*AS ALWAYS THERE IS MUCH MORE IN THE PODCAST THAN IN THE NOTES AVAILABLE

EPHESIANS 5:22-33

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

EPHESIANS 6:1-3

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

EPHESIANS 6:10-20

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Now, if you are with us today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, allow me to show you how you can place your faith and trust in Him for Salvation from sin and Hell.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:8: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now that is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please email me at [email protected] and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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Catholic church bells will be ringing throughout Chicago every three hours as a call for all to unite in prayer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, is asking Catholic parishes to ring their church bells five times a day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. This started Saturday

Each of the five prayer times will be dedicated to a specific group particularly affected by the pandemic.

The groups are listed below:

9 a.m. – Prayer for those infected with the virus and all those who are ill

12 p.m. – Prayer for healthcare workers and those attending to the sick

3 p.m. – Prayer for first responders and essential workers

6 p.m. – Prayer for people of every nation and their leaders

9 p.m. – Prayer for those who have died today

SOURCE: CBS Chicago

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Nehemiah*, an FMI ministry leader in Pakistan, was beaten by police, but has been released and is now free. Read more about Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws here. Nehemiah has run afoul of these laws before.

Bruce Allen of FMI explains, “A few years ago he was charged falsely with blasphemy speaking against the Quran [and] Muhammad. This carries a death penalty. And amazingly, he was acquitted by the courts because they said, ‘You know, there’s a lack of evidence here.’ But that still did not deter his accusers. They wanted him dead.”

Allen has just returned from an FMI trip to Pakistan, and Nehemiah stayed behind to finish filming a video. Then, he was summoned to a police station for a meeting. Nehemiah suspected the meeting was false, but he knew the police could prevent him from leaving the country, so he went anyway.

His lawyer went with him, but the police separated the two. Allen says, “During that time he was tortured, beaten with a rubber pipe across the back. I’ve seen photos of the welts, the bruises, the bleeding from his back. They were trying to get him to confess to blasphemy, which he did not commit. And to use that recording of such a confession as evidence then to kill him.”

Nehemiah confessed to being a follower of Jesus Christ during the beatings, but not to any blasphemy charges. Finally, his lawyer got the courts involved and retrieved him safely. Nehemiah was hurt, of course, but described himself as “stronger in spirit.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Kevin Zeller

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Tomorrow marks the halfway point of Lebanon’s two-week coronavirus lockdown. Earlier this week, President Michel Aoun asked citizens to self-quarantine at home until March 29. Lebanon’s land, air, and sea ports sealed to most traffic midweek.

Over 150 coronavirus cases have been confirmed so far, but testing is severely limited, and other critical medical needs aren’t being met. “We are almost at half of our hospital capacity. This is significantly scary for the population in Lebanon,” Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says.

“Lebanon has only 800 ICU rooms in all our hospitals; 400 of those rooms are available for coronavirus patients. One-hundred of those 400 rooms do not have ventilators in them.”

In situations like these, the most vulnerable people in society are often the first to “fall through the cracks” and lose access to care or resources. Or, in the case of Syrian refugees, they’re the first group locals blame for the latest crisis.

“It seems like our government and a large population of Lebanon is blaming the refugee population for this virus for no reason at all,” Melki says. Yet, “there have been no recorded coronavirus incidents among the refugee population.”

Before the lockdown went into effect, Heart for Lebanon met refugees’ tangible needs by distributing food, education supplies, and hygiene kits. Now, they’re finding creative ways to deliver the hope of Christ while still obeying orders to restrict social contact, Melki says.

“We are not doing ministry as we [did] before, but we continue to serve and we continue to lead people from despair to hope in Christ and Christ alone.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Katey Hearth

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Iran’s coronavirus death toll is now past 1,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Only Italy and China have lost more people to the virus. Researchers say up to 3.5 million Iranians could die by late May when they expect the epidemic to reach its peak.

The Supreme Leader issued a fatwah this week forbidding “unnecessary travel”, but crowds still flocked to Qom to kiss and touch religious shrines for protection.  As previously noted, Shi’ite leaders are exploiting the crisis to spread misinformation, highlighting the need for physical and spiritual truth.

The coronavirus is hampering efforts to release God’s Word in Iran, but leaders are searching for a work-around.

“I was on a call with our brothers from Iran; we were planning on getting together in Amsterdam as a ‘launch meeting’ to begin this translation process for a gateway language resource,” unfoldingWord’s David Reeves says.

“Because of the coronavirus issues and travel bans, we’ve had to cancel that meeting and now we’re trying to figure out a way we can do this via video conferencing technology.”

Together with hundreds of partners, unfoldingWord is equipping Iranian church networks to translate Scripture and other biblical resources. More about that here. “The teams and the networks in Iran are just thrilled with the idea of being able to move this forward. They’ve been waiting for a long time,” Reeves says.

“We’re now on the cusp of something radically shifting by empowering these networks to do this themselves.”

With Biblica, 222 ministries, and other partners, unfoldingWord is working to translate the Bible and other biblical content into Iranian languages. According to Joshua Project, 37 spoken languages – other than the national language, Persian – still lack Scripture. Each language represents at least one unreached people group.

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Katey Hearth

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During the months of January and February, I paid loose attention to the news. I heard about a virus in China and assumed it was like the viral outbreaks we’ve seen in the past, like MERS, SARS, and Ebola. All of them had little effect on my day-to-day life outside of praying for those affected and following the news reports. 

By the first week of March, I realized that COVID-19 was something different. Friends reached out asking me if I heard about coronavirus and the havoc it caused in China and now other parts of the world. Like many of us, I thought, “Sure, but it’s not that big of a deal though. It’ll pass.” Except it was a big deal, and I had no idea it would become a global pandemic of this proportion. I hadn’t kept up with all the warnings and updates. I was in my own world, preparing for the release of my ninth album, getting final features from A-list artists, planning a book tour, and engrossed in my own ecosystem.

All the planning and strategy drastically changed overnight! It started off slow for me. First a friend in Seattle texted saying things were crazy up there. We had a couple discussions in the studio about it; I read a headline or two about how quickly it was spreading in Italy.

Then it hit home! A festival I was performing at out West was canceled! My business manager called and cautioned me not to panic. Panic? Wait, what is going on?! What planet is this?!

Now tuned in, the next few days we all received constant updates, increasing our anxiety. Our kids’ school closed, two months of shows were canceled, and I was trying to calm scared family members. My 92-year-old grandmother is reorganizing her life so she can keep it.

At first, it overwhelmed me! It was too much to deal with. Then I stopped and prayed. It was time to embrace a new normal. For my family, for myself, and my team at Reach Records, I had to be calm and focused. I had to commit my faith completely to God and rely on my spiritual foundation to make clear decisions.

It occurred to me that if there is ever a time people needed hope and encouragement, this was that time. It was like a light bulb went off and I realized that though I had some new personal challenges to deal with, so did the rest of the world. Those experiencing homelessness, single parents, hourly workers, folks with pre-existing health issues, small business owners, basically all of us — this is a global pandemic.

The temptation to give in to anxiety and fear is real but has never created solutions. Those who have historically survived wars, recessions, and plagues tell of people leaning in, people helping each other.

I’ve been following COVID-19 closely since it’s become a pandemic and I want to remind people THIS IS NOT THE END! While we can heed the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to stay away from others who are sick, avoid crowds, and properly wash our hands, I can’t help but think about those living on the street who have no way to bathe or wash their hands. People who may eat, sleep, and congregate so close to each other that social distancing is not possible.

That led me to get involved when I heard Love Beyond Walls was preparing to plant portable handwashing stations around the Atlanta metro area for homeless and displaced people to clean their hands in response to the coronavirus.

Partnering with organizations like Love Beyond Walls is one way we can serve humanity right now. It takes both faith and action to provide real restoration in our communities and world. Jesus washed feet, now we have an opportunity to wash hands and provide that same type of restoration in a modern way.

Fear causes us to act inhumane; it causes us to overlook those in need. Thousands of people are living on the streets with pre-existing health conditions and no access to small things like hand sanitizer. They are at an even higher risk to COVID-19.

Fear makes us think about ourselves, hoard toilet paper and fight in grocery stores. But God is consistent. The same God who parted seas, healed diseases, and gives ingenuity to doctors is still present. That same God who fed the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish is still here. I have no idea when or where my next check from a concert will come from, but I know I have enough for now.

I imagine there will be great songs, books, and films created in this time of social distancing. Economies may get weaker, but family bonds will grow stronger. This pandemic is an opportunity to see how we can overcome unforeseen trials. We can embrace the humility and humanity it takes to be of service to one another.

I hope we can put a pause on self-seeking, self-interest, and vain pursuits to care deeply for one another and refocus on global solidarity. I believe God will restore the years the locusts have eaten. I believe collective pain makes people love their neighbor as themselves.

In the words of L.R. Knost, “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So, go love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”

Humanity always recovers, and I am confident we will be restored again. I want to be a part of that solution.

SOURCE: Billboard, Lecrae

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