Lessons From The Tent

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]

The Uniqueness of the Kingdom - Seeing God Part 3 | Section 03 Episode 36

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 36 ─ The uniqueness of the kingdom – seeing God (part 3)   Bible References:  * Matthew 5:8 (1)  * 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 (2)  * Galatians 5:22-24a (3)  * 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (4)  * 1 John 4:7-11 (5)  * James 1:2-4 (6)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. This will be part 3 of “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (1) I would like to revisit the verse we closed out the previous lesson with for there is still more to be learned. Here is the verse I am referring to, “For who among men knows the thoughts of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (2)  I would like to begin by focusing on the word “combining” used in this passage. As I said before, the original word means jointing two things together that do not belong together. This is not just joining God’s Spirit with our spirit. This word means God’s Spirit is intimately jointed to our spirit in such a way they cannot be separated.   This passage also says that the Spirit wants to teach us the things freely given to us by God. The fruit of the Spirit which is, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (3) are things freely given to us. But this beautiful fruit comes from the Holy Spirit not from any school, or any other human means.   And these fruits are not normal. For example, the love God refers to is His love which is in stark contrast to our human love. The Bible defines real love this way, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not detract from one’s appearance, character, or reputation, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (4) As you can see this is not our natural human love; human love fails all the time.   The Bible says God is love, so that means these are the attributes of God, His Son Jesus and His Holy Spirit. When He prunes us, He wants to transform us so we can clearly see these attributes in Him and allow the Holy Spirit to then produce them in us.  This is life in the kingdom. It is a constant life of learning, understanding and growing and this mostly takes place through trials. And it should for we have fallen so far away from what we were created to be that God’s normal way of living is not even considered when we act out of our human freewill. But that is what God wants to change so we can experience the abundant life that exceeds all expectations; is superior to any other way to live; is extraordinary, uncommon and more than remarkable.   Let me share with you how valuable love is in our relationship with God. And remember, love is a fruit of the Spirit. Here is what the Bible says.   “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” (5)  There is another aspect to the Spirit of God being jointed to our spirit that we must realize. With the Holy Spirit so intimately jointed to our spirit, whenever God does prune us, the Spirit feels our pain just as much as we do. He is connected to us so intricately that everything we feel, He feels. God is so intimately jointed to us He experiences every aspect of our pain and suffering.   Being His favored ones and indwelled with His Spirit, God is personally connected to everything we do and go through. He does not pull away and let us struggle all alone. He goes through it with us. So, even as He prunes us, He feels the pain He causes us when He does.   But God doesn’t just feel our pain. In the midst of our suffering He is also continually teaching us the things freely given to us so we can see His hidden attributes and understand His ways. And the clearer our vision of God becomes the smaller our difficulties in life will then appear.    His purposes are only good, and it is only the pure in heart, unworthy sinners who get to experience this abundant life. What a privilege it is to go through pain and suffering, trials and tribulations knowing God’s Spirit is not only intimately jointed to us, but He is continually pruning our relationship with Him so we can see Him with the eyes of our heart.   When the Bibe refers to our heart it is talking about our inner person, the real human, inside our brain, not the physical body. And this is where we need to see and understand God.   This is the journey of the pure in heart under the reign of the Spirit of God. Their suffering produces beauty beyond measure. Seeing God is worth all the trials and tribulations, pain and suffering His favored ones go through. And this is life in the unique kingdom.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – The pure in heart get to see God in a way that is humanly impossible but promised by the very One we get to see.  ------- 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 - Seeing God (Part 2) | Section 03 Episode 35

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 35 ─ The uniqueness of the kingdom – seeing God (part 2)   Bible References:  * John 15:1-5 NLT (1)  * John 15:10 (2)  * Galatians 5:22, 23 (3)  * 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 (4)    Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. Yesterday I saw something very unusual outside my tent. Apparently, my neighbors’ chickens think the grass is greener on our side of the fence because a couple of hens and roosters flew over and set up nesting in our un-mowed tall grass. The peacocks though didn’t take kindly to this intrusion into their space and confronted the sitting hen and protecting rooster. As soon as the peacock got within striking range, the rooster jumped on him and a major battle occurred. Beaks were pecking, feet were kicking and scratching, wings were striking each other forcefully and the squawking of the peacock and rooster was intense. After a full minute the battle ended with the larger peacock walking away and the smaller rooster settling back down to protect its hen. That was an interesting way to start my day.  This is part 2 of our lesson on “seeing God,” and I would like to begin with the words of Jesus as He teaches a little spiritual horticulture. This is what He said.   “I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me.” (1)  If you have ever seen a fruit tree pruned it is quite a sight. Good branches are cut back while the unfruitful ones are cut off. If you have ever witnessed this or done it yourself, you can understand the pure in heart pruning Jesus refers to here. And it is obvious that the pruning He is talking about will cause pain. Therefore, we should expect pain in our relationship with God because as a concerned gardener He is not content with His people being fruitless. He wants our new life with Him to grow and the way it does is through pruning.   I must say this again − God’s pruning will hurt. I have felt it many times in my own life. But I can honestly say that the increased vision of God is worth His cutting back the impure branches of our souls.  One day Jesus told His disciples that He came to give His followers life and the life He gives will be even more abundant than they could ever imagine.” (2)   The original word abundant really defines life in the unique kingdom of God. It means exceeding, superior, extraordinary, uncommon, more than remarkable.   What would you give to have a life like this? God says this is the fruit the Spirit wants to produce in us. And here is how He defines this fruit – “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (3)   If you are in the kingdom, you can be sure, God will not just let you exist there. He will prune you regularly. That is a promise of God.   But how does pain produce a life that exceeds all expectations; is superior to any other way to live; is extraordinary, uncommon and more than remarkable? The reason is, God cuts away the characteristics that are not love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.   As His pruning removes the things that get in the way of the abundant life, a new way of living begins to emerge, and it does so with a new vision of God.  Remember, God doesn’t just violently prune His people from a distance. He partners with us through His Holy Spirit, helping us “know and understand Him” all the way through His pruning. Listen to my favorite Bible passage about this.  “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man. Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (4)   This is one of the astounding aspects of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the partnership God wants to have with His favored ones. Our greatest enemy is not Satan and his domain of darkness. It is our fallen corrupted freewill. This is where Satan tries to influence us, but this is where the Spirit of God partners with our spirit to create a new way of thinking and therefore restructure a new way of living.   The goal of God’s intervention into our lives is to transform our way of thinking so He can change our way of living to be exceeding, superior, extraordinary, uncommon, and more than remarkable. And the greatest way He does this is through increasing our vision and understanding of Himself.   This education and transformation process cannot come from any school. It only occurs through the Spirit of God interacting with our spirit “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (4) The original word “combining” means two things are jointed together that do not belong together. And those two things are God’s Holy Spirit and our transgression corrupted spirit for they certainly don’t belong together. But more on this in the next lesson.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – When God prunes, He reveals Himself to us so we can understand the remarkable things He wants to freely give us and enjoy a life that is exceeding, superior, extraordinary, uncommon, and more than remarkable.  ------- 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 - Seeing God | Section 03 Episode 34

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 34 ─ The uniqueness of the kingdom – seeing God (part 1)   Bible References:  * Matthew 5:8 (1)   * Ephesians 1:18 (2)  * John 17:3 (3)  * Jeremiah 9:23, 24 (4)  * Job 1,2 (5)  * Job 41:5 (6)  * 1 Peter 5:10 (7)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. I don’t normally like to start a lesson like this, but I need to warn you ahead of time that today’s lesson is going to hurt. And that’s ok because along the way you will learn, pain can be your friend when you understand how God uses it.   The next attitude Jesus talks about will at times greatly challenge your relationship with Him while at the same time take you deeper into an understanding of God, and His ways. Here is what Jesus said.   “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (1)    I think it is best to start with the reward for being pure in heart, which is to “see God” because this benefit brings purpose to pain and suffering. Without understanding this, our trials and tribulations will only be miserable.   The significance of what Jesus said here can turn our struggles into riches beyond measure. So, let’s start with what it means to “see God.” The original word see means to perceive with your mind, to become acquainted with someone or something through experience so that you can discern, recognize and understand clearly.   Notice this “seeing” is in your mind and not with your eyes and that it comes through experience. This is extremely important because Jesus said it is the pure in heart who “see God.”   Since God is a Spirit, He is therefore invisible to our human eyes. So, it is obvious that this “seeing” must take place in our mind. The Bible refers to this as “the eyes of your heart.” (2)  Now the goal of seeing God this way is we get to understand the intimate details of His character which is the reason He allows His favored ones to go through pain and suffering. And the more we understand God the difficult issues of life can then take on significance.   As we have already learned, eternal life is getting to know God and Jesus in a deep intimate way. (3) God also revealed to us in the Old Testament that He desires us to know Him deeply. (4)   There are many passages in the Bible that teach this because God has always wanted His human creation to have a deep, intimate, personal relationship with Him. Unfortunately, it is far too easy for us humans to be so consumed with the normal duties of life that we forget our single greatest duty: Which is, we were created to get to know and understand the invisible God by faith so our lives can be the overflow of our relationship with Him.   Let me remind you that according to Jesus “seeing God” comes as the result of a “pure in heart” attitude. And as this word “pure” reveals, the way to understand the depths of God comes through trials, tribulation, suffering and pain, for that is what the original word “pure” means.   We might think being pure in heart has to do with a righteous way of living, but that is not the way to think about this. The purity Jesus speaks of here is an attitude that will influence a more righteous way of living because of what you have learned about God.   Don’t make the mistake of reversing this. Trials and tribulations, pain and suffering must precede the wonderful gift of “seeing God.”  The story of Job in the Bible (5) illustrates this from beginning to end. God declared that Job is the most righteous person on earth, but at the end of the story we learn that even though Job was righteous, he did not understand the depths of God’s character. This only happened after He goes through some of the most challenging trials that any human has ever gone through.   At the end of all his trials and tribulations Job then said, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eye. So I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” (6)  I urge you to take some time and read the entire book of Job ASAP, because the question I want to ask you next can only be answered if you understand what Job went through in order to “see God.” Here is the question I want to ask you – When you know what Job went through, do you think it was worth it so he could now “see God” in an understanding way? Job thought so at the end of his struggles, and that speaks volumes.   If God told Job about all the suffering, He would go through in order to see Him this way, I’m not sure he would have volunteered to experience all he did so he could know God more intimately.  But it is only when a person goes through great suffering that they can gain an understanding of God to this intimate degree. A person cannot know what they are missing until they discover for themselves the intimate knowledge of God gained only from suffering.  Why is it that only those who go through intense trials and tribulations, pain and suffering gain such a clear understanding of God? It is because of the work God does when a person goes through suffering. This is the “experience” the word “see” refers to. Here is what the Bible teaches about this:   “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”(7)    Notice it doesn’t say the sufferer makes this happen; it is the “God of all grace” who produces this.  As God’s favored ones we should never fear suffering and pain because we know that it will produce the great reward of “seeing God” if we surrender in gentleness and allow Him to have His way with us.   Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – According to Jesus, seeing God more clearly is worth pain and suffering; trials and tribulations.  I hope you will join us 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 - The Requirement of Mercy | Section 03 Episode 33

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 33 The uniqueness of the kingdom – The requirement of mercy   Bible References:  * Matthew 5:7 (1)  * Galatians 5:17 (2)  * James 1:17 (3)  * Romans 8:29/Ephesians 3:19 (4)  * Romans 2:4 (5)  Good morning and welcome to another Lesson From The Tent. For today’s lesson I must start by telling you, I love hiking and backpacking through the mountain ranges of western America. The quietness while walking through extraordinary scenery allows the wonder and beauty of God’s creation to be experienced in ways that the busyness of normal life cannot give me. And every time I have hiked through the mountains there will always be a place where I come to a fork in the trail. The rest of my journey will be determined by which path I then decide to take. If I choose the wrong one, it may take me miles away from my intended destination. But, if I choose the correct one, the trail will take me exactly where I need to go.   In today’s lesson we have come to a real fork in our journey of life in the kingdom. One path will bring actions of kindness to us from the hand of God while the other path won’t. Two roads, with two very different outcomes.   But the path we choose will be determined by the four preceding attitudes. Each of these is connected to the one before it which makes our fork in the road choice much easier. Let me explain what I mean.   Our realization of how God sees us will determine the depth of our mourning for our poor in spirit condition. If we mourn correctly, the comfort we receive from the Spirit of God will naturally cause us to surrender in gentleness and joyously welcome all He wants to do in our lives.   If we have truly surrendered to the reign of God, we will naturally hunger and thirst after righteousness because His Spirit will be working to recreate us into the image of His righteous Son. And it is here where the fork in our journey through life in the kingdom becomes a choice concerning which way we will go. Listen to what Jesus said about this next attitude.  “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  (1)  And this is the fork in the journey we are on in the kingdom. If we choose not to be merciful to those around us, then we can be assured that no mercy will be extended to us from God. If we choose the other path and go through life giving mercy, God says we will receive His mercy. Two paths to travel on in His kingdom that take us in different directions which will greatly alter the course of our life.  We need to understand what mercy is before we consider the road before us. The original word for mercy is about withholding punishment for sinful actions. For example, God has forewarned us that those who sin will receive the punishment of hell after they die and leave this earth. While living here, God extends mercy to everyone by putting off His judicial punishment allowing everyone the chance to become poor in spirit and be rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.   A truly poor in spirit person realizes they have received an incredible gift of mercy from God. And if we want to continue to receive His mercy as we travel this road of life in the kingdom, God requires us to give mercy to those who don’t deserve it.   We regularly need God’s mercy because we continue to sin. Our flesh does not want God’s Spirit to rule in our lives so we resist His will and even fight against it at times. (2) And when we do God does not kick us out of His kingdom. The merciful propitiation of Christ has saved and redeemed us forever.   So, what happens when we are not merciful to those who treat us badly, or tell lies about us, persecute us, insult us, and hurt us by their actions? If we choose the unmerciful path, God may withhold His merciful acts of kindness that He gives us every day. The Bible says all good things come to us from God (3) and think about this - would you really want that to stop?  God continually lavishes His grace and kindness on us. But if we choose to not give mercy to someone who has wronged us, He will withhold His deeds of kindness from us.  Now why would a merciful God do this? He does this because He wants His favored ones to be changed into the image of His Son. (4)  God knows if He ignored our lack of mercy and continued giving good things to us, we would never work on changing our behavior. And He loves us far too much to allow us to continue living our blindly ignorant unmerciful way of life. That is why He withholds His actions of kindness toward us when we are not merciful.   How then should we respond to those who hurt us? We should respond exactly how God does to us – by doing acts of kindness to those who don’t deserve it. And remember, the Bible says it is the kindness of God that leads us to change the way we think for the better. (5)   By being kind to someone who doesn’t deserve it we work together with God to help them change the way they think about His merciful salvation. What a tremendous privilege it is that we get to participate with God and give the same mercy we receive from Him to those undeserving fallen people around us. And as we do we help them see the unique character of God’s mercy.   This is our fork in life where we get to choose to demonstrate the kindness of God to the undeserving domain of darkness world. And where else will blindly ignorant sinners ever learn about the kindness of God if His followers don’t show them? What a privilege this is to be God’s heart of mercy to a mixed up, blindly ignorant world.  Well, that’s it for today and once again there is just one thing – happy are those who give mercy because they will receive undeserved actions of kindness from God Himself.   ------- 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]