Adrian Powell

Pastor-theologian, former Redcoat at OSU press box elevator, author of “Resident Aliens”Faith Community Grove City’s expositor; pastor-teacher, husband & papi.

[chesed1973 @chesed1973]

The Gospel Through Isaiah — Part 1

Matthew 4:23

"Yeshua was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom..."

Most Christians read the word gospel and immediately think:

"Jesus died for my sins."

That truth is central to the gospel.

But is that what Matthew expected his readers to hear?

Matthew never defines the word.

Why?

Because Isaiah already had.

Isaiah repeatedly connects the "good news" with Zion.

• "Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news..." (Isaiah 40:9)

• "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news... who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" (Isaiah 52:7)

The gospel is the royal announcement that Israel's God has become King, that His kingdom is arriving, that Zion will be comforted, and that the nations will witness His salvation.

Now read Matthew again.

Yeshua wasn't merely announcing how individuals could go to heaven.

He was announcing that Isaiah's promised Kingdom was breaking into history through Israel's Messiah.

His death and resurrection are the means by which that Kingdom is established.

The gospel is bigger than personal salvation.

It is the announcement that God's reign has arrived through the King of Israel.

Reflection:
What happens if we let Isaiah define the gospel before modern theology does?

[Sola Media @solamediaorg]

When we worship idols, we become like them: spiritually blind, deaf, and deformed.

@AdrielTweets

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

If I'm honest this has been a hard season for me lately. I've been struggling with trusting God's timing. I was reminded when reading Psalm 37 today that I am to be still before Yahweh and wait patiently. That Yahweh is good to those who wait for him and seek him, and it is good to wait quietly for God’s salvation (Lam. 3:25–26). This quiet waiting involves hoping in God’s word while the soul waits more intensely than watchmen awaiting morning (Psalm 130:5–6).

I was reminded that prior to preaching to thousands, for a season Peter went back to fishing after thinking he failed Jesus. That Paul sat in prison cells, Lazarus lay in a tomb, Jonah prayed in the belly of a fish, Hannah wept on the steps of the tabernacle, Joseph was locked in the captivity, and Moses stood in the fields of Median herding sheep. All before God made moves in his timing.

Times of waiting, while hard, remind us of the confidence we should have in God’s timing and character. When direction seems slow in coming, we're called to wait for it, assured it will come when the time is ready (Hab. 2:3). Yahweh himself waits to be gracious and show mercy, and those who wait for him are blessed, for he is a God of justice (Isa. 30:18). Rather than taking matters into their own hands, like I often am tempted to do, we are instructed not to repay evil but to wait for the Lord, who will deliver us (Prov 20:22).

Hoping for what is unseen involves waiting with patience (Romans 8:25), and through the Spirit and faith, believers eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5:5). Waiting involves expectancy and hope regarding events and contingencies still in the future, it's the outworking of a spiritual posture directed at trusting God’s promises and timing rather than our own understanding.

Knowing all of this, writing here on X doesn't make my season of needing to wait any easier, but the consistent, inspired, inerrant testimony of scripture nonetheless gives me something solid to trust in. I am fickle, impatient, and finite. God is trustworthy, forbearing, and infinite. And his timing is right even if I don't know how or when things will happen.

[Adrian Powell @adrianwrites1]

@AdamKing10TV I always appreciate your work. Often, less is more.

[Adam King @AdamKing10TV]

"I can't believe God gave me a chance to be a Buckeye, because there's nothing like it."

Ohio State has put out a lot of amazing videos, but this is one of the greatest.

If you are a Buckeye fan these four minutes will give you chills.

[The Facts Dude 🤙🏽 @Thefactsdude]

LISTEN: Jacob Rockwell was fined for running a red light in Pensacola, Florida.

Only thing is Jacob wasn’t in Florida, he was in Alabama.

He sounded off at a local city meeting recently and his concerns go beyond just one citation.

[A Man Of Memes @RickyDoggin]

RULES FOR SONS:

1. Never shake a man’s hand sitting down.
2. Don’t enter a pool by the stairs.
3. The man at the BBQ Grill is the closest thing to a king.
4. In a negotiation, never make the first offer.
5. Request the late check-out.
6. When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
7. Hold your heroes to a higher standard.
8. Return a borrowed car with a full tank of gas.
9. Play with passion or not at all…
10. When shaking hands, grip firmly and look them in the eye.
11. Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be.
12. If you need music on the beach, you’re missing the point.
13. Carry two handkerchiefs. The one in your back pocket is for you. The one in your breast pocket is for her.
14. You marry the girl, you marry her family.
15. Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like crazy underneath.
16. Experience the serenity of traveling alone.
17. Never be afraid to ask out the best looking girl in the room.
18. Never turn down a breath mint.
19. A sport coat is worth 1000 words.
20. Try writing your own eulogy. Never stop revising.
21. Thank a veteran. Then make it up to him.
22. Eat lunch with the new kid.
23. After writing an angry email, read it carefully. Then delete it.
24. Ask your mom to play. She won’t let you win.
25. Manners maketh the man.
26. Give credit. Take the blame.
27. Stand up to Bullies. Protect those bullied.
28. Write down your dreams.
29. Always protect your siblings (and teammates).
30. Be confident and humble at the same time.
31. Call and visit your parents often. They miss you.
32. The healthiest relationships are those where you’re a team; where you respect, protect, and stand up for each other.

[Sola Media @solamediaorg]

Be like the Bereans.

[Brad @BradleyKellard]

Malcolm Gladwell revealed why you shouldn't go to Harvard:

1. America does not have a shortage of students who want science and math degrees. It has a shortage of students who finish them. Half of all high school seniors who intend to study STEM drop out by the end of their second year. The problem is not interest. It is persistence.

2. The obvious assumption is that smarter students persist longer. So Gladwell tested it. At Hartwick College, a small liberal arts school in New York, the top third of math SAT scorers took the majority of STEM degrees. The bottom third dropped out in large numbers. The data seemed to confirm it. Smarter kids stick around longer.

3. Then he looked at Harvard. The bottom third of Harvard's math SAT scores are equal to the top third at Hartwick. By the logic above, everyone at Harvard should graduate with a STEM degree. They are all brilliant. Nobody should be dropping out.

4. Harvard showed the exact same pattern as Hartwick. Top students graduated. Bottom students dropped out like flies. Even though the bottom Harvard students were objectively brilliant by any global standard. Something else entirely was driving the dropout rate.

5. That something is called relative deprivation theory. Human beings do not measure themselves against the world. They measure themselves against the people immediately around them. A Harvard student in the bottom third does not think I am in the top one percent of all students globally. They think that kid next to me keeps getting everything right and I keep getting it wrong. So they quit.

6. The research from UCLA puts a specific number on it. Your odds of graduating with a STEM degree fall by two percentage points for every ten point increase in the average SAT score of your peers. Choose Harvard over the University of Maryland and your chance of finishing a STEM degree drops by thirty percent. Thirty percent. Just to put a brand name on your resume.

7. Relative position matters more than absolute position when it comes to confidence, motivation, and self belief. The eightieth percentile student at Harvard looks up at the people above them and feels like they cannot compete. The number one student at a state school feels like they can conquer the world. That feeling drives everything.

8. The practical hiring implication is radical. Class rank matters more than institution name. Gladwell argues companies should have a don't ask don't tell policy for where someone went to college. Hiring only from top schools means missing the top students from every other school. That is not smart hiring. That is brand worship.

9. When choosing a college, never go to the best school you get into. Go to the school where you are guaranteed to be near the top of your class. Being a big fish in a smaller pond does not just feel better. It statistically produces better outcomes than being a small fish in the most prestigious pond available.

10. So why do we keep choosing Harvard over Maryland? Because we are flattered. Because the acceptance letter feels like validation. Because we make an irrational decision in a moment of enormous flattery and call it ambition. Gladwell's conclusion is simple and brutal. When we have the chance to join an elite institution we do things that are genuinely against our own interest and we feel great about it the whole time.

[John Jackson @hissgoescobra]

I want to give you guys some facts about General Chappie James. He wasn’t a “DEI” hire—he was a complete badass that had to overcome MORE than any white pilot. Did 178 combat missions—that’s like 7 bomber tours on a B-17 in WWII.

His medal count? Impeccable. 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Air Medals, Two Legions of Merit, and a Defense Distinguished Service Medal. One of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the first four-star African American General.

Hegseth couldn’t sniff the level of soldiering and warrior that was in Chappie’s DNA. God bless him. And Hegseth took down his picture from a hallway like a racist little child, which is what he is.

[FloTrack @FloTrack]

At the LINE 😤👑

🚨 The Men's NCAA Championship ends in a BANG as Jonathan Simms brings UGA back from behind to win the men's 4x400m title, nipping LSU at the line.

Simms split a 42.99 anchor leg.

Final Results
---
1st: Georgia, 2:57.93
2nd: LSU, 2:57.96
3rd: Arkansas, 2:59.87
4th: Purdue, 3:00.56
5th: Iowa, 3:00.65
6th: North Carolina A&T, 3:00.68
7th: Tennessee, 3:00.74
8th: Texas A&M, 3:00.85
9th: Florida, DNF

#CollegeTF and #NCAAOutdoors coverage presented by @Saucony (

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Hegseth removed Chappie James's portrait from the Air Force Art Gallery and left the wall empty.

James flew 179 combat missions across two wars. First Black four-star general in US military history.

Curry passed that portrait every day for a decade. When it came down, he retired.
The wall is still empty.

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

“Man is sick because he is a rebel. The business of Christianity is to reconcile us to God.” — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

[Sola Media @solamediaorg]

Slavery in Old Covenant Israel and the transatlantic slave trade are fundamentally different institutions.

[Frank Turek @DrFrankTurek]

What are your thoughts about this?

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

This article was written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspecitve..👍🏽

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.

We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.

Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."

[Adrian Powell @adrianwrites1]

This is an amazing decrease in time. No one improves their PB by .26 and sets the WR in a single race.

[Adrian Powell @adrianwrites1]

Faith Community Church - Truth for Today. https://t.co/RNFFBsenfj via @YouTube

YouTube channel for the expositional sermons by Pastor Adrian Powell, Faith Community Church in Grove City, OH.

[Jason Kovacs @jasonkovacs]

David Powlison from the 2009 @ABCounselors Conference on Jay Adams and learning from psychology

[Adrian Powell @adrianwrites1]

@TerriGreenUSA Great servant of the Lord who made anyone who read his books a better Christian with greater understanding of the Triune God and his glory.