Reflective Bible Study

I know you were expecting this week to begin wrapping up our past year of podcasts, however, after recording last week’s episode, I realized that this year has an extra Thursday, or an extra Monday in the case of the flashback episodes. Because of this, instead of taking a week off, which was one possible idea, I thought it might be neat to use these semi-regular extra days to insert a bonus episode every few years when this happens, and to use these bonus episodes to focus on some of the places Jesus shows up that are not specifically in the gospels.

With all that said, welcome to a bonus episode.

When we look for examples of Jesus being present in books other than the gospels, we don’t need to look any further for an example than the first few verses in the book of Acts. In Luke’s introduction to the book of Acts, he begins by sharing some verses about Jesus’ last days on earth to set the stage for what the disciples would do next. In these few verses, we discover some amazing things about Jesus and about His return that are worth us paying attention to.

Let’s read what Luke describes for us in the book of Acts, chapter 1, using the God’s Word Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke writes:

¹ In my first book, Theophilus, I wrote about what Jesus began to do and teach. This included everything from the beginning of his life ² until the day he was taken to heaven. Before he was taken to heaven, he gave instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen.

³ After his death Jesus showed the apostles a lot of convincing evidence that he was alive. For 40 days he appeared to them and talked with them about God’s kingdom.

⁴ Once, while he was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, “I’ve told you what the Father promises: ⁵ John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ So when the apostles came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he had said this, he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.

¹⁰ They were staring into the sky as he departed. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood near them. ¹¹ They asked, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking at the sky? Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives. It is near Jerusalem, about half a mile away.

In this passage, we get to see a little better overview picture of Jesus’ final days on earth before He returned to heaven. From just reading the gospels themselves, it might seem like Jesus was resurrected, popped in a few times to shock and surprise His disciples, before ultimately disappearing into heaven never to be seen from again.

However, from the way Luke introduces us to what Jesus’ post-resurrection days were like, he describes how Jesus regularly met with and spent time with the disciples. This happened for several weeks following the resurrection leading up to the event called the ascension, when Jesus officially returned to heaven.

As we read this passage, two different sections stood out in my mind that I want to draw our attention to.

The first part of our passage that stood out in my mind is when the disciples ask Jesus if this was the time when He would restore the Jewish nation. Jesus responded to their question with two big ideas. First, Jesus says in verse 7 that “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority.” Next, Jesus tells them in verse 8 that they “will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In this two-verse response, we see a clear indicator where the disciples were placing their focus, and where Jesus challenges them to put their focus instead. In Jesus’ response, He challenges the disciples to not focus on the prophetic future events, but instead to focus on receiving the Holy Spirit and on being witnesses for Jesus throughout the whole world. In many ways, I think this is a challenge for all God’s people throughout the remainder of history. All God’s people should place a greater focus on receiving the Holy Spirit and on being Jesus’ witnesses in the world around us than we should place on figuring out the dates and times that are predicted in prophecy.

This does not mean we shouldn’t focus on prophecy. Instead, the challenge here is to not focus on understanding prophecy more than we focus on being witnesses to our world through the leading, guiding, and power of the Holy Spirit.

The other portion of this passage that stood out to me as we read this passage together is how Jesus leaves, and how the two men in white describe Jesus’ return. Luke describes Jesus’ departure simply by saying in verse 9, “he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.”

This event happened on the Mount of Olives, and the men in white, who are understood to be angels that God sent with a message for the disciples, tell them that “Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

Some people understand this to mean that when Jesus returns, He will come in a cloud, and then return to earth, setting His feet first on the Mount of Olives exactly where His feet left. However, this might be reading too much into the text. The only description we have of Jesus’ ascension is that He was hidden by a cloud from their sight. Only in the transition statement at the end of our passage do we discover where this event actually takes place.

The safest understanding of this passage is that Jesus’ return will be concealed with a cloud, before He ultimately becomes visible. Those in the first century did not understand Jesus’ return to be one that ends on earth. Instead, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 that “The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord.”

When Jesus returns, it will be in the same way that He left. He will be concealed in a cloud before becoming visible, and when He becomes visible, we will be caught up into the clouds to meet Him, both those of us who have died and those of us who are still alive when He returns.

We have no idea when God’s timing for Jesus’ return will actually be, nor should we put a lot of focus on trying to figure this out. Instead, like Jesus challenged His disciples to do, we should focus instead on receiving the Holy Spirit and being witnesses for Jesus!

As we come to the end of this bonus episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, be sure to seek God first and to focus each day on asking the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and be present in your lives, and then live each day as a witness for Jesus. Live your life in a way that brings God glory and praise.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn exactly what God wants you to learn. While other people can give you ideas to think about, always take what you learn and study it out from the Bible with prayer to determine if it is spiritual truth. Through prayer, Bible Study, and living a life that glorifies God, we will be the best witnesses we can be for Him here on this earth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never let life derail you from living the life God has planned for you to live, and never stop short of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Over our past year of podcasting, we have moved through the gospel of John looking closely at each event John includes. This episode marks the conclusion of this year and the last episode where we focus in on John’s gospel. This also means we will be focusing in on the grand finale of John’s gospel.

The event we will be looking at for this episode began in our last episode. The last chapter in John contains one last fishing miracle and we stopped reading as Jesus and a group of disciples had sat down on the shore to eat breakfast after Jesus had shown up and turned their unproductive night of fishing into a miraculous catch.

Our passage for this episode picks up at the end of this meal, and it focuses on Jesus’ conversation with one disciple who may have believed he was no longer worthy to be a disciple. Let’s read about what happened.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, John tells us that:

¹⁵ After they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the other disciples do?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Jesus asked him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter felt sad because Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” So Peter said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ I can guarantee this truth: When you were young, you would get ready to go where you wanted. But when you’re old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will get you ready to take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to show by what kind of death Peter would bring glory to God. After saying this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me!”

²⁰ Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. That disciple was following them. He was the one who leaned against Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

²² Jesus said to Peter, “If I want him to live until I come again, how does that concern you? Follow me!” ²³ So a rumor that that disciple wouldn’t die spread among Jesus’ followers. But Jesus didn’t say that he wouldn’t die. What Jesus said was, “If I want him to live until I come again, how does that concern you?”

²⁴ This disciple was an eyewitness of these things and wrote them down. We know that what he says is true.

²⁵ Jesus also did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the world wouldn’t have enough room for the books that would be written.

With this last verse about Jesus having done many other things, John’s gospel ends.

As I look over how John concludes his gospel story, I am struck by a theme that the entire Bible contains, but a theme that is really exemplified in this last event John includes. The theme I see in this passage is redemption.

Of all the disciples’ failures throughout the entire gospel record, the most famous one is likely Peter’s denial. I cannot think of another failure greater than this in all the gospels. However, while all four gospel writers focus in on how Peter denied Jesus on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, and how all four gospels include Jesus predicting Peter would do so that very night, only John’s gospel includes Peter’s redemption.

While I don’t know why only John included this event, I am glad he did, because it makes for the perfect conclusion to the gospel story. Jesus’ most famous and outspoken disciple, fell the farthest, but even with his failure, Peter was not beyond God’s grace or Jesus’ forgiveness!

Even though Peter had let Jesus down at the point when Jesus would have needed Peter the most, at least by the world’s standards, Jesus is more than willing to forgive Peter when given the chance.

I had thought about including a brief bit about how Jesus and Peter’s discussion use different words for love, and how each of these three questions echoed Peter’s three denials. I had thought about drawing attention onto how each of Jesus’ three challenges builds on the ones shared before it, and how each of these three challenges are similar but also distinct. I had also thought about drawing attention onto Peter’s question to Jesus about John.

However, at this point of our episode, with the major theme of redemption in view, I don’t think these nuances are as significant as the huge theme of redemption. While Jesus asked Peter three questions, Peter gave Jesus three responses, and Jesus challenged Peter three times with similar tasks, the biggest takeaway I can find in this passage is in the two words Jesus tells Peter after all of this. Verse 19 ends with Jesus’ big invitation to Peter: “Follow me!”

Jesus had called all of His disciples to follow Him early on in His ministry. However, Jesus extends this additional invitation to Peter most likely because Peter believed he had blown it and failed.

However, Peter’s second invitation is different from the first. While there are plenty of similarities between both of Peter’s invitations, Peter’s second invitation comes with all the knowledge of failure, and all the history Peter and Jesus had together.

In a similar way, for some people, beginning a brand new life with Jesus is amazing and exciting. For someone who has never followed Jesus before, stepping out in faith with Jesus feels like the beginning of an amazing adventure.

However, someone who has been a Christian for a period of their life but then fallen away might feel as though they have lost their chance. Being a Christian, then leaving for any reason might make one feel as though they will never be welcomed back.

If I just described you, understand that you might feel exactly like Peter did: Peter felt like a failure. In many ways, Jesus’ questions to Peter may have felt as though Jesus was rubbing in the failure.

However, at the end of Jesus questions for Peter, Jesus offers Peter a second chance to follow. Jesus knows that Peter’s story wasn’t over, and that Peter’s failure was something that He could use to transform Peter into the evangelist He created Peter to be.

In your life, I don’t know what you have gone through, been through, or how many times you have failed God. However, I do know that like Peter, Jesus is willing to invite you back if you are willing to return to Him. John ends his gospel story with the redemption of the disciple who failed Jesus in the most public way, and before history has come to a close, Jesus wants to redeem you out of wherever you are and into a new life with Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to return to Him if you have fallen away or failed Him. Know that like Peter, Jesus’ second invitation to you has no false pretenses. Jesus invites us back to Him even when we have failed because that is who Jesus is and that shows just how much God loves us. If you have doubted God’s love, let Peter’s redemption remind you that God loves you even when you fail Him.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God. With a personal relationship with God that is built on prayer and study, discover how God wants to use you to impact the world for Him, and discover how with the Holy Spirit, your life can be an amazing witness for God even if you have failed Him in a major way.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we begin our last regular episode in our year focusing in on Mark’s gospel, we turn our attention onto the last portion of Mark’s gospel’s longer conclusion. As I shared more fully in our last two episodes, scholars have doubts about whether Mark wrote this conclusion or whether this conclusion was added by a scribe later on because Mark’s gospel didn’t seem to have an ending or its original ending was lost.

However, even if Mark didn’t write this conclusion to his gospel, we can learn some powerful insights in how the author of this conclusion summarized the last events in Jesus’ life.

In the last half of this conclusion, we turn our attention to the last great commission Jesus gives to the disciples. While many people focus in on Matthew’s version of Jesus’ great commission, the way the author of Mark’s gospel’s longer conclusion frames Jesus’ message is powerful to focus in on.

With that said, let’s read what this author wrote. Our passage for this episode is found at the end of Mark’s gospel, in chapter 16, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 15:

¹⁵ Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone. ¹⁶ Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished. ¹⁷ And those who believe will be able to do these things as proof: They will use my name to force out demons. They will speak in new languages. ¹⁸ They will pick up snakes and drink poison without being hurt. They will touch the sick, and the sick will be healed.”

¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus said these things to his followers, he was carried up into heaven, and he sat at the right side of God. ²⁰ The followers went everywhere in the world and told the Good News to people, and the Lord helped them. The Lord proved that the Good News they told was true by giving them power to work miracles.

In this last section of Mark’s longer conclusion, we see a number of signs shared that tell us God was with the earlier disciples. This conclusion draws our attention to the miracles that those who believed would be able to do, such as forcing out demons, speaking in new languages, picking up snakes and drinking poison without being hurt, and healing the sick by simply touching them.

While some of the things in Mark’s conclusion’ list the disciples did while they were with Jesus, this seems like a strangely specific list that draws more heavily on the details we find in the book of Acts. While Jesus could have easily predicted this, it seems a little too detailed when we compare it with Jesus’ commissions to His disciples in the other gospels. This list also doesn’t leave room for other ways that God could confirm the message of the gospel.

Perhaps this is just the translation that we are using, but it seems unlike Jesus to use miracles to prove to people that the message they are receiving is from God. This runs counter to both Jesus refusing to offer people in that generation a miracle that proved He was the Messiah, and this runs counter to Jesus’ warning to not blindly believe messages from people who perform signs and wonders.

If we read the portions describing the signs in this great commission and conclusion using the New American Standard Bible, which is the translation we used in our last episode, it describes these miracles in this way: “These signs will accompany those who have believed” is how the miracles are introduced. Verse 20 concludes this message by saying “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.”

While the New American Standard Bible does not use the word prove, it still frames the way these signs were given as being confirmation of the message. I don’t think I ever noticed this before, but while signs could be given to confirm a message, I don’t see this being Jesus’ model.

Instead, all the miracles Jesus did throughout His ministry were used to help people God loves and to cause people to pay attention, but Jesus intended for His ministry to stand on the words and message that He preached. When the disciples traveled around following Jesus’ return to heaven, the miracles they did helped those God loved, and caused people to take note. The disciples’ ministry and the good news they shared was intended to stand on its own.

This is significant for us to pay attention to for two reasons.

First, if God’s messages will always be validated by miracles, then we have centuries and millennia of messages that can easily be doubted. This includes many of the messages God gave through the prophets in the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets’ messages were rarely if ever confirmed through miracles. If we set miracles up as a test for whether to confirm whether a message is from God or not, then we will have a good percentage of God’s messages throughout history that could then be claimed to not be inspired. God wouldn’t want this.

Secondly, using miracles as a test sets us up to be deceived if a message is false but a miracle confirms it. If Satan wanted to come to deceive, he would have no difficulty doing things that would appear miraculous. Satan could come helping people, teaching positive, humanitarian messages, and perform miracles and millions would be set up to be deceived simply because they used the miracles as their guide and not the previously revealed truth of scripture. Miracles are capable of being done by both good and evil angels, and because of this, they are a poor test for whether we should trust a messenger.

I wonder if this is why my New American Standard Bible footnotes hinted at theological challenges included in this longer ending of Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ teaching doesn’t suggest we should put much spiritual weight on a miracle worker. Instead, when we see miracles, we should take note, but then judge the value of the message this miracle worker is sharing based on the truth that is included in the Bible.

While Mark’s ending is questionable, and while I can understand why some scholars are concerned with what it suggests, the big truth we should hold on to in this conclusion is that God is with His people.

Jesus’ followers spread the great news of the gospel message, and God went with them as they shared Jesus with everyone they met. Jesus’ early followers dedicated their lives to sharing Jesus with people – even going so far as dying for their faith! I wholeheartedly believe that we are called to share Jesus like these first followers of Jesus shared Him, and that when we step out in faith, we will discover God is with us, helping us every step of the way!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue to seek God first in your life and let Him lead and guide you as you move through life. Choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice to cover your sins.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover firsthand what the Bible teaches. Knowing the Bible is our best defense when discerning truth from error, and when we prayerfully study the Bible, we open our hearts and minds to what God wants to teach us from His Word!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

We have come a long way in our year focusing on John’s gospel, and during this year, we took time to focus in on many miracles. However, as John begins to wrap up His gospel, the last chapter details a special miracle and event where Jesus shows up in a special way to a smaller group of disciples. While we don’t know where the other disciples were during this event, I wonder if this event and miracle helped reunify the disciples after they all may have felt like failures for abandoning Jesus on the night He was betrayed and arrested.

Let’s read about what happened, and about how Jesus showed up to this smaller group of disciples. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Let’s stop reading here for this episode. We can finish the event and chapter in our next episode. In this first portion of John’s last chapter, several things stand out in my mind.

The first thing to stand out in my mind was that this entire fishing adventure was prompted entirely by Peter. Part of me wonders if Peter had been struggling with his failures on the night Jesus was arrested, and if Peter was having doubts if Jesus really would take Him back. I suspect that this doubt prompted Peter to try going back to the only other life he knew, which was fishing.

While I don’t think Peter would have done anything crazy that night if left on his own, I also suspect that the other disciples who were with Peter wanted to be with him if they sensed he was struggling with his failure.

However, while Peter tries to go back to his former life of fishing, the end of verse 3 summarizes the result of their trip nicely: “So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

If Peter felt like a failure for abandoning and denying Jesus, failing at fishing likely didn’t prompt him to feel any better.

It is at this point in this event where we see the powerful truth that without Jesus, we cannot be successful.

While some people might claim success without having belief or faith in God, the only success that comes into a person’s life is success that God allows to come. The only success that lasts for eternity is success that comes from placing your life and your faith in Jesus’ hands!

However, while Peter and the rest of the disciples are floating on the water feeling like failures, Jesus shows up on the shore with a rather dumb sounding suggestion: Jesus tells the disciples when He learns they haven’t caught anything to try the other side of their boat.

It is at this point in the event where a skeptic would simply discount the suggestion of the stranger on shore as entirely unhelpful without even trying it. However, these disciples were not skeptics, at least on the surface. When we hit rock bottom, we may be willing to try anything, and these disciples were not above trying dumb sounding ideas. These disciples, through trying Jesus’ illogical suggestion, demonstrate that they still have a little faith, and their little faith results in a large catch.

While we don’t know how this catch of fish compared with the miraculous catch of fish at the start of Peter’s invitation to be a disciple, there is no denying the similarities that exist between these two events. While both miracles are very distinct, both are very similar as well.

I don’t believe this is an accident or a coincidence. Instead, I suspect that Jesus is setting the stage to re-invite Peter and to forgive him. When John, the disciple who simply described himself as the one Jesus loved, comments that the Man on the shore must be Jesus, Peter abandons the fish, his fellow fishermen, and the boat entirely to swim to shore. I suspect that Peter knew that being near Jesus was exactly what he needed to chase his doubts away.

Before closing out this episode, a phrase John includes in this event is worth drawing our attention to. While John emphasizes that this was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after being raised from the dead, John tells us in verse 12: “None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.”

This is a very strange detail to include, because they all had seen Jesus at least one time prior to this, and many of them had seen Jesus twice. I wonder if this detail is included as a way to suggest that sometimes Jesus will show up in ways that we might not recognize at first.

Perhaps Jesus didn’t look the same that morning in some way, but everything about how Jesus acted reassured these disciples that this was Jesus. The detail John includes about none of the disciples asking who Jesus was tells us that all these disciples had faith, even if the Person eating with them didn’t look like the Jesus they remembered.

These disciples had faith in Jesus and the faith these disciples had in Jesus ultimately leads them into the next big part of God’s plan for their lives. Through faith in Jesus, these disciples received the Holy Spirit, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, these disciples launch the Christian movement, spreading the news about Jesus to the world. The only reason we know anything about Jesus today is because these disciples accepted God’s call on their life and spread the great news of Jesus to the world.

It is the same with us. Even if we feel as though we have failed God, He is willing to invite us back and to empower us to live the life He created us to live. Our lives with God will be built on prayer and faith in Jesus, and on leaning on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance to live the life God created us to live as He leads history towards eternity!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Choose to lean on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance in your life and choose to have faith in God even when you might not recognize how He is working in your life. Trust that God loves you and that Jesus has a plan for your life that includes eternity in heaven!

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God in your life. A personal relationship with God works best when it is personal, and God wants a relationship with you that isn’t based on having a middleman like a pastor or priest between you and Him. God loves you personally, and He wants to have a personal relationship with you!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!