The Read Your Bible Podcast

One of my favorite television shows to watch is the show Law and Order. It was probably the first courtroom drama I ever really enjoyed. The show did a masterful job of relaying the investigation portion of the crime in question, then the courtroom phase that ensued, ending with a sentence or judgment. It was at once realistic and riveting. We will see that same three-fold investigation, judgment, and sentencing performed today on the kingdom of Babylon as we witness her demise and the rise of the Persian empire. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The nephew of Nero, Caligula was one of the most eccentric and bizarre leaders in all of history. He once had his army build a two-mile floating bridge just so he could ride along it. In another deranged episode he once commanded his soldiers to plunder the sea by gathering shells in their helmets. He banned the mention of goats in his presence and practiced facial expressions to terrify his enemies.  He built a lavish home for his horse and tried to appoint the steed to the high office consul before he was eventually assassinated. Few leaders are more bizarre than Caligula, but no episode is more enigmatic than the events described for us in Daniel chapter 4. They teach us a valuable lesson about how pride makes us beasts and that humility embodies the proper perspective of greatness and power. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s a story you’ve likely heard in Vacation Bible School as a child. It is a go-to for children’s teachers and students alike. But what we learn from the three Hebrew children’s example far exceeds adolescent education. It sets for us a powerful example of genuine faith and obedience amid the mounting societal pressure to worship the idols our culture upholds as divine.  On today’s podcast from Daniel 3, we’ll look again at their story and remember that our obedience is as counter cultural today as it was revolutionary back then To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How different would you pray if your life depended on it? How much more intensity and focus might be given to your time in God’s presence if you knew your very existence depended on hearing from God in that moment. I wonder if sometimes our prayer life is largely ignored because we fail to see just how dependent our lives really are on it. It’s a truth powerfully revealed for us in Daniel 2 as this very thing happens to Daniel. See how He responded and how we should as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How easy is it for us to justify violated some insignificant command in Scripture? Our secular morals of today often collide with the clear teaching of God’s word and we are often left with a choice to justify our compromise of the Bible in order to stay in step with a world drifting into destruction. But this choice is not new, it fact it’s been around for centuries. It’s a choice that Daniel is faced with early in His life and the outcome of that decision becomes the foundation on which the rest of His life and legacy is remembered. The same will be true with us. Let’s look together at Daniel chapter 1. Before we do, I want to encourage you to watch the overview video of the book of Daniel included in the ONE Story reading plan. For convenience, I’ll post the in the show notes for today’s episode as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To view the introductory video for the book of Daniel, please click here.

What can skeletons teach us about the purpose of God? Well the answer is quite al lot actually! In this familiar passage from Ezekiel 36, God reveals to His prophet His future plans for Israel, even as they lay in desolate ruin. It’s a powerful story that is still being written. Let’s dive in together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What does it mean for God to be holy? That word is a slippery little concept that many of us fail to truly grasp.  Yet not fully understanding this truth could cause us to question God’s activity in the nation of Israel and in our own hearts. But when we truly behold God’s character through the lens of His holiness, it clarifies a great deal of God’s interactions both in Israel and in us. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Movie critic Mark Zambrano writes, “The greatest movie villain of all time deserves the greatest of movie entrances. On paper, Darth Vader’s first appearance in the original Star Wars is probably the least impressive of the others on this list. A door opens, he struts in, looks around and walks out. Boom! However, add in the Imperial March, a haze of smoke, some ominous wheezing and a billowing black cape and you’ve got the recipe for a cultural phenomenon that still captivates audiences to this day.” But no artist conception on a silver screen can hold a candle to the vision the prophet Ezekiel has of the God of creation entering the storyline to defend the holiness of His name. It should incite wonder and terror at the same time as we behold the Holy One of Israel in all of HIs glorious splendor from Ezekiel chapter 1. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s known as acute stress disorder. It’s a condition that persistently occurs in the aftermath of a traumatic experience and often challenges the individuals ability to function and cope in the wake of what has occurred. It’s almost as if the person is unable to function emotionally.  The brain subconsciously shields the individual from experiencing such overwhelming grief by shutting off those emotions altogether. Over time, the condition subsides and the person is left to deal with the fallout of such an experience. This could have been the explanation for the impersonal tone of 2 Kings 25 as the writer, devoid of emotional response, records the unthinkable travesties of the fall of Judah. But in the wake of such tragedy, there are sobering truths with which we need to come to grips learning from the catastrophic consequence of Judah’s despicable disobedience. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

There is a lot of talk these days about cancel culture. If society identifies a flaw in a historical figure, they choose to erase them from history rather than learn from their mistake through the science of critical thinking. Rather than understand the individual is not a two dimensional image but nuanced with positive and negative traits, they choose to just cancel them as if they did not exist altogether. This type of thinking forfeits the good while not constructively learning from the bad dooming themselves to repeat the tendencies of history. This is why history is worth the investment to learn it. Because if we properly understand history, both the good and the bad, we can derive from the past, the insights that can help us to achieve a better future.  This is also why biblical history is important. A chapter like 2 Kings 24 is steeped in Jewish history, but we learn some things about God and about ourselves through the recounting of these events. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

“How the mighty have fallen!” We use it as an idiom today to describe the decline or failure of a person who was once very successful, powerful, or great. The phrase actually originates in the Bible as it was used by a shepherd boy turned fugitive named David. He used the phrase to lament the death of his arch-rival King Saul. But to a greater degree, it’s an apt description of the nation of Judah and today we witness the tragic end of a glorious reign of the people of God in the land given to them by Jehovah Himself. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If someone was asked what defines who you are, what might they say?  When asked to describe who you are in one word, what adjectives might they use. Funny, smart, wealthy, bitter, happy, irresponsible? There are all kinds of words we throw around to describe people, but RIGHTEOUS is not one that might immediately come to mind and yet it is to be the cornerstone on which we should build our lives. But not our own righteousness, but as followers of Jesus, HIS righteousness on our behalf. This should define who we are. It’s a truth displayed for us today from Jeremiah 33 and it deserves our attention and reflection. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Location. Location. Location. Widely regarded as the three primary factors in property value, this mantra has become synonymous with understanding how real estate is valued. But in Jeremiah 32, we have probably the worst real estate deal in all of the Bible and yet it whispers to us of the gospel glory of redemption.  As we study this chapter together, we’ll find some prime examples of what faith looks like amid the backdrop of adversity and learn together how the promises of God can inspire us to radical obedience despite ridiculous circumstance. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The word “revelation” can mean many different things to many different people. One of the most important aspects of the concept of revelation to understand is that it is progressive. God unfolds His grand story of redemption in pieces across history and through time. The plan that was conceived in the mind of God before the world begin is executed in stages throughout the course of history. God reveals Himself through the law, through the covenants, and through His prophets.  Throughout the prophetic ministry of God’s servants, there are often foreshadowings of God’s ultimate plan of redemption that is to come through the story’s Protagonist, Jesus Christ Himself. We witness a prime example of that through the new covenant explained for us here in Jeremiah 31. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Jeremiah 29:11 is perhaps one of the most recognizable promises of all the Old Testament. You can’t walk through a store like Hobby Lobby and not find it plastered on something. But the context of the verse makes these words even more inspiring and they hold an invitation for us that is both inconvenient and incredible at the same time. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Just how powerful is our God? Often we miss the awesome power of God because we are so preoccupied with the circumstances of our lives. I fear that sometimes a great deal of our worry and consternation is derived from our inability to sit still in the Lord’s presence and meditate on His power revealed in His word. We get a glimpse of that power today in Jeremiah 25 as we witness God’s ability to raise up kings and move nations to accomplish His purposes in the lives of His people. As we consider the world around us, perhaps a fresh view of this power at work in us could settle our hearts today as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the things I wished for the most growing up was a big brother. I felt like that if I had someone who was developmentally one or two steps ahead of me, I could learn a lot about what was right and what was wrong and learn to make wiser decisions earlier.  Well unfortunately for the children of Judah, that theory did not ring true. In fact, their refusal to heed the cautionary tale of their sister nation, Israel, engendered further scorn upon their rebellious and pretentious lifestyles. We’ll learn about it today in Jeremiah chapter 3. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the running themes of the Old Testament is the connection between idolatry and intimacy.  God used Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute to powerfully illustrate to Israel what they had done in forsaking the Lord their God. That imagery returns now with the rebukes of Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. As we will see, these two ideas have a strong connection that demands our consideration. We have to realize our idolatry looks like the worse kind of infidelity to a God who at great cost to Himself has been nothing but faithful from the very beginning.  We’ll see it together as we jump into Jeremiah 2 today on the podcast. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Sociologists point to FOMO as one of the foremost reasons for our alarming addiction to social media. FOMO stands for the Fear of Missing Out and it’s a real thing. We feverishly check our phones multiple times a day because something inside of us wants to make sure that we don’t miss out on what’s going on in other’s lives.  But for the christian, there is another fear that we deal with it’s not the fear of missing out, but the fear of speaking out.  We have been commissioned by God to share the gospel, but for us, it’s increasingly difficult to share that message in the world around us because of the fear within us. Some of that fear comes from our desire to control the outcome, we don’t want to be rejected. Some of it comes from a culture that is rapidly becoming more and more hostile to the concept of God and religion as a whole. On today’s podcast, we learn some pretty helpful things from the prophet Jeremiah when it comes to speaking up for our faith.  To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To view the intro video for the book of Jeremiah, please click here.

When it comes to our leadership, one thing is for sure; there is no shortage of books and lessons on how to be a great leader. Go to Amazon and look up leadership books, and you'll find more information than you can read on the subject. But being a great leader isn't hard to do; even an eight-year-old can do it. It's not easy, but it is simple. It's as simple as tuning your heart to following God's law. We see that powerfully demonstrated by King Josiah in 2 Kings 23, and today on the podcast, we’ll consider what thoughtful, genuine repentance looks like in the life of this king and what it might look like in our lives as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

“God wrote a book. That reality blows me away every time I stop to think about it. Pages and pages of God; His thoughts, His words, His heart, right there, just a few inches away….But that’s not always what we see and feel when we open the Bible. Our weak, tired, distracted eyes look and all we see is a lifeless, boring portrait on the wall. But it’s not a portrait, it’s a window. It doesn’t hang lifeless in an old frame on the wall. It breaks through the wall, into another world, the real world, the lasting world, the better world. Through this window shines a divine light that changes everything around us.” These are the words of John Piper and they beautifully illustrate the power of this book and the light it reveals. That power and that light is is underscored for us in 2 Kings 22 and on today’s podcast, we’ll consider the power of this book for one king of Judah and for our lives today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What is it that stamps our legacy? History is filled with dates, names, snapshots in time that define the course of world events. Those moments have their place in refining and altering the storyline of historical record. But when it comes to a legacy and how one will be remembered by the ones they love, what matters more is not the momentary snapshot, but the daily pattern of someone’s life. We see that illustrated for us in the tale of two kings, a father and son who could not be more different.  We are talking, of course, about Hezekiah and Manasseh. We consider the comparison and contrasts today on the podcast from 2 Kings 21. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Sure to get the last laugh, British comedian Spike Milligan, had posted on his headstone when he died 2002, “I told you I was sick!” Sickness, death and dying however, is no laughing matter. At least not for King Hezekiah whose desperate prayer in 2 Kings 20 actually incited God’s healing of a terminal illness in the king. But as we will see, the judgment of God on sin is no laughing matter either.  As we will see, it is the the king’s devotion that stays the hand of God’s punishment of Judah’s idolatry for at least 15 more years setting the stage for one of the most puzzling chapters in the good king’s life. We’ll consider it all as we dive into 2 Kings chapter 20 today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

AC Dixon was one of the most influential Baptist Pastors of the early 1900’s. He once told a story that illustrates how God delights to defend His people. He said, “Rising early one morning, I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, when the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my chest, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not, capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.” That image of our weakness appealing to God’s strength could not more beautifully illustrate the events of 2 Kings 19 and they are filled with hope and confidence for those under the vicious pursuit of the enemy of our souls as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the most important theologians of the Protestant Reformation was a French pastor named John Calvin. Calvin’s massive volumes have done more for the development of Christian thought that anyone since the early church father, Augustine. The magnum opus for which He is most remembered is the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin knew the heart of man was desperately wicked, just as the Psalmist said. One adage from Calvin’s Institutes is helpful for our understanding of today’s reading. He said, “man’s heart is perpetual idol factory.” Keep that in mind as we come today to 2 Kings 18. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the most helpful things I’ve ever done is read the Bible chronologically. It is particularly helpful in helping us see God’s word as ONE Unified story designed to point us to a King who will redeem all that our brokenness has corrupted. 2 Kings 17 begins for us a new section in our ONE Story Reading Plan.  It resumes the storyline of the plight of God’s people following section 9. That section highlights the prophets who were sent to both Israel and Judah to warn them against the judgment that falls in 2 Kings 17. Despite repeated pleas, this chapter chronicles the fall of Israel and her capital city Samaria to the Assyrian empire, a sad and bitter end to a once glorious kingdom.  Now before diving in, let me encourage you to watch the video that begins section 10 on the Exile. It does a great job expanding the idea of exile to the entire Biblical story as a helpful motif to help us understand the plot line as well as help us understand the emotional duress the people experienced under the hand of God’s judgment on their sin. I’ll post the video link in the show notes for today’s episode. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the video on the EXILE, please click here.

I’m often asked why I journaling is such an important part of spiritual growth.  It feels so tedious to write everything down. I mean do I really need to do all of that?  Well not necessarily, but it is a discipline with profound effects on your growth. Journaling can be the monuments of God’s faithfulness in your life if you will take the time to record them. A great example of that in my own life happened this morning as I prepared for the today’s podcast on Micah 5. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What can history teach us about faith? Well, the answer is quite a lot actually. Because the greatest predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Meaning when something happens consistently in the past, it has a better chance of happening in the future. It is this principle that we should apply to our understand of prophecy in God’s word. Some of it can seem down right absurd, but when we consider the faithfulness of God to His promises already fulfilled in our lives and throughout history, it can fortify our faith in the future promise of God. This truth is uniquely seen in Micah chapter 4, and on today’s podcast, we’ll see God’s realization of part of this prophecy as the evidence of its final fulfillment. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

“A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.” These are the final words of the story of the boy who cried wolf. The story tells of a young boy who likes the attention that comes from him crying wolf.  He did it so much, that eventually the people ignored his warnings believing that he was telling a lie. When the wolf actually did come, the sheep were destroyed.  One wonders if this was the attitude of the people of Israel.  They had become deaf to the cries of the prophets who repeatedly warned them of God’s judgment. The problem was these prophets were not crying wolf they were warning the people as a result of the long-suffering of God. But eventually, the hammer of God’s judgment would fall.  Even in the shadow of such judgment, men like MIcah continue to plead with the people to repent. It’s a message we should consider as we study Micah chapter 1 on todays podcast. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the video overview for the book of Micah, please click here.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the paramount moment of Jesus’ teaching, our Savior commands us to, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” This is never easy is it. We struggle to do it. In her book, the Forgiveness Journal, author Lysa Terkeurst captures a right attitude of forgiveness. She writes, “God, I give this situation to You. I release my evidence of all the reasons they were so wrong, my need to see this person punished, my need for an apology, my need for this to feel fair, my need for You to declare me right and them wrong,Show me what I need to learn from all of this. And then give me Your peace in place of my pain.”  A difficult prayer to be sure. It’s one our stubborn and reluctant prophet Jonah needed to learn as well. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider how God exposes Jonah’s character and consider how it might mirror our own. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It is perhaps one of the greatest examples of national revival in all of the pages of God’s word. A corporate repentance so wide-spread that even the king leaves the throne to sit on the ground in sackcloth and ashes as a public display of contrition.  It’s one of the greatest examples of repentance seen in the entire Bible, but it didn’t come from God’s people and it didn’t come because of a powerful preacher with a convicting sermon. It came at the hands of a five word message spoken by a reluctant prophet whose life spoke louder than his words did. Witness the revival of Nineveh in Jonah 3. We’ll discuss the unique event and it’s ramifications for our lives on today’s podcast. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It was one of my dad’s favorite things he had me to recite as a child. Obedience is doing what you are told to do, when you are told to do it, with the right heart attitude. Jonah 2 demonstrates a prophet in process. At first, he wouldn’t do what he was told to do. He’s late coming to do it, and his attitude isn’t right in doing so.  Nonetheless, he does seem repentance of his rebellion even if it is for the wrong reasons. Today on the podcast, we’ll consider is that even repentance at all or is it just posturing to escape pain. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

“The Old Testament Characters are not to be models for morality, they are mirrors for identity.” These are the words of Dr. Robert Smith in his introduction to Jonah. He says it’s a book with jagged edges. Like a hangnail, it should grate and snag on our hearts and expose our own sinfulness as we consider its message. We should see ourselves in this story filled with divine irony and satire as we study it together. Before we dive into the book, let me encourage you to watch the overview video linked in the show notes for today’s episode. It’s incredibly helpful in understanding the book and how it’s designed. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the overview of the book of Jonah, please click here.

It was my first semester in seminary in Theology proper that I first learned about what I call the dynamic tension of God’s attributes. It was very helpful for my understanding of the nature of God.  I’ve mentioned it on the podcast before. It’s this idea that God’s character exists in dynamic tension. It is reckless to have a God who is all powerful and not all knowing and pointless to have a God that is all knowing and not all powerful. In Amos chapter 9, we see the dynamic interplay of this tension in brilliant detail and it should incite hope for us today. Our time in Amos is not at all comprehensive, so I want to encourage you to watch the overview video that is included in the ONE story reading plan. It will help you understand the book much better than the one chapter we are able to cover in today’s reading.  I’ll link the video to the show notes for today’s episode. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To access the video overview of the book of Amos, please click here.

Revenge on injustice is a common theme in many action movies today. Something inside of us longs for a reckoning against injustice. As long as injustice abounds, we will live unsettled. But did you know that this longing reveals within us a yearning for the rule of a divine kingdom? Our sense of justice is inextricably linked to our understanding of law and what promotes human flourishing.  That just and perfect reality will never be accomplished in this world so long as her leaders are flawed and fallible. But one day, that world will be a reality, when the divine King sits in judgment and rules the world from His holy city. This future vision is spoken of in Joel chapter 3 and on today’s podcasts we’ll investigate it together and consider some of the ramifications of it for us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The early church father Augustine once said, “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” That insightful statement is one reason that seeing the full storyline of the Bible is so critically important. The revelation of God’s promise of salvation is not a strictly New Testament concept but it is powerfully foreshadowed in the pages of Old Testament writings. No chapter is clearer in that regard than Joel chapter 2. In this chapter we see the whole of the gospel uniquely declared against the backdrop of divine judgment. On today’s podcast we’ll dive into that revelation and behold it’s beautiful promise to us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever met someone who just can’t admit when they are wrong?  I mean no one really likes to do it, but at some point, you have to just own it repent of it and start over. Otherwise, you will just be heading down a dead end road that leads to destruction.  That’s a bit like where the children of Israel as we begin our study into the ministry of Joel.  It’s a people who are ravaged by the effects of their own rebellion, and as tough as it to admit, the best thing they can do is just own it, repent, and start over.  We’ll see it all unfold together today on the podcast from Joel chapter 1. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. For a brief video overview of the book, please click here.

It’s usually about a quarter to a half inch square, but that tiny box represents a lifetime of memories. I’m talking about an engagement ring box. It’s so little, but it means so much! Beyond it’s size, it is the token of love from one individual to another. It represents commitment, it represents fidelity, it represents a desire to spend the rest of their lives together. It means the world. That’s how we should feel about these five short verses in Hosea chapter 3. They couldn’t mean more! They represent the whole of human history, God’s grand design, His desire for commitment, fidelity and eternity spent together and it reveals just how far He would go and how much He would pay to make it possible. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

All of us know what the wilderness feels like. It’s confusing, it’s disorienting, it’s frustrating, it’s just plain hard. No one likes it. It’s especially difficult to endure when the reason you are there is of your own foolish choices. On today’s podcast, we’ll find a surprising grace only found in the wilderness that testifies to a God who whispers tenderly to us amid the wilderness seasons. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Today as we begin our study, we are diving into one of the most interesting books in all the Old Testament. It is perhaps one of the most shocking and powerful pictures in all of Israelite history. Yet it starkly illustrates the deteriorating relationship between Jehovah and His covenant people, Israel.  What would you do if you were a preacher and God told you to go marry a prostitute? Excuse me? What did you say? It might arouse a fair amount of confusion in your heart as to the wisdom of such an instruction. Yet this appalling instruction is precisely what Hosea is ordered to do. He does this because it illustrates a potent reality signifying the state of affairs in which the prophet ministered. As you begin this chapter, let me once again commend the video introduction to the book included as part of the ONE STORY reading plan. It is a helpful analysis of the book as a whole and will give you an important perspective as you begin your study. I link the video to the show notes to today’s episode. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To access the book intro for the book of Hosea, please click here.

One of the great dangers of our contemporary culture today is to paint God in broad, generous strokes of His grace and to minimize His holiness and His justice. In a world of sinners, the notion of a holy God who punishes and judges sin is a far less attractive picture than a God who coddles our proclivities and minimizes our deficiencies. The problem with that view of God is that it just doesn’t square with the Bible or with the gospel. Yet the gospel is THE good news, the greatest news of all. But a faithful proclamation of that gospel boasts of His grace without minimizing His holiness and judgment. Herein lies it’s beauty, God is, at once, holy and gracious, forgiving and just.  Understanding the dynamic tension of His attributes in this way not only is important, it is the doorway to majestic beauty and reverent awe. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s a classic gaslighting technique that was first utilized during the propaganda tactics of World War II by Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels. It’s also been used widely by several Marxist theorists including Lenin and Marx himself. It’s the technique of accusing your opponent of that which you are currently doing thereby causing confusion and speculation. It might surprise you to find it levied against God Himself in Isaiah 65 by none other than His own people. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider the lunacy of their argument. We’ll also look at the hope that remains for the remnant of those who remain faithful to God’s covenant promise. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Webster defines the word portrait as, “a painting, drawing, or engraving of a person.” It is designed to, as closely as possible, resemble or “portray” the likeness of the person after whom the portrait is modeled. In Isaiah 53, we see the prophet’s most stunning attempt to portray the King who was to become the Servant. This Servant would be “successful” in redeeming the people of God both physically and spiritually.  On today’s podcast we’ll consider the portrait of this Servant slain for our transgressions and what HIs coming means to the overall story of God’s redemption. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Something about the human condition causes us to love a good redemption story. Whether it’s the Shawshank Redemption, the Count of Monte Cristo, It’s a Wonderful Life, or Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, all of us love the concept of comeback, of redemption. Have you ever wondered where that love originates? Every story whispers to us of a much grander epic. It’s what makes us love these tales of adventure and intrigue, and yes, redemption. In Isaiah 52, we see the prelude to the Rise of the Redeemer. The One who, on the grand stage of history, would descend to redeem His people. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What would it take for you to really and genuinely trust God with your future? How might you ask God to demonstrate His capacity to rightly govern the days ahead in your life? Well, Isaiah 45 gives us some pretty compelling evidence that God has a pretty good handle on the future and what it might hold. He can not only direct it, He can predict it.  Such a demonstration of power and wisdom should have been enough for these Israelites, and it should be enough for us as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

For every movie that graces the silver screen, there is a trailer that gives a preview of coming attractions. It’s meant to whet the appetite of the consumer and cause them to lean into the story. On today’s podcast we see a trailer for God’s sweeping story line in pretty specific detail.  The truth found in this chapter is a sobering reminder of the efficacy of trusting God and the utter idiocy of following anyone else. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Since humanity was banned from the garden after the presence of sin, society has tried in vain to return to the utopian promise that the garden represented. Various iterations of political, societal, and religious groups have failed to achieve the worldwide stability, harmony, peace, and prosperity that the garden outlined. But just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t. In fact, the whole of redemptive history is aimed towards restoring creation that Edenic reality. It’s a promise outlined for us Isaiah 11 and on today’s podcast we’ll consider the implication of that promise for us today and how we might live in response to that coming existence. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the great joys of studying the prophets is the confidence we gain in God’s accomplishment of every last promise He made regarding the Messiah. As we dive deeper and deeper into them, we learn something very important about the character of our God. His is just, He is righteous, He is gracious, He is trustworthy, and so much more!  We’ll dive into these topics and more on today’s podcast from Isaiah 9. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

I have always been a fan of acoustic worship music. One of my favorite artists is two guys named Shane and Shane. I’ll never forget the first song on their album, “Pages.” The name of the song is Vision of You, and there was a line in it that I’ve never gotten over. The song is a really simple prayer asking God to give us a bigger understanding of who He is. The line that really got my attention said, “may the vision of you be the death of me.” I’ve never forgotten that line and every time I read this chapter, I am reminded of that song. Because on today’s podcast, we meet a prophet who thought the vision of God He encountered would indeed be the death of Him. Oh that we would catch a glimpse of such glory and splendor. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The concept of perspective is a funny thing. The ability to see the vision with perspective or from a vantage point that others may not necessarily see is a gift that has served many a leader well as they seek to lead their organization to a preferred future.  Perspective often requires a great deal of faith to achieve something that others may think is impossible. Such was the perspective of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings chapter 6.  His faith allowed him to see what others couldn’t and on today’s podcast we’ll consider what it might take for us to experience that in our own lives. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Are you willing to do what it takes to be healed? It’s a question worth considering. Sometimes I wonder if we’d rather live in our pride and our malady, than humble ourselves and find healing. It’s not unlike the story of Naaman, the foreign dignitary with a skin disease who struggle to find healing because it required humbling himself in a way he was not accustomed to doing. The struggle to find healing always involved a humility that requires us to obey in ways we hand never considered. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever heard of a copycat killer?  It’s someone whose heinous acts are often patterned after the despicable acts of another criminal.  Well, in 2 Kings chapter 4, we see, in many ways, a copycat prophet. These rather miraculous events chronicled for us in this chapter, in many ways mirrors the work of his predecessor, Elijah. But more than just mirror them, they often eclipse them.  As we investigate the works of this prophet, we see more than shades of the past though, we see glimpses of a greater work by a greater Prophet on our behalf. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever gone on a road trip and wondered if you would ever reach your destination?  Perhaps it was through the night and it felt like you were stopping over and over again and falling further and further behind? I’ll never forget the first time our family went on a beach trip together. Our kids were little and so we decided it would be best to travel at night in the hopes that they would sleep. The only problem was, they were too excited to do so and so we ended up stopping over and over and over again for them. I felt like that was the longest night of my life and we’d never get to where we were going. In 2 Kings 2, Elijah and Elisha are on a road trip of sorts and like our story, they stop at several places before reaching their destination. But what we learn from their road trip could speak volumes to us about what it means to truly follow Jesus. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever had to tell someone the unvarnished, unpopular truth? A truth you knew they would not want to hear but you felt compelled because you loved them to tell them anyway. While all of us may have had to do that, none of us are really signing up for it right? It can be difficult to tell the unmitigated truth to someone who doesn’t want to hear it. Such was the case with the prophet of God in 1 Kings 22, but as we’ll see on today’s podcast, this is the responsibility of every faithful prophet of God, and it may have more import for us than we may realize at first. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If you were famous for something, what would it be? Your smile, your looks, your ability to make people laugh, your work ethic, your abilities, your sincerity? There are lots of things to be remembered for, however, in 1 Kings, we see about the worst thing in the world to be known for and its a pretty telling indictment of King Ahab’s life. But the text also gives a clue as to why and it stands as a great reminder to us as well about how we live and who we run with. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever got to the point where you had enough? I mean you tried to do everything you could to make that situation work out right. You did everything you could do, but somehow things just didn’t work out. You’re frustrated, you’re exhausted, you’re tired, you’ve had enough and you are on the edge of just throwing your hands up in despair and walking off?  Have you ever been there? One of the things I love the most about the Bible is that the word never glosses over these emotions. We see them in the life of the greatest of men, men like Elijah. Few men have ever seen the heights of Elijah’s ministry. Conversely, few men have ever felt the depression and anguish that the prophet experienced either.  In 1 Kings 19, we see these emotions displayed for us in the man of God and it’s worth our time to consider what God might be teaching this man in this moment and what He might be teaching us as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s one of those moments in Old Testament history that I hope that God has on DVR for us to watch when we get to heaven. Just the machismo that it takes for the prophet of God before a king who’d spent the last three years trying to kill him, not to mention the 850 false prophets who’d spent the afternoon pleading and bleeding for their idol to hear, for Elijah to stand and call down fire from heaven. It had to have been one of those moments where it was utterly indescribable. How does fire even lap up water anyway? Yet there is so much for us to learn from 1 Kings 18 beyond a cool story, truths that show us the importance of worshipping God above everything else. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the most influential voices in my spiritual journey as a high school student was my student pastor, Mike Brandon.  A former police officer turned history teacher, he had a way of speaking into my life without ever even saying a word. The truths that he instilled in my life in that season were incredibly instrumental to my calling as a pastor and teacher in the years ahead. He had a way of coining pithy phrases that taught important truths. One of those truths that He inscribed on my teachable mind in that season was the phrase, “when God decides, God provides.” The axiom has stuck with me as I’ve found it to be true in my own life. It’s true, when we walk in obedience to God’s commands, He will providentially and sometimes miraculously provide what is needed most in that season. It’s a truth we see demonstrated today in 1 Kings 17 and on today’s podcast we’ll trace God’s hand of provision as it follows the prophet’s heart felt decisions. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela once wrote, “Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way leads to defeat and death.” We’ve all been there where the melody of hope seems to fade amid the pounding drums of fear and doubt. But just how do we find hope amid the darkness of this life?  Well, we’re given a clue here in the dark narrative of 1 Kings 16 and on today’s podcast we’ll consider a truth that should settle us as we ride the stormy tides of this life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To access a timeline of these events, please click here.

I have an evangelist friend that once gave some really good advice. He said that “you can listen and learn or you can live and learn and listening is always easier than living.” In 1 Kings 12, we find a king who should have listened to the wisdom of the aged rather than going with his gut, a decision that eventually cost him the kingdom. We’ll also learn the greater value of seeing Jesus from this Old Testament story and what it can teach us about the message of grace. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It is quintessential irony.  How in God’s name could the wisest man on the planet think there was wisdom in marrying 700 women and having 300 more girlfriends? One has to question the veracity of the claim that Solomon was the wisest man on the planet given the track record with women. Many of Solomon’s marriages were arranged as contractual agreements that increased his power and ability to trade thereby enlarging his wealth. But the real problem was what these women did to his heart and the downfall these entanglements would incite in the richest and wisest of kings. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When is it wrong to buy a horse? Well, believe it or not, for King Solomon, it might have been.  On today’s podcast, we’ll consider how these things converge to spell the mighty King’s demise. We’ll also take a moment to consider how we might avoid the same temptations. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It was the perhaps the high point of Jewish history as the wise and wealthy King Solomon stood on the mount and dedicated with power and glory, the Temple of Jehovah. It was to be the permanent residence (at least symbolically) of God’s presence with His people. But as we will learn, there was one caveat to that residence, a requirement that the people could not uphold.  That requirement that they were unable to fulfill would lay the groundwork for the coming of the true King to His people in ways they would have never imagined. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider the ramifications of such an arrival and what it means for us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s the stuff of baptist legend. Churches splitting over the most ridiculous of arguments like the color of the carpet, the size of the bathrooms, the lighting fixtures. Somehow Satan finds construction in churches a fertile ground to plant the seeds of dissension and disunity. But in 1 Kings 6, we see the wisest of kings, King Solomon in the midst of the most glorious of church building campaigns. As we’ll see in the chapters ahead, the results were fantastic, but as we’ll see the most important work is often in the places where no one sees and that truth is a potent reminder that most important of work done in any of us is often in the inner sanctum where God’s presence most fully dwells. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

I’ll never forget it. I just had started into full time ministry and my head was filled with dreams and plans that I was so sure were going to work. I had it all figured out and all I needed was a chance.  Now almost 20 years into ministry, I’m far less enthralled with my own ideas. I’ve had lots of helping of humble pie over the years, and though my heart still dreams, I’m less inclined to be convinced my dreams will work and more drawn to seek God’s plans for His church rather than my own.  Remarkably, the wisest man on the earth didn’t get there because He knew everything, but precisely because he didn’t, a truth we learn today from 1 Kings 3. On today’s podcast, we’ll learn the secret to learning is actually not knowing. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

King Solomon is revered historically as a man of incredible wealth, wisdom, and power. His reign represents the crest of the Jewish golden age of prosperity for God’s people.  In 1 Kings 2, he is given some advice from his father, David, advice that spelled not only his success but ours as well. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider this advice and apply it to our own lives.   To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the intro video to the book of 1 Kings, please click here.

Have you ever heard of the worship wars?  People have some very entrenched beliefs about how we should or should not worship God in church these days. I’ve seen it split churches right down the middle and if we’re not careful, we can allow our preferences inhibit our worship and incite our division which actually ends up doing the opposite of what worship is designed to do. Corporate worship is designed to be the ascribing worth to our God together and we aren’t careful, the division will actually defame Christ name in our midst and this is always the ploy of the enemy. Thankfully, Psalm 148-150 give us some very instructive truths to help us understand how to worship God in harmony together with all of creation and on today’s podcast, we’ll consider those truths and how to apply them to our worship in our own context today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How important is it to read God’s word? Forget that a preacher is asking you that question for a moment. Perhaps a better question is “how important is it FOR YOU to read God’s word FOR YOURSELF?” Every day on this podcast I make the statement, “Nothing will grow your relationship with Jesus Christ more that studying the Bible for yourself.” It’s why we do this reading plan and this podcast, because God’s word isn’t just important for your Christian walk, it is critical. Psalm 19 gives us a multitude of reasons why and on today’s podcast we’ll dive into a few of them together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

King David prayed in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation.” But just how does that happen? When we have failed God and we feel dejected and discouraged, how does God restore our joy? Well I think a clue is found here in Psalm 103 and on today’s podcast, we’ll discover how David encouraged himself in the things of God and how it led him to worship amid the darkest season of His life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s one of the most persuasive speeches in all the Bible. As a teenager, I remember having to read this story for a speech and I was struck then with how artfully King David is confronted with his sin.  On today’s podcast, we’ll experience first-hand the horror of David’s sin and the consequence of its disaster. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Many times in our lives we fail to realize how close we are to disaster. As one evangelist friend put it, we are all one step from stupid. Often in our lives, we are so careless with our decisions that we fail to weigh the full consequences of those decisions and we end up in disaster. Such was the case with David in 2 Samuel 11 and in on today’s podcast, we’ll highlight the decisions that led to the king’s tragic downfall as we seek to avoid a similar catastrophe in our own lives. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s the epitome of grace. A crippled man in hiding because of his kingly heritage being found by a rival king who had no reason to show him any mercy instead shows him kindness, restores his fortunes, and sets a place for him every night at the king’s table. It’s grace 101 but it’s also the response of a grateful king. We’ll talk about all of it on today’s podcast from 2 Samuel 9 and Psalm 18. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and some small detail actually become the turning point in the entire story and had the whole plot turn on that small piece of information? Well, that’s exactly what happens in 2 Samuel 7 as David’s rightful intent to build God’s house actually lays the foundation for one of the most important prophetic announcements in all the Bible. We’ll talk about it today on today’s podcast from 2 Samuel 7. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When you were a kid, did you ever get in trouble and it seemed as if the punishment didn’t fit the crime. I can remember my father telling me one time to make sure that I picked up my toy guns out of the yard.  He had run over more than one on the mower.  I had a really bad habit of leaving my toys wherever my imagination left them.  Dad told me over and over and over again. One day dad told me to pick up the guns in the yard and every gun I didn’t pick up, we were going to throw away. So sure enough the next day, I ignored him and I had to throw away my favorite gun it was a black sawed off shotgun with and orange pump. I was so upset. It seemed as if the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Well in 2 Samuel 6, we see a punishment that feels way too harsh that the sin warranted and on today’s podcast we’ll discover why God was so upset and what we should learn from this harsh penalty for such a seemingly innocuous sin. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever been so sure that the Lord was doing something one way only to find out that He threw you a curve ball. Just when we thought we have Him figured out, He flips the script on us! If you’ve ever experienced this, you’ve learned the valuable lesson of learning to trust God DAILY. This is the lesson that 2 Samuel 5 teaches us and on today’s podcast, we’ll discover how David learns this lesson and how we can as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

As a pastor, one of the excuses I hear why someone struggles to read the Bible. They don’t have the discipline, they don’t have the time, they don’t understand it.  But the most ludicrous of all of them is that the Bible is boring. I want to look at them and say, “have you read the Bible?” In today’s story from 2 Samuel chapter 3 we see the political interworking of David’s struggle for power. Not only, is it enthralling, it is incredibly instructive for us in our lives and on today’s podcast, we’ll dive into all of it. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Transition can be difficult for anyone. Change is hard for all of us at one point or another. But try transitioning from a fugitive to a king. Such was the plight of David, the anointed ruler, darling boy of Israel, turned fugitive from justice, turned ally to the Philistines and is now the heir apparent to the throne.  But David’s conduct and posture during this season of transition is so instructive for us and we would do well to learn these lessons. On today’s podcast we’ll discover a few of them from 2 Samuel 1. Now before diving into this passage, let me encourage you to watch the video summary of 2 Samuel in the One Story Reading Plan. It does a great job of showing you how the story fits into the timeline of God’s word.  It’s well worth your time, I’ll link it in the show notes for today’s episode. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the video overview for 2 Samuel, please click here.

Too often most of us live our lives consumed with our own glory, our own story, our own lives, and our own legacy. But what if our lives had infinitely greater significance than just our lives.  What if the choices we made reflected a much greater story, a much grander epic.  We are all hard wired for story, it’s what captivates us about a novel or a movie, all of us want to know how our lives connect to a greater purpose. On today’s podcast, we’ll close the book on Saul, King of Israel and we will see how his tragic end had disastrous consequences for the larger story of Israel and her God. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Since when does the king of Israel, God’s chosen people, those to whom the covenant belongs, since when does her king consult mediums to find a word from God?  This people who had been under the direct authority and leadership of their God from the beginning have now tragically fallen to such a state as to her king who can no longer hear from the Lord is no summoning the spirits of dead prophets to hear words that that same king had long rejected from that same prophet. The tragic story unfolds in 1 Samuel 28 and on today’s podcast we’ll take a moment to try to trace how we got here and what we can learn from it all. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Prince Hal finds the cowardly Falstaff supposedly dead on the battlefield. When the prince leaves, Falstaff gets up and states, “The better part of valor is discretion.” From which we get the adage, discretion is the better part of valor. We take the phrase to mean that the best part of courage is caution. On today’s podcast, we learn of David’s discretion in approaching Saul and the lessons we learn from his actions are incredibly instructive for us. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

A chain reaction is a series of reactive events that occur because of an initial chemical reaction. When that reaction occurs, the changes in the chemical makeup sets off other reactive elements.  What happens scientifically also has a way of showing up in life. All of us have witnessed one incident set off a chain of events that lead to devastating results. Such is the case in 1 Samuel 22 and on today’s podcast we’ll examine the chain reaction that began with a white lie and ended with a town’s genocide. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever allowed fear in your life to lead to dumb decisions? All of us know how our judgment can be clouded by trepidation and anxiety over a set of given circumstances. Here in 1 Samuel 21, we see David making some reckless decisions following some faulty judgments motivated by fear and worry. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider them together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What does it take to be a good friend? Honesty, loyalty, protection, laughter, connection, the ability to listen? All these are valuable traits in a good friend. On today’s podcast from 1 Samuel 20 we will see friendship modeled in a beautiful way. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Early reviews suggested that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 would be one of the best smartphones of 2016. Unfortunately such claims were undermined by the tendency of its battery to catch fire on airplanes, prompting the company to launch a massive recall and replace programme. Worse still, the new certified-safe Note 7s proved to be anything but, burning up as before, prompting Samsung to ditch the phone entirely in October, at the cost of about $5bn. As far as Public Relations nightmares go, this one comes in at number 5 according to a National Business review article, but it pales in comparison to the PR nightmare of a naked king rolling around talking nonsense in the streets. Yet that is exactly what we find happens on today’s podcast from 1 Samuel 19. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Webster defines a pattern as, “a discernible coherent system based on the intended interrelationship of component parts.” Sometimes a pattern of behavior emerges in someone’s life that everyone except them can see will lead them to destruction. When an alcoholic begins to go by the store every day. When a drug addict begins to sell things to get money to buy drugs.  Such was the case with Saul, there is a definable pattern of destruction in Saul’s life that led him down a path to his own demise. A pattern we’ll see today on the podcast from 1 Samuel 18. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It is one of the most famous accounts in all the Biblical narratives. It’s the kind of bravado from which legends are made. Even unbelievers who are ignorant of the gospel message know the story of David and Goliath. It is used as the classic underdog story to inspire generation after generation about the nature of true courage in the face of indomitable odds. But on today’s podcast, we’ll seek to understand the story through a gospel context that positions us not as the Savior but those needing salvation. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The phrase “you can’t judge a book by it’s cover” is actually first introduced in a 1944 African journal of American Speech. The initial iteration of the phrase was “you can’t judge a book by it’s binding.” It rose to popularity when it appeared in the 1946 murder mystery Murder in the Glass Room by Lester Fuller and Edwin Rolfe.  But this adage applies to more than just literature. The children of Israel judged the newly crowned king by his cover and It cost him dearly. Conversely, the king after God’s heart was forgotten and overlooked initially.  On today’s podcast we’ll consider the folly of looking on the outward appearance and remember that God sees the heart. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever met someone that makes everything about themselves? When they are slighted, it’s a personal attack. When something goes right, it’s their contribution that made the difference. When a task they were involved in fails, they look to blame others.  All of us know how tedious it is at times to endure this kind of behavior. In 1 Samuel 15, we see all of these factors converge in Saul’s arrogance and presumption. When he is confronted with hijacking God’s plans for his own purposes, he immediately begins to shift the blame.  On today’s podcast, we’ll witness the consequences of his arrogance and pride and we’ll pause to reflect on our own lives to look for any hint of it in our own story. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

1 Samuel 13 and 14 give us a contrast in leadership that could not be more apparent. We have witnessed the debacle of Saul’s leadership in chapter 13 and we will see the courage of his son Jonathan’s leadership in chapter 14. The divergent results of their leadership styles provide us clues into our own leadership and how to be a leader that others want to follow. On today’s podcast, we’ll compare these two men and the resulting contrasts of their leadership. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the things I love most about the Bible is how directly applicable it is to our lives. In 1 Samuel 13, there are so many applications to learn from Saul’s debacle at Gilgal. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider the mistakes that cost him the kingdom and consider how to avoid them in our own lives. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How well do you deal with confrontation? No one likes to have a difficult conversation that requires tough truth to be exposed. None of us like to be told the unvarnished ugly truth about the deficiencies of our lives. This makes these types of conversations both difficult and necessary at the same time. On today’s podcast, we’ll learn how Samuel did this in a masterful way. We’ll take time to consider how he did this and how we might learn to emulate his example. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What is it that you look for in a leader? Charisma? Integrity? Ability? If the first two kings of Israel are anything, they are a case study on how you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. On today’s podcast we’ll explore how doing so, can lead you to a heap of trouble. Along the way, we’ll try to identify some characteristics that need to be a part of every godly leader’s life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever been so convinced that you wanted something but it turned out to be everything you wanted but nothing you needed? Such was the case with the first king of Israel. Clamored for by thousands, these people insisted they needed a king like everyone else. The problem was, that’s exactly what they got. Careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Today on the podcast we’ll learn the value of not judging the book by it’s cover and how our judgments about the viability of a leader can be seriously flawed, and what we can do to identify the shepherd boys that God wants to make kings. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Abraham Lincoln said, "the philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."  In 1 Samuel 8 unveils for us a crack that would eventually deteriorate into a full blown fault line as it relates to discipleship. On today’s podcast, we see how small failures lead to national disasters.  We will see in the course of events just how tragic those failures become over time.  May we learn from their mistakes as we seek to live in a culture deteriorating just as quickly. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What does it mean to really listen?  The simple faith of a boy points us to the proper posture to what God has to say to us. On today’s podcast, we’ll discover what it means to really listen to the Lord and sadly the tragic results of not doing so. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom writes, "We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.”  When we read 1 Samuel 2 we learn just how beautifully purposed God was in answering Hannah’s prayer. In her song of praise, we are given truths we will discover over and over through this section of the story. Truths we can live by today. On today’s podcast we’ll celebrate with Hannah over God’s goodness and along the way uncover these truths crucial to learn in their lives and ours as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the overview video for 1 Samuel, please click here.

The book of 1 Samuel begins genuine heartache. It’s a pain all too familiar for too many women today.  Yet in the throes of this tragedy we learn some instructive things about God’s plan and how to come to grips with it in our lives. The sorrow turns to joy as God uses one woman’s pain to move the story one step closer to the One who will reconcile all the tragedy of our experience. On today’s podcast, we’ll seek to understand her pain and rejoice in God’s grace to her. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To watch the overview video for 1 Samuel, please click here.

On June 25, 1967 BBC Television ran a TV special called “Our World.” For the finale of that show, the Beatles performed the very first rendition of their iconic song, “All you need is love.” Turns out they were wrong because according to a 2013 study done by a Canadian magazine it actually costs quite a lot to get married these days. In fact from the first flittering butterflies to crossing the threshold of your home together it now cost $43,842.08. This includes a year long courtship, & a year long engagement. What you are willing to pay for something shows how much it is worth to you. It declares in monetary form the value you put on that item.  On today’s podcast, we learn just how valuable Ruth was to her soon-to-be husband Boaz. In this story, we will learn the value of that relationship and how it illustrates the relationship between Christ and His church. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If you read between these lines of Ruth chapter 3 in a 21st century mindset you might be tempting to think you were reading Nicholas Sparks not the Old Testament. A casual reading of the chapter will lead you to believe that Naomi is advocating some midnight maneuvers, some late night meetings under the cover of night. What’s this about uncovering his feet? Is that euphemistic for something else? Is this Moabite woman throwing herself at this man? On today’s podcast we’ll “uncover” the truth about this chapter and as we do, we’ll discover the true nature of salvation and how it beautifully illustrates how we are to come to Christ to find the grace that can change our life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The Bible is filled with stories of extravagant grace, but none more so beautifully articulated as the one demonstrated here in Ruth 2.  It’s a glorious picture of salvation and the beauty of graces on full display here and on today’s podcast, we’ll revel in the glories of this grace shown by Boaz. It testifies to us of the Lover of our own souls and the grace shown to us in extravagance. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It is one of, if not the most beautiful story in all of the Bible. Even today, it is studied as one of the most beautiful stories in all of ancient literature. It’s a brilliant love story with an even more beautiful message. Still, as the curtain opens on this love story, we are left staring at painful irony and agonizing tragedy square in the face. I’m so grateful that the Bible is not a book that doesn’t address the tragedy of life. I’m glad it doesn’t glaze over the pain of the characters in it. What we have before us today is raw and honest and paints a powerful lesson for us to uncover in bold colors. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

After an incredibly successful basketball career at the university of Maryland in 1986, Len Bias was poised to take the NBA by storm. He had been drafted number 2 overall by the Boston Celtics. The expectations were high for the young phenom, expectations that were never to be realized as news broke of Bias’ untimely death just two days following the NBA draft. Bias had overdosed on cocaine. It was a tragic case of wasted potential. When we speak of wasted potential, none seemed to be more “wasted” than that of Samson and on today’s podcast, we’ll examine this impossibly unusual man and how despite his truly fatal flaws, God used him mightily. We’ll also consider how that might apply to our lives as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever watched two people dating who plan to be married and you think to yourself, “Well that will never work out?” Somehow we can intuitively judge the quality of a couple’s relationship and wonder about the viability of a lifetime of commitment and joy and tranquility together.  When Samson’s father does this, he is rebuffed immediately as the stubborn and insolent judge has his mind made up. But even though his decisions would get him in trouble, we learn something about the purposes of God in this story that makes Samson’s foolish resolve resound to revenge and victory. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Kids are full of the most random questions. When our kids were little there was no telling what type of questions we could field in the course of a drive to or from church. They are inquisitive creatures who desperately long to understand how things worked. Try as we may, there were some things that we found it inherently difficult to explain. How a motor worked, why the lights came on when we turned on a switch, and host of other questions that were intrinsically far beyond their understanding. In Judges 13, Samson’s father, Manoah, asked a question that the angel of the Lord basically refused to answer because he wouldn’t understand even if he told him. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It was the prophet Isaiah who recorded “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  If you’ve been a Christian for more than a few days, you know the prophet was right. Often God shows up and shows out in the most unlikely circumstances. He does this to prove to us that only He can deliver us. This is precisely what God means to prove to Gideon and to Israel and we learn about it today on our podcast from Judges 7. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s one of those stories you learn in VBS.  The valiant and brave leader named Gideo leading 300 troops against the armies of the Midianites. We were taught to admire his courage and bravery, to emulate his faith in God, and follow his obedience. But the truth is Gideon didn’t start with 300 men, a horn, and a flashlight. In fact, Judges 6 reminds us that even great leaders start in a pits, riddled with fear. On today’s podcasts, we’ll uncover how Gideon moved from fear to faith as we study Judges 6 together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

She was an improbable hero. A teenage girl leading an entire into the battle of Orleans in France; but when the battle was over Joan of Arc became one of the most iconic figures of the 15th century. But she wasn’t the first woman to lead troops into battle and on today’s podcast we’ll consider the spectacular story of Deborah and the incredible account of her heroism, bravery, and wisdom. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Throughout the course of history, God had always been adept at testing our devotion to Him through unconventional means. He does this, not because He doesn’t know, but He wants to reveal the depth of that devotion to us. He does this in Judges chapter 3 in a very unique way. We learn that the battles, these Israelites were to face in the days ahead were left there on purpose to test Israel. How they did on that test should be instructive for us and on today’s podcast we’ll endeavor to see how they fared on this test and how we can do better than they did. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

There are different theories as to how history unfolds in the world. There are some who say that history is linear. That is, it occurs in one successive timeline and we should be careful not to impose one lesson from history upon another historical incident. There is some merit to that approach. Another perspective, is that in many respects, history is cyclical. The same patterns emerge. From this perspective, we learn the adage, “he who does not learn from history, is doomed to repeat it.” Whatever your opinion, the book of Judges is unquestionably a book filled with a definite pattern. A pattern we learn today in Judges chapter 2. On today’s podcast, we’ll dive into that pattern and consider it’s ramifications in our lives today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. For a video overview of the book of Judges, please click here.

If I were to tell you that stones and bones talk, you might look at me pretty funny, but believe it or not in Joshua 23, stones and bones tell us volumes about God, His faithfulness, and His expectations of His people. It’s all found in Joshua 23, on today’s podcast we’ll bend our hear to hear what the stones and the bones have to say. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The last words of an individual have a certain weight to them. They often reflect the priority of their lives and the depth of their conviction regarding certain things. But what if I told you that Moses, Joshua, and even Jesus had the same priorities and convictions at the end of their time here on earth. In that case, it would be hard for us to ignore the weight of those words. Words we should heed with focus and sincerity. They are words we here here in Joshua 23 and on today’s podcast, we’ll consider them together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever heard the phrase “your too big for your britches?” Have you ever wondered how that phrase came into public use? One of the non-fiction characters I learned about in history that caught my eye was Davy Crockett, you know, the king of the wild frontier. I can remember watching reruns of Fess Parker's portrayal of Davy Crockett, bedecked with coonskin cap and all. It's hard to decipher between fact and fiction when it comes to this folk hero. Crockett fought and died defending the Alamo. One thing we do know for sure is that he was a state delegate from the state of Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's also credited with one of the most recognizable phrases of American tradition. It was first published in 1835 in An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East. Crockett said of the famous president, "I myself was one of the first to fire a gun under Andrew Jackson. I helped to give him all his glory. But I liked him well once: but when a man gets too big for his breeches, I say Good bye." President Jackson wasn't the only one who has been too big for his breeches at times in their journey. In fact, that's precisely where the children of Israel found themselves in Joshua 8 and their cautionary tale should serve as a reminder to us all of the dangers of pride and presumption. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When I was a little kid, I used to sit on the armrest of my mom and dad’s car. It probably wasn’t the safest idea but even then I just couldn’t stand to be divided from the middle of the conversation so I found my way to the armrest. My dad tells a story of a time I was given a pack of M&M’s and told not to open them until we returned home and I had eaten dinner. Then, and only then, could I partake of the sumptuous snack.  Well, the temptation being too great for a little boy like me, after a time, I ripped into them and began to eat them, sitting right next to my father?! When he asked me how those M&M’s got in my mouth, I was literally caught red handed. I muttered some incoherent excuse about how they just appeared there.  But I knew I was in trouble, the command had been given, the temptation succumbed to and all that’s left was the judgment to follow. On a much grander scale, we learn of a similar story in Joshua 7. On today’s podcast, we will learn of the tragic results of such disobedience and how to overcome it in our own lives. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When I was little, I learned a song, probably in Vacation Bible School somewhere. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came a tumblin’ down. You can talk about your men of Gideon, you can talk about your men of Saul But there’s none like good ole’ Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Joshua 5 and 6 recounts for us that epic victory. But I must confess it’s hard to read these narratives and not rush through them thinking we know how the story ends. But if we do this, we risk missing all the powerful lessons in a story like this one that they are meant to teach us. God has so many important lessons for us to consider here. These chapters are replete with essential truths for God’s people. So let me encourage you to slow down a little bit as we go through a few of them together on today’s podcast form Joshua 5 and 6. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

About halfway down my driveway in my front yard is a small pile of rocks stacked up next to a tree.  If you were coming to my house, you’d drive right by them and never even notice they were there. But their significance could not mean more to our family. If you were to ask my kids what these stones mean, they would tell you they represent God’s faithfulness to our family.  Several years ago, we found ourselves out of the ministry. We were broke, discouraged, and a little bit confused.  We knew that God had called us, we just weren’t sure what our next steps should be and so we took a Sunday morning together as a family and reminded ourselves of God’s calling on our lives and committed ourselves again to following His directives for us. We wrote some verses and references on these rocks with a sharpie and stacked them together as a memorial for our family. Every time I drive by those rocks, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness in my life. This is precisely what God has Joshua do as the Israelites enter the land of promise. On today’s podcast we’ll talk about this memorial and just what these stones mean for their generation and for ours. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What is the most bizarre thing you’ve ever been asked to do in a new job? I’ll never forget the first job I ever had was as a manual labor on a construction site. I was handed a tool that pulled nails out of a floor and was asked to pull all the carpet staples out of hardwood floor being remodeled. I thought it was a pointless job but it wasn’t as confusing or difficult as the first job Joshua was tasked with in Joshua 3.  What we learn from his attitude on today’s podcast from Joshua 3 is one we could all use. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the things I love most about my mother is that she believes in me no matter what. It is a powerful shot of confidence in the life of a young son to have a mother that does this.  I can’t tell you how many times I doubted myself growing up and it seemed like my mother believed in me more than I did.  When an ally, a friend, or a family member believes in you it can be very encouraging, but in Joshua chapter 2, we learn that the enemy actually believed in the God of the Israelites perhaps more than they did. On today’s podcast, we’ll uncover this incredible truth and remind ourselves that sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. With God there is nothing to fear no matter how formidable the foe may be. Especially when the foe is afraid of the God you serve. The problem is not how big our enemy is but how small our God is. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever said something to your kids over and over and they just never seemed to listen? I mean no matter how many times you repeatedly told them this truth, they just seemed deaf to it? And then someone else said the exact same thing to them and they acted as if it was the greatest truth that they had ever heard? This left you thinking really? I mean I’ve only told you that 100 times already. But for whatever reason, when someone else told them, it hit different.  Well in Joshua chapter 1 God comes to this relatively inexperienced leader with some familiar truths, but somehow when God says them, they have a little bit more force behind them. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To access the ONE STORY Reading plan online, please click here. To watch the overview video of the book of Joshua, please click here. 

In his book, Living Forward, Michael Hyatt takes the leader on a journey of self-discovery that involves you writing the eulogy for your life. It’s a sobering activity that has a way of refining what is most important to you and clarifying the priorities by which you should seek to live your life. In Deuteronomy 34, God writes Moses eulogy and it is a powerful exposition of a lifetime of leadership amid frustration and ecstasy. His was a life spent between the mountain with God and the valley with the people and it leaves us with some powerful truths to grapple ourselves, truths we’ll uncover on today’s podcast from Deuteronomy 34. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Stiff-necked, fat, rebellious, bloated, and gorged; not exactly the adjectives I would have used in a song I would write to describe the people I had led for forty plus years, but then again, I wasn’t leading the children of Israel. Regrettably, this is a pretty apt description of this people and God uses Moses’ swan song to remind them of their legacy and to warn them against their idolatry. It is a song worthy of our consideration on today’s podcast from Deuteronomy 32. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If you could give one piece of advice to your children about how to be successful, what would it be?  Stay humble, work hard, empower people? These are all necessary qualities for success in today’s world. But in Deuteronomy 31, Moses is given the opportunity to do this to the children of Israel. What he gives them is an unmistakable call that is equally critical in our lives today and on today’s podcast we’ll uncover the secret to legitimate success and it rings just as true today as it did 3500 years ago. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Prior to pastoring, I served as a worship leader for fifteen years. The concept of music in church has the capacity to be inherently divisive. It is a bit like politics these days, everyone has an opinion and the worship leader has the thankless job of prayerfully selecting worship that is befitting a worship service. But have you ever stopped to consider why we sing songs in the first place? In Deuteronomy 30 and 31, Moses composes a song with a very specific intent.  We learn about this song and it’s purpose on today’s podcast. It can teach us the power of a song, but more than that a potent lesson on the faithfulness of God. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of my favorite singers growing up was a man named Michael English. The power and quality of his voice was always very appealing to me.  One of my favorite songs that he ever sang was a song entitled, “In Christ Alone.” As I read today’s verses, I could not get the lyric out of my head. “In every victory, let it be said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone.”  The sentiment relayed in that lyric is the same sentiment Moses uses in Deuteronomy 9, and on today’s podcast we learn of Moses’ warning to the people against the deceptive lure of self-righteousness as they made their final preparations to enter the land. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here. To listen to Michael English's version of the song "In Christ Alone," please click here.

One of the most grueling parts of joining the army is basic training.  It is without a doubt, a true test of discipline. It tests the recruits resolve to the calling on his life.  This is done through particularly  arduous tasks designed to break down the toughest of soldiers.  This is done in an effort to prepare these individuals for the difficulty of battle.  This basic training, though inherently strenuous, forges the level of discipline necessary to achieve the objectives of warfare.  It is preparation for a victorious struggle.  In Deuteronomy 8, we learn the difficulties of the wilderness wanderings had the same effect on the children of Israel.  It taught them a discipline and a dependence that would both be necessary to achieve their destiny.  On today's podcast we'll discover how God did this. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The concept of compromise is a tactic we often utilize to our advantage to get along with people in a given setting. But we have to be careful in this negotiation tactic that we do not forfeit what is essential in such negotiation.  In Deuteronomy 7, we see God commanding the Israelites to completely annihilate their enemy. He warns them not to compromise AT ALL but to utterly destroy them. Why would God insist on such a standard? We learn the reasons behind such a demand on today’s podcast from Deuteronomy chapter 7 and it teaches us a thing or two about the dangers of negotiating with the enemy in our own life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever told your children something to do only to watch them completely ignore what you asked them to do. When you challenge them they contest that they listened, but the real test of actually listening is obeying what is said.  The word, “Hear” is the Hebrew word “shema” it means to listen with the intent to obey what is said.  On today’s podcast we’ll consider what this meant for Israel and what it means for us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

A friend of mine once spoke of his long distance relationship with his wife prior to their marriage. He said most of their interaction came through letters sent back and forth across the country. When he received the letter he would devour it, reading it over and over.  How bizarre would it be to have someone else read that letter to him rather than read it himself? The sad truth is that somehow this is what Christians often do when it comes to reading God’s word. Rather than hear from God ourselves, we’d rather have someone else tell us what He says than actually read it ourselves.  Somewhat surprisingly, we aren’t the first ones to do this. On today’s podcast, we’ll discover the tragic consequence of not listening to God’s voice for ourselves. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When I was a kid, my Dad made me memorize a definition of obedience. That definition has stuck with me. Obedience is doing what you are told to do, when you are told to do it, with the right heart attitude. That idea of obedience is a challenge for us all isn’t it. On today’s podcast, we’ll continue to learn from Moses recounting of the people’s disobedience and their disastrous consequences. As we learn from their failure, may it promote a godly obedience in us that leads us not to judgment, but to the land of promise. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have your kids ever persistently asked you to do something so much that you finally caved and gave them what they asked for? In Deuteronomy 3, Moses tried this technique with God and it didn’t end so well.  God basically says, “asked and answered.” On the surface it can seem a bit harsh the way God deals with Moses here, especially after he’s endured so much. But on today’s podcast, we’ll learn that there was more at stake here than meets they eye. It’s not about Moses’ request but about God’s character and today we’ll learn why. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

I only ever got in one fist fight during my school days. It ended as quickly as it began, with one punch thrown. I connected on a left hook that send my sparring partner to the school nurse. The truth is I was more shook up over it than he was. He was my best friend, he just wouldn’t leave me alone. Sad to say, I regret it to this day. Sometimes, leaving people well enough alone can keep us from battles not worth fighting. This is what we encounter today in Deuteronomy 2. This chapter might be aptly titled, when to pick a fight and when not to. In this chapter, we see God strategically telling the Israelites to pass through some regions and to fight in others. The difference in the two is pretty significant and it teaches us some truths to remember. On today’s well discuss them as we look at Deuteronomy 2. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The last words of a dying man carry a certain weight to them.  Wisdom is not always found with age, but by in large, life has a way of clarifying what is important. As we begin the book of Deuteronomy, let me encourage you to watch the video intro to the book. If you’re following along on the app, it’s right there in line with the readings. If not, I’ll post the link in the show notes for today’s episode. The book of Deuteronomy is just that, it is Moses’ final words of wisdom prior to entering the land.  As we hear these words, it will do us well to heed the life lessons these Israelites learned in the desert seasons. On today’s podcast, we’ll consider a few of them. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It sounds like a movie plot. A accidental murder, a runaway vehicle, a revenge-filled brother chasing him to exact revenge, a hideout where an entire city harbors the fugitive from justice. Is this a movie or is it the Bible and what can it teach us about Jesus, the answer is quite a lot. There’s lots to learn on today’s podcast from Numbers 35. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever heard the adage, the devil is in the details?  I think the point of that phrase highlights that though we may have the best intentions in mind to our grandiose plans, the true test of the viability of plan is found in the details of that plans execution. While with us the devil may be in the details, the truth is when it comes to plans of God, it is His glory that shines through that detail. Sometimes, when we read a book like this one that is so specific and so meticulous, it can cause us to come out cross eyed with our minds glazed over at all of this particularity. I mean the name of the book is NUMBERS after all. Who gets excited about that? But on today’s podcast we’ll see, once again, the stunning detail of God’s master plan for His people and we’ll learn how it reveals to us a treasured truth about God’s character in the process. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When we first moved into our house, there was a dispute over where the property lines were to our property.  As we searched further into the records, there was no document that proved where one property stopped and the other started on the one border of our land. This was because the house was a foreclosure and the neighbor (who was his father) never actually deeded the property to his son, the builder of the house.  This caused quite the confusion as we purchased the foreclosure and we had to have a surveyor come out and draw the property lines to properly distinguished where our neighbors land ended and ours began. In Numbers 27, we see another land dispute over deeded property but this one reveals more than just confusion, it actually displays faith. On today’s podcast we’ll see how these daughters had to fight for the land they would receive and the faith that was displayed in that objection.  It tells a story of the folly of one generation and the faith of the next. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s one of the most recognizable stories in all of Numbers. Picture if you will the land infested with snakes, fatally inflicting wounds on the people of God in the midst of the desert. This is the kind of story that forces us to imagine just how abhorrent this story must have been. But Jesus references this story in his conversation with Nicodemus and unpacks for us the true spiritual meaning of this truly attrocious story. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever been punished in a way that didn’t seem to fit the crime? Like when both you and your brother or sister got in trouble when THEY were the ones causing trouble.  On today’s podcast we’ll learn from Moses tragic misstep at Meribah and the tragic consequences of his one lapse in character. On some levels, his punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime, but as we’ll discover, this is about a LOT more than this one instance. It represents something far more important. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When I was a kid, I could turn a stick into anything. My imagination could turn a stick into a bat, a gun, a sword, a staff; pretty much anything I wanted.  (Leave me alone, as an only child, I HAD to have a good imagination.) Well on today’s podcast, we see what God can do with a staff, Aaron’s staff to be precise. What God does with this staff will have implications generations into the future of God’s people. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever witnessed something so evil that you feared the ground was going to open up and swallow the perpetrator?  Well that’s exactly what happened in Numbers 16. This harrowing tale chronicles the lives and tragic deaths of the rebellious insurgents who questioned Moses authority as leader of God’s people. The story is a one of tragic destruction on one hand and glorious vindication on the other. But beyond all of it is a glorious picture of the gospel who makes atonement for such sinners and invites us into relationship with a holy God. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Doubt is a universal emotion from which all of humanity suffers. It’s quite natural to doubt, to be skeptical, to wonder if this is the best course of action given the circumstances.  But what about when those circumstances are orchestrated by God Himself to prove something about His character. Such was the case in Numbers 14 and on today’s podcast, we’ll see how God had definite purposes in mind for the children of Israel entering the promised land under the circumstances which they encountered and we’ll see the tragic consequences of succumbing to the whispers of doubt that followed. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

There are certain milestones in your life that serve as defining moments in your personal history. The time you met your spouse, the day you learned you were pregnant, the time you gave your life to Christ. All these moments serve as dots along your journey that help define the course of it. In Numbers 13, the children of Israel have one of those defining moments, and as we’ll see on today’s podcast, it ended up shaping the course of their history in more ways than one. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever endured the pain of being attacked personally? It is a pain unlike any other. Growing up in a pastor’s home, I know all too well how people can attack your family and how deeply it hurts. On today’s podcast from Numbers 12, Moses is enduring such attacks and how he handles it is critically important for us to investigate. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have your kids ever just gotten on your last nerve? I mean, it wasn’t intentional, but they pushed you to the brink of snapping and completely losing it? Numbers 11 is one example of an exasperating people and how Moses handles such frustration is very telling for us. On today’s podcast, we’ll uncover how Moses dealt with this people and how we can deal with people who frustrate us as well. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Making promises and keeping them are two different things. We make promises all the time and some of them we are better at keeping than others. But when God makes a promise, we can take it to the bank that He will keep His promise.  His character is unchanging and as we’ll discover on today’s podcast from Leviticus 26, that is very much a two way street. God’s faithfulness can work in our favor or against us depending on our obedience. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day; these are all moments of celebration where we stop to remember certain things as a culture. But did you know that the Jewish people had certain holidays to remember certain points in their history as well. In Leviticus 23, we see God’s divine calendar laid out for the Jewish people and on today’s podcast we’ll consider how each of these points us to definite applications for us and to a Savior who is the fulfillment of them all. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

What is a goat demon? Leviticus 17 talks about how the Israelites prostituted themselves with goat demons. On today’s podcast, we’ll talk about it and how we can avoid the goat demons in our own lives. Join us as we dive in together. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

One of the most important days of the year for the Jew is the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. It’s origins trace all the way back to this chapter in Leviticus 16 and in it we find some of the most beautiful imagery for Christianity and redemption. As we dive into today’s podcast, I want us to see how every detail of this day points to the Christian life and how it is to be lived. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

It’s one thing to shed the blood of a sacrifice, it’s another thing to put in on your ear, your thumb, and your toe! What is God doing here and what does it mean for us. On today’s podcast, we’ll learn what God has in mind for this bizarre ritual in Leviticus 8. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

I once asked a new believer how they liked reading through Leviticus and they told me that they actually renamed the book Pet Cemetary. In Leviticus 7 we learn about three of the many differing sacrifices expected by God’s covenant people. On today’s podcast we’ll consider their importance, what they represented, and what it means for us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Can you be right with God and wrong with your brother? There are differing opinions on this answer, but Leviticus 6 has some very explicit instructions on the relationship with God and the relationship with our neighbor. On today’s podcast we’ll dive into the ramifications of one of these levitical laws and consider what it means for us today. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

When we think of the word “holy” we might be tempted to think about some some sanctimonious “holier than thou” Christian that gets their kicks from judging every one else rather than acknowledging their own sin. But on today’s podcast, we discover that God has a much different approach to generating holiness in someone and it starts from the inside out. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If you grew up in church, you likely have heard at least one sermon on the importance of tithing or giving to the church. But why should we give into the Lord’s work? Well as we will see on today’s podcast, from the very beginning God’s people have invested monetarily into God’s house. We’ll discover how they did that today from Exodus 35. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

We’ve all heard of the Ten Commandments, but in Exodus 34, God gives Moses a second set of principles that really underscore what it means to be a godly leader. These are the ten commandments of leadership if you will, and on today’s podcast we’ll discover them together and how we can learn to leverage our influence with integrity and grace. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Where do you go to rest? Finding rest in Jesus from the cares of this life is absolutely essential for our spiritual well-being long term. But how and where do you find this rest?  How important is it and what can we do to find it? Exodus 33 gives us lots of clues on how find the rest we need in Christ from the pace of this life. On today’s podcast we’ll learn the secret to true rest in the midst of the difficulty of the desert and how we can start today, finding the peace and rest necessary for a healthy Christian life. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How patient are you? Impatience seems to be inbred it most of us. But it can lead us to some pretty dangerous places, especially when it comes to spiritual things. No one likes to wait on God, but as we’ll learn in the podcast today, impatience can lead us down a path of ruin if we aren’t careful. Today we’ll witness how the children of Israel’s impatience lead them first to ignorance and then to full on idolatry. We’ll also take time to consider how this might happen in our lives and built steps to avoid their disastrous results. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Are you a workaholic? Many Americans’ lives are constantly consumed with the pressures of work and career. But even in the work of God, the Lord prescribes for us a Sabbath rhythm designed to teach us very specific truths about our lives and our work. In today’s podcast we consider the Sabbath day and what God means for us to understand about holiness during that Sabbath rest.  We’ll uncover the truth behind the Sabbath and what it means for us and our spiritual walk. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Do you like to travel? Most of the time, I like to go somewhere, but I’m not fond of the journey. Some people I know seem to enjoy the time it takes to get somewhere as they do the destination itself. They say things like, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” On today’s podcast, we learn more about the furnishings of the Tabernacle. But it’s not just about where we’re going but how we get there that is important when it comes to the furniture. For they represent specific points on our salvation journey that cannot only give us a deeper understanding of their purpose, but of the Tabernacle and our role as Priests in it. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Have you ever stopped to think about how gruesome animal sacrifices are? We often equate such cruelty and with occult and cult religions, but animal sacrifice isn’t just present in world religions, it’s present in Old Testament Judaism. Why would God require such brutality and grotesque practices? Find out today on the podcast as we explore God’s design behind animal sacrifice and what it teaches us about ourselves and how God views our sin. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

Since the time of ancient Egypt, leaders have made fashion choices that are designed to make statements about power and prestige. Much is made in this media obsessed world regarding these fashion choices of leaders and why they made this color choice over that one. But as we’ll discover on today’s podcast, one of the most important leaders in the Jewish nation was the high priest. His uniform of service, hand designed by God Himself was intended with a specific purpose to remind him constantly of his critical role in the life of his nation. We learn all about it today in Exodus 28. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

If you were to ask an interior decorator why they chose certain furnishings in a house, they would likely tell you how the furniture itself speaks of the character of the individuals and the home they live in. In some ways, it could be said that these appointments are an extension of the character of both the home and it’s owner. The same is true in God’s house, the Tabernacle. On today’s podcast, we’ll learn from Exodus 27 about two of the pieces mentioned inside the tabernacle and how they each point us to Jesus. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The date was June 12th, 1987.  The speech given in Berlin by then President Ronald Reagan pressured the leader of the Communist Party in Russia to “tear down the wall” that had divided the city of Berlin since the end of World War 2. The speech and the subsequent action were iconic moments of the Cold War era and went a long way to forging the path of liberty in the European bloc. Walls are meant to divide things, to separate 2 very different parties.  On today’s podcast, we’ll look at the specially crafted walls or partitions that God arranged in His tabernacle and the reason for their existence. It’s outlined for us here in Exodus 26. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

How much is the presence of God worth to you? If you had to value it in gold, how much would the manifest presence of God cost you. Well, on today’s podcast we’ll consider how much it cost the Israelites and as we’ll see, what God requires of you in exchange for HIs presence and why its’ worth every penny. To access today’s reading, please click here. To download a transcript of today’s podcast, please click here.

The French scientist, mathematician, and theologian Blaise Pascal once said, “all the evils of mankind come from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room.”  I have to agree with the scientist here. No one likes to wait. We live in a microwave culture that demands that we have everything now. I wonder when it comes to spiritual things if we miss what God wants to say to us simply because we can’t stand to sit still long enough for Him to speak.  Waiting on God is one of the hardest components of the Christian life but it is also o