What have you lost because of COVID-19?

It might be your loved ones. Or your job. Or your sense of normalcy. Whatever it is, there’s a word for the emotion you feel because of that loss:

Grief.

Seeing it as such is only the first step. The next step is deciding what you’ll do with your grief.

It’s not up to you whether something happened to you. And it’s not up to you what emotion you feel because of what happened to you. But it is up to you what you do with your grief. And yes, your grief will find expression.

Bottling up your grief leads to health problems ranging from digestive issues to heart problems. Taking out your grief on the people around you leads to relational problems. Pretending your grief doesn’t matter can lead to all sorts of mental health issues.

This is why Jesus speaks very directly about what he wants you to do with what you feel, and why I made a video on what Jesus says about your grief.

I hope you’re blessed by it.

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? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

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? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=NIV

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☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

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ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

anytime we experience loss it doesn’t
just have to be the death of a loved one
it might be the loss of a relationship
or the loss of health or the loss of
normalcy or the loss of a job the
emotions that we feel because of the
loss we’ve experienced that’s called
grief and Jesus has some very specific
things that he wants you to do with your
grief let’s talk about it everybody my
name is crisp Avila and welcome to what
Jesus says about where Jesus speaks for
himself so you can respond for yourself
and don’t forget to hit like and
subscribe so you can stay up to date on
what Jesus says about topics important
to you topics like what Jesus says about
grief now you might imagine Christians
and followers of Jesus as people who are
happy all the time and when bad things
happen they just bury their head in the
sand because after all if you’re not
happy then you’re not very holy but when
you look at what Jesus says about grief
you see that that’s not the picture like
at all in fact there’s this one time
where Jesus is talking to a crowd of
people and he tells them a series of
perplexing contrasting kind of
statements and right in the middle of it
he says blessed are those who mourn for
they will be comforted now if you’re
hearing that and you’re going wait what
that doesn’t make sense and then you’re
not alone because everyone in that crowd
had kind of the same reaction going away
Jesus what do you mean blessed are those
who mourn especially when you consider
that the word blessed that he uses could
also be translated as happy so literally
he’s saying happy are the sad I know
right but that’s where the second half
of Jesus’s statement becomes important
because he says happy are the sad for
they will be comforted and this might
sound wishy-washy to you but actually
modern psychology kind of agrees with
Jesus here we know today that if you
suppress or repress your grief you’ll
let it out in unhealthy ways if you
don’t let it out you’ll act it out and
grief isn’t just something you
experience with the death of a loved one
grief can be something you experience
because of a loss of a job or loss of
help or loss of a relationship or the
loss of normalcy and when we stop
playing the tough-guy Act keeping a
stiff upper lip and don’t bother anyone
and we start more
and expressing our grief that’s where we
start to find healing and hope or in the
words of Jesus comforts so how do we do
this well the first thing you can do is
to have a conversation with somebody who
loves you and tell them how you’re
feeling and in that conversation you’ll
start to excavate the emotions you’re
feeling and be able to name them but to
really live out what Jesus says about
grief that’s a conversation he wants you
to have with God so you might just start
with dear God I am grieving the loss of
dot dot dot and then you fill in the
blank yourself it might be dear God I’m
grieving the loss of my spouse or dear
God I am grieving a loss of my health or
my income whatever it might be for you
just tell him and a happier blessed
version of you is waiting on the other
side now Jesus says a whole lot about a
whole lot that’s why I’d be honored if
you would hit like and subscribe so you
can stay up-to-date on what Jesus says
about topics important to you
also I’ve got some other videos that
will maybe help you in your time of
grief that you can check out right here
thanks so much and we’ll see you soon

Nothing can blur the lines of love and romance like Valentine’s Day. But the euphoria of romantic love fades as quickly as the bouquet of flowers on your countertop. To find the kind of love that lasts, we need to look somewhere else.

Cue Jesus. And when you listen to what Jesus says about love, you start to get the feeling that Jesus thinks true love isn’t fair. It’s unjust, even. And involves more giving than getting.

Since this idea on love isn’t very popular, I decided to get together with Christians and non-Christians to hear their reactions to Jesus’ teaching that love isn’t fair.

What would you add to the conversation?

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✅ Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so you can stay up to date on What Jesus Says About topics important to you:
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? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

– – –

? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=NIV

– – –

☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

– – –

ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

hey everybody my name is crisp Avila and
welcome to what Jesus says about where
Jesus speaks for himself so you can
respond for yourself and don’t forget to
hit subscribe so you can stay up to date
on what Jesus says about topics
important to you now if you haven’t
already gotten your Valentine’s candy
and card good luck because when you go
to Walgreens you’re gonna be picking
some leftovers quick tip at this point
if you haven’t bought anything yet just
buy a blank card and write inside of
that every year I buy my wife some
Russell Stover chocolates because she
loves these and then she likes to sit
there and look at them and try to guess
what’s inside and it’s a good excuse if
you don’t like what you get it’s not
fair just go back and get another mine
until you like what you get I like this
one a lot of Korman when it comes to
chocolate you can go back and get
another piece if you didn’t like what
you got but that’s not the way love
works at least according to Jesus
obviously this isn’t a very popular
teaching so I wanted to have some
cameras rolling while Christians and
non-christians reacted to Jesus is
teaching that love isn’t fair
so you guys go ahead and check it out
I’m gonna have another piece of candy so
Jesus is teaching on love and his idea
of love I think we would all go okay
that’s good that Jesus is a loving guy
but then when we like start to actually
dig in and what he meant and his idea
and concept of what it was to love
people that liked it it challenges and
unsettles us and he says you’ve heard it
said I’ve heard eye and tooth for a
tooth but I tell you don’t resist an
evil person
if anyone slaps you on the right cheek
turn to them the other cheek also and if
anyone wants to sue you and take your
shirt
hand over your coat as well and if
anyone forces you to go one mile go with
them two miles you’ve heard it said love
your neighbor and hate your enemy but I
tell you love your enemies and pray for
those who will press you I mean if you
guys have ever been robbed after you
were robbed how would you have heard
these words from Jesus differently than
I am now I definitely would have
processed it differently but I probably
wouldn’t have heard that
words would be hard to take them words
and it feels inside like he’s saying be
a doorman just take anything and just be
a doorman
I feel like you’re like so angry that
it’s hard to even hear do what’s right
because you just see bread when someone
wrongs me my first reaction is oh it’s
on like let me put me think about how I
can get you back so how do you reconcile
that as a follower pieces that you don’t
do that well he forgives me anyway
I’m not attacked that very often you
know often I mean how do you you just
hope you don’t get tested in that area
not sure that any religion has really
done a great job at love your enemies it
depends I see Jesus talking about
genuine retaliation and not I mean
there’s infighting there’s like a level
of self-defense right I mean there’s a
level of just protecting yourself yeah I
mean you know I think there’s some
context they’re buying Jesus’s words
about striking someone on one cheek
there may be some level of
self-protection that might be
appropriate well then why didn’t he say
that it seems like he says love your
enemy and now you’re like justifying
well well hold on let’s define what
enemy unless define what love really
looks like I mean am I wrong all right
you just think no I think you’re right
but I think even as Kurt no one’s
perfect so of course we don’t do exactly
like like yeah we’re supposed to
probably do that but we don’t well I
think he’s just trying to teach peace
and that there’s a better way you know
violence can feed more violence but
someone’s eventually gonna have to stop
to make a change are you asking me like
I four and I like do I want them to I
mean I would want the person to be
caught or punished but I wouldn’t seek
out revenge but this is beyond just
justice justice would be an eye for an
eye
he’s saying the person who strikes to
give the cheek person who grabs you give
them something else no they take the
coat okay give me your shirt oh there
you go one month go – I don’t see
justice in it I actually see injustice
and that he’s asking me
to not only be taken from but then to
give it could just be that Jesus is
throwing down moral imperatives here
telling us what to do or not to do and
there’s no meaning to it
where it could be that there’s actually
something really meaningful behind it is
if we knew how you know powerful it
could be if we live that way as a
society if we know powerful it could be
for us personally in our own lives and
our own well-being to live that way I
think it would make us look at this
teaching differently it’s an interesting
conversation I think ultimately what
Jesus is saying is that in love you end
up giving a whole lot more than you end
up receiving at least that’s the way it
appears on the surface but I’d love to
hear your thoughts how do you respond to
what Jesus teaches how do you respond to
what you heard around that table go
ahead and leave your comments below also
while you’re doing that I’ve got a
playlist over here of some of the other
reaction videos go ahead and take a look
and we’ll see you soon
what do you call butterfingers is that
like it’s like a Butterfinger is that
like a nougat no it’s not nougat what is
that
toffee no what is that

Every day leading up to Christmas I’ll count down the “25 Things Jesus Says About Christmas” to see how it changes the way you and I celebrate the season when we go straight to the source!

After #19 of the countdown, you’ll have a whole new thought to consider whenever you hear the song, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”.

#Vlogmas

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? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

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? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A17-20&version=NIV

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☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

– – –

ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

Merry Christmas my name is Chris Pavle
and we’re talking about the 25 things
that Jesus says about Christmas to see
how it changes the way you and I
celebrate the season when we go straight
to the source now this time of year
every kid in the back of their mind
they’re thinking am I on Santa’s naughty
list or nice list but as we see in
number 19 of our countdown Jesus thinks
there’s another list that you and I
should be concerned with so this is one
time that Jesus is sitting on a hillside
he’s teaching a bunch of people about
different social issues and then right
before he goes into this long discussion
about the Jewish law called the Torah he
kind of gives this disclaimer and and
he’s like don’t miss here me guys listen
listen I did not come to abolish the law
but to fulfill it
now this Jewish law that Jesus is
talking about is a lot like our law I
had a list of things that you’re not
supposed to do like we would say don’t
go speeding or don’t rob a convenience
store or something like that but but
this Jewish law also had a list of
things that you should do and so it
wasn’t just what you shouldn’t do it’s
what you should do and for the people of
Israel this Jewish law was the criteria
that would determine whether you were on
God’s naughty or nice list and that’s
what makes Jesus’s words so profound is
because he’s saying he came to fulfill
the law all of the legal requirements he
took care of them for all of the
lawbreakers he says that he’s doing so
not to do away with the idea of right
and wrong but to right
what’s wrong now you may not follow the
Ten Commandments for the Jewish law but
you have your own moral compass and even
by your own standards you’ve fallen
short if you’re anything like me give me
about a minute I can come up with a
pretty long list of things that I
shouldn’t have done that I did do and
things I should have done that I didn’t
do so how does this change the way that
we celebrate our season well this one’s
easy and it’s kind of silly but about
300 times this next month you’re going
to hear Bruce Springsteen sing
when he gets to the part of the song
where he says he’s making a list he’s
checking it twice
use that moment to sit there and
consider all of the broken promises that
you made that you didn’t fulfill the
things you said you should have done
that you didn’t do and the things you
shouldn’t have done that you did do you
don’t have to wait till New Year’s Eve
to think about all the things that you
want to change you can start right now
and when you do that you’re thinking
about Jesus in a new way and you’re on
your way to a more fulfilling Christmas
no this isn’t all that Jesus says about
Christmas that’s why we got a playlist
right over here of the other 25 things
Jesus says about Christmas make sure you
check that out also don’t forget to hit
like and subscribe thanks so much

When is cheating on someone actually “cheating”?

Most people would agree that if you’re married and you have sex with someone who isn’t your spouse, that’s cheating. And most people would say it’s unfaithful to kiss someone else. But is flirting infidelity? Or if your spouse calls their ex just to catch up–does that qualify as betrayal?

Regardless of your answer, there’s a significant chance your significant other has a different definition of cheating than you do. And when two people in a relationship have a differing “cheater meter”, conflict is inevitable. Suddenly, the relationship once full of potential is now full of mistrust, all because two people have differing ideas of what “cheating” means.

Surprisingly enough, what Jesus says about sex actually helps you define what is (and isn’t) cheating, and goes a long way to helping you have a happy and healthy relationship.

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✅ Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so you can stay up to date on What Jesus Says About topics important to you:
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? New videos drop every Thursday at 12PM CST!

– – –

? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=NIV

– – –

☞ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_paavola

– – –

ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT
This channel is a quick and easy place for you to find What Jesus Says About topics important to you.

No 30-minute sermons. No five-dollar words. No hard sell. We just let Jesus speak for Himself so you can respond for yourself.

WHY I DO THIS
What Jesus Says About is sponsored by THRED.org, an organization committed to open and honest conversations about life, faith, and Jesus. You should check them out on the interwebs at: https://www.thred.org

I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

– So when is cheating on
someone actually cheating?
[upbeat music]
Hey, everybody, my name is Chris Paavola
and welcome to “What Jesus Says About,”
where Jesus speaks for himself,
so you can respond for yourself.
And don’t forget to hit like and subscribe
and that little bell, so
you can say up-to-date
on what Jesus says about
topics important to you.
So okay, if you’re
married, and you have sex
with somebody who isn’t your
spouse, that’s cheating.
But if you’re married and
you kiss somebody else,
is that cheating?
Okay, okay, but what
about if you’re married,
and then you just kind of
flirt with somebody else,
is that cheating?
It’s just flirting.
Or flip it, let’s say you’re
married and your spouse calls
an ex just to catch up
and talk about things,
is that cheating?
Now surprisingly enough,
what Jesus says about sex
actually will help you define
what is and isn’t cheating.
The word Jesus would
use to describe cheating
is this word adultery.
And there’s this one time
where he’s sitting with a group of people,
trying to describe and
define this word adultery,
and it seems like everyone
who’s listening to him
is super proud and self-righteous
that they’re not adulterers,
because they’ve never had sex
with anyone who isn’t their spouse.
So Jesus says to them,
“You have heard it said,
“‘Thou shall not commit adultery,'”
and you can kinda see the crowd.
They’re sitting there going,
“Yep, I’ve heard that,
“and I’ve never committed adultery.
“My spouse is right here,
never cheated on her,”
and there’s another guy who’s
like, “I’m not even married.
“I’ve never committed adultery.”
And Jesus kinda interrupts
their thoughts and says,
“Okay, but I tell you
anyone who looks lustfully
“at another woman has
already committed adultery
“with them in their heart.”
[crickets chirping]
Wait, what?
And what Jesus is saying
is adultery isn’t so
much about your actions.
It’s about your heart,
and that really shouldn’t surprise us.
That’s totally Jesus’ M.O.
But Jesus throws this other word in there
that helps define adultery
and when cheating is cheating.
It’s this word lust.
Lust is the line.
So let’s go back to
our cheater meter here.
If you’re married, can you kiss somebody
who isn’t your spouse?
Well, not if you do
this thing called lust.
Or if you’re married, can
you have a long phone call
and flirt with somebody
who isn’t your spouse?
Well, not if you do
this thing called lust.
And now it doesn’t even matter
if you’re married or not,
because if you’re looking at somebody
or you’re looking at an image or a video,
and your heart crosses
into this line called
lust, that’s cheating.
Lust is the line.
And now this raises a
really interesting question.
How do you define lust?
Like, really, take a
moment and just think.
How do you define lust?
At first glance, I was like,
“Oh, that’s an easy word,”
but the more I think about it,
this lust of the heart thing,
it’s a really hard word to define.
So I’d love to hear your definition.
What is your definition of lust?
Leave it in the comment section below.
According to Jesus, when you take the time
to define this word lust,
you are taking a step towards
healthier relationships.

Join us for our next large group gathering: Sunday, July 27th at 10AM