What is the #1 key to learning and living the Bible? "Everybody knows that in any facet of life context is everything, and yet the vast majority of people have never been taught how to think about context related to the Bible." - Brad Gray.  ​In part 1 of their conversation about learning, loving, and living the Bible, Brad Gray (from Walking The Text) and John explore the power of the original context for understanding and experiencing the Bible. What's the force and feel of the familiar mention of Caesar Augustus in Luke 2? What's really going on in Paul's well-known words in Philippians 4:13 and why the original context is so important for experiencing the promises of God?​ And how can you begin to learn more about the original context of the Bible so that when you read, the text begins to come to life. ​ ​Learn more about Brad, study trips to Israel, and how to read the Bible in its original context at:  https://walkingthetext.com ​Connect with Brad on: Instagram Facebook   ▶️WANT TO DEEPEN YOU RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for my free video series at: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

"I'm reading Leviticus. Enough said!" Can you relate to that? I know I can. Leviticus is not the most exciting reading ... rule after rule, regulation after regulation! And some of those rules and regulations seem so odd! In this episode I give a framework to help you think about Leviticus properly and then I deal with what's the purpose of the clean and unclean laws. All of this points towards Jesus eliminating the clean and unclean food laws but not the purpose of those laws.  Passages used in this episode:  Leviticus 20:24-26 - I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations. 25 “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you. 26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Mark 7:18-23 - “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” ▶️WANT TO DEEPEN YOU RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for my free video series at: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

How can God say love your enemies and also say wipe out all the Canaanites? God sure seems angry and mean in the Old Testament and a lot nicer in the New Testament. There just seems like there's a lot of death and destruction in the Old Testament... how do we understand all of that? Links to the books mentioned in this episode:  The God I Don't Understand, by Chris Wright Is God a Moral Monster, by Paul Copan Bible Passages in the episode: God's Love in the OT Exodus 34:6-7 -  And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Psalm 86:15 - But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalm 103:8 - The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psalm 145:8-9 - The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all he has compassion on all he has made. God's Wrath in NT Romans 1:18 -For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Colossians 3:6 - For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, Destroying and Driving Out the Canaanites: Joshua 10: 40 - Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. Leviticus 19:33 -’When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Exodus 23:28-30 - 28 I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. 29 I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. Judges 2:21-23 - 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua. Judges 3:5 - The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; 6 and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Deut 7:4-6 - For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. 5 But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Genesis 15:16 - In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” ▶️WANT TO DEEPEN YOU RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for my free video series at: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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 some links are affiliate links, which means I get a small commission at no additional cost to you. 

Has anyone ever told you to read the Bible … it’ll change your life? On one hand that’s true. Studies have show that people who read the Bible 4 days a week see significant life transformation in all sorts of positive ways.  But on the other hand, if we're gonna be honest, the Bible also has some pretty strange stuff in it! Women riding on seven-headed beasts and demon-possessed people that attack other people, kind of stuff. Or more troubling stuff like slavery and commands to kill people.  Why is the Bible so strange sometimes? One of the major reasons for that is because reading the Bible is like traveling to a foreign country! So the more culturally sensitive we the more we will understand it.  ▶️WANT TO DEEPEN YOU RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for my free video series at: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

Jesus teaches us that a life of prayer includes praying, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." - Matt 6:13 This is important because this world is a battleground not a playground … we often forget this. According to Jesus and His apostles the reason for this is because there is an archenemy of God and His people, namely the Satan who is out to destroy God's good world and God's people. Prayer is a key part of our arsenal for navigating the threats of this world. In this episode we look at two places we have to face evil.  1. We face evil in the world around us in both forms - suffering and sin. We need protection from this.  2. We face evil within us. We need strength and transformation to be delivered from this.  Passages mentioned in this episode: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; - Luke 22:31-32 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. - Mark 14:38 abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against the soul. - 1 Peter 2:11 ▶️WANT A DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for a free video series on how to pray through Scripture: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. - Matthew 6:12 We have various strategies for dealing with our failures. We rationalize. We minimize. We blame. Jesus has another way. It's a way that requires courage. It's a way that will changes your life.  Instead of using any of the strategies that are forms of hiding/avoiding our failures, Jesus invites us to confess them to our Father in heaven and ask Him to forgive them. This is so powerful for our relationship with God, with ourself, and with others.  "Forgive us our debts" is a prayer that changes your life.  Passages mentioned in this episode: Luke 18:9-14 9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Romans 5:1-2  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.  1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   ▶️FREE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

Give us this day our daily bread.  This request from the Lord's Prayer begins to get at the heart of living a life of prayer. In this request, we are asking for our basic needs to be taken care of by someone else. This acknowledges that we aren't ultimately in charge of life - of our security and what becomes of us in the future. We can't control our well being.  To pray "give us this day our daily bread" is to admit our weakness and need of help. It's to look to our Father in heaven for this help. We can do this in a way that really amounts to worrying in God's direction or we can do it with confidence and trust.  So, learning to pray is learning to trust.  ▶️FREE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

If you've ever prayed the Lord's prayer, you've prayed the words "Your kingdom come." What does that mean? What do you imagine happening when you ask that?  The coming of God's kingdom is one of the major themes of the Bible. It was at the heart of Jesus' ministry. Jesus taught that He was bringing God's kingdom into the world. So in a certain sense, God's kingdom is already here. Yet He taught us to pray for it to come, which means we're still waiting for it. Some things addressed in this podcast: -What is God's kingdom?  -What assumptions about the world and history underlie praying for God's kingdom to come? -What's the global aspect of this request and the personal aspect? -How does Jesus model the impact of this prayer on our life? ▶️FREE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

Prayer.  When Jesus teaches us to pray, He says should be our first concern should be that God's name be "hallowed." That has to do with God's name being holy. As the psalmist writes, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." - 103:1.  But if God's name already is holy, then what does it mean to pray that it would be holy? And what does that teach us about living a life of prayer? Bible passages mentioned in this episode:  -Psalm 33:21: For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name.  -Psalm 97:12: Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name. -Psalm 103:1: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. -Exodus 20:7: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. -Ezekiel 36:20-23 20 When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.’ 21 But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight - -Ezek 36:20-23 -Psalm 99:1-3 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. -Psalm 111:9: He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. -Psalm 25:11: For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. ▶️FREE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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. 

Who do you pray to? Yes, I know, God ... but what’s he like? How does he want to be addressed?  And what kind of relationship should we expect? As we're developing a life of prayer, these are all very important questions because we want to be sure we're praying to the God and Father revealed to us in Jesus. Jesus teaches us to pray to "Our Father in heaven ..." What kind of father is he? What kind of relationship with Him should we expect?  Tune in to this episode to see who Jesus invites us to pray to.  ▶️FREE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️MORE FREE RESOURCES: https://www.johnwhittaker.net/resources ▶️SUPPORT THIS SHOW Two ways you can support the show: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker Donate through World Family Mission … all gifts are tax deductible.   Other resources and 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.