At the end of the last episode we saw that the war was over and Absolom was dead. Remember that before the battle, David was willing and wanting to risk his life and lead his troops into battle. He wanted to do this for two reasons, first off, it was what kings did, lead their troops into battle. And secondly, he hoped that if he could enter the ba…

David as we find him this episode is nearing the Jordan River, nearing the east of Jerricho. Absalom, his son, has taken Jerusalem and has begun to occupy the famed cedar palace. Phase one of Absalom’s grand scheme is complete and he is about to enact phase two. He turns to his advisors, one is David’s former chief advisor Ahitophel. He tells Absal…

Last episode Pastor Harris taught about Absalom, the son of David and his planned assault on the city of Jerusalem. He planned to surround the city, take it, and kill his father David and ascend to the throne of Jerusalem. David had two options therefore, he could stay and let Absalom’s army lay siege and try and fight them off and this would most …

Welcome to the Relational Grace Podcast where we share the teachings of Pastor Nick Harris who taught us that Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship. I’m your host Jamie Russell, Pastor Harris’s son. Last episode Pastor Harris talked about Absalom, Son of David, as he made his plans for a coup d'etat against his very own father. He lef…

Remember back to the last episode, David was confronted by Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and Nathan had some stunning words to say on God‘s behalf to David. We can only think that these works played on David’s mind again and again. David and Bathseba had eaten bread in secret, but Nathan on behalf of God knew the truth and he had these things…

Last episode we discussed King David committing adultery with the wife of one of his main commanders in his army Uriah the Hittite. To make matters worse she became pregnant and David attempted to cover this up. However David’s plans of a cover up failed. David then attempted another scheme, and this one was of murder. In an ironic turn of events, …

In this teaching Pastor Harris will deal with the topic of midlife crisis. He covers this through discussing three weaknesses of David Ben Jesse. In the first place, David could never control his desire for women. Secondly, David’s allowed himself to have too much idle time on his hands. And thirdly, David began to delegate his divinely oriented re…

Once the issues surrounding building the temple in Jerusalem and who would build it were resolved, David decided to deal decisively with the Philistines. Bringing the war into the Philistine homeland for the first time and after several battles were fought the Philistines would never be a factor again. Israel would now control the major trade route…

In this episode Pastor Harris reminds us about the prophesies of Nathan and provides a lot of back knowledge leading into this topic. More specifically Pastor Harris reminds us that God sent the prophet Nathan to David with certain instructions and a grave warning. That warning was this, just because a temple to God stood in their midst, it did not…

In this teaching we will learn more about Saul and David. Saul had two daughters, Miram and Michael (we call her Michael instead of MiChal). At the time, Israel had a problem with the philistines. They did not like Isreal or the Jewish people. One day the army of the Philistines were camped on one hill and the Isrealites were camped on the other. I…

Last episode we discussed David’s plan for spiritual renewal for the nation of Israel. It was a fairly simple plan. He was going to introduce a worship revolution. It was going to be something the Hebrew religion and the world at large had never seen. The plan really focused on the Ark of the Covenant that he considered to be Israel’s greatest trea…

Following the exodus when Israel had come into the land of Canan the priests brought the Tabernacle to the town of Shiloh. The Tabernacle would remain here for 200 years. In time, there was a battle with the Philistines over a Hebrew highway. The high priests were in charge of the tabernacle and these high priests were the sons of Eli. When the Isr…

Last teaching Pastor Harris discussed David returning after he had defeated the Amalekites. At the same time David was returning to Ziklag, Saul had met his end and been defeated by the Philistines. Around that same time a different Amilkite arrives with a message that Saul had been slain along with a conflicting story. Last episode we heard that S…

Last episode we talked about David and his big battle with the Amalekites in the Negev. While that was going on with him, the exact opposite was going on with Saul. Saul was encountering Israel's old enemy the Philistines. They had amassed a massive army and to this point the Isrealites had been successful in defeating them by fighting them off as …

The events of first samuel chapter 26 and first samuel chapter 24 look very similar if not identical, but in fact they are remarkably different. Where they are similar in both instances Saul, the King of Israel is pursuing David. Saul fails, and God delivers him into the hands of David, who chooses to do nothing about it and to release him because …

In our last teaching we saw David confront Saul at the Oasis of Ein Gedi, and there we saw a great part of David’s character revealed. One thing we saw revealed was his boldness, his courage and that he really trusted in God. He was able to stand up and confront Saul because he believed that God would defend him and that God would be in control. We…

We continue to follow the life of David in our current series. In this episode we will touch on the topic of vengeance. The need for vengeance is as old as human nature. Vengeance can be overwhelming. Let’s listen to Pastor Harris as he walks us through how David handles vengeance against King Saul. Finally Pastor Harris will provide us three thing…

Have you ever experienced exceptional success in life like that of David? After what David accomplished by saving his entire nation from slavery and bondage by conquering the undefeatable foe. Who knows what it would be like to experience such success and fame like David did. In the last episode Pastor Harris talks about five crutches that got knoc…

As we continue on with our second episode of this new Saga of David series I continue to think about episode one and how Pastor Harris focused on Samuel and the strange circumstance he found himself in when it came to anointing the next king of Israel. It was an interesting approach to kicking off a teaching about the life of David. Similarly, one …

This new series is a large and in-depth study of Pastor Harris’s which covers the man after God’s own heart, King David. As always, Pastor Harris’s approach to the life of David is very unique and we hope will touch the lives of our listeners, teaching after teaching. This series is over 20 episodes in length and rightfully so, there is so much to …

This episode wraps up our current series titled “Courage and Confrontation” which follows the life and times of Elijah. This has been a truly amazing series and has come with God’s perfect timing. I hope these teachings have encouraged everyone who listens. I have to tell you all, I love this specific episode, I think it really places things into c…

In this episode Pastor Harris picks back up with Elijah returning to the kingdom of Israel after his sojourn at Mount Sinai, at least two and maybe three years had passed before Elijah made a reappearance. We can determine this from several situations that are recorded in I Kings. In the first place, in I Kings 21, we find a vineyard thriving in Je…

Before I jump into this intro. I think it is important that we all remember that these teachings we are listening to, even the introduction I am about to read were delivered back in 2011. It continues to be so interesting how many of these thoughts we are about to hear remain true still today. We all know that we live in strange and troubling times…

As we dive into another episode of the “Courage and Confrontation” I wanted to remind everyone that you can visit Courage.ArielMinistries.com for more details and aggregate content around these teachings on the life and times of Elijah. In this episode we follow along as Elijah’s fear sets in and he takes flight from the evil queen Jezebel. Pastor …

In our last episode we saw that the fire had fallen on the sacrifice that Elijah had presented at Mount Carmel with such veracity that the wood, the sacrifice, and even the stones of the altar were reduced to ashes in a moment. In addition the people of Israel who had gathered on Mount Carmel saw all of this and instantly they reached the conclusio…

By now we have all seen that the prophet Elijah was an amazing human being. Even his name is amazing. In the Hebrew language the name Elijah means, "Yahweh is my God." Obviously, his name defined his mission. He sought to demonstrate to his people that Yahweh is not only God but He is the only true and living God We have seen that at the time Elija…

In this series of sermons on the life and times of Elijah we saw how a man known as Elijah the Tishbite appeared before the King of Israel, Ahab ben Omri, bringing a very simple message. He said, "It ain't gonna rain no more! Not until I say so!" And then the prophet disappeared for the next three and a half years. For that entire period of time, G…

In the last episode, we left the prophet Elijah deep in what can only be called Gentile country. If you remember, God had sent him to the Phoenician village of Zarephath which was located less than 10 miles from what the people of Israel believed to be Satan's headquarters on earth, the city of Tyre. In fact, on several occasions Satan is called, "…

Last week we watched as the story that supplied water for the prophet Elijah dried up, and the ravens which brought him bread and meat ceased to appear. It did not take Elijah long to realize that this phase of his life, the training phase, was now over. And as he stood there gazing along the great Wadi Hareet, the voice of God spoke to him again, …

As we continue the Courage and Confrontation series we remember that God had always prepared men to do the work that He calls them to do. In the days of King Ahab of Israel, the situation called for a man like Elijah the Tishbite; an Elijah was ready to do the job; at least in part. The easy part was to march into the throne room of Ahab and to ann…

This series will be titled Courage and Confrontation. Pastor Harris will follow Elijah the Tishbite. We will follow him from insignificance and we will watch God take him and turn him into one of the giants of the Biblical era. The Bible will remind us that Elijah was more like us than we could even imagine. It is important that we all recognise an…

This episode marks the final teaching of the Spiritual Gifts teaching series. What a fascinating teaching Pastor Harris has saved for the last. I have to admit I have probably listened to this teaching over five times to fully understand everything Pastor Harris was trying to get across to us. In this Pastor Harris will cover the nine manifestation…

In this episode Pastor Harris will be continuing his teaching on the topic of the manifestation gift of tongues. More specifically he will begin this teaching discussing the function of the gift of tongues and he will end it by discussing the final manifestation gift which is the gift of the interpretation of tongues. There is quite a bit of detail…

After the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, Rich Mullins contacted First United Methodist Church after their church building had been destroyed. He surprised the congregation on Father's Day that June with a concert they would never forget. Recent Hi8 video footage was found of this day and we are very excited to share it with those that remember that…

Pastor Harris will continue on in his teachings on the Spiritual Gifts. Specifically his teachings on the Manifestation Gifts. In the last episode Pastor Harris taught us about the gift of prophecy as it relates to the idea of manifestations, he also covered the gift of discerning spirits. In this teaching he will begin covering the eighth and nint…

In this episode we will continue learning more about the individual Manifestation Gifts. In the last several episodes Pastor Harris has taught us about the manifestation gifts of the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, faith and healing. In this teaching Pastor Harris will discuss three more of the Manifestation Gifts. He will cover the gift of …

In this episode Pastor Harris will continue teaching on the eleven Manifestation Gifts. More specifically he’ll cover the gift of Faith and the gift of Healing. Not only that, he will use two stories from his life to illustrate these gifts. I won’t give much away on these stories but I will tease them by saying they may or may not include a Volvo a…

In this episode of our teaching series on the Spiritual Gifts, we will continue to dive into the final category of gifts that Pastor Harris refers to as the Manifestation Gifts. The first category consists of the seven motivational gifts, the second category consists of the eleven equipping gifts, also called ministry gifts. There are a total of ni…

As we continue this Spiritual Gifts teaching series, Pastor Harris has made his way through what he calls the Motivational Gifts and then into the Equipping Gifts, which as a reminder are also referred to as the Ministry Gifts. We’ll now dive further into another subsection of the Equipping Gifts which Pastor Harris reluctantly refers to as the “mi…

I hope everyone has been enjoying this Spiritual Gifts teaching series. This episode will mark our seventh lesson in this series in which Pasto Harris will continue his teachings on the equipping gifts, which he also refers to as the ministry gifts. In the last episode her taught us about the ministry gifts of the apostles, the prophets, and the ev…

As Pastor Harris continues to walk us through the Spiritual Gifts, in the last episode he completed his teachings of what he refers to as the Motivational Gifts, or in the Greek, these are referred to as the CHARISMATA. In this episode he will get into the Equipping Gifts, or in the Greek, these are referred to as the DOMATA. Being equipped, as we …

In the last four episodes, Pastor Harris has been teaching about each of the spiritual gifts, gifts that he refers to as the “motivational gifts”. In this teaching, he’ll cover the last two of those motivational gifts, which include the gift of administration and the gift of empathy. It has been great taking a deeper dive into each of these gifts a…

n this teaching Pastor Harris will follow a similar format as our last episode, this time he’ll cover the motivational gift of exhortation and will then cover the motivational gift of giving. He’ll walk us through what both of these gifts entail, and will wrap up each one listing seven dominant characteristics for both of these gifts. Support the S…

In this teaching Pastor Harris will discuss two more Spiritual Gifts, two that he has categorized as motivational gifts. One is the gift of servanthood, and the other is the gift of teaching. It really is fascinating to listen to these gift bearer's descriptions. Hopefully you all are having a similar experience as I am, learning about your own gif…

As always we hope everyone enjoyed our introductory teaching on the Spiritual Gifts. I for one am very intrigued with the three categories of gifts that Pastor Harris has provided for us. Of those three categories I am referring to, one contains 7 motivational gifts, another contains 11 equipping gifts and another contains 7 manifestation gifts. I …

In this episode we kick off one of our largest teaching series to date; Pastor Harris is going to walk us through the Spiritual Gifts. What are the spiritual gifts? How many of them are there? How do we know which gifts we have? There are so many questions to be answered on this topic. In this episode Pastor Harris will examine these God given abil…

Given the nature of this podcast and how it is dependent on past recordings, it is inevitable that we are going to run into instances where we simply don’t have the full recording of the teachings. Well sadly on this final teaching of dad’s 2017 Advent series it seems that the entire teaching was not captured successfully. However, I say we don’t l…

This episode marks the third week of this Advenseries. It is that time when we remember God’s decision to become a man, and when we look ahead with anticipation to his second coming to establish his kingdom on earth. The magnitude of this first aspect of Advent, God’s decision to become a man is truly incredible. Just think about it! The one true G…

In this episode we will jump into the second episode of our Advent series this year titled, “The Christ of Christmas”. Pastor Harris will tell us more about the “Little town of Bethlehem” which was made famous by the great Christmas carol that we all have sung so many times. Bethlehem is located some six miles south of the city of Jerusalem near th…

Now if the Bible clearly teaches that when Jesus entered the life of this world, He was born in a land, and to a people who enjoyed a unique relationship with God. We would imagine, of course, that these people would welcome Him with open arms. Unfortunately, none of these things would prove to be true. Rather than being received with open arms, He…