Showing results by author "Joshua West" in All Categories

Join Rabbi Josh Bennett from Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan as he explores enlightenment moments in life that truly WAKE US UP!!! Welcome to “Waking Up TO LIFE With Rabbi Josh” – a podcast built around conversations with people in our community who have found enlightenment in their lives. While these events may not seem life-changing, our conversation will reveal how these moments shape the way my guests see the world. This informal conversation and insights from Jewish tradition may change your life as well. And if not, it’s just 18 minutes with me! L’chayim! To Life! ...

In today's Church, we see the world beginning to filter in as people bend to the pressures of this life. But in the Scriptures, Jesus calls us to do something radical—to come and die. As we die to our flesh, we will live with the eternal reward found only in Him. But what does that kind of death look like? In Come and Die, Pastor Joshua West explores the Scriptures and extrapolates verses to show just what Christ means when He tells His followers to "take up your cross and follow Me". Are you brave enough to accept His call, or will you continue to live this shallow life?

Have we minimized the message of the cross in an attempt to seem more relevant to an increasingly modern world? Instead of conforming to the image of Christ, have we tried to conform Christ to agree with our image, our lifestyle, and our culture? How does our understanding of truth and love affect our view of the Lord and ourselves? Does our life ultimately line up with the scripture? Do the ways we do our church line up with what Jesus had in mind when he established the church? Do we set the margins for how we live by the climate of our culture or from the scriptures?

Their eight-year-old son was kidnapped by an international human trafficking ring. The authorities cannot find him. Harry and Sharon will stop at nothing to find their son, even when their own lives are in danger as they get too close. Jamie was kidnapped from his school playground, drugged, and taken far away.

Jamie and Sherry were kidnapped over a year ago and they have now been sold to a rich Columbian couple. At first, it seems like a good situation, but it doesn’t last long. They soon learn that Carlos and Maria are not the happy couple they appear to be. As the couple’s relationship nears a breaking point, Jamie and Sherry are once again worried about their fate.

Can American Christianity really reconcile itself to the hard sayings of Jesus and the teaching of Scripture, or have we invented a version suitable for mass consumption that agrees with our Western ideas of fairness, our so-called rights, and the all-important American dream? In order to make God approachable, have we left out the parts of the New Testament we don't like?

Follow Jamie, a 10-year-old American boy who was kidnapped from his school and smuggled out of the country along with dozens of other children. After hearing a shocking story about his parents and why he was kidnapped, he forms a bond with one of his captors and makes friends with some of the other children. Knowing the fate that awaits him and the other children, Jamie fears these newfound relationships won’t last.

Dennis and Sarah Coleman wake up one Sunday to find the message "You’re all grounded!" on both of their phones. They at first think it’s a prank, but they soon figure out that they and their two young children are locked in the house and their communications with the outside world have been severed. They then get a phone call and learn that they are at the mercy of a psychopath hell-bent on punishing them for their sins. They must do as he says if they ever want to leave their house alive.

Three victims have been found, all killed in the same manner. Drowned when their cars were submerged in the Sacramento River. The killer’s trademark is an obscene word written on the side of each victim’s car. The police have few clues, but the victims all have one thing in common: they were aggressive, inconsiderate, mean drivers. They paid the ultimate price. When the vigilante is classified as a serial killer, the FBI steps in to help.

When dozens of children disappear within hours in broad daylight from schools all over North America, it quickly becomes apparent that this isn’t an ordinary kidnapping. Agent Harper and Detective Boyd begin a race against time to find out where the children have gone before it’s too late. As the sun sets, only one child has been found and her captors detained. Will they reveal the clues needed to find the other children?