Flashback Episode — Year 2 Finale: Part 1

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!