The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - Persecution for doing Right | Section 03 Episode 41

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - Persecution for doing Right | Section 03 Episode 41

SECTION 3  In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world.  LESSON 41 The uniqueness of the kingdom – persecution for doing what’s right.  Bible References:  * Matthew 5:11 (1)  * John 15:18, 19 NLT (2)  * 2 Timothy 3:12 NLT (3)  * Hebrews 4:12, 13 (4)    Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. So far, we have talked about seven attitudes that Jesus wants those in His kingdom to have, and each one makes living in the kingdom unique. But this eighth attitude makes it both absurd and unique because now Jesus teaches that we are to have intense happiness because we were persecuted. Really? Who enjoys getting persecuted? Listen to what Jesus said about this attitude. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (1)  Did Jesus really say He wants those in His kingdom to be happy because they were persecuted for the sake of righteousness? He sure did!  And this is the same intense inward happiness that all the other attitudes produce.   The first thing we need to understand is persecution does not cause our happiness. A person who lives these seven attitudes that Jesus has been teaching will already have this intense happiness before they get to the place of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness.  What Jesus means here is if you have these seven attitudes you will not lose your happiness even though you are mistreated for doing right. And that is unique, because persecution is typically ugly and no one likes it. It can be physical, mental or emotional mistreatment but in any case, persecution is hard to deal with.   These eight attitudes are right, according to God, and when we have them, we are then unique.  And a commitment to doing right will often lead to mistreatment because God says His ways are not our ways and these beatitudes certainly prove this.   Desiring and doing what is right is fundamental to life in the kingdom of God and when we do, it is very likely someone in the domain of darkness will not like it and quite possibly you may feel the brunt of their anger in hostile attitudes; condemning words; or physical aggression towards you.  One thing that stands out clearly is life in the kingdom is completely different than life in the domain of darkness. Whenever a person in the kingdom chooses to live the way Jesus wants them to, those in the domain of darkness will not like it. All around the world right now there are people being tortured and many are being killed for doing nothing more than following the ways of God. And that has gone on all through history. But listen to what Jesus said about this to His disciples.   “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” (2)  And if that isn’t enough listen to another passage in the Bible about this. “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (3)  If someone even wants to live a godly life, they will suffer persecution according to the Bible. That really shows how opposed the blindly ignorant domain of darkness world is to those living the way Jesus taught His disciples to live in the kingdom.  The Bible is full of illustrations of people being mistreated for the sake of righteousness, but I would like to draw our attention to situations that occur today. For example, the Bible is very clear that homosexuality is wrong and often when a Christian speaks out against it instantly there is a significant amount of persecution against them. I have known people who have lost their jobs because they refused to do something God said was wrong. Things like this and many more take place all around us. From now on when you hear of things like this, pay attention to them and think of what Jesus said here. As you do I hope it will encourage you  to do what is right no matter what it may cost you to do it.  Now I would like to talk about the result of this attitude for in some ways it almost seems to contradict what Jesus said earlier. The first attitude of being poor in spirit gave us the kingdom and now Jesus says those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness have the kingdom. So how does that work?  These two concepts are very different because of the word “theirs” is the kingdom. The original word translated “theirs” has to do with personal ownership. It’s like saying, “Since I have the kingdom what can you do to me?” And Jesus wants those in His kingdom to feel the same way by thinking, “persecution cannot prevent me from obeying God, so don’t even bother trying to stop me from doing what He wants me to do.”   These words of God are more than just printed words on a page. Here is what the Bible says about this: “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (4)   God’s word will produce results in the people who have faith in it, and those results will give us extreme happiness and assurance that we are in His kingdom.   Because Jesus said, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, you should personally take ownership that you are in the kingdom and do right with confidence for no one can take the kingdom away from you. God gave it to you and there isn’t anything anyone can do about it.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – if you are in the kingdom, stand up for what’s right, because as one of God’s favored ones even persecution cannot take that away from you.  ------- Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved * For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/ [https://colescoffeeco.com/] ------- Produced by Dereck Bradley Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com [mike@lessonsfromthetent.com]

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - Being a Peacemaker Part 3 | Section 03 Episode 40

SECTION 3  In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world.  LESSON 40 The uniqueness of the kingdom – Being a peacemaker (part 3)  Bible References:  * Romans 4:25-5:11 NLT (1)  * Hebrews 11:6 (2)  * Romans 8:1 (3)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. I would like to start today’s lesson by reading a passage of the Bible that is very important in our look at being a peacemaker. This passage brings out everything we have been taking about in terms of what it means to be a peacemaker. The Apostle Paul wrote this, and it is one of the great examples from the Bible describing how to have peace with God. Here is what this passage says.  He (Jesus) was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing the truth of God. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (1)  The first thing to notice is the role of Jesus as a peacemaker. Everything about having peace with God is the result of the life of Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross and this stands out vividly in this passage. Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker.   It says that “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”   It can’t get any clearer than that. But I do want to draw attention to the concept of faith for as we have learned already, because “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (2)   And as this passage says, “we have been made right in God’s sight by faith.” The sacrifice of Christ for all the sins ever committed by us humans is a fact of life. Therefore, sin is not keeping anyone out of the kingdom. What separates someone from experiencing “peace with God” is a person’s lack of faith in all Christ did. We also learn what peace with God is in practical terms, it says we now have become friends with God. And friendship with God is not like friendship with anyone else because as we have already learned, “there is never any condemnation to anyone who has peace with God.” (3)  We also learn here that what we have received from Christ is far more than any of us deserve just as it says, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege. What a great way to describe how fortunate it is to be rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. It is an undeserved privilege. As this passage also says, Jesus didn’t die for us because we were anything special. He died for us when we were still great sinners, yet because of God’s love for us, He sent Christ to restore us to this beautiful friendship with God that we were first created to have.  We also see that when God gives us the Holy Spirit, it fills us with His love. So many people want the world to be filled with love and yet here in this passage we learn exactly how this can occur. Be filled with the Spirit and you will be filled with love.  Jesus said we are to preach the gospel of the kingdom as a testimony and this passage from Romans 5 is a must to not only know but to personally experience. Without applying faith and believing to everything said in this passage there can be no “testimony.” And if you see that you haven’t experienced all this then ask yourself – what’s holding you back?   What a privilege it is to be a disciple of the Great King Jesus. And if you are then what a tremendous opportunity it is to be His disciple and learn from the Holy Spirit so you can help take the good news of the kingdom to the world you live in.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – being a peacemaker is so important to God that if you are you, are called His son.  ------- Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved * For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/ [https://colescoffeeco.com/] ------- Produced by Dereck Bradley Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com [mike@lessonsfromthetent.com]

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - Being a Peacemaker part 2 | Section 03 Episode 39

SECTION 3  In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world.  LESSON 39 The uniqueness of the kingdom – Being a peacemaker (part 2)  Bible References:  * Matthew 5:9 (1)  * Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9 (2)  * Matthew 24:14 (3)  * Luke 4:43 (4)  * Matthew 24:14 (5)  * 1 John 2:1, 2 (6)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This is the second part of being a peacemaker and nothing teaches us the importance of this more than what the reward for this attitude brings. Those who are peacemakers are called “sons of God.” (1) Let me remind you, this is what Jesus was called, so you can see those who are peacemakers are held in great esteem by God.   Jesus was unequivocally the Son of God because of His nature. He was God in a human body. (2) But that is not what someone becomes when they are a peacemaker, for no one can ever turn into God.   What then did Jesus’ mean? Peacemakers are called “sons of God” because they do the same work Jesus was sent here to do and that was, preach the good news of the kingdom so people could be restored to peaceful harmony with His Father. (3)   The original word translated peace when used concerning God means the state of a soul that fears nothing from Him. So, a peacemaker is someone who helps others learn about the kingdom of God, for it is only those who have been rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son who can be restored to this type of harmony between themselves and God.  The disciples lived with Jesus three years and during their whole time together with Him, He constantly taught them about the kingdom. (4) He did not waste time on small talk, political ideology or local news. He poured into His followers the truth they needed to know about the kingdom before He was crucified and returned to heaven. Jesus spent three years morning, noon, and night teaching His followers, so you can see the good news of the kingdom is not a simple message. And the reason is because the good news of the kingdom encompasses everything about life and death. Everything!   You may be wondering how a disciple of Christ also has the time to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the world as Jesus commanded, after all we have to work, raise families, and do all the things necessary to take care of those things that come from living in the world.   God knows this, but our interaction in the domain of darkness is the world He wants us to share the good news in. Living, working, shopping, and playing in the world of the domain of darkness gives us ample opportunities to demonstrate kingdom living while also displaying God’s purpose for life.  This is the way Jesus taught His disciples how to preach the good news of the kingdom. Listen to what He told them after three years of their traveling and learning from Him.  “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (5)   The key to this is Jesus wants His disciples to preach the good news as a testimony, which means they must experience what the invisible kingdom brings to their lives before they go preach it. What Jesus wants is for those who are experiencing life in the kingdom to share their experiences with those in the domain of darkness.   Does that mean everyone in the kingdom must live perfect lives before they can preach the good news of the kingdom? If it did there would be no one, including the disciples of Jesus who could ever preach the good news.   What this looks like as a “testimony” is a person accepts the things we have been talking about for the past 38 lessons by faith and responds with believing actions as they apply to their lives the things Jesus taught His disciples about the kingdom. And when they fail, they apply the forgiveness and grace they have receive from God because of the propitiation of Jesus for their sins. (6)   The joy that comes to those whose sins have been forgiven is a tremendous testimony to those in the domain of darkness. For it should cause us to live in a continual state of thankfulness that should inspire us to share the good news with those in the domain of darkness who have no idea what Jesus did for them.   It’s your personal transformation that becomes your testimony to anyone who is interested in the good things that are taking place in your life.   This is the evolving way of life in the kingdom. We learn, we grow and then we share the good news that is taking place in our own lives. And we are to continually learn, continually grow and continually transform. This is how we become a living testimony of the good news of the kingdom.   But how is someone supposed to preach this good news of the kingdom to all the nations? The first thing to realize is wherever you live is exactly where Jesus said to preach the good news of the kingdom. Most likely you are not living anywhere close to where Jesus was when He said this, because He was in Israel in the town of Jerusalem.   The second thing to realize is the people He told to go do this were His disciples. So, first ask yourself – are you a disciple, or learner of the things Jesus taught His disciples? Notice, I didn’t ask you if you went to church. Going to church doesn’t mean you are a disciple of Jesus. Churches are full of people who are not dedicated to learning what Jesus taught His disciples so they can become peacemakers themselves.   Being a disciple of Jesus is a 24 hour a day adventure; not a one hour every Sunday contribution. If you are a 24-hour a day disciple, then you are already in the right place to be a peacemaker.   Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – If you become a peacemaker, Jesus Himself will proudly call you a “son of God” because you will be doing the very work, He did.  Hope to see you next week for part 3.  ------- Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved * For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/ [https://colescoffeeco.com/] ------- Produced by Dereck Bradley Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com [mike@lessonsfromthetent.com]

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - The Peacemakers Part 1 | Section 03 Episode 38

SECTION 3  In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world.  LESSON 38 ─ The uniqueness of the kingdom – Being a peacemaker (part 1)   Bible References:  * Matthew 5:9 (1)  * Galatians 5:23 (2)  * Matthew 28:18 - 20 (3)  * Luke 4:43 (4)  * John 8:29 (5)  * Luke 19:12 (6)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This is the seventh attitude Jesus wants those in the kingdom to have. When we yield to the Holy Spirit and He produces these attitudes in us, we become unique ourselves. Remember, these attitudes are not normal for us fallen human beings. They only come as the result of the power and effort of the Holy Spirit when we surrender in gentleness and allow God to restore us to the image of His Son through His pure in heart pruning.   With this next attitude though, there is a considerable change in what Jesus wants from us. Here are His words.   “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons God.” (1)   The original word peacemaker has to do with someone producing or making something. And the focus of what is being produced turns this attitude into something different than the other six. The peace that Jesus wants is a harmonious relationship between God and man.   What makes this attitude so interesting though is that Jesus wants those in His kingdom to help others attain this peace. And to add a little more challenge to it, this peace is a fruit produced by the Spirit, (2) and yet Jesus wants those in His kingdom to be peace - makers.   Since this type of peace is a fruit of the Spirit, how does one fallen, sinful human help another fallen sinful human attain peace between themselves and God for that is what Jesus wants His people to do.   This is another thing that makes the kingdom so unique. The King wants to partner with those in His kingdom and work with them to help others attain a more harmonious relationship with His Father.   Christ gave His life so people could experience the peace that a relationship with God brings. And He now wants His favored ones to help others attain this peaceful fruit of the Spirit.  So far, everything Jesus taught about these attitudes was focused on those in His kingdom learning to have these attitudes, but this time He changes things. Now Jesus wants His people to help others experience this way of living in the kingdom.   Later Jesus calls this “making disciples.” Let me read what He told His disciples after He had died and rose again.   “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (3)  The word disciple means to become a pupil or a learner. Those who followed Jesus were called His disciples, which meant, they were following Him because they wanted to learn. And as Jesus reveals He wants all those in His kingdom to learn the things He taught His disciples so they can become peacemakers themselves.  Jesus wants all His followers to be disciples; which means He wants those in His kingdom to learn about all the things He taught His disciples. And as we learn we then partner with His Spirit to teach others the same things. This is life in the kingdom.  Being a disciple is an evolving door of learning and teaching, learning and teaching, learning and teaching. And that should never stop no matter how short a time you have been in His kingdom or how long you have been.   As a disciple we are to dedicate ourselves to learn and understand what Jesus taught His disciples and then help others learn, understand and teach others also.   In the early part of His ministry a group of people came and asked Jesus not to leave them but to remain in their city so they could continue to learn from Him. That seems a fair desire for anyone who follows Jesus. But that was not Jesus’ plan at that moment in time. Here is how He responded to their request. He said He could not stay with them because “He must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for He was sent for this purpose.” (4)  The original word preach means to tell or proclaim the good news of the kingdom. If Jesus said He was sent here to preach the good news of the kingdom you can be assured that is exactly what He did everywhere He went because He was an exceptionally obedient Son. He was not like us. He always did what His Father wanted just as He told the Pharisees when they didn’t like the good news He was teaching. (5)   When Jesus said He “must” preach the kingdom, the original word must means He had to do this to accomplish the end of His purpose, which we know was to get a kingdom as He revealed in a later parable. (6)  God’s peace is a quality of life where the inner being of a person is in harmony with God the Father and Jesus His Son. The Bible says Jesus conquered all our enemies which are sin, death, Satan and our own corrupted fallen heart. And because of that we can now be restored to harmonious peace because we have been forgiven and reborn with the seed of Christ in us. We are new people and the seed of Christ is always in perfect harmony with God.  So, a peacemaker is at peace with God and teaches others the good news of the kingdom just as Jesus did His disciples. And there is no better work we can ever do, because a peacemaker fulfills the eternal purpose of God for His people. No wonder Jesus’ disciples can be so happy.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – Be a peacemaker by helping others learn what Jesus taught His disciples about the kingdom.   Hope you join us next week for part 2.  ------- Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved * For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/ [https://colescoffeeco.com/] ------- Produced by Dereck Bradley Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com [mike@lessonsfromthetent.com]

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - A personal testimony of the pruning | Section 03 Episode 37

SECTION 3  In this section I would like to point out some of the amazing concepts of the kingdom that make it unlike any government, culture, kingdom or religion that has ever existed. Once again we will have to apply faith and believing to these special characteristics that make the kingdom so unique, because as you will see there is nothing like the invisible kingdom of God in this world.  LESSON 37 ─ The uniqueness of the kingdom – A personal testimony God’s pure in heart pruning (part 4)   Bible References:  * Matthew 5:8 (1)  * 1 Corinthians 2:13 (2)  * Psalms 16:11 (3)    Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. As the title says this lesson will be a personal testimony of my experience with God’s pure in heart pruning. And yes, this involves trials, difficulty, pain and some intense struggles.   I don’t know if you listened to my Lesson titled “Thanksgiving 2025” because I didn’t give it a Lesson number, but it does show in the Podcast Lessons. I hope you have.   In that lesson I shared that my wife Joan had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and at Thanksgiving we did not know the full extent of what that may turn out to be. Let me update you. She did have a mastectomy, and several lymph nodes removed. She just finished Radiation and the Oncologist said she only has a one percent chance now of her cancer ever returning. We praise God for that.  A month after her surgery though I went in for a routine checkup with our doctor, and he discovered I had stage 4 prostate cancer, which had metastasized into several lymph nodes around my bladder. He also discovered I had melanoma cancer on my back, and my left kidney had gone into stage 4 kidney disease, which if it continues dropping much more means I will have to go on dialysis.   As you can see Joan and I have been going through the pure in heart pruning process, but I can honestly say that we are both thankful for what we have gone through. God has used our trials and difficulties to cut away some of our branches that were not producing the fruit He wants, and just as He promised He has let us “see Him” in a much more beautiful way as the result of our struggles.  Both of my cancers have been successfully dealt with now, so it looks like God is going to let me continue producing more Lessons From The Tent. The issue with my kidney is still a big question but Joan and I are content. How could we not be for look what God did with our cancers.  Now to dig into the attitude of “happy are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. (1)   As a married couple we have both gone through several pruning processes during our fifty-six years of marriage. One thing about being married, when one spouse goes through trials, difficulty, pain and some intense struggles, the other one goes through them also. Such is the relationship of marriage. So, we have felt each other’s trials and pains over the years. And I must say, they have helped mold us into the people we are today and helped us to love each other more through the process.   With all the pure in heart pruning God has done in our lives, these cancers though have been the most challenging. Both of us were facing the real possibility of death. We know that everyone is going to die for dying is absolute - but living an abundant life is not. Joan and I have been so very fortunate to have experienced this exceedingly, remarkable, abundant life, and we both understand this has come as the result of God’s pure in heart pruning. We are fully aware that without the gift of God’s Spirit reigning in our lives all these struggles would have been just difficult trials and tribulations.  For a long time now Joan and I have enjoyed a deep love for each other but when facing our cancers, this brought about another challenge to our suffering; for we came to realize the greater the love, the greater the loss if God decided to call one of us home. That discussion came up often in our talking over the past several months. But we are now thankful for the gift of cancer because our understanding of God and our love for each other has grown wonderfully through all this.  We can attest that God never let us struggle by ourselves. He has not only been intimately connected to us every step of the way, but we know He experienced everything we felt because He is “jointed” to our spirit. And through all this He used His Spirit to teach us just as He promised He would. (2)   Now let me show you how His Spirit did this.  Almost every time Joan and I talked about our cancer we seemed to always look back at our lives, and as we did, we continually saw how God had graciously blessed us so many times, in so many ways. We have a tremendous family and friends, and this stands out strongly when looking back over our lives while going through our cancers. These stood out so much we both determined we had nothing to complain about even if God would take one of us or both of us home. We have truly experienced an abundant life that was more than remarkable.   Of course, if He did take one of us, the one left behind would certainly go through a significant amount of suffering, for the greater the love the greater the loss. And we shed many tears about this during these past several months.  But when you are absolutely convinced that this present world is full of the domain of darkness and yet in God’s presence is the fullness of joy, (3) how can you not look forward with anticipation and thanksgiving to His calling us home? Because this is what we believe, we can be excited when God does decide to take us to be with Him. And that is what the Spirit so warmly taught us throughout the possibility of losing our soul mate.     And this is the result of applying faith and believing in the truth of God. Without this we would have experienced all these difficulties without the hope and peace that there is so much more to life and death then the blindly ignorant ways that the domain of darkness offers us. If that was all there is to life, that would be an absolute shame. And certainly, there would be no joy in death.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing − our personal experience with God’s pure in heart pruning has caused Joan and I to love each other in a far richer way and experience His lovingkindness even in the face of death.  And for that we are truly thankful.   ------- Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved * For great coffee order Cole's coffee here: https://colescoffeeco.com/ [https://colescoffeeco.com/] ------- Produced by Dereck Bradley Contact us at mike@lessonsfromthetent.com [mike@lessonsfromthetent.com]