Reflective Bible Study

Last week, we began this two-part finale looking at insights we discovered during the first half of our second-chronological year moving through the gospels looking at events from Jesus’ life. However, before diving into this second part of our finale looking at insights we discovered during the last half of this year of podcasting, I thought it would be good to share briefly about the journey we are on together.

A few years ago, while we were working through some years focusing on topics found in the gospels, such as prophecies Jesus fulfilled from the Old Testament, and a year focusing on the parables Jesus shared, I had the idea of taking four years and dedicating them to chronologically moving through the gospels. However, instead of taking four years to move through Jesus’ story from start to finish, the idea I had was to do four years that moved through Jesus’ life and have each year of podcasting conclude with Jesus facing the cross. Each year moving through the gospels in this way would focus on different details and events that the gospels include, and each would conclude in a grand way looking at Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

With that said, we have hit the halfway point in this four-year journey, and starting next week, we’ll start our third, chronological year moving through the gospels. However, unlike the past two years of moving through the gospels, we’ll spend our next year and the year following looking at events we did not cover during these past two years.

However, if I’m not careful, we’ll spend all of this episode talking about where we’re headed and not have any time left for insights from the last half of this year.

So without any further delay, let’s dive into insights we discovered during the last half of this year podcasting through the gospels.

To pick back up where we left off, let’s start in episodes 25 and 26. In these two episodes, we found the Pharisees challenging Jesus about not having a second witness to validate His ministry and Jesus declaring some powerful truths about God the Father. In these passages and episodes, we discovered that Jesus aligns Himself with God the Father, and when looking at the gospel record, we can see how the Father responded and validated Jesus’ ministry while He was here on earth.

We also were challenged with the truth that Jesus is the only one who really knows the Father, and He is the only One who can reveal the Father to others. This led us to conclude that if Jesus is the only way for us to really know who the Father is, then anyone who claims to have knowledge about God, or the absence of God, must present it through the lens of Jesus.

Moving forward to episode 27, we looked at a time when Jesus shared with His followers about our eyes being lamps for our bodies. In this passage and episode, we concluded that Jesus’ words in this passage are significant because when we believe and spread lies, we are spreading darkness, and while we might think this darkness is light, it can only be true light if it is leading people into a deeper relationship with God.

Jumping ahead to episode 29, Jesus continued His teaching but shifted focus onto talking about thieves, robbers, sheep, and the importance of knowing the Shepherd’s voice. In this episode, we were reminded that Jesus is the way to peace, life, and rest – and He is also the best protection we have from those who would try to harm us. There are those who may harm our bodies, but Jesus keeps our lives safe – and this includes both our lives in the world today, and our lives in heaven in the future.

In the very next episode, which was episode number 30, during an event where Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, we learned that for Jesus, the Sabbath was a day that was dedicated to God to rest and focus on family, friends, and relationships. It was to be the high point at the end of the week and it was to be a blessing for those who kept it. It was not intended to be a burden where people had to be extra-cautious for those 24 hours for fear of breaking a rule. In this event, we saw that Jesus lived God’s idea of the Sabbath, and that was an idea that focused on helping people on that special day. Jesus loved to help people, and He wants us to realize that the Sabbath is a day where we are free to help others!

Jumping ahead several episodes, we come to episode 37, and look at Jesus’ ministry not being accepted or understood by the religious leaders, and how this was actually prophesied many centuries earlier through the prophet Isaiah. In this passage, we discovered several powerful insights, including the truth that the light, love, and warmth Jesus radiated throughout His time on earth melted hearts that were receptive to His love, but it also hardened hearts that were defensive to Him and His message;

Also, by blending in, secret followers of Jesus dim their lights and they cheapen their witness;

And that God did not send Jesus into the world to fill the role of judge. The world has too many people in it claiming that role. Instead, Jesus came into the world as a Messenger, a Healer, and a Savior. Jesus came into this world to show us what God is really like.

Let’s move forward to episode 42, where we spent an episode looking at Judas Iscariot agreeing to betray Jesus. While this episode, and its passage, can prompt us to point many fingers at a various groups of people, we instead focused on the truth that Jesus didn’t die at the hand of Judas Iscariot, or even at the hand of the religious leaders. Even though Roman soldiers attached Him to the cross, that detail did not kill Jesus either. Instead, the truth about Jesus giving up His life on the cross is much bigger than one person betraying Jesus, or even a group of religious leaders plotting His death.

Moving forward to episode 46, where we focused on Peter’s three denials of Jesus in the early morning hours on the morning Jesus was crucified, we learned that knowing who we are and what we would do, God was still willing to bring us into the world. Regardless of the mistakes we would make, and/or the times we would reject God, He is still willing to give us life and the chance to choose Him. Knowing everything we would do and all the ways we would make mistakes, Jesus still came and died for us. Jesus died for you and me, and this is because He loves us, and wants us to have the opportunity to choose eternal life with Him.

Jumping ahead to episode 48, which focused us on the cross and the moment Jesus died, we learned through the events surrounding Jesus’ death that the curtain splitting is symbolic of an accepted sacrifice, and it draws our attention to Jesus’ sacrifice being enough to satisfy and fulfill the whole Jewish sacrificial system.

Also, in this passage and event, from one of the most secular people present at the crucifixion, and likely one of the least likely to believe in Jesus, comes what is probably the most profound statement in the entire Bible. The Roman officer states without any doubt that Jesus was God’s own Son.

And while this episode ended on a relatively dark note, we concluded that even when it seems like all hope is gone and that evil is winning, know that victory is just around the corner and that Jesus ultimately triumphs. Even if at times it seems like Satan has the upper hand, Satan’s achievements are short lived because Jesus’ death marked God’s ultimate victory over sin.

Moving forward to episode 49, from Jesus’ conversation with Mary on resurrection morning, we were reminded and assured of the truth that from the moment we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus, we can know we are saved.

From the moment we accept Jesus as our substitute, we have the assurance of salvation, and this was as true for the thief on the cross as it is for each of us today. Eternity starts when we step towards God through Jesus. However, like Jesus prompts us to understand through His conversation with Mary, eternal life is a reward that is saved for the New Heaven and New Earth.

Jesus’ message through Mary helps us understand how salvation works. There is an immediate reward, but there is also a future reward as well.

And to wrap up our insights from this past year chronologically looking at events in Jesus’ life, let’s remember what we discovered just a few weeks ago in episode 50, which looked at Jesus’ conversation with Peter following Jesus’ resurrection. When Jesus invites Peter to follow Him again, we can know and understand that each of us is called to follow Jesus like Peter’s second call. We are called to follow with the understanding that this invitation comes with forgiveness from our past. The invitation Jesus gives us is focused on our future with God from this point forward, and it lets the past remain in the past. Our past mistakes and sins are covered when we choose to recommit our lives to Jesus. It was this way with Peter and the rest of the disciples, and it is this way for each of us living today.

I cannot think of a better way to end this second year of podcasting through Jesus’ life. So with that said, let’s remember that as we move through every day, every month, and every year, Jesus has invited us to leave our past sinful lives behind and He invites us to move forward with Him day-by-day, as we look forward to spending eternity with Him.

Hi guys,

Just like I recorded a special message for you last week, I thought it might be nice to record a special New Year’s greeting as well. Next week, we’ll pick back up with the regular Flashback episodes, looking at Season 3.

However, today is New Year’s Eve, and the last day of 2018. For some people, this day marks the end of a crazy year and if you’re a part of this group, I imagine you cannot wait for tomorrow when a new year begins.

However, others may have had an amazing year, and while it is sad to see this year move into history, there is nothing stopping 2019 from being just as good or even better.

Whenever I stop to think about the transition between one year and the next, I am ultimately reminded that regardless of how the last year went, or how great my hopes for the New Year are, the transition between two years marks one additional step closer to the return of Jesus.

I have no idea what year Jesus will return, and I don’t recommend spending any energy trying to figure it out. Energy spent trying to figure out the date of Jesus’ return, when Jesus Himself said He didn’t know it, seems very futile, or very speculative.

Instead, since we don’t know when Jesus will return, or when our last breath will be, our lives are best lived for God today, and each day moving forward.

With that said, while this isn’t really a New Year’s resolution, let me leave you with a special New Year’s challenge: When moving into the New Year, determine to live for God each and every day. Choose to do something each day to grow closer to God. Choose to do at least one thing that is intentionally nice for someone you know today, and choose to do at least one thing that is intentionally nice for a stranger as well.

While it doesn’t seem like much, every nice act helps and together we can help a hurting world experience God’s love as we live and grow closer to Him while loving each other.

Again I hope that whether you are looking forward to the end of 2018 or looking back on this year wishing it would never end, it is my hope and prayer that 2019 will be infinitely better than 2018, and that we all will grow closer to Jesus together!

Last week, we began our annual two-part finale by looking at insights we discovered in the first half of this past year of moving through the gospels. In part 2, we’ll pick back up where we left off and focus in on insights we learned during the second half of this year moving through the gospels.

But before diving into the insights, I want to share briefly what’s planned for our next year in the gospel adventure podcast. We have just finished moving through four years of chronologically jumping through the gospels, and we have now finished this crazy idea I had several years ago when we began. While it would be easy to simply start over, I thought it might be fun to do a couple of years focusing on certain topics.

One topic that has been fresh on my mind, perhaps because all four gospels dedicate significant space to it, is the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. For this next year of episodes, this is where I’m thinking of taking us. However, for future years, be sure to email me and share your ideas. We may come back to doing chronological years in the future, but before that happens, let’s focus in on some topics.

However, while I’m excited to get started, we still have the second half of this past year to focus on in this episode. So let’s dive in, starting at what we learned in Episode 26.

In episode 26, we focused on Mary and Martha’s first encounter with Jesus, and how each of them interacted with Jesus. From this episode, we learned that “It is more important for us to focus on learning from Jesus than trying to please or impress Him through our actions.” We also learned that “God is never going to distract us away from spending time with Jesus.”

Moving into episode 27, we looked at a passage Jesus shares about faith, and how faith must be visible. In this episode, we saw that “Those who publicly side with Jesus will be acknowledged by God throughout the universe.” We also learned that “secret faith is worthless; faith that is valuable is one that stands for God when challenges come; and that the more we reject the Holy Spirit in our lives, the less connected to Jesus we will be.”

Jumping to episode 29, we focused on a passage where Jesus describes how some people will ultimately miss out on salvation even though they believed themselves to be ready. In this passage and episode, we learned that “there will be a time when salvation’s door is closed. After this point, those who knock on the door are not allowed to enter. This is because the homeowner does not know them. This tells us that it is very important that God knows us, and this is accomplished by regularly spending time with Him.” This passage also taught us that “people who do evil are excluded. This passage strongly suggests that doing evil will forfeit your salvation.” Overall, what matters most is what we choose to do in the present, and not on what we have done in the past. Our present choices are more important than our past failures.

Jumping forward a couple of episodes to episode 31, we spent some time talking about the rich man and Lazarus illustration Jesus shared. Regardless of what you believe about this illustrations regarding it’s teaching on the state of the dead, we concluded that one of the biggest themes it tells us is that “after someone has died, they cannot change their decisions from this life. This makes our decisions today especially important.” We also can all agree that “the next conscious thought someone has following their death will be one of regret when realizing they didn’t choose correctly.”

In episode 32, we looked at Jesus healing 12 lepers. We learned that “there is never a wrong time to stop and be grateful towards God for what He has done in our lives.” Also in this passage, we see the big truth that “sometimes we must obey before we are able to see God’s hand working in our lives.”

Episode 33 might have been the most controversial episode this year because it focused in on Jesus’ teaching on the topic of marriage and divorce. While our current generation has wrestled with this, we discover from this passage in Matthew’s gospel, that every generation since sin entered the world has been challenged by God’s ideal for marriage. Jesus tells us that while not everyone can or will marry, those who do will be held to the truth He teaches us about marriage.

Jumping up to episode 35, we discovered in the parable of the ten servants that “the important man who left returned as king. In spite of his enemies’ wishes, this man becomes king. This teaches us that Jesus will one day return as King. Jesus had enemies while here on earth because He wasn’t impressed by ambitious spiritual ladder-climbers. Now is the best time to ally with Jesus because we don’t know when He will actually return.” Also, looking at this parable we discover that “it is important to be fruitful with what God has blessed us with. The worst thing we can do is nothing.”

In episode 36, we discovered a short passage where Jesus cried when approaching Jerusalem. Among the things we discovered in this passage, we concluded that “as followers of Jesus, we should spend 5-10x more time praying than we do seeking influence among other people. Seeking influence shouldn’t even be a measurable goal for a follower of Jesus.” Also tucked in Jesus’ message for Jerusalem is the truth that “the only place where peace can be found is by seeking God through Jesus, learning to depend on Him for everything, and praying like crazy for His will to be done in the world today.”

Episode 38 challenged us again when we read Jesus’ parable about a man being kicked out of a wedding banquet. We discovered in this episode that accepting the invitation is a great first step, but also equally important is accepting the free gift of wedding clothes that the king would have offered when the last minute guests arrived. We accept the gift of clothing when we put our sinful lives in the past and let God replace our sinful characters with Jesus’ sinless character.

The next episode, number 39, found us looking a little closer at Jesus stumping the Pharisees with a question of His own. Ultimately, we concluded that “the Bible gives us plenty of evidence we can use to base our faith on, and we can use what the Bible says to know everything we need to know to be saved.”

Jumping ahead to episode 41, we looked at the parable of the three servants, which shares several characteristics with episode 35’s parable of the ten servants. In the parable of the three servants, we learned that God, “the master, gave everyone something, and He is watching to see what we will do with what He has blessed us with. When Jesus returns, those who have done something will be rewarded, while those who were fearful of making a mistake will lose out on everything.”

Moving forward to episode 43, we discovered three levels of faith in what Jesus shared with the eleven disciples as they were headed to the garden on the night He was betrayed and arrested. In Jesus’ conversation with the disciples, we learn that “God has called us to three distinct levels of faith: We should have faith in who Jesus is as God’s Son and a member of the Godhead; we should have faith in what Jesus has done for us, especially focusing in on what He accomplished on the cross; and we should have faith in Jesus’ working in our lives in both our present and our future.”

Episodes 44 and 45, which also focused on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, focused us onto the truths that “History is ‘His Story’, specifically Jesus’ story, and it is a story of redemption. While sinners killed Jesus, Jesus chose to die for those who God desires to save.”

Moving forward, while being led to the cross in episode 47, Jesus shared a challenge to some women who were following the procession. We learned in this episode that “we shouldn’t feel sad that Jesus faced the cross, we should be glad – we should be grateful for what Jesus’ death accomplished for each of us!”

Just a few short weeks ago, we looked at episode 48, and discovered that “In Peter’s experience on the morning Jesus was raised to life, we have a model for what we may experience. Peter found enough evidence to support a belief in the resurrection, but not so much evidence that would eliminate the need and role of faith. God has called us to have faith in Jesus, and to trust His promises. It is unlikely He will remove every reason for doubt, but He is more than willing to give us enough evidence for us to base our faith on.”

As we wrap up this episode, and this year of podcasting chronologically through Jesus’ life, I want to leave you with the main insight and challenge we wrapped up episode 50 with:

If those in the first century lived so close with God that they had the Holy Spirit show up in their lives in visible, miraculous ways, and these early church leaders didn’t believe themselves to be special or exclusively picked to receive the Holy Spirit, we can conclude that each of us living 2,000+ years later is capable of living lives like Jesus’ first followers and receive the Holy Spirit like they did. Knowing this, let’s intentionally live our lives so focused on growing closer to God that the Holy Spirit cannot help but show up in miraculous ways.

This episode marks the first part of our finale in our second chronological year podcasting through Jesus’ life, and as we begin, let me wish all of you a very special, very Merry Christmas during this holiday season. While I don’t have any idea what most of those listening to this episode are doing, I hope you are able to spend some time remembering Jesus and what His birth into this world ultimately means for our salvation.

As we have looked at over this past year of podcasting, we got a glimpse of who Jesus was when He came to earth during His first advent, and this glimpse that has been recorded for us will help us clearly recognize Him when He returns!

As is our custom, these two last episodes each year are focused on sharing insights that we uncovered during this past year of podcasts, and as is always the case, we discovered so many great insights that make our list difficult to narrow down to something manageable for this set of finale episodes.

With this said, let’s dive into what we learned during the first half of our year moving chronologically through the gospels looking at events in Jesus’ life and pull out some of these awesome insights.

Let’s start by focusing on what we discovered in episode 1, which focused on the two genealogies of Jesus. While other people might see these lists as boring, when we looked at them together, we discovered that like our human parents helped direct the nurture side of our lives, perhaps God could be said as directing the nature side of our development. As a parent, I am able to partner with God in my children’s development. Just like my wife and I are parents to our children, we could also understand God as being a parent to us. When we help raise our children, we are called and challenged to raise them up into being who God created them to be.

Jumping forward to episode 3, where we looked at some prophecies surrounding Jesus’ birth, we discovered that if the religious leaders stopped looking for the Messiah because of Herod’s mass killing of the infants in Bethlehem, then it shows how little faith they had in God – specifically in God’s ability to protect the Messiah that He promised to send. In this episode, we also were challenged by the realization that knowledge is a poor substitute for attention, and if we are not paying attention, no amount of knowledge will keep us from drifting away from God.

Blasting forward to episode number 8, we looked a little closer at Jesus inviting the tax collector Matthew to be a disciple. In this episode, we learned that “good enough” is the enemy of where God wants to take us. God has so many amazing things in His mind for each of us, but if we settle for “good enough”, we stop short of the plan God has for our lives. In other words, good enough is the enemy of God’s great plan for each of us, and it is up to us to be willing to be taught, helped, and lead forward in our lives and our understanding of God and His plan for each of us.

Skipping over episode 9, we come to episode 10, where we looked at a section of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. In this episode and passage, Jesus tells us that the intent of the law is to guard our thoughts and our minds from doing evil – and not just giving us the excuse that the law is only relevant for our external actions. The gift Jesus gave to us does not give us a license to sin. Jesus’ gift to us gives us freedom from our past sins.

In the very next episode, number 11, we looked at Jesus teaching on the topic of forgiveness. We learned from what Jesus told those listening that God forgiving our sins is necessary for us to be in heaven, and according to what Jesus says here, He will not forgive us when we choose to not forgive others. Jesus challenges us in this passage to do for others, what God has already done for us!

Jumping forward to episode 13, we looked at John the Baptist sending some followers to Jesus with a question. In this episode, we were challenged with the idea that when something we read or are challenged with doesn’t display a loving picture of God, we are challenged to tell ourselves that we only have less than half a perspective. In every event throughout history, there are always more sides to any event than we can fully uncover. With that understanding, we can know and trust that just because something doesn’t look loving from our vantage point, it does not make it unloving from God’s perspective.

Moving forward to episode 15, we looked a little closer at Jesus teaching about a lamp being placed on a lamp stand and how that is a metaphor for our lives. In this episode, we concluded that if God has made us a light for Him, then hiding us away is very illogical. As lights pointing people to Jesus and God, we shouldn’t be surprised when He places us on a lamp-stand, and gives us a platform to shine from.

In the next episode, which was episode number 16, we looked at Jesus sleeping through the storm in a boat. In this episode, we were reminded of the truth that Jesus had complete trust in God and His protection for His life. We also were challenged with the idea that God didn’t keep the storm from happening to Jesus and the disciples, but He protected them all through it.

Jumping ahead to episode 17, where we focused in on Jesus healing some blind men as well as a mute, demon-possessed man, we uncovered a simple litmus test we could use when looking at miracles that happen in our lives. We concluded that if the miracle we are experiencing leads us to strengthen our faith in God, Jesus, and/or the work of the Holy Spirit, then the miracle was from God. If the miracle leads us to place our faith in anything else, then there is a different spiritual force working behind the miracle.

Moving ahead to episode 19, we spent a little bit of time unpacking what we could learn from one time where the crowds abandoned Jesus after Jesus had shared a challenging message with them. In this episode, we discovered that Jesus’ words have creative, restorative, and life-giving power, and they are the essence of His ministry. The miracles and healing then become significant because they point us to pay attention to Jesus’ message and Jesus as God’s Messenger. The miracles lead us to the Messenger and His message, while the Messenger and His message bring us eternal life.

In the very next episode, episode number 20, we looked at Jesus feeding a new crowd of over 4,000 people. In this episode, passage, and miracle, we learned that sometimes we will have to put in the little that we have in order for God to multiply it into being something more. Gifts that other people bring can be multiplied by Jesus, but so can the gifts that we bring too. In this passage, we also discovered that Jesus sometimes will prompt a miracle because He knows we need it perhaps even without us asking. We don’t see people in the crowd asking for or demanding a miracle. We simply see Jesus offering to perform the miracle because He knows the people need it.

Moving forward to episode 21, we looked at Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Messiah God sent into the world. While there was a lot we discovered in this episode, one key insight that is always worth remembering is that it is God the Father and His Spirit who impress upon people the truth about who Jesus is. We can share the good news, we can tell others about Jesus and how our faith has helped our lives, but only God can really move someone to internalize the truth about who Jesus is in their own hearts. Only God can make Jesus real to someone.

As we come to the halfway point of our year, let’s wrap up this first part of our year-end finale by looking at episode 23 and on what Jesus taught His followers about dealing with conflict. In this episode, we discovered that God didn’t call us to hate, avoid, or put down those who don’t believe in Him or those who collect taxes. He calls us to love them. Jesus loved people who didn’t believe in God, and Jesus loved tax collectors. Jesus complimented Zacchaeus the tax collector after He visited Him in Jericho and He called Matthew the tax collector to be one of His twelve closest disciples. While the one who doesn’t listen to the church will be moved to the outside of the ring, there is nothing in Jesus’ words that tell us that the circle of the church is to be exclusively focused inward.

This leads us beautifully into our challenges to wrap up this podcast episode.

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to reflect Him and His love in the world around us. If you are unsure about what God’s love looks like, look no further than Jesus.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. While other people have ideas to think about, never let someone else’s spiritual journey get in the way or replace your personal spiritual journey with God. God wants a personal relationship with you and for your relationship to be personal, it cannot be based on another person’s 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!