Today we celebrate Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after He was crucified. In the process of Jesus’ death, resurrection and return to Heaven, God granted three eternal gifts to all Christians. The first gift you know about, the second gift you are likely aware of, but may not appreciate its connection to Jesus. And the third gift you are likely not even aware of, but once you are, it will change your entire outlook on being a Christian.

The First Eternal Gift: Salvation

The first eternal gift you know of: When Jesus died on the cross, He gave us a path to salvation. Essentially, Jesus’ death covered our sins. We could not enter Heaven having the debt of sin hanging over us because sin cannot exist in Heaven. So by covering our sins, Jesus cleansed us, and removed the penalty of our sin. If we agree to ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, in return, He covers our sin, and gives us a way to enter Heaven.

John 3:16 may be the most famous scripture in all the Bible, but for this post, 3:17 will have significance as well:

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

God offered His Son as a sin sacrifice for the world. Note that 3:17 clarifies that Jesus came to earth in human form to save the world. This will apply to the third gift.

The Second Eternal Gift:The Holy Spirit

You have no doubt heard of the Trinity: The Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Before I started reading the Bible daily in 2023, I really didn’t understand what role the Holy Spirit played in the life of a Christian.

When Jesus tells his disciples that He will soon have to leave them, they are obviously upset. But Jesus explains that they will be glad He is leaving, because when He leaves, the Holy Spirit will come. From John 6:5-15:

⁵ “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me;¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He^[c]will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Then Acts 2:2-4 explains how the disciples received the gift of The Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended:

2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all ^[a]with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them ^[b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a ‘helper’, and someone who will remind us of all that Jesus taught us during our time on earth. As I’ve spent more time over the last year reading God’s word, and talking to God, what I am often finding is that God talks back to me, through the Holy Spirit! Sometimes, I will be contemplating a decision or wrestling with a problem, and suddenly the solution will come to me, in my mind. And its delivered in such a way that I can tell the thought is being communicated to me via the Holy Spirit.

In dying, Jesus made His ascension possible, and that made us receiving the Holy Spirit possible. So this becomes the second eternal gift that God has gifted us through the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son.

The Third Eternal Gift: Lost Authority is Regained

The third eternal gift is one that you likely aren’t even aware we possess, I know I wasn’t before I started studying God’s word more closely.

Who has authority over the earth? Does satan?  That would explain all the problems we have in the world today, wouldn’t it?

Does God have authority over the earth? God is after all the Creator, it would make sense that He would have total authority over the earth. But if that’s the case, why are there so many problems in the world?

The final book of the Bible is Revelation. More specifically, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I’ve written about Revelation before, it’s a book devoted to future events, including the ‘end times’.

Interpreting Revelation is tricky, and requires some degree of speculation as to true meaning. In general, many Christians have been taught that Revelation details how judgment will be poured out on earth in the End Times, and the earth will be destroyed and Jesus will return to destroy satan and save Christians from a literal ‘hell on earth’.

However, this may not be the case. First, let’s look at the common teaching among Christians that satan has authority over earth, and that Jesus will have His Second Coming in order to defeat satan and save us.

This line of reasoning leads to the idea that ‘only Jesus can save us now!’  The idea that things will simply continue to get worse and worse on earth until finally God shows mercy, and sends His Son back to earth to save us from ourselves.

So basically, humans need to sink further and further into sin and depravity until God says ENOUGH, and send Jesus back to save us.

How would that bring glory to God? Think about that for a moment: How is God glorified if He has to step in and save the world because His children are so awash in sin that they are destroying the earth and can only be saved by His direct intervention?

Hold that thought, let’s return to the idea of authority on earth.  Scripture, as it turns out, is quite clear on who has authority over earth.  Genesis 1:26-28 tells us who it is, it’s man:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over ^[g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ^[h]moves on the earth.”

Unfortunately, man’s dominion over earth would be short-lived, as man forfeited authority of earth to satan when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge, disobeying God in the process.

Now let’s move forward to Luke 4:5-7, where satan tempts Jesus, and note what he says:

^5 [d]Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

This is a very important passage in the Bible. Note that satan claims he now has authority over all Jesus can see, and note that Jesus does not correct him. Also note that satan claims that authority has been delivered to him, and that he can pass it to whomever he wishes. This is telling, because it speaks to the properties of the authority itself: It can be transferred. If satan is telling the truth about the authority he possesses at this point, and Jesus doesn’t correct his claim, then it helps explain how the authority over earth was transferred from man to satan.

But here is the most important passage, Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus has been resurrected, and before he ascends back to Heaven, He gives His final instructions to his disciples:

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.¹⁹ Go^[c]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”^[d]Amen.

Note that here, Jesus claims HE possesses the authority that satan claimed ownership of in Luke $:5-7.

So either satan was lying, or he was telling the truth. And we know Jesus was telling the truth in Matthew 28: 18-20, because He cannot lie. Remembering that Jesus didn’t correct satan’s claim, we should assume that satan was actually telling the truth about having authority over earth.

But that was PRIOR to Jesus’ crucifixion. By dying for our sins, Jesus was becoming the perfect sin sacrifice for the world. He lived a sin-free life, then He was sacrificed to give the world a path to salvation.

And in the process, that also transferred authority over earth from satan to Jesus. And when Jesus reclaimed that authority, He did so in the form of a man.

Jesus’ sacrifice redeemed man. He redeemed the authority over earth that Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden when they disobeyed God and introduced sin into the world.

Thanks to Jesus, man once again has authority over earth. This is the third eternal gift that God granted us through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I know, this is pretty heady stuff, and much of it directly contradicts what many Christians are taught about their role here on earth, and in what will transpire in the future in the final days.

To help you better understand how man’s authority was lost and regained, and our true assignment on this earth according to God’s narrative, please watch this video where Johnny Enlow explains it all in detail, all backed by scripture. This was such an eye-opening video for me and it has truly changed my outlook on Christianity as a whole, and I believe it will help you immensely:

Let’s look at a few final scriptures from Revelation. First 1:5-6:

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who ^[a]loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ⁶ and has made us ^[b]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

And Revelation 5:9-11:

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
¹⁰ And have made ^[a]us kings^[b] and priests to our God;
And ^[c]we shall reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

Jesus is indeed the King of kings, but the part that’s been hidden from us is that WE (Christians) are the kings that Jesus is King over. Jesus has gifted us the authority to be kings and priests on earth. Note above that even the 24 elders in Heaven said they would reign on the earth.  And that reign as made possible when the Lamb (Jesus) was found worthy to open the scroll.

This all suggests our true role as Christians is to fulfill the authority on earth that Jesus gifted us.

On the Third Day…

28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone ^[a]from the door, and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

⁸ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

The Women Worship the Risen Lord

⁹ And ^[b]as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

 

“He is risen.”  Perhaps the three most glorious words in the Bible. I hope you can spend this Easter reflecting on its meaning, the sacrifices Jesus made for us to fulfill the Word and the eternal gifts we have been granted as a result.

In January of 2023, I started a daily practice of reading the Bible. It’s been a wonderfully transformative force in my life. One of the most surprising elements of reading the Bible every day has been the Bible itself. I am finding daily that the actual teachings of the Bible are quite different from what I assumed them to be.

A perfect example of this is the story of Adam and Eve and how the devil tricked them into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Before I started reading the Bible, my loose understanding of this story was what I had heard in media.  Basically, I understood the story to be that Eve was tricked into eating the fruit by satan (in the form of a serpent) and she then took the fruit and convinced Adam to eat from it as well.

This story has led to the idea that ‘Eve introduced sin into the world’. In fact, Eve has almost been painted as conniving, almost in league with satan in this matter. She was selfish, evil, and she duped her unwitting husband Adam into falling into sin along with her. And in the process, she doomed all of humanity to being isolated from God here on earth.

At least, that is the story I was led to believe.

As I started reading the Bible, it became clear that I’ve greatly misunderstood Eve’s role in this whole sorted affair. I’ve misunderstood Adam’s as well.

First, let’s address my understanding that Eve was tricked by the serpent, and then she took the fruit to Adam and basically tricked him into eating it as well. It turns out, that is completely wrong. Eve wasn’t interacting with the serpent by herself, Adam was with her! It’s just that the serpent addressed Eve, not Adam. What’s important to note is that Adam didn’t intercede. Yes, Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent, but Adam was there and did nothing. 

Now, let’s look at Genesis Chapter 3, when God calls out to Adam and Eve:

⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Eve said “The serpent deceived me”. Note that the author of Genesis (Moses) is careful to leave it there. Moses is careful to make it known that Eve was deceived.

But does that mean that Adam was NOT deceived???

Look at what Adam told God when God asked him to explain how he (Adam) knew that he was naked. Adam attempts to blame God! He says it is because of the woman YOU (God) gave me!

This is some heady stuff, y’all.  While Genesis isn’t explicit, it seems to be inferring that Adam was NOT deceived by the serpent. If so, that’s hugely profound.  That means Adam KNEW that the serpent was tempting him to disobey God and he did so intentionally.

Either way, it’s a very bad look for Adam, and it totally reframes my initial understanding of how this whole sad interaction took place.  To be fair, Eve didn’t act appropriately either, obviously. And even when God asked her what she had done, she admits to eating the fruit, only after first saying it was because the serpent deceived her.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this story is that humans have always sinned, from the beginning of our being. And while we must bear the punishment for our sins, God also gives us a path back to Him.  A path back to where Adam and Eve began in the Garden before the serpent.

The path won’t be easy to walk, but is available to us, just the same.

One of the recurring themes that skeptics of the Bible offer is they challenge the idea that the Bible wasn’t written by man.  Christians believe that the Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God. In effect, Christians such as myself believe that God told biblical authors what to write.

As I began reading the Bible daily, I was immediately struck by how both the good and bad deeds of the main characters of the Bible were recalled.  Men such as Moses, Abraham, David, were all showcased as being righteous men of God, But each man had his moments of weakness where he gave way to sin, and those moments were detailed in minute detail.

Several months ago I heard a biblical scholar make a wonderful point: If man had written the Bible, would he include his own shortcomings? Moses is thought to be the author of multiple books of the Bible. Yet in those books, the sinful behavior of multiple men who the Bible details as being righteous are detailed. Including Moses. So the biblical scholar offered this as evidence that man had help in writing the Bible, and I agree with that line of thinking.

Another strike against the theory that man wrote and invented the Bible comes in the Christmas story involving the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at this story logically, assuming that man was going to simply invent a messiah that was destined to save the world. What would such a person’s origin story be, if conceived by the imagination of man? If man was going to create the story of its own savior, what would that story look like?

I suspect the savior of mankind, according to man, would likely be born to a prestigious family.  Likely, the most powerful family in the world. And he would likely grow up to be a great military leader, who would conquer the world, creating one unified empire through nothing more than a swath of brilliant military conquest after conquest.  And he would spend his life being beloved by all that knew him. He would be a hero from day one of his existence and everyone would hail him as the hero that was coming to save all the world.

That could likely be the origin story of the savior of mankind, if man invented such a person.

Contrast that with the true story of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was born to a virgin teenager who was married to a carpenter. His mother Mary gave birth to Him in a manager because His mother and father were in Bethlehem for the census. Joseph attempted to purchase a room at an inn so Mary could give birth, but the owner told him there were no rooms available. The wife of the owner took pity on the couple, and let them stay in the manger.

The savior of the world was born in a manger next to livestock. He was berated and vilified every where He went, all His life. He was told to leave communities because He was healing the sick and it was ‘causing a disturbance’. He was eventually crucified even though He was guilty of no crime, and He was betrayed into Roman custody by one of His trusted apostles.

Does all this sound like an origin story that was invented by men?

Also, remember the Three Wise Men who came from the East? They were tracking the stars and knew that the King of Kings had been born. But they went to Jerusalem looking for the Messiah, they assumed that the larger city of Jerusalem, central to the Jews, would be the King’s birthplace. Not tiny Bethlehem a few miles away, and certainly not in a manger!

I think there’s so much that we can take from the story of the birth of Jesus that tells us why God came to this world in the form of a man, and for what purpose.

Recall the story of Jesus eating dinner at Matthew’s house. The attendees are described as ‘tax collectors and sinners’. The religious leaders in the area rebuked Jesus for eating with sinners, to which Jesus said that sinners are the very people He came for. It’s a theme that Jesus repeated throughout the Gospels; He didn’t come for the righteous, He came for the lost.

Jesus’s entire life was spent lifting up the smallest, the weakest. Most of his Good Works recounted in the Gospels center on His healing of the sick, the weak, the sinners. It’s as if the savior of the world made a conscious effort to first help the lowest of the low.

He first helped the people that needed Him the most. I think about that as we celebrate Christmas around the world.  The birth date of Jesus Christ.

I think about how Jesus came into this world bearing gifts for us all. Usually when we celebrate birthdays, we give gifts to that person. But Jesus did the opposite, He gave everyone else the gift.

Let us accept and treasure the gift we have been given

The Gospel of Luke may be my favorite of the four Gospels.  While all 4 Gospels tell of the birth of Christ, Luke also explains to us how John the Baptist was born, and how he literally ‘cleared the way’ for the coming of Jesus.  First, Gabriel, the herald of Good News, appeared to John’s father, to let him know that he would be given the gift of a son who would be John the Baptist:

 

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Because Zechariah doubted the word of Gabriel, Zechariah lost his ability to speak for a time.  When his son was born, the family’s neighbors asked what name he should be given.  His mother wanted to name him John, but others asked him why that name, no one in their family was named John! They turned to Zechariah and asked him what name the child should be given.  Zechariah asked for a tablet to write, and he wrote “His name is John’. Immediately, Zechariah regained his ability to speak.

After delivering the Good News to Zechariah, Gabriel then visited the virgin Mary and told her that she would birth the future savior of the world, Jesus Christ:

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Whereas Zechariah questioned because he didn’t believe, it seems Mary questioned because she didn’t understand. Then Gabriel assured her that “For no word from God will ever fail’, and Mary did not question further, she accepted the gift she had been given.

We all have been given a wonderful gift in a savior, Jesus Christ. I pray that I, along with everyone who reads this, will accept that gift, and use it as God intends for each of us.

I hope you have a wonderfully magical Christmas, and may God bless us each and every one.

Hello! In January, I made a commitment to read the Bible every day. It’s been an amazing experience, and I like to share some of my thoughts on what I am learning here on Sundays.

I’ve blogged about this before, but before I started reading the Bible in January, I did some googling on what the recommended starting point was.  Most people suggested to either start reading the Bible in Genesis at the start of the Old Testament, or they suggested starting with the New Testament. After spending the last 10 months reading the Bible daily, I wanted to back up and share my thoughts on how I suggest you should begin reading the Bible.

My advice would be to begin reading the Bible in the New Testament.  The Old Testament is quite valuable, but I think you can fully appreciate its value after first getting a solid handle on the writings of the New Testament. Personally, I started reading the Bible with Genesis, then Revelation, then Exodus, then I went to the New Testament and read it through. At first, I found the New Testament to be more relatable and easier to understand. But as I began to get a better understanding of the New Testament, it actually helped me understand the Old Testament. This is why I suggest reading the New Testament first, getting a solid handle on it, then reading the Old Testament.

One thing I am noticing as I continue reading the Bible…this is an absolutely amazing piece of literature. It has so many layers! You have to understand, I am notorious for not reading books. I just don’t do it, I simply cannot find a book that can hold my attention long enough to finish it. Yet I’ve been reading the Bible every day for the last 10 months AND…I’m spending MORE time with it daily in November than I did in January. That is mostly because on my second and third readings of passages, I am discovering a key word or phrase and what it actually means that I totally missed the first time I read it. It’s almost like a treasure hunt, you do research on the text, and you discover that a phrase means something that you didn’t realize. Then you discover 3 other references to that same phrase in three OTHER books of the Bible, that all link together to form a larger story that you totally missed on your first reading. As I said, the Bible has many layers.

So if you are ready to start reading the Bible, here’s what I would suggest you do:

1 – Download the Bible Project app, and the Angel Studios app.

2 – Watch the Bible Project Video for the Book of Matthew.

3 – Read the Book of Matthew.

4 – Repeat these steps for the books of Mark, Luke and John.  First watch the Bible Project video for each book, then read the book.

5 – After you have read the four Gospels and watched the videos for each, then go and watch The Chosen.  Through the end of season three goes about a third of the way through the gospels.

 

What’s interesting about the four gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is that they are essentially telling the same story (the birth and death of Christ, then His resurrection) from 4 different viewpoints. So by reading all four gospels, you get a pretty developed picture of Jesus’ life on earth. And each gospel is slightly different, and told in a slightly different way. One gospel may describe events in chronological order, another highlights events to tell a larger story.  There’s a slightly different theme and voice that each gospel is told in.

By watching the Bible Project video for each of the 4 gospels, then reading each and watching The Chosen, it gives you a very solid grounding in understanding the first 4 books of the New Testament.

From there, I would continue through the New Testament and finish it. At that point, the choice is up to you as to where you go next.  You may want to start reading the Old Testament at that point, or you may want to read the New Testament again. Either way is fine, I would just go with whichever feels better for you.

I will say this: The Old Testament is absolutely worth reading. In fact, the more I learn about the Bible as a whole, the more I appreciate the true value of the Old Testament. An interesting tidbit: Once you watch The Chosen, I think that will help you appreciate the audience that the Old Testament was written for.  The Old Testament was mostly written for the Jewish people in and around Israel.  The New Testament is written for everyone, but it’s important to understand the entire Bible, and how the Old Testament transitions into the New Testament. In very simple terms, I think the Old Testament is about God’s Covenant with Israel, and the New Testament is about the new Covenant that God created with all of mankind through Jesus.

As I stated when I first started reading the Bible, I was amazed at how different the Bible was from what I thought it was about. I assumed the Bible was mainly a collection of stories about amazingly righteous believers who rarely, if ever, sinned, and who lived near perfect lives. I assumed these people and their lives would be provided as examples of how we should live our own lives.

Instead, the Bible, if anything, is a collection of stories about how God uses sinners to achieve His will. It’s a wonderful testament to how God can do amazing works through anyone, and how no one is lost that wants to be found. If you seek out God and let Him into your heart, you will be saved. Some of the most amazing stories in the Bible come from people who committed sometimes horrific sins.

When you begin reading the gospels, one of the earliest stories will be about Jesus having dinner with tax collectors, sinners and harlots. The religious leaders discovered this and where outraged that Jesus would do this! They asked Him what in the world He was thinking associating with such filth?

Jesus responds that He did not come to save the righteous, He came to save the sinners. One of the parables that Jesus tells is about a shepherd who has 100 sheep. If one of those sheep goes missing, the shepherd will drop everything till he finds that one lost sheep and brings him back. Jesus said in much the same way, Heaven rejoices over one lost sinner being saved. Perhaps the key lesson from the Bible is that if you think that you aren’t ‘good enough’ for God, you don’t understand that you are the exact person that Jesus came to see.

So please consider reading the Bible if you have not. I think you will be amazed at what you discover. Follow the above plan of watching the Bible Project videos, then reading the gospels, then watching The Chosen, and I think you will be hooked. It’s an absolutely amazing story, and perhaps the best part of all is, the story is still unfolding, and each of us plays a role in its development.

Good morning! In January, I made a commitment to begin reading the Bible every day. I’ve done so throughout the year, and it’s been an amazing experience! I like to share my thoughts on what I am reading (and learning) here on Sundays.

Today I wanted to talk about when Jesus took his 12 disciples, and told them they he was sending them out to preach the Good News about the kingdom of Heaven to others. Here’s how Luke 9:1-6 explains it:

1 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 

3 “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money,or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

Now as you read this, you immediately note two things. One point Jesus makes is that if a town refuses to welcome you, leave the town and move on to another. I think this clarifies that one of the main purposes of these trips by the apostles was to identify towns and communities that were receptive to Jesus’ teaching. Jesus would use these trips by the apostles to help identify the communities that were hungry for His teaching, then He would later go there personally to spread His ministry.

But there’s another key point in these scriptures, and I think it’s THE key point: Jesus was quite clear that the apostles would leave for their journey with NOTHING. No money, no food, barely the clothes on their backs and that’s it.

Why would Jesus do this?

Before I give my answer, let’s look at how The Chosen handled this scene:

I believe Jesus sent the apostles out with nothing in order to teach them to trust that God would provide for them.

One of the most common teachings of the Bible is that God instructs us to fear not. Here’s a great trivia question, do you know how many times the Bible tells us not to be afraid?

365 times. One for every day of the year. A daily reminder not to be afraid. Because if we completely trust in God, we have no reason to be afraid.

As a consultant, my income can fluctuate wildly. It’s not uncommon to go weeks or months with little or no work. Other times, I may have more work than I can physically do, and have to turn away projects. It’s definitely not a life for someone that prioritizes a stable, consistent income. I’ve talked to many peers over the years who refused to make the jump from the corporate world to consulting, and almost always they cited the ups and downs of money flow as a main reason why.

One time, I was waiting on some money to come in. I knew the date the money was supposed to hit my account, everything had been arranged. I was literally waiting on this money to pay several bills as soon as it arrived. The day arrived…and the money did not. I immediately panicked. My mind raced, how would I pay these bills that were soon due?

After a few minutes, a thought came into my mind: Why was I worried? Why didn’t I trust that God would provide for me?

This thought helped calm me. Over the next few days, I tried to focus on trusting God, as best I could. Then a few days later, the money came through, and more than I had expected! Then, an additional source came a few days later. Then another.

I’ve talked before about what the Bible says about worry. Earlier this year when I began to read the book of Matthew for the first time and his writings on worry, I was struck by this thought: “Worry and faith cannot exist in the same space.”  But more than that, God doesn’t want us to worry because when we worry, it means we are focusing our attention on this world. When we act out of faith, it means we are focusing our attention on God. When the money I was expecting didn’t arrive, I immediately began to worry, because I was focused on this world, on what *I* would need to do in order to get a new source of money in, and quickly. But God had already sorted that out for me. He had already taken care of the money, and ensured that I would have even more than I was expecting.

So my worry, even for a little bit, was pointless. And I think you could say it was a test from God. Who knows, maybe there was an even greater reward that God wanted to give me, if I hadn’t worried at all.

The next time something doesn’t go as planned and I am tempted to worry, my first thought will hopefully be “Remember what happened the last time I worried? God took care of me.”

In January, I committed to reading the Bible every day. It’s been a wonderful experience, and on Saturdays (and sometimes Sundays) I like to write a post about what I am learning from Scripture. You can read my past posts on the Bible here.

Today, I want to talk about Revelation and the End Times. Before I do, I need to put a disclaimer that any discussion of Revelation typically involves much speculation. Revelation is the final book of the Bible, and it details what will happen leading up to, and after Jesus’ second coming. Much of Revelation is to be taken as a symbolic telling of what will occur, rather than a literal account. For instance, there is a passage describing a massive beast with 7 heads, this is considered by most biblical scholars to be symbolism for an empire on earth that will have 7 kings, a head for each one.

So anything I write here, you should assume it is my speculation on what I think Revelation could mean, because that’s all it is.  My guess.  And since I have very little experience reading the Bible, it’s quite possible that a year from now, I could believe something different.  I think my main hope for what I am writing is that you would read my words, and want to investigate further for yourself.

Now, as I have mentioned here before, when I decided to start reading the Bible in January, I had it in my mind that I should read the first book of the Bible, and then the last.  Genesis, then Revelation. Almost everyone agrees that a new reader to the Bible should NOT tackle Revelation early on, but I can be quite stubborn and like to do things differently.

So I read Genesis, then read Revelation, and quite frankly in my first reading of Revelation, much of it was over my head. Which is to be expected. So I went back and read Exodus, then shifted gears and started reading the New Testament from the start.

As I was working through the New Testament, I loved all of it, but especially Paul’s letters to the churches. What struck me about Paul’s writings is he kept impressing to both jews and gentiles that being a Christian is a gift. And that you can glorify God by being a positive example for others, especially non-believers. Paul’s instruction was quite empowering as he encourages us to do more, to be more active, to walk stronger in our faith, and to understand that our eyes should be set on our eternal home in Heaven, not on a quite temporary time in human form.

So still inspired by Paul’s encouragement about growing into your role as a Christian, I continued throughout the New Testament, and finally reached Revelation, which I read for a second time. This time, the messages were slightly clearer, and at this point I decided that I wanted to stop and do some research on Revelation and get a better handle on exactly what I was reading.

The basic story of Revelation that I had understood it to be up till this point was: The world will continue to fall deeper into despair. At some point, a person will arrive who many will believe is Jesus, but who is actually the antichrist. Things would get even worse. Then Jesus would return, and save us all from the horrors of this world.

In short, things would get worse and worse and finally Jesus would come back to save us from ourselves. We just have to wait till His ‘appointed time’.

But after reading Paul’s letters and his constant encouragement that Christians should be more proactive, it seemed to be a bit of a disconnect with what I thought I understood Revelation to mean. Basically, it didn’t seem to agree with the theory that Christians are powerless to do anything but wait on Jesus to come back and save us in the final days.

So I started doing some research into the teaching of Revelation. I started exploring what biblical scholars say about what Revelation could actually mean.

A large part of the Revelation story, as I understood it, involved the breaking of 7 seals, with each seal pouring out a different type of judgment on sinners on earth. My assumption has always been that these seals will be broken in the final days. However, many biblical scholars actually believe that some of these seals have already been broken, and some of the periods of violence we have seen thus far reflect this. A few teachers even make a case that ALL the seals have already been broken.

But what really struck me was the disagreement about the role that Christians will play in the final days. As I said earlier, I had believed the basic story of the end times to always be that things on earth will progressively get worse, until Jesus has His second coming, and in effect saves us from ourselves.

The more I read about Paul’s writings, I began to notice that this thinking of how Christians should be bold and feel empowered didn’t really coincide with a story that ends with Christians being weak and powerless and having to be saved from ourselves by Jesus.

Then I found a biblical scholar/prophet named Johnny Enlow who has a different interpretation of our role as Christians, and what will happen in the end times. Enlow’s contention is that when Jesus is called The King of kings, that the ‘kings’ doesn’t refer to the rulers on earth. Actually, what this means is that all Christians are royalty, we are all kings.  And Jesus is our King, and Jesus is waiting on Christians to assume their role as kings on earth.

Enlow believes that when satan tricked Adam and Eve into eating of the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, that besides introducing sin into the world, that satan also took over authority of the earth from Adam and Eve. Authority over earth was gifted to Adam and Eve by God in the Garden of Eden. But when satan tricked Adam and Eve into sinning, satan took their rightful authority over earth.

Until…Jesus died on the Cross.  When Jesus died on the cross, according to Enlow, He took over all authority on earth from satan. And that means man now once again has authority on earth, and satan no longer does.

Let’s look at a few scripture passages about authority on earth.  First, Luke 4:5-8 (NKJV):

^5 [d]Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, ^[e]“Get behind Me, Satan! ^[f]For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Now let’s look at Matthew 28:16-18 (NKJV):

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

See the difference?  When satan first tempts Jesus, he says he has authority over all Jesus can see, and offers it to Him.  Yet after Jesus has risen, He states to His disciples that all authority on earth has been given to Him.

These two passages, the first before Jesus died on the cross and the later after, seem to say that there was a shift in authority from satan to Jesus between the time before and after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

The contention by many biblical scholars, including Enlow, is that when Jesus died on the cross, He not only paid the debt for our sins, but He also reclaimed the authority over earth than man lost in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God (I say Adam and Eve instead of Eve because while Eve did eat the apple first, Adam was there with her and did not stop her, then he ate it as well. So it’s unfair to try to position this as if Eve was responsible for man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam was there with her, and they both agreed to disobey God together. Eve did not act alone).

So….this means that by dying on the cross, Jesus reclaimed authority on earth, for man. So man has authority over earth that before Jesus’ first coming, had belonged to satan since he deceived Adam and Eve.

The issue is, man hasn’t been exercising his authority over earth. This also completely reframes the book of Revelation and what will happen in the end times.

For instance, many biblical scholars have long contended that the breaking of the seven seals of the scroll will be the spilling out of judgment on earth for man’s sins.  And that this breaking of seven seals will happen at a point in the future, the seals will be broken, God’s judgment will pour out on the earth, and this will pave the way for Jesus’ Second Coming to save us.

Enlow, however, claims that the breaking of the seven seals has already happened.

Further, the breaking of the seals wasn’t to signify the beginning of judgment, it was to signify the END of satan’s authority to harm the earth! When the seven seals were broken, satan’s authority over earth was also broken.

So if this is correct, that means the breaking of the seven seals would have happened most likely when Jesus reclaimed authority over earth, ie His death on the cross. When Jesus died, He became worthy to take the scroll from God, and loose its seals.

At this point I’m sure your head is spinning because mine was when I first started studying this theory. But the more I researched this theory, it seemed to line up.  For instance:

• The Bible repeatedly references that the earth is GOOD, and that it will endure FOREVER.  In fact, the Bible even says that after Jesus’s second coming, that there will be a New Jerusalem on earth. This doesn’t make sense if Revelation is telling us about how the earth will be destroyed in the end times.
• In Revelation, John is brought up in Heaven to the throne room, and he sees that God is on His throne holding the scroll. And an angel in a loud voice asks if anyone is worthy to take the scroll and open it? And the Bible says John wept, because no one could be found worthy to open the scroll. Until, the Lamb (Jesus) was found worthy, and He opened the scroll. And Heaven cheered and celebrated because someone was found that could open the scroll.  Now….if the opening of the scroll meant a pouring out of death and destruction on earth, why would all of Heaven be celebrating that???  But if the opening of the scroll and the breaking of the seals was really about ENDING the death and destruction, then Heaven celebrating makes perfect sense.
• Which version of the end times would bring more glory to God:  First, if man fell further and further into sin until God had to step in and cleanse the earth with death and destruction, then Jesus came to earth to defeat satan and save man from his own sin (again) or……Second, if man instead stepped into and began to assume his authority over earth, and acted as God intended, and we began to defeat satan by removing him from the areas of the earth where he no longer has power. Then in the final battle, Jesus returns to earth to lead us into the final battle, which sees satan’s ultimate defeat. Personally, I think the second version would bring more glory to God, because we would be in a position to help Jesus by claiming the authority that He had gifted us.
• Jesus is referred to as The King of kings.  I always assumed that meant that Jesus was the King over all the kings (rulers) on earth.  But the kings on earth ARE CHRISTIANS. From Revelation 1:5-6: “5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Ok, that’s probably enough for now, so I wanted to leave you with a video from Johnny Enlow that will help get you started learning more about Revelation. If you enjoy Enlow’s teachings, he has hours and hours of instructive videos where he breaks down what Revelation means in great detail. Here’s the first video, and his detailed analysis of Revelation starts around the 25 min mark if you want to fast forward:

Now again, if you’ve read this far, and you are thinking ‘I just don’t agree with that!’, then that’s ok. I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind about Revelation or the end times. I’m just sharing what I have learned, and all I would ask is that you investigate for yourself and do your own research. Pray about it and ask God to give you the wisdom to discern what is real from what is not. That’s exactly what I do before I start reading the Bible every single day.

In January of this year, I made a commitment to myself to read the Bible every day. I continue to do so daily, and it’s an absolutely wonderful experience for me! On Saturdays, I like to share what I am learning from reading the Bible. I hope you will enjoy these posts, you can read all my posts on the Bible here.

If you want to read more of my thoughts on business, marketing and web3, fear not, those posts will return on Monday!

When I began reading the Bible, one of the things I was curious to learn was how Jesus was handled in the Old Testament. My (very limited) understanding of the Bible was that the New Testament was the story of Jesus, but that the Old Testament was something different. I understood that there were a couple of very vague and veiled references to the coming Messiah, but otherwise there was little or no mention of the coming of Jesus that would dominate the New Testament.

It turns out, I was incredibly wrong. Numerous prophets told of the coming of Jesus, many in explicit detail. There’s one in particular that I wanted to discuss today. Not so much his prophecies about Jesus, but rather a very literal foreshadowing that Jesus was coming, and that He was in fact the Son of God.

One of the most interesting elements of the Bible is how God will repeatedly let His faithful followers fall into a position of distress, then from that position of trouble, He will elevate them to greatness. Two examples that immediately come to mind are Joseph and Daniel. Both become slaves, but God gives both the ability to interpret dreams and visions. Joseph is able to use the wisdom that God grants him to go from jail to being elevated to the most powerful person in all of Egypt, allowing him to save his families’ lives in the process.

Likewise, Daniel was given the ability by God to interpret dreams and tell the future. In fact, his prophecies were so uncannily accurate that Biblical skeptics have tried to say that he wasn’t born around 700 BC, but in fact was a contemporary of Jesus, with that being the only explanation they can offer for how Daniel could so accurately foretell the future.

According to the Bible, shortly after Babylon attacked and sacked Jerusalem for the first time, many Israelites in the city were captured and taken into exile. Among those captured were four young men; Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The Book of Daniel in the Bible is written by Daniel. Chapters 7-12 detail Daniel’s prophecies and visions, while chapters 1-6 tell the story of Daniel and his 3 young friends as they are taken into exile in Babylon. Today I want to talk about an event that happened to them while in Babylon.

As I mentioned earlier, God finds a way to protect His people, even when they are in bondage. Daniel and his three friends were taken as slaves to Babylon, but they were then sent to the royal palace to be servants to the rulers.

Chapter 3 details one of the most famous stories of the Bible. King Nebuchadnezzar creates a golden statue and commands all the people of Babylon to fall down and worship the statue.  A herald states that if anyone refuses to worship the statue, that they will be thrown into a pit of fire and burned alive.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse, saying they do not worship idols, they worship the one true God. The king again demands that they worship his idol, and reminds them that they will be thrown into the fire if they refuse. The young men flatly refuse, telling the king that God will deliver them from the fire, and will deliver them from him.

Furious, the king immediately has the three young men bound and instructs his servants to increase the heat of the furnace sevenfold. The heat was so unbearable that as the three young men were thrown into the furnace, the Babylonians who carried them were consumed by the heat and killed.

The furnace was immediately closed after the three young men were tossed inside:

²¹ Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²² Therefore, because the king’s command was ^[c]urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his ^[d]counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

²⁵ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the^[e] Son of God.”

 

“and the form of the fourth was like the Son of God“.

The astounded king called to the three men to come to him, they did so. He examined them and noted that not a single hair on their bodies had been singed and there was no smell of smoke or fire on their clothes. It was as if they had never entered the fire.

Amazed, the king immediately made a new decree that blessed was the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and that any people, nation or language that speaks amiss of their God shall be reduced to ashes. He added “because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” All three young men were immediately promoted by the king.

The book of Daniel was written in the 6th century BC. Over 500 years before the birth of Christ. Note that the language of the book is intentional. Daniel could have easily said that God sent an angel to protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire, and the core teaching would have been just as profound. With the lesson being that when you show true faith in God and His word, God will protect you.

But note that Daniel clarified that King Nebuchadnezzar specifically said that the fourth person in the fire looked like ‘the Son of God’. I think we can assume that the king had never seen the Son of God, so such knowledge would have to have come from God.  It would have been divine wisdom given to the king to again communicate to God’s people that the Messiah is coming. Not just in the form of prophecy, but here is a person saying he has SEEN what appears to be the Son of God.

Roughly six hundred years before His birth.

Here is The Bible Project’s video account of the book of Daniel. The book is fascinating if you are interested in end times prophecy, and along with Revelation, contains many symbols and visions of what is to come in the end times. It’s very interesting.

Hello! In January, I made a commitment to start reading the Bible daily. It’s been a wonderful experience, and every Saturday I write a post sharing some of my thoughts on what I am learning. I hope you enjoy these posts on the teachings of the Bible, and you can read other posts I have written in the category Bible Study. I will return to posts on business, marketing and web3 news on Monday!

I Do Not Deserve to Suffer Like This…

At one point or another, regardless of which religion you do or do not practice, most of us have likely said something very similar to this. I have many times asked why something bad is happening to me.  ‘I am a good person!’, I exclaim. Bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people.  You do good things, and you are rewarded for your good deeds.  This is the natural order of things.  Plus…doing good things then being rewarded simply shows to everyone that if you do good things, you will get your just reward.

I’ve mentioned before how much I am enjoying watching The Chosen.  It truly is the best series I’ve watched in years, and my appreciation for it has only grown since I first mentioned it. I am now watching Season 3.  One of Jesus’ disciples is James, or affectionately called Little James in the series. Little James was given his nickname because there is another James among the group of disciples who is much taller.

Little James is lame in the series, and walks with a noticeable limp and has a staff to help him get around. In one scene earlier in the series, Little James confides to another disciple that he is a bit troubled that Jesus keeps healing the sick and disabled, but has never offered to heal him. Little James decides that Jesus must have a reason for not doing so.

But early in Season 3, Jesus tells his 12 disciples, including Little James, that they will be paired up and sent out to spread the word about the coming Kingdom.  Jesus adds that he will give each of them the authority to cast out demons, and to heal the sick.

Little James is visibly shaken by the news that he will be given authority to heal others, while he is still dealing with his own disability. He comes to Jesus and asks Him to help him understand why Jesus would give him the power to heal others, while Jesus wouldn’t heal his own sickness. Which leads to this absolutely wonderful scene:

After watching this scene, I went back to study because I wanted to confirm that this wonderful story and interaction was actually documented in the Bible. I was disappointed to find that it was not.  In fact, little is told of James in the Bible, so little in fact that we aren’t even sure which James he is.  He may have been Jesus’ cousin or even His brother.  Or he may have been another James altogether.

And there is no mention in the Bible of Little James having any affliction or disability. I was quite honestly a bit disappointed in the series to learn this.

But then, I learned that the actor who plays Little James, Jordan Walker Ross, was born with cerebral palsy and scoliosis. As I watched the scene above, I couldn’t help but wonder how surreal it was for Ross to film that scene. I am sure he must have asked some of the same questions that Little James had asked, or at least I could understand if he had. I think the scene was handled absolutely perfectly on all levels.

One of the common themes I am finding as I am reading the Bible is how the believer is constantly reminded to focus on themselves, and their own path. We are reminded that we can’t judge what we do or don’t have in comparison to someone else. When we see that someone else has more than us, we aren’t supposed to envy their possessions.  When we see that someone has less, we are supposed to help them as best we can.

Suffering is a byproduct of living in a fallen world. I will suffer even though I do good works.  So shall you. Yet we often add to our own suffering via our assumptions. Or our misconceptions about why something is happening to us.  And why is it that someone else seems to have all the good fortune, while I am struggling? I do good works that seem to go unnoticed, while this person seems to get rewards that their works don’t seem to justify!

We are operating at all times on incomplete information. We don’t know what is happening to someone else, we don’t even know what is happening to ourselves. Perhaps a struggle we are dealing with today was given to us so that we would become strong enough to deal with a far greater struggle that will come our way in a year.

This again, is why God tells us to be faithful. Because worry and faith cannot exist in the same space. Our worry robs us of our happiness, our faith fills the space in our heart and mind where worry wants to dwell.

Suffering is a byproduct of living in a fallen world. Let’s not add to our own suffering by worrying.

Hello! In January, I made a commitment to start reading the Bible daily. It’s been a wonderful experience, and on Saturdays I like to publish a post sharing what I am learning from reading scripture. Hopefully these posts will resonate with you. If not, don’t worry, I will return to discussing business, marketing and web3 on Monday!  Thanks for reading! You can view all of my posts on the teachings of the Bible here.

The last week I have been binge-watching a spectacular series on the Bible called The Chosen. Hopefully you have heard of it and possibly even watched it.  If you have not, you are in for a treat, you can watch it at their site. Thanks to generous donations from supporters, you can watch The Chosen for free. I downloaded Angel Studios’ app and watch the episodes with it.  You don’t even have to sign up, just watch.  When you watch an episode, it will tell you who donated and made it possible for you to watch the episode for free, and gives you an option to write them a thank you note, which I think is a very nice touch.

I am a few episodes into the second season right now, and I am loving it. Watching The Chosen is actually helping me better understand what I’ve already read in the Bible. For instance, there is the story of Jesus attending a wedding and turning water into wine. I read this multiple times in the Bible, but seeing the story retold in The Chosen helped me better understand why this miracle was so important, based on the role that wine played at a jewish wedding in this day.

As you know, I love the study of how brands can better connect with their customers to form advocates for their message and brand. It’s main reason why I wrote Think Like a Rock Star, to give companies a framework for building better connections with their most passionate customers. This group is often overlooked, and if a company is smart enough to reach out to their loyal customers, those customers will happily sing their praises and market for them.

As I’ve been reading the Bible, and watching The Chosen, I have been struck by the people that Jesus chose to be the advocates for His message. Jesus repeatedly stresses that He did not come to teach to the righteous and the healthy, but that He came for the sinners and the sick. In one episode of The Chosen, Jesus and his disciples are planning a trip to a nearby city. One of the disciples says that the quickest route to the city is to take a particular road, and the other disciples agree.

But Jesus says that instead, they will take another path, which will make the trip longer, and will bring them dangerously close to a violent city. The disciples immediately protest, fearing for the safety of their Teacher. Jesus explains that He wants to take that path because He needs to have a meeting with a very important person along the way. The disciples are puzzled, but they go along with their Teacher’s plan, and set out on their journey.

At one point in their journey, they come to a well near a city.  Jesus tells His disciples to go to the nearby city and buy supplies for them, and leave Him there. The disciples again protest, but Jesus says He will be fine. The disciples leave, and eventually, a surly woman comes to the well carrying jars to collect water from the well.

Jesus asks her for a drink, and she asks why a Jew would dare talk to her, and asks if He knows who she is and what she has done. Jesus tells her He does, that He knows her sins, and then He tells her everything she has done that she is ashamed of. Jesus then tells her that her well gives you water but you will still be thirsty, and then Jesus tells her that He can give water to her that when she drinks it, she will never thirst again.

At this point, the woman realizes she is talking to the Messiah, and becomes overjoyed. She tells Jesus “I am going to tell everyone about you!” and begins to run toward the nearby city. Jesus replies “I am counting on it!”

Here is a blog post from Angel Studios about this scene and the relevant scripture it comes from. When I saw this scene, it helps crystallize for me why Jesus said He came for the sick and the sinners. What Jesus was saying was, He came to give hope to the hopeless.

Think about this from the perspective of wanting to create advocates for your message.  If you give hope to someone who feels hopeless, how would they react? They would obviously be overjoyed, and want to share what you had done for them, with the world. They would be far more appreciative of the gift you had given them, and as a result they would be far more committed to telling others about you.

This is why Jesus picked the sick and sinners to meet. To talk to, to heal.

To save. Because He wants us to stand up, and go running into the world so that we can share the Good News with everyone.

Here is the trailer for The Chosen. If you haven’t watched the series yet, you are in for quite a treat!

Hello! In January of this year, I made a commitment to begin reading the Bible daily. It’s been a wonderful experience, and every Saturday here, I will share a blog post about what I am learning.  If you would like to read more of my posts on the Bible, please check out the Bible Study category of posts. If this type of content isn’t what you are looking for, no worries, I will be back to talking about marketing and business news and topics throughout the week!

Before I dive into today’s topic, I wanted to clarify something. These posts I am writing on what I am learning from reading the Bible are my thoughts and opinions. Just because I think a certain way does NOT mean I am 100% right, in fact I’m sure my thoughts will no doubt change and grow the more I learn. Think of what I write as more of a ‘conversation starter’ or ‘here’s what I think’ versus ‘here’s the way it is’. I want these posts to be accessible to people who are curious about the Bible, and wanting to learn more. Because I am too!

Now, here’s what I want to talk about today. As I’ve been reading the Bible, one of the themes that continually comes up is the concept of God granting wisdom, or even depriving people of knowledge. For example, when the angels visited Lot in Sodom, the townsfolk came to his house and demanded to see them. The angels temporarily made the townspeople blind so they could not find the door to enter the house. In Exodus, God granted wisdom to Bezalel so that he would understand how to build the tabernacle to God’s exact specifications. In the story of the Tower of Babel, God made the people to speak in different languages so they couldn’t communicate as easily.

When Jesus taught, he often used parables. At one point, His disciplines ask Him why He speaks in parables, which leads to this fascinating exchange in Matthew 13:10-17:

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’^[a]

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

“Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”  What a powerful verse! The entire passage above seems to suggest that if we are faithful to God and open our hearts to Him, He will reward us with wisdom and knowledge. And if we take that gift and apply it to our lives in a way that brings Him glory, we will then be given additional gifts. “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.”

Every day before I start to read the Bible, I say a short prayer asking God to please help me understand His word, and also the message He has for ME in His word. What I’m finding is that dots are connecting as I read the Scripture in a way that suggests to me that it’s more than me simply ‘figuring stuff out’, it’s divine intervention. As if God is saying ‘you are now ready to learn this…’

It almost makes me wonder if this would apply to every area of my life? What if God is waiting to give me all the wisdom I need to reach my full potential as a person, as a Christian, as a brother, as a son? He’s simply waiting on me to show Him that I am ready to receive the gifts He wants to give me? Almost like a father who can’t wait to buy a car for his son and share in the joy of working on it together with his son. But he knows he can’t do that until the son shows him that he’s learned how to drive the car properly, and is ready to be a responsible car owner.

What if God has endless gifts that He is ready to give us, as soon as we show Him that we are ready to receive them? That’s the thought I am carrying as I read scripture, I ask for the wisdom to understand what I am reading, and also that I will know how to apply what I learn in the way that God desires.  So that I can continue to grow, and be worthy of additional gifts.