Flashback Episode — Year 1 Finale: Part 1

To start off our special two-part finale for our first year chronologically moving through the gospels looking at events from Jesus’ life, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. While the Christmas season can often times be too commercialized, as followers of Jesus, we know and remember that this is a great time of the year to remember how Jesus, the light of the world, stepped into history. As many of us in the northern hemisphere face the point in each year where we have the least amount of daylight, we can remember that when things appeared to be the darkest, Jesus stepped into history to shine God’s light and His love into the world.

With that said, we just finished an amazing year looking at events from Jesus’ life and ministry, and as is our custom, we reserve the last two episodes each year to focus in on themes and insights that we discovered throughout the past year. As is always the case, I had a difficult time narrowing down the list of insights to a manageable length, and like every year, I wish I could include more while also not extending the length of these finale-podcasts too significantly.

However, without any further delay, let’s dive into what we discovered during the first half of this year of podcasting.

Starting off in episode 1, we looked at how Luke introduces us to his gospel message and we used this as a launching point to talk about some of the best ways to read and study the Bible. In this episode, we were challenged with the truth that in order to gain the greatest benefit from reading and studying the gospels, we should humble ourselves and prayerfully ask God for the Holy Spirit to help guide our study towards His truth. Also, never let non-biblical writings, no matter how spiritual they may be, take the place of prayerfully studying the Bible for yourself. God wants a personal relationship with you, and this relationship comes from leaning into God and His Word, trusting in His promises, and looking to Jesus for our salvation!

Moving forward to the very next episode, which is episode number 2, we looked at Mary visiting Elizabeth while Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. In this episode and the conversation between these two women, we learned that God is present whether we feel Him or His Spirit or whether we don’t. Whether or not you feel God or His Spirit, renew your trust and your confidence in God’s promises, remember that His Word never fails, and never forget that He cares about the wellbeing of all His creation. God looks at life from a different perspective than we do, and this perspective says, “I want to spend eternity with you.”

Jumping ahead to episode 5, which focused us on Jesus’ miracle at the wedding in Cana, we discovered that Jesus is okay with us believing in Him because of His miracles, but He never wants us to stop there. Jesus’ miracles were given to be signs to help us take notice, and to prompt us to move closer to Him as we see how He displays God’s love and God’s character to our world. Jesus’ miracles were God-given signs for us to take notice, but they should never form the foundation of our faith. Jesus does not want us to build the foundation of our belief in Him on His miracles. Looking at Mary’s example in this event taught us that Mary had faith in Jesus through the relationship she had with Him – a relationship that was built over having spent years with Him.

Jumping ahead a couple more episodes brings us to episode number 7, which focused us on Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be disciples. In this episode, we were challenged with the truth that while we could sit on the sidelines and watch others live lives of faith, only by living a faith-filled life ourselves will we ever truly discover for ourselves whether God’s way is best! If all of us together truly followed Jesus, modeling our lives after His, using His methods, and loving those He loved, I am positive our world would never be the same.

Moving forward to episode 9, we looked at a time when Jesus responded to some Pharisees who were challenging Him about who He was. In this passage, we learned that whenever anyone tried to give Jesus glory, He directs the glory to the Father. Jesus was 100+% focused on helping others and forwarding the glory onto God the Father. This event also challenged us that since we are disciples of Jesus, as disciples of Jesus, which is another way of saying that we model or imitate our lives after His, we are challenged to point all glory and praise upwards to God similar to how Jesus did. While we might not be able to perform miracles like Jesus did, we still are called to acknowledge God for how He has blessed us.

Jumping forward to episode 11, when looking at one of the times Jesus taught on the topic of prayer, Jesus helped us understand that our public relationship with God does not matter as much as our private relationship with Him. While a public and private relationship are important, Jesus tells us that those who only have a public relationship with God have already received their reward, because their relationship with God is not for God’s benefit, but simply for show.

In the next episode, which is episode number 12, Jesus continued teaching but shifted His topic onto avoiding judging others. In this passage, teaching, and event, we were reminded that God has given us way more than we deserve. We also learned that the truth Jesus teaches can also be extended and applied to our relationship with God: If we judge, He judges; if we condemn, He condemns; if we forgive, He forgives; and if we give generously, He gives generously. The type of relationship we have with God is fully within our choosing.

Jumping forward a few episodes to episode number 15, we looked at Jesus teaching what may be His most famous parable, which is the one focused on a farmer sowing seed and some various types of soil that the seed fell on. In this episode, we discovered that in God’s eyes, being fruitful is more important than how fruitful you are. We also concluded this episode by pointing out that instead of worrying if we are one of the less-than-ideal types of soil, perhaps we should instead focus on being like the farmer and spreading God’s word and His message to those in our lives. If we chose to see ourselves as the farmer, not replacing Jesus but instead partnering with Him and His Holy Spirit, we might find ourselves to be more fruitful that we would realize or give ourselves credit for.

A couple of episodes later, in episode 17, we then looked at Jesus resurrecting Jairus’ daughter after being delayed. In this passage and episode, which had a bunch of insights, we were reminded that Jesus is the “Life-giver”, and when given the opportunity to give life, He does so. While we might not experience the miracle of having our lives restored in the same way this girl experienced, Jesus does promise to restore our lives at the end of history when He returns.

This passage and miracle help give us hope that death is not the end. The life Jesus gives is stronger than death. This means that if we ever face sleep-death like this girl did, we know that Jesus will be the first face we see when He wakes us up, and following Jesus waking us up, nothing resembling death will ever be able to take His life from us!

In the next episode, episode number 18, we spent some time looking at Jesus’ challenge to His disciples as He sent them out in pairs to witness in nearby towns. When bringing the themes of this teaching into our world today, we were reminded of the truth that our world today has tried to push God to the sidelines and out of focus. As followers of Jesus, this means that sometimes our faith will prompt us to be ridiculed and made fun of, while other times we may be physically hurt. Regardless of what your experience has been, trust that God is in control and that He has a plan for your life that involves you being saved for eternity. With whatever happens in this life, trust that when we stick with God and with Jesus, we will receive eternal life that will outlast this sin-filled world.

Moving forward to episode 22, we looked at an event where Jesus heals a demon-possessed boy after His disciples were not able to. In this event, we discovered that Our belief is powerful, and unbelief has the power to sabotage the belief we do have. Prayer is the key. While Jesus’ words are directly tied to this situation, I also believe that they are tied to the subject of belief: Belief without prayer is weak. Prayer without belief is futile. However, belief when combined with prayer is limitless.

To wrap up this first part of our two-part finale, let’s remember an insight we discovered in episode 25, which focused us in on Jesus redeeming the woman caught in adultery. In this episode, we were reminded that there are so many places in life where we stumble that it is virtually impossible to never sin again, but in the places where we are conscious of the choice, Jesus challenges us with the truth that choosing sin is never positive from God’s perspective.

Also, remember that God wants you to have the best life possible, and the only things that He calls sin are things that cheapen the vision that He has for you. God ultimately wants you in heaven with Him, and He was willing to go to whatever length necessary to help you see His love for you!

Jesus came to this planet to redeem you from sin, because He loves you and because He wants you with Him in heaven. As we move through this Christmas season, let’s together remember that the biggest reason we celebrate is because of what Jesus came and did for each of us!