In this episode, Kayla & Megan peel back the layers of this beloved verse to show its true context, a message given to a people far from home, waiting seventy years for deliverance. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of hope, patience, and God’s sovereign goodness, even when life doesn’t look like the Pinterest board you prayed for.

So grab your mug (ironically), open your Bible, and let’s talk about the plans.

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By the end, you’ll see that this isn’t just a story about a speechless priest; it’s a story about a God who never stops speaking, even when we’ve forgotten how to listen.

Here’s the promise: we’re not skimming the surface of Scripture like it’s a fortune cookie. We’re diving deep: rich theology, honest questions, and the kind of bold encouragement that will make you laugh, squirm, and worship, sometimes all in the same breath.

Think of it as Spurgeon’s depth with Lewis’s imagination, delivered by your big sister who refuses to let you settle for shallow faith. So grab your Bible and maybe a strong cup of coffee, this is where it all begins.

Key Takeaways:

• Practicing righteousness and avoiding sin are important aspects of the Christian life.
• Loving one another and not harboring hatred or jealousy is crucial.
• Genuine love involves sacrificial actions and not just empty words.
• Being obedient to God's commands and loving others unconditionally are practical applications of this passage.

00:00 | Introduction and Theme Song

07:11 | Reading and Praying

09:20 | Practicing Righteousness and Avoiding Sin

13:33 | The Importance of Love and Not Being Like Cain

16:02 | Genuine Love and Sacrificial Actions

23:27 | Application: Loving Others and Being Obedient

26:15 | Conclusion and Next Episode Preview

Takeaways

• Believers are called to live as children of God and to behave accordingly.
• Obedience to God's commands brings confidence and assurance in His presence.
• Loving one another and testing the spirits are essential aspects of the Christian life.
• Believers should actively apply the teachings of scripture and step up in their faith.

For more information, visit www.theboldmovement.com. For a FREE copy of the "How to Study the Bible" guide, visit: https://theboldmovement.com/freebies. 

This podcast is a production of 1801 Media, Inc.

Please check out our ministry partners, G.O. Ministries, at www.gomin.org.

Please check out our ministry partners, G.O. Ministries, at www.gomin.org.

Please check out our ministry partners, G.O. Ministries, at www.gomin.org.

Please check out our ministry partners, G.O. Ministries, at www.gomin.org.

Please check out our ministry partners, G.O. Ministries, at www.gomin.org.

But when life settled down and depression didn’t consume my days, suddenly, life was good! All my needs were met! However, because of this, I slowly quit talking to God and acted like I no longer needed him. I knew I did, of course, but when there were no immediate trials, I had nothing to remind me of my need for a Savior. In fact, in times where things are going right, I will often attribute the success to myself or my circumstances!

I say all of this because I have a feeling you’ve been there too.

Chapter 10 of Hosea begins with showing how the Israelites’ prosperity had caused them to forget God. They didn’t see their need for him because they wanted for nothing. They even went so far as to build altars and pillars to false gods to give them the credit! As their wealth increased, their spiritual health decreased.  As a result, God would take away their kings to show them that they had no one worthy to rule them since they had deviated so far from God’s standards.

So often, when we’re going through trials, our first question is to ask God why he’s letting it happen to us. And that’s valid; sometimes what we’re going through is truly awful and we just want answers. When God doesn’t give us those answers, it can feel like he’s turned his back on us. But James 1:2-3 says, “Count it all joy, brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

The definition for steadfastness is “the quality of being resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.” So our answer to the trials we’re going through is that God can use it to make us more firm and unwavering in our faith. Romans 5:3-5 shows us that steadfastness, or endurance, creates hope! And 2 Peter 1:3-9 points out that when we have this quality, it keeps us from falling into sin. Pretty incredible how that works, huh?

And this is exactly what the Israelites were lacking. They didn’t possess steadfastness. They were lazy and entitled. So when things were good, their relationship with the Lord didn’t endure and they fell into sin. Then when God began to bring judgment on them, they were completely ignorant to their sin and wandered even further from him.

God doesn’t just want your attention when you feel like you need something. He wants all of you, even when your life is going well—maybe especially when your life is going well! Just like any parent-child relationship, if a child only goes to mom or dad when they want something, it feels a lot less like love and a lot more like they just want you to be their benefactor. But when your kids come and snuggle up with you and tell you how much they love you in the middle of a day for no reason at all, well, there’s just nothing better.

The best way to keep God at the center, even when your life is great, is to stay in the Word. Scripture reminds us that we need a Savior even on our best day, and it also helps us hear from the Holy Spirit so that we walk through our day doing what he wants instead of what we want.

Now go out and be bold in what he has called you to do today, even if it’s simply sitting in his presence and thanking him for his love for you!

All of it brings me to think about Jesus’ words in Luke 6:46-49, where he asks the question, “why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and no two what I tell you?” (V. 46, English Standard Version) and then goes on to talk about obedience: those that obey are like a man who builds his house on a solid foundation, and those that don’t obey are like a man who builds his house with no foundation at all. Just one storm reveals the durability of the house and the wisdom (or lack thereof) of the man.

The Israelites had no foundation; they relied on false gods for their provision and fulfillment, so when God’s judgment came, they had nothing to stand on. Their lack of wisdom was revealed, and all that was left was their guilt.

It can be so easy for us to read the Old Testament and wonder why God made so many rules! We can be tempted to scoff at the idea that anyone was ever expected to live up to the incredibly high standards, but my friends, it’s not really about the laws at all. The Law was meant to help us see how desperately we need God. And while, yes, we need to follow God’s commands to us, if our hearts aren’t in it, then following his commands is meaningless.

We see another example of this in Revelation 2. The church in Ephesus had many wonderful works to boast of; they were even accurately identifying and calling out false teachers. But God tells them he has one thing against them—“that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4, ESV). They had all these wonderful works, but without a love for the Lord, those works were pretty much worthless.

It doesn’t matter how “good” we try to be if we aren’t willing to change our hearts. Obedience means nothing without love.

But in the same way, love means nothing without obedience, and this is what the Lord desires of us. This is why the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul (Matthew 22:37). Because everything else should filter through our love for him. If we love him, we will obey him (John 14:15).

This was the biggest piece that the Israelites were missing. The Lord was not first in their life. Sure, he was part of their life; they were still giving half-hearted sacrifices to attempt to honor him. But they had other gods before him. They had other priorities. So God took away their sacrifices and fake worship because he is not satisfied with halfhearted allegiance. He wants every bit of his people’s hearts.

What areas in your life might you be putting before God? Work? Kids? Maybe even church volunteer time? Let Hosea 9 be a heart check for you. Maybe you aren’t as corrupt as the Israelites had become (i really hope not!), but could it be possible that you have forgotten your first love? As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to turn back to him. Recalibrate your life to put him first today. Because one day, it will be too late, and all the things you put before God will disappear. Be bold, my friend. Get rid of any sin that hinders you, and follow Jesus with your whole heart because it’s your heart that he wants.

If you’re exhausted reading through how many times these things must be said, then you’re on track to understanding the extent to which the Israelites were betraying God. Over and over and over again, they were worshipping idols and pursuing the things of this world, and over and over again, God was merciful to give them warning after warning. It’s repetitive because their sin was repetitive. It had become habitual to the point of exhaustion.

Verse 12 gives us a glimpse into God’s heart:

“Were I to write for [Ephraim] my laws by the by the ten thousand, they would be regarded as a strange thing.” (Hosea 8:12, ESV).

Basically, it didn’t matter how many different ways God tried to tell them how to follow him; they simply refused to do it. They had become so familiar with their idolatry that God’s will was strange and foreign to them. They were stuck in the cycle of sin, and something needed to happen in order to break that cycle.

Unlike the Israelites, you have been given the way out of destruction. The Israelites had been warned and would have to pay the price by going back into slavery. But Jesus paid the price for your sin and brought you out of slavery.

This is why it’s so important to look at Scripture through the lens of Jesus. Everything points back to him. Everything points back to the cross. The Old Testament is one giant foreshadowing of the coming Savior; it helps us understand the enormity of sin and the depths to which Jesus went for us to pull us out of that sin.

Jump back to verse three for just a moment.

“Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him” (Hosea 8:3, ESV).

When I first read this verse, I immediately thought of Romans 8:28: “God works all things together for the good of those who love him.” What is the good? The good is to become more like Christ. Israel had been given the Law to become more like Christ, but they rejected it. The result was that the enemy had an open door to overtake them. We have the same opportunity to become more like Jesus. Don’t miss it. Don’t get stuck in cycles of sin, but get in the Word and be obedient to it. When you do, the enemy doesn’t have a foothold any longer, and the cycles and repetition of sin are broken.

It changes the way we read Hosea now, doesn’t it? Every time you start to feel tired of reading the warnings and accusations, let it be a reminder to you of God’s grace when his people turn from him time and time again. Let it frustrate you that the Israelites could be so thoughtless and evil. Let the exhaustion of sin exasperate your mind so that you might see more clearly how patient our God is with his children. Then let it be a reminder that you are also one of these people. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (emphasis mine). If you’re a believer, then you’ve heard the Gospel. You know God’s standards, and you know that you fall short. You know that you turn from him daily, even if you have heard his laws ten thousand times. Yet because of his grace, you don’t have to be caught in that cycle of sin.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Now with this, go out, and be bold in that freedom!

But I think, in a sense, we do the same thing with God. We read about him, we talk to our friends about him, maybe even go to church and learn about him, but do we really know him?

In chapter six of Hosea, God is fleshing out his frustrations with the Israelites, and one of his biggest arguments against them is that none of them really knows him. He tells them their “love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away (Hosea 6:4, ESV). In essence, they act like they love him, but when really tested in the heat of the moment, that love disappears. It’s conditional. If they truly knew God, however, that love would last.

Just a few verses later, God tells him what he wants from them:

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (6:6).

This might have come as a bit of a shock to those Old Testament Israelites. I mean, just read a few pages in the Old Testament and it looks like everything is about sacrifice and the Law. But God is telling them it’s not actually about their works. He wants their hearts. He wants a relationship with them. He wants to be known by them!

The word knowledge here is the same word used for the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Creation story in Genesis. When Eve took the bite of the fruit, she gained a total understanding of the things she had been innocent of before. She understood fully how far she could go not only in goodness but in evil. Shame was introduced into Adam and Eve’s world when they had a full understanding of both good and evil. In other words, the knowledge being spoken of here and in Hosea is a TRUE understanding, not just a reference point.

So why does God want his people to know him with this deep level of understanding? Because he knows that when we truly know who he is, we cannot help but love him, and that love forms the foundation for true faith and obedience, which leads us to righteous living and true love in action. And then it becomes a cycle. When we live righteously and love the way God intended, it spurs us to love him even more, to want to know him more, which leads to deeper faith and obedience. See how that works?

True love seeks to know and understand the source of Love. It’s not works that give us knowledge of God, but love. God didn’t want a “morning cloud” kind of love from his people. He wanted them to reflect the love he had for them, steadfast and lasting.

And he wants the same for you, my friend! He wants you to experience that love and to come to a full knowledge of who he is, so that you cannot help but want to stay in a faithful relationship with him. Why? Because he loves you so much!!

So go out, and be bold in that love today!

We are seeing this now more than ever with the overturn of Roe V. Wade in our country last Friday. Americans, even some Christians, are outraged over the decision, going far as to tell other believers not to celebrate because of the emotional harm it may do to unbelieving pro-choicers. And while I’m not going to get into those details—that’s for a whole other article—I do think there is so much to learn in this fifth chapter of Hosea.

This chapter contains the warnings to the priests, people, and king of Israel. Their punishments are laid out, along with the reasons why they’re about to be punished. The Israelites were pretending to love the Lord, going so far as to bring him sacrifices, but God is clear with them that their hearts were far from him. In verse four, it says “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God” (Hosea 5:4, ESV). They were spending all their time in sin, not in obedience, and the consequence was that they no longer had access to their Creator.

The verse that really stood out to me though, was verse 10.

“The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water” (Hosea 5:10, ESV). In ancient times, boundary lines between neighbors were made by laying out stones in a line, so moving the landmark implied moving the stones—in this case likely in the secrecy of night. In essence, they were stealing land that was not theirs. But God is not talking about physical boundaries here; he’s talking about spiritual ones. His people were slowly moving the boundaries between right and wrong, between the true God and the idols they had created.

In the same way moving physical boundary lines probably didn’t happen overnight, spiritual boundaries don’t change overnight either. It starts with one little push past what we know to be right and good. “It’s not a baby, it’s just a fetus.” Right? Little by little, we allow ourselves to believe things that are not only lies, but completely fly in the face of what God says is right. And just like the Israelites got themselves into deep trouble by shifting these boundaries, we will do the same if we aren’t actively searching God’s word for His truth. There are consequences for opposing God’s truth in search of our own “truth.” Our “truth” will not save us. Only God’s truth will. Take heed from the Israelites downfall. Go back to that simple verse:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT).

Our understanding will always cause us to shift those boundaries according to what feels right in that moment. Trusting in the Lord alone will keep those boundaries straight.

Trust Him, my friend! Now go out and be bold!

Y’all. 

I hate to tell you but tarot cards are just pieces of paper. Crystals are just rocks. And getting into these things is getting into a false religion that can lead to dangerous places. Why? Because the point of tarot cards and witchcraft and crystals is to find some special kind of knowledge, right? We want to know our future or we want to know peace. When we meditate with a crystal, we’re looking for a way to connect with something, to know ourselves or the world around us better. And in Hosea 4, we see repeatedly that looking for knowledge outside of God leads to destruction. Specifically, we see in 4:12 that using a physical, manmade or natural, object for wisdom is considered idolatry. 

“My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.” (Hosea 4:12). 

Yikes.

God is showing how ridiculous it was for the people to worship their man-made idols by reducing their elaborate carven images to “a piece of wood.” But what makes worshipping these things or inquiring of them for knowledge so dangerous is shown in the next sentence: a spirit of whoredom had led them astray. When we dabble into the spiritual world, we are opening ourselves up to real spirits that can gain access to our lives. Deuteronomy 32:17 shows that the spirits we entertain are actually demons. There can be real power in meditating on crystals, but I’ll tell you it’s not the kind of power that will save you but destroy you. 

The bottom line in the whole of Hosea is that the people were seeking knowledge outside of the Lord, and it led to their total destruction. Seeking knowledge apart from God gives us a worldly wisdom that isn’t wisdom at all, it’s actually foolishness. First Corinthians 3:19 says “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.” 

So if you want to find wisdom from a rock, let it come from the Rock of Ages. If you want to find a spirit of understanding, let your understanding come from the Holy Spirit. His ways are higher than our ways, and his way is the only way that leads to life. Let’s follow it. 

Now go out and be bold! 

We get a pretty real picture of this exact situation in this next section of Hosea when God is talking to the Israelites about their behavior. He had bestowed many gifts on them, but instead of giving God the credit, the Israelites credited other nations for all of their provisions and then sought out those nations for further provision.  Naturally, God becomes angry about this. He had given Israel everything, but in return, Israel had betrayed him. So he vows to take everything back from them, forcing them to come to terms with their unfaithfulness.

It’s easy to look at this as just some crazy Old Testament story

It’s easy to look at this as just some crazy Old Testament story that might be hard to relate to, but let’s be honest: when was the last time you gave God credit for the things you have in your life? Maybe you prayed for something for a long time, got it, and then completely forgot to go to the Lord with thanksgiving. I’m not saying this from some higher place either—I do the same thing every single day.

It’s so easy to cry out to God when things are going wrong. When we are suffering, we feel the need for His presence and even his intervention in our lives. But when things are good, when we feel like we have everything we need, we’re quick to not only forget our Creator but we might even give the credit to someone else, maybe even ourselves!  Look how hard I’ve worked. I deserve all that I have because I built this life myself. I am just thriving right now! But then the convicting part—how quick are we to take the credit when things go wrong? We usually don’t. It’s a lot more convenient to blame God when things don’t go the way we planned, so instead of taking the credit like we did when we had all the provisions, we cast the blame when it seems like those provisions are gone. God, why would you do this to me? Why would you allow me to go through this?

Again, I’m preaching to myself here.

Again, I’m preaching to myself here.  My friends, we have to remember that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17).  When things are going well, let’s not forget to give the praise to the one who gives us everything we have. Sure, we work hard and we steward well, but we are not the owners of our belongings. In fact, no one else is the owner but God. The Israelites had to learn this difficult lesson by losing all of their gifts so that they might seek the Giver of gifts instead.

None of us will do this perfectly, but really it all just comes down to the heart. The Israelites had a heart far from God, so even when they did give him credit it really didn’t matter. They didn’t love him or truly seek his will for their lives. But I believe when we are truly pursuing our Father, thankfulness will come naturally. When we understand the depth of his love for us, we won’t be able to help reciprocate that and thank him whenever we can.

So this week, let’s let boldness look like humility; being humble enough to give God credit for the gifts in our lives! Now go out, and be bold!

If you’re not sure, it might help to think about what you pray about the most. I’ve heard it said that “prayer expresses desire” and it totally makes sense when you think about it:

We pray about whatever is most important to us in the moment.

Whether it’s health, peace of mind, money, friends, relief, comfort, and regardless of the depth of your faith, what you pray about expresses what you care about because taking the time to talk to your Creator is something you have to be pretty intentional about, right? And I think it gives us a glimpse into what takes up the most space in our heads.

Paul is in the middle of talking about what is important in life when he throws out this little nugget: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” (Philippians 3:13). There’s a couple of things we can understand from this verse:

1.    What we think about matters.

2.    What we do with those thoughts has an impact.

In the first half, Paul tells us about the importance of forgetting what lies behind. Now, he’s not saying don’t ever think of the past. Remembrance is all over Scripture! But what he is saying is that we should not dwell on the past. All the things we’ve done, all the things we have been through, have shaped who we are and who we are becoming. But those things are not our focus.

So this is why I asked what you think about the most: is your focus usually on yourself or your problems? Or is your focus on eternity?

In the very next verse, Paul says “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (V. 14).  If you’re been watching any of the pre-Olympic footage, you’ve probably seen some of the runners. Paul is using Greek Olympic games language here! The word “goal” literally means “goal marker.” A goal marker is the focus of the eye when a runner runs the race. Paul’s focus, his goal marker, was on Christ and eternity with him. What Paul thought about most was eternity!

So the second half of verse 13, Paul encourages us to “strain forward to what lies ahead.” The original phrase for “straining forward” was another athletic metaphor. It brings to mind the straining of muscles, the clarity of focus needed to run the race, and the complete dedication required to finish for the prize. Straining forward required both mental and physical discipline! Basically what he’s saying is this: staying focused on Christ and eternity is difficult, but rewarding. It will impact the way you live your life.

Just like an Olympic runner, you don’t make it to the Olympic Games without being intentional with mental and physical disciplines. You can’t just go for a run once and call yourself an Olympian. It takes hard work and dedication. In the same way, our lives as believers should be intentional and dedicated. It will take the hard work of getting in the Word often and being in relationship with other believers so that you stay encouraged to walk with Jesus toward eternity with him!

While it’s easy to spend our days thinking about all of our problems or wants, both great and small, those thoughts won’t benefit to us! When you’re tempted to complain about your circumstances, try to lay them at the feet of Jesus and turn your eyes toward eternity. Pay special attention to your prayers

But if you think about it, don’t people kind of do the same thing with God? So many of us spend our entire lives working and straining to achieve goodness and righteousness, picking up spiritual sticks and rock buckets full of “good works” and then carrying them across our yards only to drop them into a pile that does absolutely nothing for us. We’re just doing the same things over and over again in hopes that it’ll make us better humans. It’s truly amazing how hard we’ll work for nothing.

Paul gives the church in Philippi a similar story in Philippians 3:1-11 when he talks about the religious leaders who were doing the very same thing. They were spending their days boasting about their buckets of good works and how everyone else should pick up their own buckets and get to work, but Paul argues back that their buckets are full of trash.

(Yes, he literally says those kinds of good works are trash. Paul was not boring!) 

And the only way he knows this is because he too used to carry buckets full of trash until he realized Jesus had a better way: faith.

See, there are only two ways to try to become good enough to get to God: through works or through faith. 

When you try to get to God through works, you have to be able to meet the standard he’s set. And if you’ve ever read one page of Leviticus you’ll quickly realize there’s just no way you’ll ever be able to do it all. Or if you’re like the religious leaders and you think for a second you can, then you’ve missed why God actually gave us the Law. He didn’t give it expecting us to actually meet the standard.  He gave it to us so that we realize we can’t. Because the minute we think we’re good enough, we’ve just put pride in our hearts and made ourselves equal to God and broken the Law. It’s kind of a brain bender, isn’t it? 

To keep it simple: we will never be as good or holy as God. Which takes us to the second (and truly only) way to get to God.

Faith.

A super church-y word, but Biblical faith just means means “confidence” or “assurance.” Paul tells us in verse 9 that we can get to God through “faith in Christ.” In other words, we get to God when we have the assurance that Jesus is enough. When we have the confidence that our works are useless in getting favor with God. And that faith opens our eyes to all the people around us carrying those rock buckets back and forth and makes us want to tell them “stop!!!” This is exactly what Paul is doing for the Philippians here. He’s saying “guys, I’ve been there! I was the best of the best according to the standard, but my heart was prideful. I completely missed the need for a Savior. Don’t do what I did. Stop following the people teaching these things and follow Christ!” 

In the same way, put down your spiritual sticks and rock buckets, ladies. Quit letting yourself believe that going to church every week and picking up your Bible once a month is making you holy. Quit believing you have to have a perfect, put-together family. Stop carrying heavy loads you weren’t meant to carry. Feeling like you have to do it all and then some. Jesus did it all already. Rejoice in that! 

I pray

First of all, more than 60% of these women do not have an older mentor and are not mentoring someone younger. Of those that do have an older mentor, almost 100% of them were also mentoring someone younger, a statistic I found to be fascinating! I’ll get to why in a minute. 

On the other hand, of those who do not have an older mentor in their lives, 100% were also not mentoring someone younger. Is there a correlation? I absolutely believe the answer is yes. 

We live in a culture that really struggles with multigenerational relationships. Most church groups are divided by age or phase of life. We’ve got children’s ministry, youth group, young adult ministry, young marrieds, young families, and senior groups. But you rarely find a church where the groups are intentionally mixed regarding age and phase of life, and I truly believe we are missing out on something God has actually called us to. 

Throughout Scripture, we see examples of these relationships. Moses and Joshua. Eli and Samuel. Naomi and Ruth. Jesus and his disciples. Yet, in our own churches and our own relationships, we struggle to find mentors and become mentors. Somewhere along the generational lines in America, older women stopped teaching younger women. Younger women stopped seeking out or even respecting older women. But we need these relationships more than we could ever imagine.

In Philippians 2:19-24, we see the results of what mentoring does to spread the Gospel. One of the most impactful mentor relationships we see in all of Scripture is Paul and Timothy. Now, in this section, we don’t get to see how their relationship has been built, but we see the impact it has made! Paul trained up a very young man named Timothy to become his apprentice in the faith. Timothy followed Paul and joined him in the good and the bad of ministry. We see in 2:22 that they had become so close that they were like a father and son, and because of this relationship, Timothy became a leader who was key in spreading the Gospel in ancient times.

How do we have one of these mentor relationships? The common phrases I hear about why women are not in mentor relationships is that “there is no one seeking me out” or “there is no one that wants to hear what I have to say.” Philippians 2:21-22 helps us out!

1. Seek Jesus’ interests, not your own (v21). Our flesh says, “wait for someone to come find us” instead of “seek her out.” Our interests might say “find the popular one,” where Jesus might say “the quiet one will have more for you.” Our flesh is intimidated. Jesus says, “perfect love casts out fear.” Boldly seek out this relationship, ladies. It’s more than worth it.

2. Seek service above comfort (v22). It’s uncomfortable to seek out a mentor relationship. But Jesus doesn’t call us to comfort. He calls us to serve. And we desperately need women who are willing to serve other women, whether by mentoring them or being mentored by them, because it is one of the surest ways to spread the gospel. This means having a relationship that withstands the good, the bad, and the ugly. Older women: let the younger ones see the real you, not the polished you. Younger women: let the older women speak into those hard moments; be willing to hear where you need to grow and mature.

Going back to those statistics: The fact t

In Philippians 2:12-18 Paul gives us three ways to practice humble obedience and why it matters:

1. LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH (verses 12-13)

Paul says to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Okay, Emily, what does that mean..I thought we were saved by grace, not by working it out ourselves in fear!

I promise this verse isn’t a contradiction! What Paul is saying here is that when you are saved, you want to act on it because you don’t want to live the life you lived before (that’s the working out your salvation part) and you do this with a holy reverence of God that trembles at the thought of sin (that’s the fear and trembling part). It’s kind of like if you were raised in a Christian home, you live out your parents’ faith until you come to the realization that it has to be a personal choice. Paul is telling the Philippians “don’t live out my faith, live out your own!” 

And once you make that choice and you start becoming more like Christ, the thought of sin will be totally awful to you so you’ll do anything you can to run from it! Living out your faith looks like desiring a different way than the way of the world.

2. BE JOYFULLY STEADFAST (verses 14-16)

So now that you’re living out your own faith with a hate for sin, you’ve got to find a way to be in it for the long haul, because it is a loooooong haul, amiright? How do we do this? Paul tells us to “do all things without complaining or arguing.” The Greek word for “all things” is literally all things. 

Try this: throughout your day, every time you complain or argue about something, make a tally on a piece of paper or your phone. Then go crawl into bed and cry and complain about how hard it is to not complain! Boop. This one feels impossible.

We can laugh (or cry) about how impossible it feels, but Paul says it’s super important because people who don’t complain or argue stand out. Think about that person in your life who always seems to just joyfully go with the flow. If you’re even able to think of someone like this, they’re probably rare. Paul is telling us that in order to look like Jesus in this world, we must become this rare person! And we all know our world desperately needs this kind of influence because each day this world becomes darker and more hopeless. When we are joyfully steadfast in our run towards eternity with the Lord, we will “shine as lights in the world” against “a crooked and twisted generation” of unbelievers. 

3. LET MINISTRY BRING JOY (verses 17-18)

Paul uses some Jewish/religious language in verses 17-18, but what he’s essentially saying is “even if I have to sacrifice everything in order to help you know Jesus better, I will do it with joy!” Wow. I know I don’t feel this way about ministry super often, and I’m a pastor’s wife! People can be really draining or hurtful, and I naturally just want to run away and get comfy on my couch to protect myself from getting hurt instead of drawing myself deeper into those people’s lives. Ministry is messy. But Paul says we’re supposed to live the same way, choosing joy in the mess instead of avoiding the mess. 

So friends, joyfully (and boldly!) go live out your l

After Paul has made an exhortation to the Philippians to become united with the same love and the same mind, he gives them the practical way to do this: 

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4)

In other words: Be Humble. Ugh. 

Paul is telling us that in order to be united, we have to put others before ourselves. It makes sense, really. Every time I get into a fight with my husband, we both have this horrible tendency to fight to win. But when we stop to actually care about each other’s thoughts and feelings, we listen more. We talk less. One of us might still be right (usually me, of course...HA) but when we aren’t trying to shove our own ideas in each other’s faces we’re much more likely to listen and then we become united in trying to come to an agreement instead of divided in trying to win. Paul knows what he’s talking about here, friends.

But this humility thing is really hard for us. Why? Because humility does not come naturally to us. We believe we deserve so much. We deserve to have a night off from the dishes when we’re the ones who made dinner! We deserve a thank you from our kids for all the work we do for them! We deserve a raise for all the hours we put in over everyone else! Treat yourself, you’re the best! All the while, we’ve forgotten that we aren’t actually the best. We’re completely full of sin, and we actually deserve death because of that sin. We see this exact situation in Genesis, when Adam and Eve choose to eat the forbidden fruit. Satan tells them they will be just like God if they eat of the tree. But this was the big lie: Disobeying and trying to be like God made them as opposite of “like God” as they could have ever been. It made them prideful.

Of all the people who had the right to self-love and pridefulness, it was Jesus.  He is literally equal to God, he IS God, yet he didn’t use this against anyone. He could have said he was too mighty for death (he was!) but he chose to go through it because obedience to God’s will was more important than his significance. It was because of this humble obedience that he was exalted. (Phil. 2:8-9).

Humble obedience makes us most in God’s image. That’s the great irony. The more humble we become, the less we want to be like God because we know he is the only one who deserves all the glory. Yet the more humble we become the more we become like God. And while we will never become God, because of his humble death on the cross, all of our sin is covered and we will get to share in his victory when he returns. Incredible!

So when your home, your marriage, or your church family feels divided, maybe you can ask yourself: am I putting my family’s needs above my own? Or do I feel like I deserve all the glory right now? Am I putting down the thoughts of my brothers and sisters in Christ because I feel like mine are better? Or am I humbly listening to their side and choosing to look to their interests in the same way I look to my own?

And if and when you fail to be humble, look to Christ and praise him that he chose humility every step of the way to cover when you couldn’t.

How are you, friend? I am thrilled that you are joining me on this very first episode of season 3. This season, we are going to be working verse-by-verse through the book of Philippians. If you are new to our podcast, howdy, -- so glad you found us and I hope you like the podcast. Real quick, I want to let you know that this podcast is an extension of The Bold Movement which is a ministry that trains women to boldly step into their role in the kingdom of God. There are tons of free resources on the website as well as Bible studies 

Join us as we take a look at what John Mark tells us in his 13th chapter of the gospel he wrote. It is fascinating how Christ knew His mission, but pushed on and finished the race. As Christians, we must remind ourselves that we have someone who went before us and we can follow in this crazy thing called life.

In this episode, you will…

• Gain clarity on what Jesus is talking about in reference to the temple being destroyed.

• Learn how to follow Christ

• Discover how to avoid false teachers.

Related Resources:

Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 371). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

Click here to download the transcript for this episode.

Have you ever wondered who you are? Like — where does your identity come from? Is it in your job? Maybe in the way that the opposite sex perceives you.

Look, I am not condoning these things, but I am saying that you are not alone. We all struggle with this because we’re human and sin. The beauty that we can find in this comes from the word of God. Today, we are going to talk about where identity is found. When you start taking your faith seriously, you are absolutely going to mess up. Give yourself some grace, girlfriend. These things take time.

In this episode, you will…

• Gain clarity on where your identity comes from

• Learn how to find Christ in these parables

• Discover the greatest commandments

Related Resources:

Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 371). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

Click here to download the transcript for this episode.

Okay, I know that made no sense, but you just have to trust me. I want you all to see Jesus in chapter 11. He probably does not match the Jesus your Sunday school teacher taught you about, but trust me… He is so much more. He is the superhero hero that stops the bad guy, the humble servant that people don’t even think about, and the father who protects you. Let’s see what Mark 11 offers us, today.

In this episode, you will…

• Learn about Jesus riding a donkey into town and people going crazy for it.

• Learn about Jesus cursing a tree (don’t worry it’s symbolic)

• Learn about Jesus cleaning out His father’s house

Resources:

• The Bible (We use the ESV in this podcast)

• Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 353). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos. (We basically quote him the whole time. It’s such good stuff.)

Click here to get the transcript for this episode.

This is Mark chapter 10...

10 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. 

2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 

10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 

Marriage and divorce were in Jesus’ day, as they are in ours, matters of great interest and controversy. In ancient Judaism, marriage was not regarded as a union of equals for the mutual benefit of both husband and wife but rather as an institution whose chief purpose was the establishment and continuance of the family and whose chief enemy was childlessness. Mark’s placement of Jesus’ teaching on marriage at the beginning of this section signals the importance of the marital union in the kingdom of God. In Judaism the foremost responsibility of an observant Jewish male was knowledge and mastery of the Torah, under which he was expected to order the necessities of life, among them marriage. Jesus, however, teaches that marriage is not a male-dominated institution but a new creation of God, to which both husband and wife are equally responsible to practice discipleship in lifelong obedience.

 Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (pp. 297–298). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

This final phrase was the crux of the controversy over divorce in Jesus’ day, as is reflected in a celebrated passage in the Mishnah:

The School of Shammai say: A man may not divorce his wife unless he has found unchastity in her, for it is written, “Because he hath found in her indecency in anything.” And the School of Hillel say: [He may divorce her] even if she spoiled a dish for him, for it is written, “Because he hath found in her indecency in anything.” R. Akiba says: Even if he found another fairer than she, for it is written, “And it shall be if she find no favour in his eyes.” (m. Git. 9:10)

As this passage indicates, Jews and Jewish law were agreed that divorce was permissible. The more conservative school of Shammai argued that the sole ground was “indecency,” that is, adultery, whereas the liberal school of Hillel argued that divorce could be granted “for any matter”

If you are new to our podcast, we are glad you’re here! Real quick, let me explain how our podcast works. I will read a passage of Scripture and then we break it down as we go. I will be reading from the English Standard Version (also commonly referred to as the ESV) today if you are interested in following along.

*So, here’s the thing. We don’t really know how long Jesus ministered on earth.  It may have been for 2-3 years or longer. British scholar N.T. Wright argues given that amount of time and the rather limited amount of material we have in the Gospels, Jesus could have said the things recorded in the New Testament many, many times—just think of how often a preacher repeats things from the pulpit to the same audience!

*In Mark 9:1 Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”  He also states this in Matthew 16 and Luke 9.  What was He referring to? One Bible commentary lists eight different interpretations!   Some say He was referring to His second coming, some say He is referring to God’s judgment on the Temple, which happened in 70 AD, some say it is His death and resurrection,  and some say He is referring to what is about to happen, the Transfiguration of Jesus. Following N.T. Wright’s point that if Jesus said it once, He may have said it a dozen times or more, so it might mean many things depending on the context BUT in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, He is recorded as saying it right before the transfiguration, so, for now, let’s assume that’s what He was referring to…

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 

*Notice that Mark records this happened on a “high mountain.”  This is an allusion to Exodus 19-20. God descends on Mount Sinai and forbids anyone to approach except Moses and Aaron to approach.  God then gives the 10 Commandments to Moses, which is the heart of the covenant. Now God is preparing a new covenant where only a few disciples are allowed to witness. 

*Jesus is “transfigured” before them into purity showing them who He truly is.  But why Moses and Elijah? In his commentary, James Edwards argues, following Acts 10:43 that it supports the assertion that all the prophets testify to Jesus or, as John 5:39 records, “the law and the prophets testify about me” and Moses and Elijah represent the law and prophets.  BUT, it also may point to the fact that it w

If you are new to our podcast, salutations! You have found a group of women eager to support you and help you grow in faith! You are always welcome here where you can learn and ask questions! Let me explain how our podcast works. I will read a passage of Scripture and then we break it down as we go. I will be reading from the English Standard Version (also commonly referred to as the ESV) today if you are interested in following along.

I do want to take a second and give a background real quick. In chapter six we talked about Jesus feeding the five thousand. This took place in a primarily Galilee which was mostly a Jewish region. Now, in chapter 8, Jesus is feeding four thousand in the Decapolis which is mainly made up of Gentiles. Now, let’s start reading.

This is God-breathed and profitable for you:

1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. (“‘I have compassion for these people’ ” expresses Jesus’ gut-wrenching emotion on behalf of the crowd. Equally importantly, in Mark, this word is not used of people for whom one would naturally feel compassion (such as friends or compatriots), but for those far removed and even offensive: lepers (1:41), revolutionaries (6:34), Gentiles (8:2), and demon-possessed (9:22).)[1] 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” J.R. Edwards says, “The “large crowd” gathered around Jesus (7:33; Matt 15:29–31) has accompanied him for three days and begins to run short of food. In describing the crowd Mark uses a rare and intensified form of the word for “remain,” prosmenein, connoting a special adherence and commitment to Jesus. The crowd has not been coincidentally present but intentionally with him. This is an unusually positive description of a crowd in Mark. Jesus again finds a reception among Gentiles that he has not found among Jews.” [2]

4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” Why do you think the disciples are so confused or lacking in faith at this point? It’s not like Jesus was incapable of feeding them. He literally made this happen a few chapters before this. Well, his disciples [could] not have believed God would provide an Exodus like feeding for a mixed audience.” [3]

5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. 

“Seven,” they replied. 

6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were leftover. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. 

11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.

INTRO

If you are new here, welcome to the podcast! Our goal is to walk you through Scripture verse by verse, so we will read a section of the passage and then try to break it down for you. Just an FYI, it is easy to take Scripture out of context, so make sure when studying you read before this section and after to ensure you are reading it within the correct frame that the original author intended. Ladies, let’s get started. I am going to be reading from the (ESV) English Standard Version.

This is the Word of God and is profitable for you:

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 

  “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, 

but their heart is far from me; 

 7  in vain do they worship me, 

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” 

INTRO

If you are new here, welcome to the podcast! Our goal is to walk you through Scripture verse by verse, so we will read a section of the passage and then try to break it down for you. I am going to be reading from the (ESV) English Standard Version for those who want to follow along!

This is the Word of God and is profitable for you:

The Death of John the Baptist

14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 

Before I go any further, I think I need to shine a light on John the Baptist here before we go any further! Matthew 11:11 says, “[A]mong those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” This was from the mouth of Jesus. Before he was born he had the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus’ cousin too. If you all get a chance, I would love for you to check out more on John the Baptist, but today for the sake of time, let’s continue on.

17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 

… and you thought your family was messed up… let’s break this down. Herodias was the daughter of Herod’s half-brother Aristobulus. This makes her Herod’s niece, okay? Not only was she Herod’s niece, but she was married to his other half-brother, Herod-Philip. So, she was also his sister-in-law. He still convinced her to leave his brother and become his wide. Obviously this was not okay, and John the Baptizer had something to say about it. (see Leviticus 18:16; 20:21).

19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

When I first read this, I was am

INTRO

If you are new here, welcome to the podcast! Our goal is to walk you through Scripture verse by verse, so we will read a section of the passage and then try to break it down for you. For a recap of what’s happening, please feel free to go back and listen to last week's episode. Groovy -- let’s get started. I am going to be reading from the (ESV) English Standard Version.

This is the Word of God and is profitable for you:

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

1He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching.

Okay, Jesus went back to his hometown, which is Nazareth. On the sabbath, which was a Saturday, he went to the synagogue and began teaching. Now, these folks were astonished at what He was saying, but they were also confused. Remember, this was “little Jesus from down the street.” They were not convinced that He was the messiah they had been waiting on. Then, we get a glimpse into His family. We know that He had four brothers and at least two sisters. Which by the way -- although His family mostly thought He was crazy and tried to get Him to quit claiming to be God, two of His brothers ended up writing books in the New Testament. Check me -- Jude (called here Judas) and James. Check out the opening to their letters. So, to reexamine what we just learned -- Jesus was teaching, they weren’t having it, but this did not deter Jesus. He went about among the villages and kept teaching.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Jesus gives authority to cast out demons in His name to His disciples. He also tells them t

INTRO

If you are new here, welcome to the podcast! Our goal is to walk you through Scripture verse by verse, so we will read a section of the passage and then try to break it down for you. Just a FYI, it is easy to take Scripture out of context, so make sure when studying you read before this section and after to ensure you are reading it within the correct frame that the original author intended. Ladies, let’s get started. I am going to be reading from the (ESV) English Standard Version.

This is the Word of God and is profitable for you:

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Matthew’s gospel tells us that there are actually two demon possessed men who meet Jesus when He arrives, but Mark and Luke focus on one of them.

 3 He lived among the tombs. Here is some food for thought -- did you know that Jews avoided dead people like crazy because it made them unclean? (Numbers 19:11 says, “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days.” For Jesus, a Jew, and His disciples (also Jews) to be near a man who was living in a tomb was in and of itself taboo. However, they were in a heavy gentile populated area.

 And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains,  he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.  I don’t know how familiar you are with demonology (which is the study of demons, but I did a little research and wanted to make the following known.), Baker’s dictionary says, “Demons are created beings, personal, immortal, and incapable of reconciliation with God. They have great power as compared with humans, but little power as compared with God. God has given us authority over them, so that in the name of Jesus they must obey God’s people, even as they must obey the Lord himself.”[1] Now, to be fair -- there is nothing in Scripture that discusses explicitly the psychology or physiology of demon possession, but verse five gives us an indication that the demons possessing this m

INTRO

If you are new to our podcast, Welcome welcome welcome, sister! You have found your tribe! You will always be welcome here, our safe place to learn and ask quetsions! I will read a passage of Scripture and then we break it down verse by verse. We are going to attempt the entire 4th chapter of Mark today, so hold on tight -- it’s about to get wild. I will be reading from the New American Study Bible (also commonly referred to as the NASB) today if you are interested in following along.

This is God breathed and profitable for you

He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.”

So Jesus is teaching by the sea again and there is a crowd begins to gather around Him. The Greek word that John Mark used here refers to a remarkably large crowd.  So large, actually that He had to get into a boat to teach them. They would have stayed on the land He taught from the boat… let that sink in. He starts teaching them in parables again too. Let’s break this illustration down. Luke 8:11 shows us that the seed in this parable is the word of God and the sower is the Christian who spreads the word by sharing it with others. The soil is an 

10 As soon as He was alone, [b]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

Explanation

Intro

I will never forget the day that I was on the bus in 4th grade. One of the girls I sat near told me that if I ever said that the Holy Spirit did not exist (or even thought it), I was definitely going to hell because that was an unforgivable sin. Talk about gut wrenching. Not something you want to hear as a kid. She meant well, she was passionate and excited, but that it the problem with poor exegesis… that’s not what the verse means.

If you have ever thought this, DON’T WORRY! We will clear all this up. Here on the Bold is… podcast, I like to read the passage together then break it down verse by verse. If you are interested in following along with me, I am reading from the New Living Translation today.

This is Mark 3:13-35

13 Afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. 14 Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, 15 giving them authority to cast out demons. 16 These are the twelve he chose: 

    Simon (whom he named Peter), 

    17 James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”), 

    18 Andrew, 

    Philip, 

    Bartholomew, 

    Matthew, 

    Thomas, 

    James (son of Alphaeus), 

    Thaddaeus, 

    Simon (the zealot), 

    19 Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him). 

20 One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. 

22 But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” 

23 Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. 24 “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. 25 Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. 27 Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. 

28 “I tell you the truth, all sin and bla

Hey sweet friend, you are listening to Bold Is… you might remember us as The Bold Movement Podcast. This week we are going to continue looking at Mark chapter 3. I hope you’re ready because we have a lot to cover in a little bit of time.

INTRO

Okay, so on our last podcast episode I told you all about the crazy story where the bat was loose in my house while my husband was away. And if you will remember, Dave and I lost the stinker… Tuesday morning, exactly two weeks after losing him, he showed up again. Okay, let’s pause for a second. I want you all to take in the fact that I have been living with another living creature… a vampire as my niece called it, for two weeks. How does that happen?! ANyhoo, my hero and real life batman saved the day and caught him. So, this batty story has come to a close.

Before we get started, I wanted to let our listeners know that we will have a booth at this years ICOM in Kansas City, MO on November 14th-17th and if you are going to be there or are from the area, we would LOVE to meet you! We are also going to be releasing some HUGE news at that event so… let the build up begin. That’s right, you heard it hear first.

OKay guys,let’s get into the word of God. This is Mark 3:7-21

This is Mark chapter 3:

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name (Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

I am going to drop something kinda heavy on you, and I want you to stay with me. 

In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses says, “Moses continued, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”

That prophet is Jesus.

Many scholars believe that the gospel of Mark is written in a way that compares the life and ministry of Christ to the exodus of the Israelites (which is where we get the book’s name Exodus).

When we start in verse 7, we are actually taking a glimpse into the later part of Jesus

Mark begins his gospel by saying, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God.” Learn what this means along with other great nuggets.

*Disclaimer: We need to make two clarifications opposed to completely re-recording. 1.) We talk about Jesus having a beard. This comes from prophesy in Isaiah 50:6. It says, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” 2.) We talk about how the decision to follow Christ cannot be emotional, but we want to clarify that emotion can be involved, it should not be the basis of the whole decision. We hope this clears those few things up.