Reflective Bible Study

As we begin our special two-part finale for this year of podcasting, first off I want to wish all of you an extra special and merry Christmas. I hope that while you are spending time with friends and family, that you also take some time to remember Jesus and what He stepped into this world to accomplish. Without Jesus, life would have no reason for hope, and we would be lost in our sin.

However, because of Christmas, we are reminded that Jesus did come, and that He came to show us how much God loves each of us. Seeing how God loved people through Jesus is one of the big themes we focused in on this past year of podcasting through the gospels looking at Jesus’ miracles. As always, there is way more than I could cover in one, or even two, finale episodes if I were to try to recap everything, but as always, I’m here to share with you the insights that stood out to me the most.

With that said, let’s dive into some of the biggest and best insights, at least in my own mind, that we discovered this past year focusing in on Jesus’ miracles.

Let’s start off by focusing in on what we learned in episode 1. In our first episode, we looked at God miraculously protecting Jesus when those in the Nazareth synagogue wanted to kill Jesus for offending them. In this episode, we learned that while none of us knows exactly when we will die, we can trust that God will keep us safe through everything that comes our way as we move through fulfilling the mission He has for our lives. Regardless of whether our lives are going well, or whether we are facing hard times, and regardless of whether things are calm or chaotic, we can trust that God is in control and that He is moving history towards the end of sin and the salvation of His people.

Continuing forward, the next two episodes focused in on Jesus turning water into wine. In episode 3, we learned that culture pressures people to live by the philosophy “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die”—which is ultimately a recipe for living hopeless lives. But the symbolic counter-cultural message here is that Jesus flips this idea upside down. When Jesus is involved, what we thought was good wine was served first, but what comes next is infinitely better. While those living without Jesus live hopeless lives believing that times are good then worse, when we live with Jesus, we can face the good and bad times in this life knowing that the best is still to come.

Episodes 4 and 5 focused on Jesus healing an official’s son in Capernaum. In this miracle, we learned that when we pray to God, know that He does not delay answering our prayers. Like the official did, we should trust that God has answered our prayers at the exact moment we pray them. However, we should also move forward with the faith that we might not always see God’s answers to prayers at the moment we pray them, or in the way we expect them to be answered.

Episode 6 was one of the first times we looked at miracles where Jesus cast demons out of people where the demons tried to tell those present who Jesus was. In this episode, we are reminded that Jesus, as the Holy One of God, is stronger than Satan and his force of evil angels. The demon obeyed Jesus, and this detail proves that Jesus is stronger than the devil. We should never listen to Satan because he is an untrustworthy source. Satan can share truth, but because Satan is known for lying, anything we listen to becomes suspect simply because of the source. It is much safer to acknowledge but ignore Satan.

I promise we won’t cover something from every miracle, but in episode 7, where Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, we learned that one of the most appropriate ways of saying “thank you” to Jesus and to God for everything He has done for you and I is through serving Him. Peter’s mother-in-law served Jesus following being healed. In the case of us living over 2,000 years later, we serve God through serving others, and when we serve those who cannot repay us with more than a “thank you”, we are serving as God has called us to serve.

In episode 9, we looked at the miracle of fish that prompted the invitation of some of the first disciples. We discovered that Jesus was willing to trust His message with a bunch of not-so-religious fishermen. These four men were the least qualified men from a religious perspective, but in God’s eyes, they were perfectly qualified because they had willing, teachable hearts. God uses the willing and teachable heart to train and equip an individual for His purposes, and these closest disciples step up to lead the church in powerful ways after the Holy Spirit entered their lives.

Jumping forward to episode 11, we discovered some powerful truths when learning about Jesus healing a man with leprosy. We learned that sometimes bad things happen simply because we live in a sinful world. In contrast, sometimes bad things happen because God chooses to withdraw His protection. When we are living apart from God, it makes logical sense that God is not obligated to protect us from the sin in this world. God’s protection is a gift, and when we realize this, we should be grateful when we are protected, not angry when bad enters our lives.

And in this same episode, we are reminded that when we make mistakes in life, and when we sin, it is easy to think that God no longer loves us. However, God is more than willing to forgive you and me than we are willing to admit. God loves you and I so much that nothing could stop Jesus from coming down to take the punishment for our sins. Jesus forgives us because He wants to forgive us, and because He knows that His forgiveness is a big part of the way we receive eternal life.

Wow, we are running out of time. Let’s jump forward and focus on just two or three more episodes before wrapping up part 1.

In episode 20, when Jesus is interrupted on His way to heal Jairus’ daughter by a woman wanting to be secretly healed of a bleeding condition, Jesus stopped and brings this miracle to the forefront. We learned in this miracle, through this woman’s faith in Jesus that God is looking for a people who are determined, persistent, and won’t back down when their faith is challenged. God is looking for His people, living today, to be persistent, passionate, and determined to live our lives with a faith that will not be shaken by anything that comes our way. We are called to live with a faith that leads us into eternity.

A few episodes later in episode number 23, we discovered when looking at Jesus healing a mute man and receiving pushback from the Pharisees that history has proved repeatedly that when the Bible is filtered through anything else, people are deceived and they give up on God’s truth. Tradition is only as good as it is grounded in scriptures. If a traditional belief or idea counters what the Bible teaches, then we must discard the tradition in favor of the Bible in order to have a clear conscience.

Following tradition is easy, but tradition caused the people who should have recognized Jesus, namely the religious leaders who knew the prophecies and the scriptures the best, to reject Him instead. Tradition threatens us in the same way today when we don’t remain grounded in God’s Word!

The last episode we’ll look at in part 1 of our finale is a truth that we discovered in episode 24, in the miracle by the pool at Bethesda. In this event, it appears as though Jesus may have ignored many sick or ill people while He came to help this one man. We discovered in this episode that some times God chooses not to heal someone instead of healing them. Some people choose to discount God’s love or His existence because of this dilemma, but this dilemma only is unsolvable when we see this life as all there is to live. Instead, God wants as many people as possible in the new heaven and new earth, and He wants sin gone forever, never to reappear. God is more focused on bringing people safely into eternity than on minimizing the destructive nature of sin while it exists.

This concludes our first half of this finale. The closing thought and challenge I’ll leave you as we head into our Christmas celebration together is that God wants to answer our prayers, but He also wants us to give Him gratitude, thanks, and love for being our Provider. When we are grateful to God for everything He has done for us, and when we open our eyes to how He often works, we will begin to see answered prayers, blessings, and evidence for His existence everywhere.

Let’s thank God today and this season for everything He has done for us!

As we begin our special, annual two-part finale, first off I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. We are well into one of my favorite times of the year, and while it’s likely not the time Jesus actually was born, it is a great time to remember His birth, and what that means for all of His followers living around the world.

This fourth chronological year was a powerful year, and we covered some challenging passages. I know I learned a lot while putting these episodes together, and I hope you learned a lot through what was shared.

As our custom is, let’s begin looking back at some of the biggest insights, at least in my own mind from this past year of episodes. As always, there are way more insights than we can cover in one, or even in two episodes, so this is why we break this finale into two parts while also having to pick and choose.

We began the year looking at Jesus’ birth story, and in our first episode, which focused in on Gabriel the angel’s visit to Mary, we discovered two powerful reminders we can apply into our own lives. The first is that Mary is a perfect example of someone willing to let God use her for His plan. Mary humbly steps into the role of the Messiah’s mother and her example is an example to all of us how a life surrendered to God can be used for His purposes. The second big reminder we can learn is from Gabriel’s message. Gabriel tells Mary that “No word from God will ever fail”. This promise is as true today as it was in the first century when Gabriel spoke it.

Jumping a few episodes forward, we arrive in episode number 3, which focused in on John the Baptist’s message and ministry. Luke describes John’s message, and from this description, we discovered that “Our greatest witness is how we live our lives each day,” and that “We shouldn’t rest on our past ancestry, our past choices, or our past accomplishments. A live of repentance is lived each and every day.”

Episode number 4 focused in on Jesus’ first followers, and how John’s gospel describes how Jesus’ first followers go and invite others to come and see Jesus. When faced with skeptical responses, they simply give an invitation. We can learn from this example that “Jesus did the convincing, we simply need to do the inviting”.

Moving forward into episode 6, from Jesus’ trip to His hometown synagogue, we learned that any “Christian” who does not love someone from another worldview, or even another denomination, is not acting as Christ instructed us to do. Jesus loved Gentiles, and this tells us that God loves both Jews and Gentiles.

Jumping up into episode 9, while reading about Jesus picking the 12 disciples, we see that Jesus spent the night praying before choosing His inner circle, and Jesus specifically chose Judas Iscariot. God knew Judas would betray Jesus, and Jesus choosing Judas Iscariot demonstrates that God is willing to even give betrayers a chance. God loved the betrayer and Jesus was willing to give Judas Iscariot every possible opportunity to place his faith in Him. We also discover how Jesus picked the least likely team of people from the world’s perspective to be His ambassadors for the Christian movement.

A couple episodes later, in episode number 11, we focused on Jesus’ teaching about worry. We learned that “If you cannot change something, it isn’t worth paying a lot of attention to it”. We also asked the question, “Does this desire or goal I have place God’s kingdom first?” This question makes for a great litmus test for if our focus is on the right things. Overall episode 11’s passage taught us that “Trust and faith is the antidote for worry. When worry is present in our lives, we can know we have room for faith and trust to grow.”

Episode 12 focused on Jesus helping a Roman officer. In this episode, we realized that “God’s goal for us is not an easy life in a sinful world. God’s goal for each of His followers is a new life with Him in a sinless new heaven and new earth!”

In the very next episode, episode number 13, we discover a huge truth in the gift a woman gave Jesus, and how Jesus chose to respond. In this episode, we learn that “the sin in our past doesn’t matter as must as our decisions in the present. Forgiveness is available for everyone who turns away from sin.” This episode also taught us that “how we choose to love Jesus demonstrates how forgiven we really are.”

Episode 14 focused on Jesus telling us why listening to His teachings is important, and how by applying what Jesus teaches in our lives is the best way to understand God’s plan for our lives.

A couple episodes later, in episode number 16, we looked at what happened when Jesus got distracted from going to heal a little girl. In this episode, we discovered in the almost secret miracle a formula that can be described as this: Faith + Jesus = a Miracle. The woman who was healed, was healed because she placed her faith in Jesus. This passage reminds us that Jesus is the best place to place our faith.

Moving forward to episode 19, which focused on Jesus insulting a gentile woman, we discover that “In God’s eyes, His people will not display an ‘us vs. them’ attitude. Instead, God’s people will display an ‘us blessing/helping/loving them’ attitude. This is God’s challenge for all His people!”

Following this episode, we then looked at a misunderstanding Jesus has with His disciples in episode 20. This misunderstanding taught us that “God will not bless us in a way that causes us to lose our salvation, but He will also not curse us when we could have been saved under difference circumstances.”

Jumping forward to episode 22, we focused on a passage that defines how God sees greatness. In this episode, one of the big truths we learned was that “Greatness in God’s eyes has to do with stepping down and welcoming those who are unknown in Jesus’ name.”

In episode 23, we find Jesus traveling through Samaria, and a town refuses to let Him stay the night. In this episode, we discovered that both the Samaritans in that town, and some of the disciples are prejudiced towards one another. We discovered from Jesus’ response that “Prejudice doesn’t help anyone. The Samaritans missed out on Jesus and the disciples were scolded because each group was prejudiced. Jesus modeled the right response when He was rejected. Jesus chose to simply move on to another town.”

Episode 24 continued episode 23’s theme about prejudice when we learned that the Pharisees rejected Jesus because they believed no prophet would ever come from the secular region of Galilee. We learned that we can fall into the same trap when we close our eyes and minds to the possibility that God could use some tragic event, a certain group of people who are different from us, or even a certain style of music for His purposes. We set ourselves up to be challenged when God chooses to use something we believe He would never use.

We’ll finish this first part of our annual two-part finale by focusing on the huge truths we learned in episode 25. In this episode, Jesus is teaching and challenging those in the temple during one of the major Jewish festivals, and we learned that holding onto and applying Jesus’ teachings are what make us His disciples. It is only after we hold onto and apply Jesus’ message that we will then know the truth and be set free. We also learned that sin’s goal is to trap and enslave us while Jesus came to set us free and adopt us into God’s family. We learned that death is reserved for those who disobey Jesus, and that Jesus came to honor God and free His people from the fear of death. Jesus teaches us that all the petty excuses and insults people try to use to discredit will never change who Jesus truly is. Jesus is God who came to earth as a human. Obedience is the way we discover the validity of God’s truth in our lives.

As we come to the end of part 1 of this yearly two-part finale, ending with even more challenges doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially when we have covered so many great challenges and things we’ve learned this past year in the gospels. So instead, I’ll simply remind each of us to:

Seek God first and place Him first in our lives;

To always pray and study the Bible for ourselves to keep our connection with God strong;

And to never stop short of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

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!

At the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He sends the disciples out with a commission to tell the world about Him. Last week, we focused in on one big commission we find in John’s gospel, and this week, while we could focus in on Matthew’s commission, which is the most famous one, let’s instead look at Mark’s version.

In my own mind, Mark’s version of this event might be a little more challenging than the commissions included in the other gospels.

Our passage for this episode can be found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will be reading it 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.

This passage ends the book of Mark. I will note that this conclusion is part of the longer conclusion to Mark’s gospel, and many Bibles will include the note that verses 9-20 are not in many of the early manuscripts. In my own mind, I can understand why. Mark’s longer conclusion includes many challenging ideas.

However, the big question is whether this conclusion at the end of Mark was added by others to enhance Mark’s gospel conclusion, or whether it was tried to be erased by many early writers because it was challenging.

I will be the first to say that I don’t know. A case could be made for adding Mark’s conclusion, or for removing it.

From a removing angle, I can understand why many in the early church might not want this commission around. This is primarily because if the miracles that Mark’s gospel included ever stopped, which they did shortly after the first generation of disciples and church leaders, Mark’s gospel record would then imply that God wasn’t as closely connected with His church. I doubt this would be the case, but the longer conclusion of Mark might make a historian wonder about that.

However, when we look at what Mark’s conclusion includes, almost everything it says is validated in the first century church and the first generation of believers. While this is great evidence that God was working powerfully in the first century Christian movement, it is also a prime opportunity for a well meaning scribe, when seeing that Mark’s gospel doesn’t end all that well, to craft his own ending with the details that he knows happened in the first century church.

The first century disciples used Jesus’ name to force out demons and to heal the sick. They spoke new languages. Paul is even recorded as being bit by a very poisonous or venomous snake and not being hurt. All these things are excellent proof that God was with the first century church, but with how everything is neatly consolidated at the end of Mark’s gospel, and when there is a little bit of discrepancy whether Mark included these details in his original version of his gospel record, a case can be made that these things were added later.

Whether a scribe added the longer version of Mark’s gospel at a later date to help give this gospel a stronger conclusion, or whether the early church wanted to remove Mark’s commission record because there weren’t as many clear miracles present after the first generation of believers, I don’t believe that either group or either case was being deceitful or acting against God. I believe both options actually desired to see God’s church glorified more.

However, what are we to do with Mark’s commission now that we live 2000+ years later?

Whether Mark included his commission or not, the rest of the New Testament confirms the challenge that Mark may have written. Regardless of whether he did include it or not, this longer ending to this gospel draws our attention onto how the Holy Spirit was moving in the first century church, and it includes a challenge that makes me think that the Holy Spirit’s presence was intended to be more permanent in the Christian movement moving forward.

I believe the Holy Spirit has been with God’s church from the moment He came and validated Jesus’ ministry while Jesus was here on earth, and also this would include when He visibly came at the beginning of the book of Acts to the early Christians in the upper room during the festival of Pentecost.

However, while I believe that the Holy Spirit has been active and moving in the church ever since the first century, I believe that the Holy Spirit ultimately had to switch to only working behind the scenes after the first few generations. While this isn’t bad when we look at it from one angle, I don’t believe the Holy Spirit intended to become less visible.

When reading Mark’s commission, I get the impression that those in the first century church didn’t expect the Holy Spirit to become any less visible, and this is the impression I get when reading the letters from Paul and Peter as well.

This commission in Mark’s gospel is both exciting and challenging for all of us. If those in the first century lived so close with God that they had the Holy Spirit move in their lives in visible, miraculous ways; and these early church leaders did not believe that they were somehow special or exclusively picked to receive the Holy Spirit; that means that each of us, living 2000+ years later is capable of living lives that are so close to God that the Holy Spirit cannot help but show up in powerful miraculous ways.

I cannot think of a better way to conclude our four, chronological years of moving through the gospels that with this conclusion. The best conclusion we can have is the challenge for a new beginning with God, and with the Holy Spirit, and with stepping out in faith into the life God created you to live.

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

Be sure to always intentionally seek God first and intentionally move towards Him each and every day. Make prayer and Bible study a regular habit, and be so committed towards moving towards God that the Holy Spirit cannot help but impact your life.

Also, as I always say, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because through the pages of the Bible, we can discover God’s plan, His character, and our future when we choose Him. Don’t let a pastor, author, podcaster, or anyone else get in the way of your personal relationship with God. While other people can give you great things to think about, your relationship with God must be your own.

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