Bible in Life

Waiting. I’m not good at it. Are you? The weeks leading to Christmas is traditionally called Advent.  Advent is a season of waiting. The heart of that waiting is set to music in the Christmas classic:  Come, Thou long expected Jesus  Born to set Thy people free;  From our fears and sins release us,  Let us find our rest in Thee. Waiting is part of walking by faith. Here's two things we learn as we ponder the story of Abraham and Israel: 1. God takes His time. He sovereignly goes at a long, slow pace.  2. Waiting on God includes moments of "what now?!" In this episode we trace the story of God's promise to Abraham through it's initial fulfillment to its seeming failure when Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and God's people are carried away into exile.  Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: I’ve put together a free guide to help you immediately get more out of the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net   Support this ministry: Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   The Listener’s Commentary - In-depth teaching through books of the Bible:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram   ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net   As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.

The world says "I've gotta be true to myself" or "That's just who I am" or "it's right for me."  The Bible likewise calls us to live who we are, but it means something totally different ... it's talking about our new identity that God has given us in Christ and that we need to learn to live according to who God has made us.  Nowhere is this theme presented any more clearly than in Colossians 3.   This episode is from The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament. To listen to more visit: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: The Bible is meant to be a source of life. The problem? So few read it and when they do, they struggle to get much out of it. I’ve put together a free guide to help you immediately get more out of the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram   ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net

Money. We all have to deal with it ... whether we have a lot or a little.  Wealth. Most of us would like more of it.  When it comes to handling money we hear about money management, wealth management, financial planning, among other things.  Every culture has certain assumptions and beliefs about money, and most of the time it's connected to having more. More money means more status, more fun, more happiness. It can mean you planned better, worked harder, or were just smarter than others.  But Jesus has a different set of beliefs and assumptions about money. Spoiler alert: it's not that money or wealth is bad. And if we are His disciples then we need to to learn about money from Him not from culture. In this episode we explore 3 insights about money and wealth from Jesus and 3 practices that will help us live those insights out. And it's all very counter cultural. Bible Verses Matthew 6:19-24 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.   Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: The Bible is meant to be a source of life. The problem? So few read it and when they do, they struggle to get much out of it. I’ve put together a free guide to help you immediately get more out of the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   The Listener’s Commentary - Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out. https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram   ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net   As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.  

One of the most distinctive things about human beings is our need for meaning. We need meaning to keep going in life. Viktor Frankl's classic, Man's Search for Meaning, even describes how having some meaning enable Jews to survive in Nazi concentration camps during World War 2.  Humans can't exist without meaning. So how can you live a life that counts? A life with few regrets when you come to the end?  And how should that shape your life as a follower of Jesus? This episode of the Bible in Life looks at the two examples the apostle Paul gives in Philippians 2:19-30 of what a life that counts looks like.  Philippians 2:19-30 19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. 25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.   Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: The Bible is meant to be a source of life. The problem? So few read it and when they do, they struggle to get much out of it. I’ve put together a free guide to help you immediately get more out of the Bible:  john@johnwhittaker.net   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker World Family Mission: Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/philippians    Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram   ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net   As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.

We like are "saviors" with power. We want them to kick butt and destroy the bad guys! The Jews in the first century like those kinds of saviors too, and that's what they expected the Messiah to be.  But Jesus is the wrong kind of Messiah. He didn't kick butt. He didn't vanquish the Romans.  He got killed.  And he calls us, His followers, to overcome evil the same way ... by laying down our life.  Mark 8:27-38 27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”29 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him. 31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” 34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Revelation 12:10-12 “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: The Bible is meant to be a source of life. The problem? So few read it and when they do, they struggle to get much out of it. I’ve put together a free guide to help you immediately get more out of the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net     Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out. https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram   ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net   As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.

Why is faithfulness so hard? In Ephesians 6:10-17 (the well-known armor of God passage), the apostle Paul calls us to stand firm for Jesus. He reminds that standing firm is going to be hard because, as followers of Jesus, we have powerful enemies. Enemies way more powerful than if they were mere flesh and blood. Yet, so many of us are surprised when following Jesus is hard. We get frustrated when bad things happen to us. We seem to want life in Christ to be a walk in the park. Intellectually we may know otherwise, but emotionally and pragmatically we expect life to be more of a playground than battleground. And as a result we're unprepared to deal with the world as it actually is right now. Want to deepen your walk with God? Free Resource: The #1 key to becoming like Jesus is living our life attached to him. So I've got a gift for you on my website ... a free video series designed to teach you how to read the Bible in a way to deepens your attachment to God. Click the link below. https://www.johnwhittaker.net/minicourse   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out. https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.

The podcast dives into the reality of suffering and the question of God's presence in difficult times. Personal stories illustrate feelings of despair, fostering a sense of connection among listeners. Insights from Psalm 23 highlight themes of abandonment and comfort, linking ancient shepherding traditions to the New Testament depiction of Jesus as the good shepherd. Additionally, the speakers discuss a supportive online community for Christians, emphasizing collective growth in faith during life's hardships.

How do you discern the voice of God? Does God speak to us today? If so, how does He speak to us? And how do you know it's his voice not just your own thoughts? These are important questions that have powerful life implications. And there is a lot of unclear and unhelpful teaching on this topic. What does the Bible say about how to hear God's voice and what it means to be led by the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit Book: Click this link to buy the book on walking in the Spirit by Kenneth Berding: https://amzn.to/2HeQQz0   Bible Passages referenced in the episode: Luke 9:33-36 33 And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.    John 8:31-32  So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”   Romans 8:14 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.   Romans 8:5-6 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,   Romans 8:12-14 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.    Want to deepen you connection with God? Free Resource: The #1 key to becoming like Jesus is living our life attached to him. So I've got a gift for you on my website ... a free video series designed to teach you how to read the Bible in a way to deepens your attachment to God. Click the link below. https://www.johnwhittaker.net/minicourse   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out. https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.   *Note these notes contain affiliate links which mean I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. 

The single most important subject for us to think about is God. Who is he? What is he like? How do who know who He is and what He's like?  A. W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” And I agree that the stakes are that high - it affects our view of others, how we raise our kids, how we treat our coworkers and neighbors, and even how we view and feel about ourselves.  John 1:1-14 has some powerful insights for who God is.  Text:  John 1:1-5  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Want to deepen you connection with God? Free Resource: The #1 key to becoming like Jesus is living our life attached to him. So I've got a gift for you on my website ... a free video series designed to teach you how to read the Bible in a way to deepens your attachment to God. Click the link below. https://www.johnwhittaker.net/minicourse   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means and live it out.  https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.  

Galatians 2:11-21 recounts a conflict between the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter, over eating dinner with people. And for Paul, it's a gospel issue! What Paul says in this passage speaks powerfully to God's people today concerning this present cultural moment. Racism. Identity politics. Status and wealth. Political division. Our differences have never been sharper than they are right now and we need to the gospel to level us and transform the way we relate to our fellow Christians who are different than us.  Following Jesus has implications for who we "one another" with and how we "one another" with them.  Galatians 2:11-21 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Online Courses to help you learn and live the Bible: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/courses   Want to deepen you connection with God? The #1 key to becoming like Jesus is living our life attached to him. So I've got a gift for you on my website ... a free video series designed to teach you how to read the Bible in a way to deepens your attachment to God. Click the link below. https://www.johnwhittaker.net/minicourse   Support this ministry: Thank you to all of you who make this ministry possible by your financial support! Do you want to join the team? Set up a one-time or monthly donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   Teaching through Bible books:  The Listener's Commentary on the New Testament is an audio commentary on each New Testament book, explaining its meaning in its original context so you can better understand what it means. https://www.listenerscommentary.com Here are some ways to connect with me: ▶️Social Media-I would love to connect with you on facebook and instagram ▶️Email - john@johnwhittaker.net As always, if you appreciate this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, via email.