Known and Loved

What defines your worth? What speaks to your heart in a powerful way that might have you really learn spiritual truths? One of the best ways to teach is through storytelling. Jesus often told stories, or parables for this very reason. Jesus’ stories invite listeners to enter the narrative and engage at a heart level. They are opportunities so see our own hearts and spiritual condition.  Today we look at the story of the one lost coin and see where our true vale rests.

What speaks to your heart in a powerful way that might have you really learn spiritual truths? What do you really value in life? One of the best ways to teach is through storytelling. Jesus often told stories, or parables for this very reason. As human beings we are all living out a story- the story of our lives. We are captivated by stories because the story gives us an emotional connection between the principle and our own experience. Jesus’ stories invite listeners to enter the narrative and engage at a heart level. Parables are opportunities so see our own hearts and spiritual condition. Today we look at the story of the Shepherd and that ONE lost sheep. Through it we can see our hearts and the hearts of our God... what do we really value?Follow Known & Loved on YouTube.contact us at: [email protected]

Who is the Holy Spirit and how does He act in our lives? This episode we look at the Holy Spirit as the one who treasures us as a Pearl of Great Price. Because he treasures us he infuses his power in us through: Praying for us, Equipping us, Assisting us, Reminding us and Leading us. In each of these aspects the Holy Spirit gives us supernatural power to live day to day and be conformed to the likeness of our savior, Jesus Christ.contact us at: known&[email protected] to Known & Loved's You Tube Channel!

Who is the Holy Spirit and how does He act in our lives? This episode we look at the Holy Spirit as the one who gives LIFT to our spiritual lives by Loving us, Illuminating Scripture for us, Filling us and Teaching us. This LIFT allows us to take flight in our spiritual life and soar!

Who is the Holy Spirit and how does He act as our Advocate? This episode we look at the Holy Spirit who testifies or argues with us about the truth of WHO we are and WHO God is. Romans 8:16 says The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. The Greek word for "testifies" means a star witness in court giving legal testimony. The Holy Spirit acts as your advocate here on earth arguing as the star witness on your behalf hammering home the truth of who you are- known and loved by your Father in Heaven and the Savior who gave his life for you.contact us at: known&[email protected] to Known & Loved's You Tube channel for biweekly videos.

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Spirit and just felt he was all too mysterious? Who is the Holy Spirit? How can I know the Holy Spirit the way I know God the Father- or Jesus the Son? THOSE are the questions we dive into in this series on the third person in the trinity- The Holy Spirit. Today we look at the role of the Holy Spirit as our advocate who argues against the sin and temptation we face. He is there to argue against those sins and temptations leading us to repentance and JOY!Find the Good-O-Meter video on Facebook here!

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Spirit and just felt he was all too mysterious? Who is the Holy Spirit? How can I know the Holy Spirit the way I know God the Father- or Jesus the Son? THOSE are the questions we dive into in this series on the third person in the trinity- The Holy Spirit. Today we focus on the role of our two Advocates: our advocates- Jesus as our advocate in heaven and the Holy Spirit as our advocate on earth. Credit to worshiphousemedia.com for the video clip

Have you ever wondered about the Holy Spirit and just felt he was all too mysterious? Who is the Holy Spirit? How can I know the Holy Spirit the way I know God the Father- or Jesus the Son? THOSE are the questions we dive into in this series on the third person in the trinity- The Holy Spirit. Today we focus on the question: Who is the Holy Spirit? find Josh_Howerton's video on Instagram ⁠here⁠!Contact us at: [email protected] Known & Loved on YouTube here!

How many of you know the story of The Littlest Angel? I’m a fan of old school Christmas music—Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby. The Littlest Angel is a Bing Crosby classic. Without fail, every year, whenever I hear THAT song, it moves me to tears. Ok, so I’m a sap, but a few years ago I made an effort to contemplate why this particular song has this power over me.If you are interested in The Littlest Angel Story here is a link which will take you to The Bing Crosby Song and The Story (read by Lorretta Lynn) and another link where you can find  The Book on Amazon.If you are interested in The Discovery Institute that links directly to their website. Be sure to check out their educational opportunities, particularly the Summer Institute. And here is a link to the Documentary about butterflies that I mentioned, where you can watch it on also on Amazon.https://www.youtube.com/@MonicaGillKnownandLoved

How do you keep Christmas? And do you keep it year ‘round? At the end of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when Scrooge is redeemed from his selfish and miserly life it says that he knew how to keep Christmas all the year ‘round. What might that look like? Have you thought about your New Years’ Resolutions this year? I think Keeping Christmas Year ‘round is going to be mine!

How can we see the Gospel of Jesus in the well loved tale of Beauty & the Beast? In 1939 Tolkien gave a lecture at St Andrews on the subject of Fairy Tales. It was transcribed into an essay and the basic questions he grappled with were: “What IS a Fairy Tale?” And what is the “USE of a Fairy Tale?” Tolkien and his friend CS Lewis would argue that Fairy Tales are not just for children- they are serious literature for adults too. Fairy Tales engage our imaginations and contain in them not only moral lessons, but important echoes of the Gospel. It is from this vantage point we embark on this mini-series The Gospel According to Cinderella.

How can we see the Gospel of Jesus in the story of Snow White? In 1939 Tolkien gave a lecture at St Andrews on the subject of Fairy Tales. It was transcribed into an essay and the basic questions he grappled with were: “What IS a Fairy Tale?” And what is the “USE of a Fairy Tale?” Tolkien and his friend CS Lewis would argue that Fairy Tales are not just for children- they are serious literature for adults too. Fairy Tales engage our imaginations and contain in them not only moral lessons, but important echoes of the Gospel. It is from this vantage point we embark on this mini-series The Gospel According to Cinderella.

In 1939 Tolkien gave a lecture at St Andrews on the subject of Fairy Tales. It was transcribed into an essay and the basic questions he grappled with were: “What IS a Fairy Tale?” And what is the “USE of a Fairy Tale?” Tolkien and his friend CS Lewis would argue that Fairy Tales are not just for children- they are serious literature for adults too. Fairy Tales engage our imaginations and contain in them not only moral lessons, but important echoes of the Gospel. It is from this vantage point we embark on this mini-series The Gospel According to Cinderella.  

Who is my neighbor? This is the question the lawyer asks Jesus in Luke 10. Jesus answers him with the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus asks the lawyer to answer: Who is the true neighbor to the fallen man? The lawyer answers just as Jesus intended: The one who showed mercy. Then Jesus instructs him- GO and DO likewise. So who is your neighbor? And how can we set aside our pride to “Go and Do likewise” just as Jesus instructs us?

What is the obstacle for us that must be moved out of the way so that we can really be servants and love our neighbor as ourselves? Ultimately it is our pride, our “ego” that we wear as an outer garment to protect and define ourselves. It is our pride that directs us inward to selfishness and says not to love and serve our neighbor, but to serve ourselves… What does this look like and how can it be overcome in your daily walk with Jesus?

What does it mean when Jesus says to “love your neighbor as yourself? Do we really have a good idea of what that means? We spend the next three episodes examining the radical call to love our neighbor, the obstacles to love and finally defining exactly WHO our neighbor might be based on Jesus’ teachings in  Luke chapter 10.

What does it mean to love God with all our strength? There are 3 ways to consider this. First, strength means well toned muscles. So in order to Love God with all my strength I need a faith and a love for God that is well toned. Another way to define strength is as something that we have in abundance or something that we are particularly good at doing. So loving God with all our strength is to love him with the strengths and gifts he has given me. And a final way to think about loving God with all my strength is to realize- I have no strength of my own- so to love God with all my strength is to actually love him through my weakness and let him work through those weaknesses.

Webster's dictionary defines the soul as the spiritual part of us. The soul is our deeply felt moral and emotional being. These characteristics are only present in rational beings- that would mean human beings. It is our soul that embodies the deepest part of us and it drives our search for meaning and purpose in this world. So what does it mean to love the Lord our God with all of our soul?

What does it mean to love the Lord our God with all our mind? How does our thinking about God shape who we are and how we relate to the world? We started answering these questions last episode as part of our series on the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your MIND and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Today we go deeper into this aspect of loving God with all our mind by examining three different worldviews that shape who we are and how we think about God. How we think about God will shape how we love Him and each other.

What is the purpose of the mind in our faith? How does what we think about God shape who we are? The Greatest Commandment says to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your MIND and all your strength. There is an important aspect to our loving God and others, that is more than just an emotional rush.  Real love is deliberate. It is purposeful. It is thoughtful and it takes action.  Paul tells us in Colossians to “Set your MINDS on things above, not on earthly things.” That means an active portion of our loving God is engaged in thinking and setting our minds on God and the things of God.

What is love? What does it mean to love? What does it mean to love God with all our hearts? In today’s episode we are beginning in earnest our examination of the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your HEART, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Love is by definition relational which means that love is not just an emotion describing how we feel. LOVE is a verb- an action word! When we Love God with all our heart then our love in action will look like God's love in action- patient, humble, selfless, persevering and sacrificial.

In this next series of Known and Loved we are going to explore Jesus’ greatest commandment aiming to understand what it means to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love others as we love ourselves. We will also be trying to understand that this God of ours is EPIC and multidimensional- That’s why we do need to love him and each other with all of these facets of our being. 

Spiritual disciplines don’t exist to restrict us, they exist to free us. We enter in them confined and then emerge on the other side finding life and open spaces. We close this series by looking at tips for how to be successful in motivating our hearts to embrace a Secret Life with God, understanding this is how we build intimacy with the God of the universe who knows and loves us. This is how we become conformed to His likeness, and whatever He asks of us is nothing that He has not already done for us.

How do we motivate ourselves to engage in Spiritual disciplines? In our last episode we said we need to make two important perspective shifts. The first, which we covered in Episode 35 is: The Bible is not about you! The Bible is about God and what he has done for you. Today we are going to look at perspective shift #2: Quality Time. Spiritual Disciplines of praying, fasting and giving in secret are all opportunities for spending QUALITY time with Jesus. Because You can never get enough of Jesus and Jesus can never get enough of you! Jesus is the Answer! Jesus is always the answer!

Spiritual disciplines are often duties before they become delights. If you only practice spiritual disciplines for immediate gratification then you’ll stop doing them. Spiritual disciplines require just that: discipline and delayed gratification. We have to press through this because when we practice these spiritual disciplines we are creating spiritual deposits of God’s resources that we need to navigate life well.In order to motivate our hearts toward these spiritual disciplines we need two perspective changes about our time in the word & spiritual disciplines. Today we focus on The First perspective shift: The Bible is not about you. It is about what God has done for you.

We have to confront the reality that when Jesus was born the spiritual realm was thrust into a great battle in the ongoing war between God and Satan. When Jesus came into the world, Spiritual warfare was at a pique. Yes, peace is coming, but peace has a cost—that cost is paid in battle! The birth of Christ was far more like God’s D-day invasion than an olive branch extended on a silent night. Listen to all the way to the end for a special announcement!!Teaching Fearless: Monica Gill’s Mission in a Culture of Compromise (Apple)Teaching Fearless: Monica Gill’s Mission in a Culture of Compromise (Spotify)

Did you realize that whenever you pray, you are acting as an Agent of Rebellion? The Christian worldview sees the world as enemy occupied territory. As you pray you come to realize that you are in the heart of that enemy occupied territory and you are part of the rebellion to take back the kingdom. You are a member of “the resistance” much like the French or Dutch underground against the Nazi’s in World War II. Understand that when you pray you are in a state of rebellion against the brokenness of this world acting as God’s Secret Agent in the resistance!

What does this forgiveness and turning the other cheek look like on a practical level?There is a tension in forgiveness that we need to understand. The tension is that it requires both the conjuring of the will AND the reliance on the supernatural power of God’s love flowing from our life.

Hebrews 9:22 says “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” From Old Testament sacrifices to the death of Jesus on the cross, we see every sin is a trespass, a debt that must be paid for with blood. Forgiveness is not cheap. It is painful. What does extending forgiveness look like? It looks like Jesus dying on the cross. It looks like me and you doing the same for those who “owe” us for wrongs they’ve done.

When you look at Jesus’ sacrifice- how big is the cross? The greater we have a view of God’s Holiness the greater a view we have of our own sinfulness. If you see how big your own sinfulness is you have a much bigger view of the cross. The power to forgive comes from being transformed by his forgiveness. After his denial Jesus asked Peter three times “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” He asked three times to unravel or “redeem” Peter’s three betrayals. Jesus stands before us and asks us each individually the same questions: Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” 

Today we are going to focus on the first truth about forgiveness- and that is there is No Forgiveness without Love- He loved you anyway! We examine this aspect of forgiveness by continuing to unpack The Lord's Prayer in conjunction with the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In this episode of our Series on the Secret Life we examine praying in Secret through the postures modeled in the Lord’s Prayer. We find that Jesus is the source of our daily bread, both physical and spiritual, and we unlock the key to one of the hardest things we must do in our lives- Forgive.

After Jesus struggled with His face to the ground and finally relinquished his will to the Father, what happened? He got up off the ground in strength and faced the suffering, enduring it in continued strength. That is the same power that is available to us in the secret place when we first spend time in adoration and then in surrender with the “thy will be done prayer.”

One of the beloved Christmas stories is that of the Wise Men and their journey from the distant East to seek and worship the Messiah. What can we learn from these wise men? Did they just have a one-time encounter with God and then go home? I have my doubts. If this was truly a momentous occasion, a real encounter with the Messiah, I bet they went home and spread the good news… that a King who had all authority in heaven and on earth, a King whose kingdom would never end, had finally come for the world. They would likely spread the news- that Jesus was the answer to “The Great Question” of life, the universe, everything!” 

As we await the celebration of the birth of our savior take a moment to examine not only how sweet this season is- but to look into the life of one of the Bible’s unsung heroes and what we can learn from him about how obedience is the highest expression of our LOVE for our Heavenly Father.

Everything in prayer life changes when we focus FIRST on just adoring God. Tell God how amazing, magnificent and wonderful he is. How you are blessed by the extravagance of His love. How he was YOUR Jesus and hero. And do you know why things change? It won't be because you are pumping up God’s ego and all of the sudden He says: “Well, they're is finally telling me how great I am- Now I am going to give out some rewards!” No. That’s not how things happened at all. Think about it. Why does God want us to spend our time in adoration? Though He is worthy of it, it’s not because He needs to hear it--- it’s because we need to hear it!

Why does Jesus tell us to go pray in secret? Remember Jesus also says in Matthew 6: for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So- Why go to our secret place and petition God if he already knows our petitions and our needs? The point is this- Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. The point of petition is not to pray fervently for what we want. It’s a time to allow God to work on our hearts so our petitions come in line with what God wants. 

When we fast, we set our hearts above on Jesus and it reminds us that God sustains us! It is here you realize that He is your provision for a fully satisfied life. Remember Jesus is our Daily bread! John 6:35: Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. The challenge for you is to be sure you are getting your daily diet of spiritual food! Every day you need SOUL FOOD! 

The best road map of your soul is- to be like the FBI- and “follow the money.” Jesus called “Money” “Mamon” in order to personalize it as a rival God. “Money” wraps up all the resources of your spiritual wallet. Time, Talent, and Treasure- ask yourself: Where does it all go? It’s painful to expend resources on things you don’t like, but if it’s something you really love--- the money and the time flies right out of your wallet and eats up your schedule! Is Jesus the place where you are expending your resources? 

What does Jesus mean by Giving in Secret? What is one factor that gets in the way of our giving and choosing to be a servant for Christ? It is our own self-righteousness. There is a difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve we put our “self” in charge and we hold the power. We expect “appreciation” for our deeds or we worry about being taken advantage of by those we are ”helping.” However, when we choose to be a servant we realize: A servant has no power. Servants are bound to allocate all of their resources to the master. When we choose to be God’s servants we surrender the “right” to choose who, what, where, when and how we will give and serve. We let God decide those things. Giving in secret is specifically designed to conquer our desire to have the power.

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we continue our series, A Secret Life, based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6. In this series we are examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and gain security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We search for the answers to that question in this episode by examining the idea of pursuing a Secret life with God through our giving. Today we find that transforming lives comes from all aspects of giving. God doesn’t just want us to throw our money at things. He wants us to throw our lives and our hearts in with people. That means people will see it. The heart of Secret Giving is not that no one ever sees. It’s that you’re motivation isn’t in the being “seen.” 

Today we aim to create the ambiance of The Secret Life. The goal is not to create a check-list, but rather to reorient our hearts. In this episode we  unpack a couple of classics in literature that help illustrate how to motivate our hearts toward the pursuit of a Secret Life with God. In unpacking these great works of literature we will see reflections of the gospel that will help orient our hearts toward Jesus. In John 15:9 Jesus says: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” Jesus says “I love you like God loves you. Stay in relationship with me, stay close to me, stay wrapped in my love.” He is saying: I treasure you! Treasure me! I am the only treasure that can’t be devalued! I love you above all else! Love me above all else! I call you precious, you are my own, make me your own! I am your One True treasure, your one true friend and your one true love! 

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we begin a new series called A Secret Life based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 on the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying and fasting. In this series we will be examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and find security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We will explore the answer to this question as we look at the pursuit of a secret life with God. Today we find that in Matthew 6 Jesus is not giving us a list of “things to do” so that we can “get rewards.” He is issuing an invitation. This invitation is addressed specifically to you. It is an invitation for you to get alone with God. It is an invitation to intimacy, to go into the Secret Place of your heart with Him. It is in the Secret Place, in pursuit of A Secret Life that you come to know and love Jesus and grow to understand how deeply you are known and loved by Him.

In today’s Episode of Known & Loved we conclude our Rest Assured series.  Colossians 2:3 refers to Jesus as: Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures. He is the ONE true treasure that will not fade away. Joy and pleasures forevermore are an unfading treasure for your eternity, but that richness is also available to you RIGHT now, in every moment that you place yourself in his presence. Where can we find pleasures forevermore? There is only one way. Jesus is the way!

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the story of his redemption of our souls, salvation for our lives and his coming again in glory is not just one more fairy tale to add to the heap. It is the one true story to which all other stories point. The Gospel is our bedrock for now and our hope for later. Those who know Jesus and call him Lord and Savior are a part of His Story. He is both our One True Story and our One True treasure. The question we must ask is this: How are we to live into the GREAT story?

Today we connect Psalm 16 with the story of Martha and Mary in Luke chapter 10. Here we find that each day we choose. We choose to run around by the tyranny of the urgent, fretting over things we cannot control and over the things we think we can control and all the “to do’s” on our list, and worry about not having enough time to do any of them. Or we choose the ONE THING we need- and sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus even tells us which is the better choice— so choose what IS better!

Today we look to where we can find true joy. Psalm 16: 11 says: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” There is only one place where we can be filled with true joy! There is only one place where joy flows abundantly and eternally: In the presence of Jesus.  If we struggle with experiencing true joy, we have to ask ourselves this tough question: Where am I? We have a choice each day— we can place ourselves in the presence of the Lord every day. If we make this choice we find true joy.

In today’s episode of Known & Loved we look at who God is- and that He IS big enough. We examine His attributes and why we can trust Him, because not only is He eternal and outside of time, He intersected the timeline to rescue us!  We also look at His intentions for us in times of suffering or difficulty. God intends for us to give thanks in all circumstances— to be praying continuously through every circumstance, never losing hold of the joy we have in Him, while giving thanks, not necessarily for the suffering, but even in the midst of it. Here we find Psalm 16:11 is true- You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. 

The first time I found Grace drawing on herself I opened the palms of her hands and saw crosses and hearts on one hand, and "I LOVE GOD!" inscribed on the other. She looked up at me and said: “It’s because I just LOVE him so MUCH!” I want to love Jesus in a way that is “written” all over me. When my palms are open they are raised in delight of him and when my palms are clenched in fists I am holding on to him tightly, never wanting to be separated from him or his love. In a way, it seemed Grace’s love was imitating how Jesus loves. She wrote it on her hands, just like he did… See, I will not forget you, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. (Isaiah 49:16) (NIV 2002)

What makes you forget that you love God? What is the result? More importantly, how do you get back to him? I don’t know what makes you forget about God, but I know how we can get back to him! Remember who you are! Remember who loves you, and remember who you love. It is spelled out in Psalm 51 where we see David remember his one true love, go back to God, and become transformed. We continue to examine verses Psalm 9-10 and pair them with Psalm 51 to illustrate our SOUL SECURITY rests with Jesus, our one true love who knows and loves us.