Reflective Bible Study

As we are approximately half way through are year focusing on the miracles Jesus did within the gospel record, we come to the only official miracle that all four gospel writers include. While we could argue that all four gospel writer’s include the resurrection and that the resurrection was a significant miracle, interestingly enough, most lists of miracles don’t include the resurrection. However, that won’t stop us from including it near the end of our year of miracles.

Instead, the official list of miracles only includes one miracle that all four gospel writers include, and this miracle is the one where Jesus feeds a crowd of over 5,000 men, plus women and children. Since this miracle is significant enough for all four gospel writers to include, we’ll spend a couple of episodes focusing on this event to draw out some powerful truths we can apply into our own lives.

When reading from how each of the gospel writers sets the stage for this miracle, I was fascinated by how Mark describes this event for us. Following sending the disciples out on their missionary training, and following learning that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed, Mark sets the stage for this miracle in a unique way.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 30, Mark sets the stage for this miraculous event by telling us that:

³⁰ The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) ³² They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Let’s pause reading here because while it is very tempting to jump forward to get to the miracle, we would miss the significance of what Jesus intended for His disciples. From these opening verses, Jesus wanted to go away with the disciples and simply rest with them. They had successfully completed their missionary outing, and the next best thing they could do was to rest together.

From how this passage describes what was happening, Jesus and the disciples were so busy with people coming and asking for help that they didn’t even have time to eat. If this were to extend too much longer, Jesus and His disciples would experience burnout and crash.

The big lesson we should learn from this opening is that it is critically important for us to take time away from our mission in life to simply rest. We should never feel guilty taking time to rest and recharge. While there is always a never-ending to-do list, it would be wise to remember that the list is literally never-ending. While we shouldn’t ignore the list, we also shouldn’t focus on it so much that we burn out. In these opening verses, Mark describes for us how Jesus wanted to give the disciples the opportunity to rest after they had successfully finished their missionary journey to the surrounding region.

However, we will soon discover that even Jesus didn’t get to experience His ideal plan for their group. Continuing in verse 33, Mark tells us that:

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” ³⁸ And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Let’s stop reading here because we are coming up to the end of our time for this episode. While we had focused on how Jesus intended for He and the disciples to spend some downtime together to simply rest and recharge, we discover that this wasn’t to happen at this point. Instead, we read that those on the shore followed Jesus around the lake and they beat Him to the other side.

While Jesus could have sent them away because He and the disciples needed to rest, Mark tells us that Jesus felt compassion for them and instead of sending them away, He begins to teach them, and then this teaching ultimately concludes with an amazing miracle. With how Mark’s gospel describes the foundation for this miracle, we discover that it is critical for us to take time regularly to pause our mission and our lives to simply rest and recharge. But with this miracle, we also discover that when God brings people into our lives who need help, it is our responsibility to help them similar to how Jesus helped the crowd even though He would have rather been resting instead.

In our own lives, we should regularly rest and recharge, but we also should always be willing to help those God has brought into our lives.

In our next episode, we’ll continue looking at this miracle, and we’ll focus in on some details a different gospel writer includes in this event, and learn more about what made this miracle significant and special.

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

If you haven’t taken the time or made the opportunity to rest recently, set time aside today. Working yourself to death today will only lead to your death sooner than God may have intended, and you won’t have been as effective or healthy while alive. Regularly schedule times to rest, recharge, and unplug from your mission, while always being ready to help if God sends someone needing help your way.

Also, always keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover God’s truth for your life. While many people have interesting ideas, filter everything through what you read in the Bible because the Bible is God’s story laid out across this world’s history. If there is ever a conflict in ideas, traditions, or theories, choose the side that aligns with the Bible over any and every other theory.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

During one of Jesus’ times was in the temple teaching and challenging those present, He describes who He is, where He came from, and also what He came to accomplish. However, with all these details shared to this group of people, we find out that they were not as ready to learn the truth about Jesus as they thought they might have been.

Our passage comes from the gospel of John, chapter 8, and we will be reading it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 31, John tells us that:

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Pausing really briefly, I want to draw our attention to this opening line. John opens this passage by describing those Jesus shares this message to as “the Jews who had believed Him”. I believe this is significant, especially when we start seeing them push back at what He tells them.

Rereading Jesus’ challenge in the second part of verse 31, John tells us:

^31b Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸ I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

⁴⁹ “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”

⁵² At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴ Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵ Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷ “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

⁵⁸ “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Looking at this whole event, I am amazed when realizing it is framed as Jesus talking to some Jews who believed in Him. This is significant because it sheds light on human nature and on how God wants us to grow.

While I don’t know why Jesus specifically decided to share this message, I suspect it may have had to do with wanting to challenge these Jews on whether their belief or faith was willing to take the next step. Chances are, this group of Jews had faith that Jesus was able to heal the sick and teach the crowds truth about God. However, we clearly see that when Jesus challenges these people regarding obedience, they push back.

This whole teaching hinges on the opening statement Jesus makes: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (verses 31-32)

Following this statement, we learn that sin’s goal is to enslave and trap us. Jesus came to set us free and adopt us into God’s family.

Following this statement, we learn that Satan is the father of lies and that when we pay attention to him for too long, we will not be able to hear the truth God wants to share with us. Jesus came to expose Satan as a liar and to draw God’s people together.

Following this statement, we learn that death is reserved for those who disobey Jesus. Jesus came to honor God, and to set us free from the fear of death.

Following this statement, we learn that all the petty excuses that people try to use to discredit Jesus, like calling Him a Samaritan and demon-possessed, doesn’t change who He really is. Jesus is God who came to earth as a human.

While this truth is impossible for us to fully understand how Jesus is both completely God and man, we are called to accept this truth, and all the other ideas Jesus taught and challenged His followers with, through faith. While faith in Jesus can start on the basic level of what can Jesus do for me (such as teaching and healing), it truly grows into maturity when we discover that faith in Jesus becomes a “what can I do for God because of what He has already done for me” type of faith. Obeying God and obeying Jesus is not legalism any more than obeying your spouse when they ask you to do something for them is legalism. Obedience demonstrates love, and while there are plenty of exceptions to this truth, the principle is solid.

We demonstrate to others that we love God when we are obedient to Him. Through obedience, we learn the truth, and like one of my favorite Bible verses says, “the truth will set you free”.

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

Be sure to continue seeking God first in your life. Choose to believe in Jesus and be willing to take your belief and turn it into obedience. Let God lead you into His truth and follow His leading and guiding in your life.

As you grow your relationship with God, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself, because through personal study, you will learn, grow, and discover who God really is, what He is like, and how much He loves you. As you study and grow closer to God, God will send His Spirit into your life and He will lead and guide you moving forward in life.

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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

In our last episode, we began looking at the event where Jesus healed the paralyzed man by the pool of Bethesda. However, like many of the previous events we have looked at this year, this one contained more than one episode could handle, and we finished our last episode before the event had finished.

We left off immediately following Jesus healing the man, but before we discovered what happened next. Let’s read this whole event, and then focus in on the conclusion and what we can learn about what Jesus felt was important for us to pay attention to.

Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of John, chapter 5, and we will be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five colonnades. ³ Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

⁵ One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk!” ^9a Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

In our last episode, we stopped reading at this point, but this is the point in our event when things are about to get even more interesting. Continuing in the second half of verse 9, John tells us that:

^9b Now that day was the Sabbath, ¹⁰ so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It’s illegal for you to pick up your mat.”

¹¹ He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. ¹³ But the man who was cured did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

In this passage, we discover that Jesus had the audacity to heal this hurting man on the Sabbath, the day set aside for rest and for focusing on God. Work wasn’t just discouraged, it was prohibited, and the religious leaders kept a long list of what we could call “clarification laws” in place to determine whether an activity could be classified as work or not. One such prohibition was carrying your sleeping mat.

This then prompts the question in my own mind of why Jesus would heal this man on the Sabbath when any other day of the week would do? If you are remotely familiar with the gospels, you will know that many of Jesus’ healing miracles were done on the Sabbath, and Jesus didn’t seem to even remotely consider healing to be against the day God set aside for rest.

Since Jesus seemed to be so relaxed about what it meant to honor and remember the Sabbath, should we be as relaxed as Jesus was? If God set the Sabbath aside as holy, and Jesus acted indifferent towards it, does that mean that we can act indifferent towards it as well?

This is where many Christians are today, but it is important to pay attention to the small detail that Jesus never acted with indifference towards the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus didn’t pay much attention to the religious leaders’ extra laws they had constructed around determining if one was properly keeping the Sabbath.

A great way to describe this attitude was if we were to drive along a road where the speed limit was 75 miles per hour, or for our friends outside of the United States, let’s say the speed limit was 120 kilometers per hour. Knowing that people like to push their limits, the religious leaders decide it’s best to set and enforce a lower speed limit, just to make sure the people don’t actually break the real speed limit. In our example, the religious leaders set their cautionary speed limit at 50 miles per hour, or 80 kilometers per hour.

Then Jesus comes along, and while everyone has gotten use to the idea of driving at the slower limits, Jesus decides He will drive at 70 miles per hour, or 110 kilometers per hour, which is within the actual speed limits of the road, but beyond the religious leaders’ arbitrarily imposed limits.

When we look at how Jesus treated the Sabbath, we never see Him break any of God’s laws regarding Sabbath observance, but we do see Him instruct others, we see His disciples, and we likely could even see Him break some of the religious leaders’ extra laws in place for the Sabbath. In the case of our miracle, nothing in God’s law prohibited a person from carrying their sleeping mat on the Sabbath. This was clearly a cautionary law intended to keep people from coming close to actually breaking the real laws. Jesus knew this, and the man probably knew this too, which is why he didn’t hesitate when Jesus told him to pick up his mat and go home.

It is also interesting that this man does not have faith in Jesus knowing who Jesus is. Perhaps he had prayed earlier that day for God to help him, and that is what prompted Jesus to stop by. Whatever the case was, when the man is challenged by the religious leaders for breaking their laws, he doesn’t know who Jesus was to be able to identify Jesus to these leaders.

Regardless of this detail though, the leaders almost were guaranteed to have attributed this miracle, and the lawlessness they saw in this healed man, to Jesus before the man even knew it was Jesus.

Does Jesus want us to break the law? No. When we break the law, we will face consequences. When we break the law of the country we are in, we face civil punishments; and when we break God’s law, we will face spiritual punishment. Jesus never advocated breaking civil or spiritual laws, but He was very clear that when there was a conflict between civil and spiritual laws, we are to abide by the spiritual laws and their standard over the civil laws that conflict.

In this event, we might think Jesus broke the spiritual law by healing on the Sabbath, but it is best for us to remember that the only laws broken in this passage were the unrealistic laws that the religious leaders had built up around the Sabbath in order to appear superior to others. Jesus never broke God’s law, and Jesus upheld God’s law to a level the religious leaders never even came close to. Jesus obeyed God’s law and He modeled obedience based on love and gratitude – and as followers of Jesus, we are called to obey, not because God will kill us if we don’t, but because we are thankful, grateful, and happy God sent Jesus to redeem us.

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

As always, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Choose to obey God’s law because you love God, and because you are thankful to God for everything He has already done for you. Obey because of what has already been given and not because you expect to be given anything more. Sure, God has promised us so much more, but obeying with the expectation of what we will get leads us towards the path of legalism and away from love. Obeying because we are grateful for what God has already done for us keeps us on the path of love.

Also, be sure to keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God. While others can give you great ideas to think about, filter everything you learn and see through the lens of God’s Word and use His word as your guide in life.

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

On the final day of a festival Jesus went to in Jerusalem, the gospel of John tells us a statement that He makes, which both divides the crowds listening to Him, and it is a statement that prompts the religious leaders to call for Jesus’ arrest. While the statement Jesus says is powerful and challenging, how the people react, including the Pharisees, reveal their character and their hearts. When we think about it, just like the passage we are about to read does, when we bring Jesus into a conversation today, those present are likely to polarize into groups who believe in Him and those who don’t.

Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 7, and we will be reading from the New International Version. Starting in verse 37, John tells us that:

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Let’s pause reading here to look at a couple things that have just taken place.

First, Jesus makes a challenging statement about Himself from the scriptures. Jesus tells those present, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” This statement is powerful and challenging, and it is a promise that we can depend on.

However, it’s interesting in my mind that John then inserts a note saying that this was a promise that would be granted in the future, after Jesus was glorified. Nothing in Jesus’ words themselves speak to this being fulfilled in the future, or in the present. This makes me wonder if John’s insertion draws our attention onto a bigger truth that we can use to understand Jesus’ promises.

John immediately explains that Jesus’ promise would be fulfilled at a later date, and John says that this would be a date after Jesus was glorified. This makes me wonder if other present-tense-promises are things we can claim today, but things that might not be fully realized until a later date.

This is something that I will think about as we move forward through reading the gospels.

However, the big thing to note in this passage is that Jesus’ statement about Himself challenges those present. Some people believed Jesus to be the Messiah, others believed Jesus to be the Prophet who would come before the Messiah. Some people, as we will soon see, believed Jesus to be a fraud and impostor. There is no denying that Jesus polarized people.

It is interesting that the crowd debates among themselves regarding Jesus’ credentials. No one ever asked Jesus about His birth, to discover that He was indeed born in Bethlehem, and that His mother and “father” were descendants of David. Perhaps the culture they lived in was different from our culture today; perhaps those living in the first century didn’t move or travel as much as we do today.

Now, 2,000 plus years later, where someone lives is not likely to be the place where they were born. I was born in Canada, but have lived in plenty of places that were not my birth town.

The crowd was clearly torn, because they knew Jesus had God’s Spirit on Him because of the healing and miracles, but He also didn’t add up to their picture of the Messiah.

Continuing in verse 45, we learn that temple guards were paying attention, looking for an opening to arrest Jesus.

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Let’s stop reading at this point in the passage. John describes Nicodemus subtly trying to put a pause on the rest of the Pharisees’ judgment. Even though Nicodemus is dismissed, we can learn some interesting things about these Pharisees through their response to both the guards and to Nicodemus.

Firstly, when the guards return empty handed, they are immediately accused of being deceived by Jesus. The Pharisees challenge the guards by describing the crowd in the temple as a “mob that knows nothing of the law”. This description is false on a number of levels, most notably because those present at the temple during this festival would only have been there if it was because of the law. The law included certain festivals where all Jews would travel to Jerusalem to worship, and during this festival, the temple and streets in Jerusalem would be filled with the most devout and religious Jews in their faith.

Also, by describing the crowd of people present as a “mob”, the religious leaders claim they are emotionally drawn to Jesus in an irrational way – and that they are prone to become violent at any moment. If that were the case, the guards would have had reason to arrest Jesus, but when they return empty handed, they tell the Pharisees that no one has spoken like Jesus has, they don’t even hint at Jesus rallying people together for a single purpose or for violence. Because of this exaggeration, the Pharisees show their emotionally irrational rejection of Jesus.

The last way the Pharisees’ description of the crowd falls flat is when we compare it directly to what the crowd says when they are debating about Jesus. The crowd displays knowledge of the law and the prophets when they talk among themselves about Jesus being a descendant of David and from the town of Bethlehem. This detail shows that the crowd, or should I say the “mob”, understands the Messianic prophecies enough to wonder about who Jesus is.

When we look at Nicodemus’ challenge to the Pharisees, we find an interesting angle. Nicodemus knows that Jesus’ actions have all been positive and a blessing to others, so he tries to use that angle to diffuse the tension in the room.

However, his attempt fails because the other Pharisees are blinded to the idea that anything from God could come from Galilee. They choose not to investigate Jesus’ back-story like Matthew and Luke do to discover that Jesus really was born in Bethlehem, and it was from concern over the rulers in the land that Jesus’ parents settled in region of Galilee. These religious leaders also show a limited belief in God because when we are certain that God cannot use something, that He cannot work through a certain action, or that He won’t step in to help us at a certain point, we may be surprised to discover that He does.

Another way to say this is that just because a prophet has never come from Galilee does not mean that a prophet will never come out of Galilee at some point in the future. Perhaps I am missing a scripture reference or something credible that they knew, however I doubt it. I am certain that they based their belief and bias against Galilee on the foundation that no prophets had ever come from that area, so therefore, the belief would be that no prophets would ever come from there either.

This thinking set the Pharisees up to reject Jesus without cause – and we can fall into this trap too. When we close our eyes and our minds to the possibility 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 decides to use the thing we believe He would not use.

Instead, we should delay judgment and look at the results of what we are tempted to judge and see if people are truly drawn towards God, towards repentance, and towards placing their trust, faith, and belief in Him. If the results are present, I wouldn’t be surprised if God was working through it.

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

Be sure to seek God first and be open to Him working in areas we might not typically expect. Look at the results and the methods, and reserve judgment because we cannot always predict the methods God will use to bring people to Him.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Don’t take my word, or anyone else’s word for anything. Instead, test what I and others say to determine if it truly is what the Bible teaches. A pastor or podcaster can give you things to think about from their own journey with God, but don’t let their relationship with Him replace your relationship.

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!