Faith Matters Podcast

Faith Matters with Brian and Andi Hale The Book of Signs by Dr, David Jeremiah - Today we begin the 4th part of this book, with the first of 9 Tribulation Signs in chapter 18, Four Riders. There are many people who don't understand the judgement of God. Nor the righteous anger of God. God gives us prophecies, even dark ones, for our own benefit. They serve as a warning. Through prophecy, God has m...

Faith Matters Podcast with Andi and Brian Hale Seek Christ, Seek Wisdom, a 5 day devotional from Vance Jackson “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”Matthew‬ ‭10:16‬ ‭KJV Be wise as a serpent, yet harmless as a dove. Let your actions be ruled by His Word. Let your actions be ruled by His Counsel. Let your actions be rule...

Faith Matters Podcast with Andi and Brian Hale Seek Christ, Seek Wisdom, a 5 day devotional from Vance Jackson “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”James‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭KJV ‬‬Draw nigh to God. Draw nigh to Wisdom. Let His Word purify you. Let His Word cleanse you. Let His Word transform you. Stay close to Wisdom. Let Wi...

Faith Matters Podcast with Andi and Brian Hale Seek Christ, Seek Wisdom, a 5 day devotional from Vance Jackson ”Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”Proverbs‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭KJV ‬‬Wisdom is the principal thing. Let the Wisdom of God lead your path. Let Wisdom build out the fabric of your heart. Let the Wisdom of God build out the framework of you...

Faith Matters Podcast with Andi and Brian Hale Seek Christ, Seek Wisdom, a 5 day devotional from Vance Jackson “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬ According to Strong’s Concordance the Hebrew word for “Trust” is, ‘batach’ (H982) which means, “To have confidenc...

Faith Matters Podcast with Andi and Brian Hale Seek Christ, Seek Wisdom, a 5 day devotional from Vance Jackson “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” Isaiah‬ ‭55:6‬ ‭KJV‬‬ According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for, ‘Seek’,‬‬ used in Isaiah‬ ‭55:6‬ ‭KJV‬‬‬, is ‘Darash’ (H1875) which means, “To resort to, seek with care, inquire, require, to worship...

Find Your People, Day 5 By Jennie Allen Ephesians 2 tells us that we—you and I and everyone ever to live—were dead in our trespasses and sins and that we were children of wrath, meaning that we deserved for God to send a meteor our way. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph...

Find Your People, Day 4 By Jennie Allen Nothing in my relational life has helped me more than coming to terms with these simple truths: You will disappoint me. I will disappoint you. God will never disappoint us. Accepting this shifts our expectations from people to God. And He can handle our expectations. But because our current world has been built on such rampant independence, it will take deli...

Find Your People, Day 3 By Jennie Allen So if this plan is so good for us, why don’t we just prioritize this plan, fight for this plan, and make this plan unfold every day of our lives? Two words: the enemy. If deep, loving, intimate connection is God’s goal, then the enemy might hate nothing more than for you and me to enjoy deep, loving, intimate connection! No wonder it feels like every aspect...

Day 2 The Center of Our Affections The fact that we were made in the image of God, who is relationship, means our longing for healthy, mutually submissive, supportive, interdependent relationships isn’t simply us craving something good for us, like vegetables or vitamins; we are craving the fundamental reason we were created. We weren’t just built for community; we were built because of it. Woven...

Find Your People, Day 1 By Jennie Allen Loneliness. Do you feel it too? That sinking feeling that you aren’t seen, you aren’t known, and you are on your own to face whatever difficult thing life is throwing at you. Do you ever wonder if maybe you’re the only person who feels this alone? You aren’t, by the way. You aren’t alone in feeling alone. I struggle with loneliness more than I like to admit....

Centered, Day 5 By Jason Brown, from the book Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters First Fruits Farm, when you get down to its bare essentials, is just a thousand acres of dirt. It’s filled with plenty of other things: trees and ponds and barns and crops, and the dirt might be the last thing you see. To most people’s eyes, dirt’s not much to look at. It’s brown and boring. Get dirt...

Centered, Day 4 By Jason Brown, from the book Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters Our God is an awesome God. He can do anything. He is with us. Most Christians believe this with all their hearts. We know we worship an Almighty Ruler, the Maker of heaven and earth. We say He loves us and is involved in our lives. We say we depend on Him for everything. But do we ever put it to the...

Centered, Day 3 By Jason Brown, from the book Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters Ever since First Fruits Farm began, anyone with any financial sense would look at our plans—plans we believe come straight from God—and then look at our bank accounts and say, “This doesn’t add up. How do you expect to [fill in the blank] with what you have?” My wife and I look at each other and say,...

Centered, Day 2 By Jason Brown, from the book Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters My wife and I needed a greenhouse to start seedlings in winter and, in the long run, save some of what little money we had. Greenhouses are expensive. The kind of greenhouse I needed started at $20,000. We had only $2,000 to spend. I couldn’t even buy a dilapidated, used greenhouse for that much. Ima...

Centered, Day 1 By Jason Brown, from the book Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters When you look at the Bible, you may find that not many of its stories focus on rich people. If God’s own plans were governed by spreadsheets, you’d think Jesus would’ve surrounded Himself with rich dis­ciples who could fund His travels, not poor fishermen who couldn’t pay their taxes. Joseph’s family...

Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan, Day 5 God has promised us that He will cause our enemies who rise against us to be defeated before our faces. But we can get in the way of our blessing and leave room for the enemy to stand in our faces rather than fleeing seven ways. With that in mind, here are seven tactics to make the devil flee seven ways. 1. Diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God If you...

Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan, Day 4 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; Hebrews 12:15 I was stewing in my own juices. My husband had abandoned me with a two-year-old and tons of debt so he could suddenly start a new life with a woman about half his age in a foreign nation. I was enraged...

Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan, Day 3 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NIV Fear started riddling my soul when I was a small child. I vividly recall seeing the spirit of fear in my bedroom most nights and screaming for my mother. My mother came in with a broom and chased it...

DAY 2: The Spirit of Jezebel The spirit of Jezebel seeks to seduce and often works through teaching and prophecy. This spirit seduces the saints into idolatry and immorality. This spirit may use control and manipulation to do it, but ultimately that’s not the end game. Jezebel’s end game is murder. The wages of sin is death, and Jezebel leads people into sin. Pastors—or anyone, for that matter—who...

DAY 1: The Battle Against Evil When I got saved, I thought I’d spend my life walking beside still waters and lying down in green pastures. I had no idea embracing Jesus as the captain of my salvation meant I was enlisting as a soldier in the army of God. I’ve since learned that believers are soldiers and Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. I’ve discovered that I’m more than a conqueror...

What is sin? Think back to a decision you made recently that didn’t honor God. Maybe in the moment, the choice felt fun, or maybe you didn’t know how to say “no.” Maybe you just felt stuck or tired, and you didn’t see any alternative. We’ve all done things that weigh us down and make us wonder, “Why do I seem to do what I know is wrong? ”The world encourages us to “follow our hearts,” but our feel...

What’s baptism and why does it matter? When you think of “baptism,” what comes to mind? If you said “dunking someone in water”—you’re not wrong! Many churches have different approaches to baptism, but the ultimate purpose of baptism is to outwardly express an inward change. It is both a symbolic expression of faith and an act of obedient surrender and repentance, which is why it’s the natural next...

Foundations of Faith Day 3 Who is the Holy Spirit? Imagine God’s Spirit hovering over the face of the earth. Everything is dark and without form until God breathes out the words, “Let there be light.” In an instant, everything changes. The light pierces the darkness, and what was once invisible is now seen clearly. This is what God’s Spirit does. He is always close, always near, always bringing to...

Who is God? All of Scripture is an intricate mosaic that reveals a God who is deeply involved in creation and who cares intimately for humanity. And if we believe the Bible to be true, then we have to believe that the God it describes is true in His intentions and unified in His character. So what does God’s Word tell us about who God is and what He cares about? While the following list is nowhere...