interview.

I agree that the prophets, including Amos, speak strongly about the failure of the political leadership class. However, the people are not considered innocent. Amos 8:4-7 says that people are cheating each other in the marketplace and profiting off their poor and needy brethren. All of us must take the message of Amos to heart, listen to God, put his words into practice, and defend the rights of those less fortunate than ourselves. Doing this is what makes you a leader in whatever country you live in. Thank you for your comments. - Timothy

Amos has a place in my Heart for very personal reasons. The destruction of Soddom and Gammorah, explains Mercy and the power of a Righteous Man of God.

Thanks for commenting! I would encourage you to watch the whole video. We are not really talking about the modern state of Israel, but the history of God and his people.

Yes. Referencing how Lot was saved from Sodom and Gomorrah, Amos 4, verses 11-12, says we are all like burning sticks that have been snatched from the fire. The question is whether we will realize that God, in his mercy, has saved us and return to him. Good thoughts. God bless. - Timothy

Michael, Thank you for the kind words. Yes. The videos will be up in perpetuity. It's great to hear from you. If you are ever back in the Knoxville area, send me a DM and we can get together for lunch or dinner. God bless! - Timothy

Thank you for the kind words. God bless you, too! - Timothy

@PierreEvaL - Yes. What you are discussing is the main theme of our episode on the book of Numbers called "Episode 4 - God with Us" ( ruclips.net/video/zznzfDKwA_M/видео.html ). God asks the Israelites to bring the holiest thing into the camp, and everything that is not compatible with holiness burns away. Christ asks us to bring his Holy Spirit into our hearts, and everything that isn't compatible with him must burn away too. In the case of the book of Isaiah, there are multiple levels of cleansing taking place. Isaiah, a man of unclean lips, experiences a personal cleansing that enables him to serve God in ways he didn't think possible. The land, which was attached to the covenant with promises and curses, experiences cleansing from the people who would not live in holiness before God. However, God always reserves a remnant of faithful people who are the future of his kingdom. In this case, it is almost like the hand is the only salvageable part and the rest of the body gets thrown away. - Timothy

"And when my body lies in the ruins Of the lies that nearly ruined me, Will you pick up the pieces that were pure and true And breathe new life into them, and set them free? When you start this world over again from scratch, Will you make me anew out of the stuff that lasts-- Stuff that's purer than gold is, and clearer than glass Can ever be? And can I be with you? Can I be with you?" -Rich Mullins, 'Be With You' I am reminded of having the faith of a mustard seed. All I need is some tiny part of me to be faithful to God. Let all of me be crucified with Christ, and may God in his grace remake me--pure and perfect--out of the tiny seed of my faith.

Lance, you nailed it! In the interview with Malcolm Guite that I quoted, he was discussing one of his poems called "A Sword". You can find the full interview at the link below. After you open it search the page for "sword". - Timothy - cultivatingoakspress.com/malcolm-guite-on-parable-and-paradox/

Great points. Mordecai also sought the welfare of the king by uncovering a plot against him early in the story. That action may have been the only reason he survived to the end of the book. - Timothy

Mordecai is a great example of living out the Law positively. Not only does he not murder, he also went out of his way to prevent one. Not only does he leave others in peace, he speaks peace to them and looks out for the well being of others.

Lance is referring to Caleb's reference to a poem by Francis Thompson at the 51:45 mark in the video. - Timothy

As it turns out, there are no artists He can use who aren't troubled, because there are no humans who aren't troubled. But the most brilliant artists are often the most messed up people.

Yes. Here's something I didn't mention in the podcast: one of my favorite parables is the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), but it is terribly misunderstood. It is certainly about praying without giving up, but not for the reason people teach. It is taught that you should approach prayer as a spiritual discipline or habitual practice, but that is not what the example of the widow in the story teaches. She kept going back to the unrighteous judge over and over again, not as a part of a plan to wear him down or demonstrate how persistent she could be, but because she believed that he was the only one who could grant her justice. He only helps her, because she is annoying him. However, Jesus tells us that God will quickly bring about justice for any of his chosen ones, who cry out to him. The problem, as Jesus points out at the end of the passage, is that nobody cries out in faith to God anymore. If we really believed that God was the solution to our problems, you couldn't keep us from praying. - Timothy

Yes. I love it. Like a city without walls is a man with no self-control. That is one of my favorite proverbs, and it is very applicable to the story of Nehemiah. It's amazing how the same principle plays out at the community and individual level. It reminds me of our episode on the book of Numbers (God With Us, ruclips.net/video/zznzfDKwA_M/видео.html). Bringing the tabernacle of God, the most holy thing, into the center of the camp caused the death of people who were unwilling to be in proper communion with God. Similarly, in the Christian experience, when we bring the Holy Spirit into our hearts, we have to discard the things in our personal life that are incompatible with proper communion with God. And that's something you can't do without a lot of self-control, which coincidentally is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5. - Timothy

Lance, as you know, we are trying to model and encourage the Shema on our podcast. The way you always talk about the influence of your mom on your life is evidence that she did the same. - Timothy

@@calebklingerman7902 Good point Caleb. Later you also discussed how the service those children might have rendered to God was lost due to their sacrifice. It’s sad to contemplate how many children in our generation never had the chance to render their service to their creator, because their lives were not considered worth living by their own parents. - Timothy

We're glad the study was helpful!

Thanks, Lance! What I love about that passage in James 4:7-10 is how when you submit yourself to him, he lifts you up. God transforms what the world would consider a posture of weakness into one of strength! Very cool! - Timothy

Point taken. We knew what you meant. Let me ask everyone else out there: How many of you know the difference between Gilgal and Mt. Ebal and would have known Caleb got them mixed up? - Timothy

honest_E, I got a Wix ad today on our channel too, while watching the new episode on temptation. That helped me resist the urge to try their product. - Timothy

James, Thank you for your comment. I don’t see atonement as a demand. Rather, as we discuss in the episode, atonement is a gift that allows us to recover from our own failures. It is this freedom that allows godly people to have a forward-looking posture not mired in our past mistakes. When we understand that God extends this forgiveness to us, we learn to extend it to one another as well. God bless. - Timothy

Thanks Katie! I hope everything is well with you. Glad to hear from you and to know you were blessed by the podcast. We should have a new episode out each week

Katie, we listened to your request and have added a dozen videos since the time of your comment. Thanks for watching! - Timothy

Thank you, Loredana! I should let you and everyone else know that new episodes of the "Who Is Jesus Christ and Why Do I Need Him?" series will drop every Sunday morning. - Timothy

Great insight, Caleb. That's why I like having these discussions with you. I concur that The Great Divorce is a good read. - Timothy

Gabe, thanks for the comment. I listened to "This is Water," and I see why it came to mind. We do have decisions to make about how we will face every moment of every day. All the more reason to avail ourselves of God's unique perspective preserved in the Bible. What would have happened to those two young fish if they had decided to get rid of the water that the older fish mentioned to them, simply because they didn't understand what it was? We disregard the wisdom of the Bible at our great peril. - Timothy

Thanks Gabe! It’s easy for us to think that our time is the only time (or the only time that matters), but we are neither the beginning nor the end of history, we exist in the middle. It’s our job to understand what came before, and try to positively influence what comes after