Double Take

For a series about  Hidden Women , the story of Junia reveals her as the opposite of that. Her life shows she was determined, bold, fearless and well known through her ministry. Paul refers to her as an apostle, and someone he greatly admired. She was tireless in spreading the gospel, likely by planting churches, and caused enough of a ruckus to be thrown into prison for a time. 

What do we mean by hidden women? There were many women mentioned in the New Testament that were deeply involved in the early church. Even those that are named tend to be easily forgotten. Some because they are mentioned in passing, and some because it’s difficult to find teachings about them if you don’t know where to look.

Judas Thaddeus was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, a pioneer of the gospel who worked quietly to establish the early church. Thaddeus is often neglected by the church because Scripture does not mention him a lot nor is much written about him. Yet this quiet, gentle soul spent most of his ministry in obscurity observing the more outspoken apostles. Thaddeus nonetheless became...

Paul’s letter to Philemon is his shortest and most personal. It contains no doctrinal statements, no warnings about false teachers, and no mention of apostolic titles. The reason for writing was extraordinary. We look to author Paul Ellis for insight into this quiet voice.

Scripture is not given to us, I believe, as a guidebook for behavior modification. The Bible teaches us about the character of God. The Bible give us glimpses into the lives of ordinary men and women who followed Christ. How He changed them and used them, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring the message of the Gospel through time to us.  We are currently working on a series of those quieter v...

We’ve talked about Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus as part of the group of women following Jesus. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha were also included. So many of the other women remain unnamed, but we choose to remember that they existed and were essential partners of His earthly ministry. Today we focus on three more whose names we know: Joanna, Susanna, and Salome.

Mary was the young woman chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. She must have felt the great weight of this, as much as she could understand at the time. She obviously had a great love for and trust in God.

Jesus engaged with women. He listened to them. He SAW them. Women weren’t part of the Twelve, but they were part of His group and ministered with Him. How Jesus loved and valued women is an example for the church today! For the next few weeks, we focus on the women who followed Jesus. Today we take a second look at Mary Magdalene.

For our final episode of “5 Minute Interviews” we introduce you to these grace-full people! Zach Rasmusson of Zach Rasmusson Ministries in FL; Rick & Judi Manis of Rick Manis Ministries in Winter Garden FL; Claudia Jackson, grace-y lady attending from Sachse TX; Eliza Schultinge, originally  from  and missionary  to  Taiwan, from Atlanta GA; and Stephanie Felts, counselor with ChristianCoachin...

In Part 2, meet Janet Newberry of John 15 Academy; Kyle Winkler, author & host of the  Shut Up, Devil podcast; Andrew Nelson, author & campus pastor at The Grace Church, Lubbock TX; and bible teacher Larry Eiss at E3 with Larry Eiss. So much brilliance and grace in these people!  https://www.john15academy.com https://www.kylewinkler.org https://thegracechurch.org https://www.larryeiss.com

Today we invite you to meet our first four attendees – and friends - from the convention: Maddy Lawson & Rachel Aasheim, both of New Haven Ministries in Sioux Falls SD; Kevin Anderson of Freedom Counseling Group in Vacaville CA;  and Erick Martin of Echo Tango Marketing in Baton Rouge LA. Enjoy their stories of grace! https://newhavensf.org https://www.freedomcounseling.group https://www.echot...

Probably most shocking in Jesus’s choices (besides choosing the man who would betray Him) was that of including a Zealot. Simon the Zealot would likely have rather died (or murdered someone) than to compromise with Rome. But he laid down his devotion to violence to learn the Way— the Way of Jesus.

Nathanael, also referred to as Bartholomew in the gospels, was one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples. Though not much is known about Nathanael’s background or personality, he is seen in the gospels to be an honest, insightful, and faithful servant of Jesus and student of the Old Testament. After the resurrection, Nathanael would go on to be a key leader in the early church.

James, son of Alphaeus (or James the “Less”), who was the second disciple chosen by Jesus. Very little is known of him. It would seem that James was a very humble follower not credited for being outspoken or doing things to draw attention to himself, as there is no mention in scripture of him being any more than an incredibly loyal student/disciple of Jesus. He seemed content with his station as o...

We generally know the names of the apostles. For some of us that is because of  The Chosen . But we may not know the details of their lives. Let’s take a deeper look at the lives of what may be considered a few of the lesser-known disciples. We begin with James, the son of Zebedee, also known as James the Great.

If we’re righteous, why don’t we always act righteous? Why do we sometimes want to not act righteous? Because we can still be influenced by other things.

Who does the judging? This goes along with the previous series – that we are not meant to judge, but only to discern with guidance from Holy Spirit. Judgment comes  from  God  to  us as discernment. We receive God’s words, His thoughts, His decision. We don’t make the judgment, we receive His. We are always the  receiver .

We have been taught, for as long as I can remember, that at some point we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Wait, I’m confused. If God, in Christ, has made us righteous, what are we being judged for at the seat of Christ?

None of us want to be judgmental. We don’t like it when we are judged by others. It’s so easy to fall into it because we are surrounded by it – in the world and in the church. So now what?

The 2 trees in the garden. We know there was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. This is where the problem of judgment began.

Why are Christians known for being judgmental? Because often we are. If we’re honest we would agree that a lot of the time we are known for what we are against more than what we are for.

Welcome to Part 2 of our “3 Minute Interviews” from the Unshakeable Conference earlier this month. Connecting with people who are “all over the map,” but share a common goal: a deeper understanding of our faith – or, in one case, a desire to ask questions. We apologize in advance that the final few interviews are audio only. With all the traffic in the room, our camera must have gotten bumped, whi...

Recently we were at the Unshakeable conference at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond. Just FYI, they are never only three minutes! We do it to let people know who we are and what we do at Oneness, and we get to know people we wouldn’t ordinarily meet and find out about their ministries. Most importantly we get to connect with other believers on the most important thing – and that is Jesus Him...

We just spent last week talking about the free gift of grace. But there is a cost. Not as far as God is concerned, but from people – even, or especially, other believers. The way you live and the choices you make change as you experience and understand the implications of living in grace. Some of those choices can be unpopular with your church, family, or friends. 

The word  grace  is thrown around a lot in Christian circles. We sing about God’s grace, preach it, post about it. There is nothing more Christian than  grace.  But do we get the depth of the meaning and the implications of Grace?