Baldhead Bible Podcast

In the next couple of episodes, we will look at snapshots from the life of Jesus. From the last supper to His triumphant resurrection. We begin with looking at graduation day for His disciples. Jesus had been honing and shaping them in the Jesus school of ministry for the past three years, and now they were ready. Graduation day had come. So what was Jesus going to say? As the graduation speaker, what were the words of encouragement He wanted to send His disciples? We know exactly what He said, and it's found in John 13. Listen to this week's story to hear His stirring words that still encourage those who call Him Lord and Master today.

This is the final episode in the Jeremiah series, and this is the last day he gets to spend in Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar has sacked Jerusalem and burned it to the ground. And now the people of Judah are being deported to Babylon, and Jeremiah is being dragged along with them and his trusty sidekick Baruch. These were two men who tried to live for Yahweh, who did their best to obey His commands, yet they still had to suffer the consequences alongside those who chose to disobey. Is that fair? How do we make sense of that? Why do good people suffer along with the bad? Is there an answer? Listen to this week's episode to find out the answer we find in the story of Jeremiah.

It had to be dark in that pit as Jeremiah slowly sank into the mud. As he stood there, he must have felt himself sinking further down into the mud at the bottom of this nasty, stinky cistern. How did Jeremiah end up there? Why did Jeremiah end up there? What could have been so bad that he deserved being shoved into a deep, dark mud hole? If you have ever sometimes wondered where God is in the middle of your pit of despair, well, this is a story you have to hear.

Jeremiah is a wanted man. King Jehoiakim of Judah wants Jeremiah gone, dead, killed off. Yet God commands Jeremiah to go and read all the prophecies of doom and destruction that God has given to Jeremiah over the last 25 years, to go and have them read to Jehoiakim, the very man who is trying to kill him. How is Jeremiah going to do that? First, he has to write them down and then read them to the King. Enter the scribe, Baruch. Listen to this week's story to hear about Baruch and the reaction of King Jehoiakim to the reading of the scroll.

We go back and look at two more visual parables this week. God would use any method He could to reach His people Israel. Sometimes he asked His prophets to portray His message to His people visually. Last time it was dirty underwear and broken clay pots. This week it is a yoke and buying a field. How will God use these images, these visual parables, to reach His people? What messages is He trying to send? Listen on to this week's podcast to find out.

What was it like for Jeremiah to preach? This week, we look at a scene from Jeremiah's life showing the challenges he had to face every time he preached. And one of his greatest challenges was that he spoke under the threat of imprisonment and the grave possibility of death every time he preached. And yet he still preached and warned his fellow Israelites of God's coming judgment, but also he told them about God's offer of grace. Finally, we hear the story of a contemporary of Jeremiah: the prophet Uriah. He preached the same message that Jeremiah preached, but he ended up paying the ultimate price for his devotion and obedience to God's calling on his life. Listen to this week's podcast to learn more about Jeremiah, Uriah, and the high cost of discipleship.

In the Bible, God would use any means to reach His people Israel. He would send prophet after prophet to warn His people, or He would send plague, disaster, or some other act of judgment to try to wake His people up. And sometimes, if the people were unwilling to listen, God would use symbolic action, or a visual parable, to try to help his people understand and get them to listen. In the next couple of episodes, we will hear four of them. Today we are going to listen to the first two. And this first one is quite the doozy.

This week we are starting a new series on the book of Jeremiah. We will be focusing on specific scenes from the life of Jeremiah, the prophet. Jeremiah was called by God to speak, to preach, to weep over a crumbling culture slowly drifting away from the worship of Yahweh. I believe there are things that we can learn from Jeremiah's life, from his story, to help us live a faithful witness in the middle of our own drifting culture. This week we learn about the call of God on the life of Jeremiah. God called him to stand up, speak out, and call the people of Judah back to God. What does God's call look like today? Do followers of Jesus have a similar call like today? If we do, what can we learn from the call Jeremiah experienced? Listen to this week's podcast to find out.

We come to the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and boy is it a sad ending. King Josiah led Judah towards a godly future. One where the people of Judah were once again in covenant with Yahweh. But then he died, and his sons were left to run the country, and unlike their Father, they had no interest in having a heart after Yahweh. Instead, they led Judah back to its idolatrous ways, and we come to the final chapter in the story of Israel. We also meet a prophet named Jeremiah, who though he weeps over his people's sin, leaves us with a glimmer of hope. The tragic story that is about to unfold may have a happy ending after all. Listen to find out more.

Josiah is a fabulous King in the eyes of the LORD. He has a heart wholly devoted to him and is busy tearing down high places and removing idolatrous practices from the nation of Judah. He began to rebuild the broken parts of the Temple to restore the site dedicated to the worship of YAHWEH. The High Priest Hilkiah was busy cleaning and ordering the temple treasury when he saw the edge of something sticking out in the corner. It looked like a scroll, probably some scroll that tallied the gold, silver, or other things stored here. But when he pulled it out and rolled out the scroll, and began to read it, he discovered something incredible. Something amazing. What was on the scroll? Listen to this podcast to find out.