Faith Experiences the Invisible Now Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #273 Web Description: It is with the heart that we believe, and the heart is the center of our emotions and feelings. That means faith is not actually a mental process. You are not trying to believe with your thoughts that something will happen. Instead, you are knowing in your heart, by the joy and love and emotions that come by the Spirit, that you already have fulfillment. Show Notes: How do we measure our faith? It seems that the only gauge we use is a negative one. We measure how much faith we do not have when something we believe for does not happen. But there is a better way. In a message titled, “Living Faith in Action,” John Stevens said of the promises of God that “we were to rejoice in them with faith. We were to lay hold upon them as though we already possessed them.” The greatest measure of our faith is the joy we experience in knowing that we have what God has promised. We associate believing with the mind. But according to the Scriptures, we believe in our heart. And scripturally the heart is the center of our emotions. The heart is where faith really comes from, and the heart is also at the root of what we feel. Our feelings then impact our physical bodies, our thoughts, and our behavior. So faith from the heart is expressed in emotions. If you want faith to heal someone, then the most effective way is not to mentally strive to believe but to feel the joy of the deliverance in your heart. We know that the fruit of the Spirit consists of emotions like love, joy, and peace. These emotions are spiritually imparted, meaning we do not get them from the material realm but from the spirit realm. This is the principle that Yeshua (Jesus) taught us in the simplest of terms. He said to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, the answer exists right now in heaven. And you want it to also exist in your life right now. So do not pray for it to happen in the future. Pray with the knowledge that you have it now, and your faith is bringing it into the earth. Key Verses: • Matthew 6:10. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” • Hebrews 11:3. “What is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” • Romans 10:10. “With the heart a person believes.” • 1 Samuel 13:14. “The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart.” • John 10:10. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” • Romans 4:17–20. “With respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith.” • Hebrews 11:1. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” • 1 John 5:4. “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Quotes: • “On the Sabbath, God finished His creation; He finished his works. His works are finished and now they exist. What we are learning to do is to reach into what exists and to find the ways to bring that out of the invisible into the visible, into an effective function within the material world.” • “We don't hope that there's the restoration of Israel. We don't hope for the Jews to be brought back into the land. We feel the joy. We should be dancing like David in the street at the return of the Ark of the Covenant because we are dancing over the return of the people, the return of all the wealth that they have and all the blessings that are theirs. We're living in it right now.” • “Your faith is the substance of the thing hoped for. It's the evidence of the thing not seen. That is not wishful thinking. That's God's faith given to you to believe Him and to rejoice with Him.” Takeaways: 1. How do you measure how much faith you have? Look to what you are feeling in your heart. 2. Having faith for something means that you have already embraced it in your heart. You are not praying with hope that it will happen. You pray knowing that you have it right now. 3. Our emotions are something tangible. Study your heart and the emotions that are there. Emotions trigger thoughts and then the thoughts come out of your mouth. And that is what is creative.
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GIG272 From Generation to Generation
Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #272 Title: From Generation to Generation Web Description: In the wilderness the children of Israel learned the consequences of not following the Word of God. And they set themselves to rehearse the Word repeatedly so that they and future generations would not fail to follow that Word. As Christians today we cannot expect that we will have the faith and success we need if we are not following what God has made real to us. And we must have the same determination to rehearse His Word. Show Notes: Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, remembers the time when Israel lived in tents for forty years in the wilderness. This was a time when one generation died off because of their disobedience and a new generation was taught the Word of God. They had learned from the wilderness that they lived by the Word of God, and therefore every new generation must be taught to live in the Word. This is why a special day is observed at the end of Sukkot each year. This day is called Simchat Torah, which means “the joy of the Torah.” Every year the Torah is read in the synagogue from beginning to end. And every year at Simchat Torah, this annual cycle repeats. It is a continual reminder of what Moses told the people before they entered the land: “Will you make the same mistake the previous generation made, which cost them forty years in the wilderness? Or have you learned your lesson? And if you have learned your lesson, will you be able to keep that lesson alive for yourself and for your children?” We see then the importance that Judaism places on rehearsing the Word. Do we as Christians realize that it is just as important for us? We face challenges that seem too big for us, just as the giants in the land seemed too big for the generation that failed in the wilderness. But those giants were not too big for God then, and our challenges are not too big for Him today. We need to believe what God has spoken to us and believe in His power to accomplish what He said. It is all there in His Word. And we need to make rehearsing His Word a major focus of our times together and in our daily lives. Key Verses: • Deuteronomy 8:1–6. “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you.” • Deuteronomy 6:1–3. “This is the commandment … that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD.” • Hebrews 12:5–9. “God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” • Romans 10:17. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” • Deuteronomy 6:4–9. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons.” • Deuteronomy 11:18–21. “You shall teach them to your sons.” • Deuteronomy 31:10–13. “Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD.” Quotes: • “We should come away from the celebration of Sukkot refreshed in the memory that God is all powerful, that He is able to give us what He's promised.” • “When we get together to fellowship, there should be a focus on worship and the Word. We can still barbecue and have fun and have other conversations. But what is the focus of it? What is the purpose of fellowship? The true purpose of fellowship is to get together surrounding the Word and the worship so that we're creating faith within ourselves.” • “Even as aliens we had the right to come and stand at the gate during Sukkot and hear the Word of God so that we could learn, and we could understand, and we could fear the Lord our God. And we could walk with Him and have long life and prosperity and blessings.” Takeaways: 1. The battle is against forgetting. If we are reminding ourselves, then faith comes by hearing. If we hear it, then we can have faith to do it. 2. We need to find the things that are foundational to our faith—who we are and what God has spoken to us—and we need the faith right now to walk in them. 3. Let us not leave the Feast of Tabernacles. Let us enter a year of hearing the Word of God.
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GIG271 The Feast of Tabernacles
Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #271 Title: The Feast of Tabernacles Web Description: As we celebrate Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, we worship in thankfulness for all that God has done for us in the season that we have just completed, and we prepare our hearts during the feast for the new season that is now beginning. So it is very important that we learn about the Feast of Tabernacles and think about what we are expecting God to do for us during this time. Show Notes: Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles puts us in a place of seeking God. We experience a new relationship with the Word of God as we celebrate this feast. In His Word we find instructions and direction for our lives in the coming year. Our cry before the Lord is that His Word will break our hearts and cause us to repent so that we will see the manifestation of the Word of God coming alive to the Body of Christ and coming alive to Israel in a new and greater way. During the Feast of Tabernacles, we must “build our booths”—construct our lives—with a focus on God and His provision and not on the desolate wilderness. Because when we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, we will have a focus on God that will bring us to a place of trust and deliverance from everything that could come against us in the dark days that we may face in the coming year. As we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, we also find the Lordship of Christ coming alive. We know that His Kingdom is established in heaven, but there will come a time when the age of Messiah will begin to reign in the earth, even as the Lordship of Christ reigns in our hearts. In this feast we find ourselves contending together in prayer to see the manifestation of the Kingdom of God in the earth now. Key Verses: • Nehemiah 8:13–18. “The LORD had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast.” • Numbers 9:15–23. “So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.” • Psalm 91:1–16. “No evil will befall you.” • 2 Corinthians 3:16–18. “Transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” Quotes: • “I believe this can be a transitional time for Israel and for the Body of Christ both, as we experience something tremendous in these days of Tabernacles.” • “The Lord tells us where to live, but how we live is something that we construct as part of this Tabernacle experience.” • “We’re going to be living in maybe some very dark days during this coming year, but what we focus on is what God is doing for us.” • “We don’t know what we face or what we’re going to go through, just as they didn’t in the wilderness know exactly what they would face day to day, but they knew one thing—the glory and the presence in the light of God was with them.” Takeaways: 1. Prepare yourself as you think about the Feast of Tabernacles and what you expect God to do for you during this time. 2. Build your booth—your life, your family, your community—in a way that they house us in His presence and create a constant focus on His glory. 3. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty and let Him become your dwelling place so that the glory of His presence will begin to manifest around you. 4. Focus on the Lord’s presence so that you might be changed from glory to glory into that same Presence, but also that you might reflect that glory to others as it radiates from you.
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GIG270 Atonement and Our Purification
Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #270 Title: Atonement and Our Purification Web Description: We are coming to the Day of Atonement, which has great significance for us as Christians. It is about the forgiveness of our sins, something we understand well. But it is also about something we need a greater revelation and appropriation of, and that is our purification and the removal of our sins. Let this be our experience as we celebrate the Day of Atonement this year. Show Notes: We read in Leviticus 16 that the Day of Atonement is about cleansing the people of their sins. It was a solemn assembly, a time for the people to humble themselves and repent of their sins. Then the first goat was sacrificed as a sin offering, speaking to the forgiveness of their sins. But there was also a second sacrifice. The goat of removal was sent into the wilderness to take away all the iniquity of the people. Most Christians relate to Christ who is our Atonement in the context of the forgiveness of sins. But the Day of Atonement is about being cleansed of our sins. And cleansing is more than external washing. It is about our purification. The prophecy of the Messiah in Malachi tells us that He comes for the very purpose of purification. Yeshua (Jesus) HaMashiach, the Messiah, came for our purification, which along with forgiveness is the cleansing and removal of our sins. Therefore, we absolutely should celebrate the Day of Atonement this year. And as we celebrate it, we should remember that our atonement is not only about the forgiveness of sin. It is also about the purification of the believer, enabling us to truly enter the presence of the Father. With great thankfulness we reach in during this time to humble ourselves before Him and appropriate all that He has provided for us on this Day of Atonement. Key Verses: • Leviticus 16:29–31. “It is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you.” • Leviticus 16:18–22. “The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land.” • Malachi 3:1–3. “He will purify the sons of Levi.” • Hebrews 10:1–2. “The worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins.” • Psalm 103:12. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” • Hebrews 10:14–23. “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean.” Quotes: • “The Lord through the blood of Christ forgives us. But again, there’s something more that the Day of Atonement is pointing to that we want to receive. And that is this removing out of us the iniquity and the sin so that we don’t continue going through the same process of sinning.” • “We as believers are not just to live lives having been forgiven of our sin. We are to live lives that are more represented by this event in the Day of Atonement that we are forgiven but also cleansed and purified.” • “When God forgives, He does forget. He remembers our sin no more. But He goes beyond that because in the purification He is then able to put His law upon our heart and upon our mind.” Takeaways: 1. On the Day of Atonement two sacrifices were made. The first sacrifice was to forgive the sins of the people. The second sacrifice was to remove the sins of the people. We understand the forgiveness of our sins in Christ but not so much the removal of our sins. 2. Atonement is for our cleansing. And that is not just cleansing as we relate to cleansing ourselves by taking a bath or cleaning something by wiping the surface of it. It is talking about purification. 3. Malachi tells us that when Messiah comes, He is like a refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap and will sit as a smelter. The sacrifice of Christ forgives our sins but also puts us through the process of purification that is like the refining and purifying of gold or silver.
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GIG269 The Feast of Trumpets
Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #269 Title: The Feast of Trumpets Web Description: The Feast of Trumpets was a holy convocation, a day of celebration and rest, when all of Israel came up to Jerusalem to meet with God in anticipation that He was going to do something. This is now called Rosh Hashanah, and it is celebrated as the Jewish New Year’s Day. This appointed time has yet to be fulfilled in Christ, leaving the world to wonder what it will mean when the divine trumpet blows. Show Notes: What God is doing in most of the feasts is clear. For example, Passover commemorates the blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt that saved the Hebrew people from the death angel. What God is doing in the Feast of Trumpets is less clear. It is a holy convocation. It is a Sabbath rest. It is a day when trumpets are blown. But why? The Feast of Trumpets is a day of celebration—the Hebrew word is zikkaron—which means a “memorial” as well as a “remembrance” or “reminder.” Each year this celebration memorializes God coming to earth on Mount Sinai where He announced His presence with the blast of a trumpet. We also remember God’s promise that He will once again return to the earth with the sound of a trumpet. Today we look forward to that trumpet which has not yet sounded, but no one knows the day or the hour. So our response is to be prepared. The trumpet blast alerts us to the promise of Messiah’s return. May this prophetic cry be always on our lips: “Come, Yeshua. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on this earth as it is in heaven.” Key Verses: • Leviticus 23:23–25. “You shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.” • Leviticus 23:24. “A holy convocation … a reminder by blowing of trumpets.” • Numbers 29:1. “It will be a day to you for blowing trumpets.” • Exodus 19:19. “When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.” • 1 Thessalonians 4:16. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God.” • Matthew 24:29-42. “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet.” • Revelation 22:20. “Yes, I come quickly!” Quotes: • “So when we look at most of the appointed times or the feasts, the fasts, the celebrations that God appointed, it’s very clear what it is that Israel was celebrating. Not so with the Feast of Trumpets. • “That’s what a trumpet blast is for: to get your attention.” • “Now to me those are two very distinct things, and I think in the Feast of Trumpets both are taking place. We are to have a memorial and a reminder. A memorial is a celebration of something that took place historically. You build a monument; you memorialize an event in history. A reminder to me is more of something you are looking forward to. I have to remind myself of my to-do list, something I am supposed to do. So both of these really take place during Trumpets.” Takeaways: 1. We anticipate the Feast of Trumpets because its fulfillment in Christ has not yet transpired. 2. The Feast of Trumpets is to get our attention and keep us alert. 3. Our response is to always be on the alert. Watch! 4. We should cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
“Growing in God Podcast” is a podcast dedicated to helping people understand God’s great love, develop spiritual maturity, and experience life as fully devoted followers of Yeshua (Jesus).
The podcast provides insights and biblical studies that reflect the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, as well as topics like sonship, discipleship, prophecy, prayer and intercession. It also tackles issues like anti-Semitism, lordship, and replacement theology from a biblical perspective.
Hosted by author, pastor, and Christian leader Gary Hargrave D.Litt., “GROWING IN GOD Podcast” presents the Holy Scriptures as the guidebook to experience a daily dynamic life of faith that leads to spiritual maturity — a process that requires time, focus, and commitment.
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