Bible in Life

What are the main components of being a disciple of Jesus? That is, if you had to boil it down to the main ingredients… what are they? In this episode, I highlight the three main  components of discipleship … and then zero in on the one component without which none of the rest are possible. So it’s the one component you can’t be a disciple without! Bible Passages mentioned in this episode: Mark 1:14-20   14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him. Mark 8:31-34   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. Mark 3:13-14   13 And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach   John 14:16-17a I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth,    ▶️LISTENER’S COMMENTARY: https://www.listenerscommentary.com ▶️DISCIPLESHIP COACHING: I help churches create a culture of discipleship https://www.johnwhittaker.net/discipleship-coaching ▶️WANT TO DEEPEN YOU RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? Sign up for my free video series at: https://www.johnwhittaker.net ▶️SUPPORT THIS MINISTRY: 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.       

In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus challenges would-be disciples in shocking ways. In doing so, he highlights for us a fundamental requirement of being a disciple.  Why does Jesus say, "Let the dead bury their own dead"? Why doesn't Jesus permit someone to say good-bye to their family before following Him?  And what does all of this have to do with you being a disciple of Jesus?  Luke 9:57-62 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Mark 1:16-20 16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.    ▶️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 ▶️BECOME A PATRON: Become a patron for as little as $5 per month at https://www.patreon.com/johnwhittaker 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. 

In this episode, I focus on this question: What is the goal of discipleship? How do you know if you are a disciple? How do you know when you're a fully trained disciple? Luke 6:39-40 39 And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. Luke 6:43-45 43 For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. Have you checked out the Listener's Commentary on the New Testament? https://www.listenerscommentary.com ▶️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. 

Christian. Religious. Church goer.  Those are some of the words and phrases used to describe followers of Jesus. But I don't think they're the best. At least, they don't get at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So in this episode we look at the #1 thing we're supposed to do and be and the word that Jesus used to capture that.  That word is "disciple."  Making disciples is the mission - the only mission - of the church. It's also who we are as a church - a gathering of disciples. So all our energy and efforts should aim towards being disciples and making disciples. What does that entail? We're going to explore over the next few weeks on the podcast, beginning with this episode.  Matthew 28:18-2018 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Check out the Listener's Commentary on the New Testament: https://www.listenerscommentary.com ▶️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. 

This Bible in Life episode gives you a little preview of the Listener's Commentary on the New Testament (listenerscommentary.com) and studies Galatians 1:1-10. Galatians is Paul's defense of the gospel and the freedoms it provides. In Galatians 1:1-10, Paul introduces the letter, summarizes the gospel, and rebukes the Galatians for so easily going after a false gospel. The true gospel is the one preached by Paul, and Galatians will spell that out in detail.  Visit the Listener's Commentary website for more: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Galatians 1:1-10 ​Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. ​6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! ​10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.   ▶️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.   

"Leviticus is one of the most revolutionary books in the ancient world." - Brad Gray.  ​This is part 2 of my conversation with Brad Gray from Walking The Text, whose mission is  to help people learn, love, and live the Bible. Some of the topics we discuss are 1) wrestling with the question, how do I make sense of the Old Testament Law? There's so many weird laws and rules ... why is all of that in the Bible? 2) We also reflect on the importance of  recognizing the Big Story of the Bible (Brad mentions a great resource here), and 3) Ways you can engage with God's word.  ​Bonus: stick around til the end for some fun facts about Brad! 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. 

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.