BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

All of the Scripture Readings for the Daily Bible Podcast - Exodus 29, Proverbs 5, John 8 and Galatians 4. Be sure and listen to the next episode too!

Happy Tuesday, friends! Another short podcast today, due to an incredibly long pastoral letter written tonight. This should help make up for our very long episode yesterday! Today's Bible passages are Exodus 28, Proverbs 4, John 7 and Galatians 3 - which is our focus passage. Our big question is focused in on one of the deepest and most beautiful - and central! -truths of Christianity: That salvation and justification (being made righteous in the eyes of God) is NOT by our actions, works, or internal goodness, but by BELIEVING in Jesus - the one who does the action and has the internal goodness. Let's read Galatians 3, and then come back and discuss Justification by faith.

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? 4 Did you experience so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? 5 So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard— 6 just like Abraham who believed God,and it was credited to him for righteousness?

Galatians 3:2-6

We see and hear Paul's heart VERY clearly in Galatians, because he is wearing it on his sleeve, and he is PLEADING with the Galatians NOT to abandon the core of Christianity - saved by grace, through faith - in favor of the core of RELIGION: salvation by works and earning God's favor. He reminds the Galatians that the presence of the Holy Spirit was NOT given to them because they completely followed the law, but because of their BELIEF! He reminds them that growing in the Christian life is also not by striving works, but by a work of the Spirit through grace and faith. The illustration he uses so that they will understand what he is telling them is the illustration of Abraham. God didn't choose Abraham and save Abraham because Abraham was special - God chose Abraham in grace, and saved him because ABRAHAM BELIEVED God's promise! Let's turn to our friend pastor David Platt to help us understand that God CHOSE Abraham by grace (not Abraham's merit):

First, for Abraham to believe God means that he was transformed by the sovereign grace of God. I want you to think about this with me. This whole story started at the end of Genesis 11 and beginning of Genesis 12. Abraham was from Ur of the Chaldeans. This is a pagan people in a pagan place. We have no indication whatsoever in Genesis 11 or 12 or anywhere else that there was something in Abraham that caused God to say, "I need to make him the father of my people." The initiative is completely with God. You see it in Genesis 12:1–3. Five times God says, "I will do this." You see no emphasis on what Abraham is doing in this picture. It's all based on the gracious initiative of God. God is saying, "I'm going to bless him." It is God calling out Abraham. Why Abraham? We know Job was living around this time. I'm sure there were other people that, maybe, even were better people. Why did God choose Abraham?

What we're seeing here is that it's nothing more than the sovereign grace of God at work. He called out Abraham. He chose Abraham by His grace, and that's the story we're going to see in the rest of Abraham's life. Let's admit it: this father of faith in the Bible is not always the most stellar character. This is a guy who's willing to lie on a couple of different occasions in order to try to protect his life. This is a guy who almost gives his wife away to the king of Egypt. This is a guy who struggles with his faith numerous different times, but the picture is that this is intentional. God is showing us that the picture of His covenant is not going to be based on what is found in man and what man can produce on his own. It's going to be found in the grace of God, and the picture is that Abraham's entire life, his faith itself, is evidence of God's grace in his life. He was transformed by the sovereign grace of God.

David Platt, "Believing God," in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2010), 2392–2393.

Next, let's consider what it means that Abraham was JUSTIFIED by FAITH. It is important to realize that WE are also justified by faith - that's why I think it is super important for us to understand what Paul is saying here. We'll go back to our friend David Platt to help us understand what faith involves:

Paul builds this whole picture of Abraham being justified by faith, Abraham having righteousness credited to him because he believed God, because he believed the promises of God, because he had faith. But then what's so cool is you get to the end in verse 22. It's talking about faith and Abraham. He says, "This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' " But listen to this. "The words 'it was credited to him' were not written for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Rom. 4:23–24). The whole picture is believe, have faith, and that's why you get to this triumphant pronouncement in chapter 5:1 that says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The picture is faith dominates this. Now we've got to be clear on what faith means here because...people have all kinds of ideas, even in the Church, about what faith is and there's a faith that leads to salvation and there's a faith that doesn't lead to salvation.

So what is the Biblical faith, saving faith that is being talked about here, a faith that leads to salvation? I want to show you two facets of it in Romans. Faith involves first, turning. What happens in chapter 4 and 5, he develops this picture we are justified by faith alone. Then you get to 6:1 and listen to what he says. He builds this case of being justified by faith and then he says, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom. 6:1–4). When you place your faith in Christ, when you trust in Him, that means you turn from sin. You don't live in sin any longer.

So faith is a turning first from our sin. You see this even clearer down in verse 11–14 in chapter 6. He says, "… count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Faith next involves trusting. Turning from sin, turning to Him, and He becomes our life, Jesus. We turn from sin and ourselves and we turn to Jesus. This is what it means to have faith in Jesus. He becomes our life. Look at 8:10–11. Listen to how he talks about this transformation that happens and look at the picture of trusting in Jesus Christ. Romans 8:10–11, "… If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." When you see the character of God and the sinfulness of man and the sufficiency of Christ, and you turn from your sin and you trust in the sufficiency of Christ, then He becomes your life.

Paul develops this in depth. Keep going to the right, Romans 10:9, a familiar verse to many of us. Look at Romans 10:9. This is faith that leads to salvation. Romans 10:9, "… If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all," third time we've seen the word "Lord" in these few short verses, "and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,' " fourth time, " 'will be saved' " (Rom. 10:9–13).

So faith involves a turning and it involves a trusting in Jesus, a trusting in Jesus first of all as Lord, trusting in Jesus as Lord. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, the dominant title for Jesus in the book of Acts and the book of Romans is Lord, is Lord.

David Platt, "The Sufficiency of Christ and the Necessity of Faith," in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2008), 1496–1497.

Paul tells the Galatians that Justification is not by works, but rather by belief or faith. What does that mean, exactly? How is Christianity completely different from every other world religion? The answer is that most religions are all about what humans must do to please God and be saved, but Christianity is all about what God has done - in His son Jesus - to rescue and save humans and JUSTIFY them (make them righteous) not by actions/works, but by faith/belief!

Hello friends, and welcome in to the show. I hope you are staying safe out there! This Sunday, yesterday, was the first time in over 25 years of ministry that I have been part of a church that cancelled the Sunday gathering for anything that wasn't storm - snow/tornadoes/hurricane related. It was heart-wrenching to do so. I think it was the right choice, but it bothers me in a deep place, and I guess that's the thing about leading in a crisis - sometimes there is no GOOD choice. May the Lord give us all wisdom as we navigate through this time! I read a quote today from a school superintendent who said, " "In the end, it will be impossible to know if we overreacted or did too much, but it will be QUITE apparent if we under reacted or did too little."

If you are interested, we live-streamed our worship and prayer time, and I preached - from the Living room of our house, with family present - on "Pandemic wisdom." You can watch the video here: CLICK HERE. Note that we had a little bit of lighting and sound difficulties, but it was our first time broadcasting worship, word and prayer from our house. I think we'll learn from it and improve, Lord willing. Stay safe out there, brothers and sisters and radiate the love and comfort of grace through His Word and His Gospel! Today's passages are Exodus 27, Proverbs 3, John 6 and Galatians 2. Our focus passage is in John 6, and it is honestly one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible. For one, Jesus addresses head on a topic that I have seen many Christians and some churches split over: predestination. Perhaps more jarringly, John 6 contains this remarkable and jarring verse:

53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

John 6:53-56

Honestly, if I had been one of Jesus' disciples and heard Him say this, I might have pulled Him aside and did what Peter did when Jesus announced His plans to be crucified. I'd have tried to dissuade Him from speaking on such a topic. I suppose I would have received the same as Peter did, but the fact remains that this particular teaching of Jesus is worded in such a way that we are stunned to read it, and wonder what in the world Jesus could be referring to. Let's read John 6 together, and then come back and discuss it.

Where does Food come from? Kids today would say Walmart, or Safeway, or Publix. People one hundred years ago would say that food came from plants and animals...from the fields and hunting the forests. Vastly different today. Similarly, if I were to ask you- what is the staple food of our region? What food do all of us live on? That would be an odd question, because we live on such a wide variety of food. Billions, however, around the world would answer that question with "rice" or "rice and fish" Similarly, in first century Israel, the people ate bread and fish as their staple food. Morning, noon and evening. That was their food. Bread was their sustenance. That was their food. Keep that in mind today as we listed to Jesus teach us through His word.

One more question: Why do you work? Well, I guess to make money, right? Why do you make money? To buy stuff, and pay bills on the stuff that you already bought. Here's the thing - in the first century….something like 85 percent of laborers wages went to FOOD. So if you asked them then why do you work, they would look at you and say, "why, i work to eat!" These things we need to understand in order to get John 6.

I'ma go all Bible code on you for a moment: The word bread appears 250 times in the entire Bible. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible, hence the word appears, on average, 1 in every 4.8 chapters. In John 6, however, the word bread appears an astounding 19 times - at a frequency OVER 95 times greater than what is to be expected. This is one way we can arrive at the theme of a passage. :)

The topic of predestination is, as mentioned earlier, one of the most controversial theological topics there is. It might just be #1. I have seen 3 families leave one church - 11 years ago, or so - because two people that were not teaching brought up the topic of predestination at a Wednesday night Bible study, and signalled that they agreed with it. So, I don't intend to ignite a controversy amongst listeners, but lets at least brush by this issue, in preparation for a deeper dive coming up soon:

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me,...39 I should lose nothing of all that he has given me...44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (more than just about His disciples) 65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."

John 6

This is an incredible summary of how biblical predestination works: the John 6:68-70 dialog. There will be some in the sovereignty camp who focus exclusively on Jesus' words - "Have I not chosen you, the twelve?" OTOH, there will be some in the freewill camp that focus on Peter's words - "You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed." Both are true...Followers of Jesus have made real, unforced genuine decisions to believe in Him, as Peter has said. Likewise, as Jesus has noted - He chose them, not vice-versa. (John 15:16), and nobody can come to Jesus unless they are drawn first by the Father. BOTH are true. I believe Jesus' words are above Peter's words, just as I believe that the sovereignty of God over -arcs man's freewill...but both are real and true.

When it comes to salvation, I believe that the greatest power/force is not choice, but God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty does not at all nullify free will or choice, but it does dwarf those things. If you have strong opinions about this issue, then you are welcome to them...just be sure that your grandest focus is on Jesus, the Gospel, the greatest commandments and the Great Commission.

And now, to the even more stark words of Jesus in this passage: "Eat my flesh and drink my blood" is a powerful way of speaking, and I believe Jesus did so here intentionally. But that sort of speech isn't one hundred percent foreign to our way of speaking. We speak of "devouring a book" or "drinking up a lecture", or "chewing over an idea" or "ruminating (chewing the cud) over a decision."

Is Jesus talking about communion here? I think the non-simple answer here is that Jesus is not completely talking about communion here...but there is a very real connection. Go to the Last Supper - note how Jesus held up the bread and said that it was His body broken for them, and the juice was His blood spilled for them. Rather than John 6 looking forward to communion, and ultimately indicating that people would really eat Jesus' flesh in communion...I believe that The Last Supper passage looks back at John 6, where Jesus is reminding His disciples that they are called to a daily bread type following of Him. And that His body and blood, broken and shed on the cross, were DAILY life to them as believers. The Gospel that saved them would be the Gospel that sustained them DAILY - just as bread and juice sustained their biological life. They could no more live without the daily intake of Jesus' broken body and blood (through faithful believing in the good news/abiding in Jesus) than they could live without daily food.

In an Agrarian society - a farm society, they understood something that we don't. In order for life to be sustained, one has to consume dead things. Life is sustained by the death of something else. When Jesus fed the thousands - they ate dead wheat, dead fish. When we go to Chik Fil A - we are eating dead chicken, dead wheat, dead pickles. Things that had to die in order to sustain us. Jesus is saying to us and to His true followers that the ONLY way for Him to give us eternal life is for Him to DIE and us to DAILY consume Him. Apart from daily abiding in Jesus (John 15) then we are able to do nothing. Just like you are weak apart from daily liquid and caloric intake. Apart from Jesus - we will die. We have a one time view of the Gospel - we believe it ONCE (deciding to follow Jesus) and then we are good to go. This is absolutely FOREIGN to Jesus' teaching. Instead, He calls us to follow Him daily taking up our cross. He calls us to daily bread. You want to see how this works? Try eating one meal a month. Or in a lifetime. It doesn't work that way and neither does faith. (Credit to Dr. D.A. Carson here for some of the verbiage - from his book, "For the Love of God.")

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 28 Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."30 So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst

John 6:25-35

When the people found Jesus He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves" What does that mean? It means that they were looking for more food. Another miracle...but they didn't understand what that miracle SIGNified or signified. In this particular case, the people were seeking Jesus at a surface level - for another miracle...more food. They didn't realize He was giving them a SIGN that He was the Living Bread - that He was to be their sustenance and their life. After He told them that, He told them not to WORK for the food that perishes (in other words, not to have a WORK based approach to God)

But it zoomed over their head. How did they respond to that? They asked, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" They are religionists. They have the typical mindset of religion, which is a viewpoint of God that if we scratch His back, then He will scratch ours. In other words, what can we do for God to get Him to do what we want/need. Its paganism, quid pro quo - tit for tat. And it is the dominant religious view in America. WHAT DO WE DO to PLEASE GOD (so that He can please us?)

Jesus, probably shaking His head, said - The work that God requires is to BELIEVE ON ME. Sheesh! The arrogance and fanaticism of this guy! If you were reading this book as an atheist or non-believer, you would read this as the stark saying that it is. "Are you kidding me? The thing that makes God happy is to believe in THIS GUY? Who the heck is He?" And the Jews understand what Jesus is saying here, and they demand that He prove that He is worthy of that kind of faith. One day of feeding the thousands isn't enough to prove it. Maybe bread for them for years might be...They demand that Jesus keep providing for them TEMPORAL blessings. Bread that would have fed their bodies for years, but done NOTHING to stave off death! In the present, looking back hundreds of years - what good would that temporary bread have done them? If that is all that Jesus did for them...then they would be long dead and hellbound with stomachs full of miracle bread. Big whoop.

Even today hundreds of millions of "Christians" think this way. We have a child in the hospital...what can we do to make God hear our prayers and heal our child? We have a big exam to take - how can we make God happy with us so that we can pass our exam? How can we get God to give us what we need? There is a pandemic of coronavirus spreading and killing people...how can we get God to hear our prayers of protection and healing?! That is the view of God that most "Christians" in America STILL HAVE.

But here's the thing with God - He is perfectly happy in and of Himself. He is not lonely (Trinity = perfect relationship) He is perfectly content. PERFECTLY. What does that mean? It means He needs nothing!!! Have you ever tried to shop for the person that has everything? Its' hard - even though nobody truly has everything. BUT -God does. He has everything. We have nothing that can persuade Him. Its like trying to bargain with Warren Buffet with a penny. God needs nothing. He has never needed anything. That means that there is no bargaining with God. No tit for tat - no "I'll do this if you do that." He has no needs. None.

So, knowing God is fully content, and possesses everything - how can we please Him? And here is the radical, freeing answer...Have faith in Jesus - Follow Jesus with your life. That is mind blowing and revolutionary - even to some of you listeners to this podcast. Your job is not to please God with what you do - but who you believe in. Who you believe in and the faith that is in Jesus is the very thing that will actually empower and enable you to do all of the deeds that God calls you to do, but yet doesn't need you to do. Faith without deeds is dead says James, but we show our Faith (which comes first) by what we do - which is an outflow of faith in Jesus.

We must stop trying to EARN our way into God's graces. You'll never, ever, ever do it. It will wear you out and make you bitter and hateful. You KNOW people like that. burnt out on church and burnt out on God. Bitter. Angry. Sad. Forlorn. Always feeling rejected. In so many cases - they tried to buy their way into heaven by doing good deeds, by going to church, reading the Bible and everything they did fell short, because they didn't have enough good deeds to buy their way into God's graces. The only thing that doesn't fall short is having the kind of faith in Jesus that produces fruit and actions. The very thing they never tried.

And now - what of you? Are you tired of working for bread that is here today and gone tomorrow? Are you weary of trying to please God and always wondering where you stand to Him. I have a direct word from Jesus to you. COME TO ME ALL YOU WHO ARE WEARY AND HEAVY BURDENED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Believe.

Jesus says a most remarkable - and disturbing thing in John 6, when He tells the Jews that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to be saved. At first blush, it sounds barbaric and gross, but Jesus was teaching His first century audience something incredibly profound. It offended many of them, but not because it was gross, but rather because He was telling them to put ALL their faith in Him. What was He talking about?

Hello friends, and welcome in to episode 75 of the Bible Reading Podcast. I hope you are all staying safe out there and walking in faith. Today's podcast covers Exodus 26, Proverbs 2, John 5 and Galatians 1. We will have a bit of a short episode today, because it is Saturday night, and one wants to be ready for the gathering of believers tomorrow. Speaking of - how are you all doing church this week? Our church had originally decided, as of Wednesday, to meet with extra, extra precautions. However, in a sort of emergency meeting on Saturday, we decided to go to online church for this Sunday. We might continue that, or not, but we have a bit more work to do to ensure protection for all. It breaks my heart not to meet, but we will be broadcasting worship and Word from our living room today. Join us! I'll share it on my Facebook page - feel free to connect with me there, and also share in our church FB page: VBC Salinas. Our big Bible question of the day is all about wisdom: How do we get wisdom? It is an important question, considering the command in Proverbs 4:7, " Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding " The problem is that wisdom does NOT come easy. Let's ask Spurgeon what he has to say about the topic:

Brethren in the ministry, you who are teachers in the Sabbath school, and all of you who are learners in the college of Christ Jesus, I pray you remember that prayer is your best means of study: like Daniel you shall understand the dream, and also the interpretation, when you have sought after God; and like John you will see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed, after you have cried out much. "Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

Stones are not broken, except by an earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker usually goes down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised, too, and there is not a stony doctrine in Revelation which is useful for you to understand, which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. "Bene orasse est bene studuisse" was a wise sentence of Luther, which has been so often quoted, that we hardly venture but to hint at it. "To have prayed well is to have studied well." You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayers. Thoughts and reasonings may be like the steel wedges which may open a way into truth; but prayer is the lever, the pry-bar which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure that is hidden inside for those who can force their way to reach it. The kingdom of heaven still suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Take care that you work away with the mighty implement of prayer, and nothing can stand against you.

C. H. Spurgeon, "The Golden Key of Prayer," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 11 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865), 152. slightly modernized

To Spurgeon's excellent word about praying for wisdom, I would add John Piper's powerful truth that heavenly wisdom MUST happen in the context of the community of Jesus - the church:

Now it would be a wrong conclusion to say that all we need in order to get wisdom is a solitary life of serious prayer. Just us and God and prayer. Wisdom in the New Testament does not ordinarily come like that. Listen to these verses from James 3:13–15:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above.

Wisdom is marked by meekness, and freedom from selfish ambition, and freedom from bitter jealousy, and freedom from boasting. In other words, wisdom rises in relationships of meekness and humility and love and servanthood rather than jealousy and selfishness. Wisdom is not a solitary attainment. It is a community or a corporate or a relational attainment. Loners are not wise. Wisdom is given and found and forged in the fires of committed relationships.

John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014).

The Bible commands us to 'get wisdom,' but it is very difficult to do so! How does one acquire wisdom, and walk in it? Big assists today from John Piper and Charles Spurgeon.

Welcome into another episode of the Bible Reading Podcast. In order to give you a break from what everybody is talking about, the only time I am going to say the c-word is right now: CORONAVIRUS. Check out yesterday's episode #73 if that wasn't enough for you. Today's Bible readings include Exodus 25 (the tabernacle), Proverbs 1 (WHAT HAPPENED TO PSALMS?!), 2 Corinthians 13 (Paul's farewell), and our focus passage, which is John 4 - Jesus talking with the woman at the well. Today's episode is probably going to be a short one, because I have just finished writing and sending the longest email any pastor has ever sent to a church leadership team in the history of the world. If you are interested in reading it, I plan to publish it in a special 25 volume collector's hardback set after the current crisis abates. You can have it for the low, low price of $299.99...but wait -there's more!! Actually, no, there's not. Let's get started. We will read John 4, and then come back and discuss:

10 lessons that we can learn from Jesus in how to interact with people.

1. ENGAGE. Don't just sit there - even when it is awkward. Vs. 7. "Give Me a drink," Jesus said to her, 8 for His disciples had gone into town to buy food. Note: You don't have to engage with everybody. John 5: beggar at Bethesda pool. Sometimes engaging deeply with just a few people is better than engaging superficially with everybody.
2. Be guided by BIBLICAL rules not by HUMAN rules and traditions. Vs. 8 "9 "How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" AND vs 27, "27 Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. "

   COL 2: "20 If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 "Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. 23 Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence." vs. 16 also: "16 Therefore, don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah."

   What is the Bible rule? One of them: 1 Timothy 5:"Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and with all propriety, the younger women as sisters."

3. Ignore racist traditions that aren't biblical "For Jews do not associate with Samaritans." vs 9. Interracial marriage, etc.
4. You don't have to use a canned opening...conversationally point to Jesus and spiritual things. "10 Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would ask Him, and He would give you living water." He didn't use a canned or cliche'd opening like: "if you died tonight, where would you go?" Jesus talked to the woman, and brought up the good news QUICKLY and Engagingly.
5. Similar: The Gospel is not a memorized set of propositions. Almost every time in Scripture, when the good news of Jesus is shared - it is shared differently, but EVERY time pointing back to Jesus. "13 Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life."
6. Be open to what can be called Prophetic evangelism: vs 16. "16 "Go call your husband," He told her, "and come back here." LISTEN and be led by the Spirit. 1 corinthians 14: "23 Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other languages and people who are uninformed or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or uninformed person comes in, he is convicted by all and is judged by all. 25 The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, "God is really among you."

   You might say - I don't believe in such things, I'm a cessationist! Well, I'm not, but Charles Spurgeon at least thought he was a cessationist:

A man was won for Christ because the preacher pointed to him and said, "There is a man sitting there who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays; it was open last Sabbath morning. He took ninepence and there was fourpence profit on it; his soul is sold to Satan for fourpence." The man was afraid to go and hear Spurgeon again for fear he might tell the people more about him, for what he said at first was all true. But at last he came, and the Lord met with him. One Sunday evening Mr. Spurgeon, pointing to the gallery, said, "Young man, the gloves you have in your pocket are not paid for." After the service a young fellow came beseeching him not to say anything more about it, and the circumstances led to his conversion.... He once said that there was a man in the gallery listening to him with a gin bottle in his pocket. It so happened that there was such a man, and he was startled into conversion.

7. It is rarely - if ever - necessary to CONDEMN. "17 "I don't have a husband," she answered.You have correctly said, 'I don't have a husband,'" Jesus said. 18 "For you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

*** John 3:17 "For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."

*** Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

*** John 8: "10 When Jesus stood up, He said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, Lord," she answered. "Neither do I condemn you," said Jesus."

8. Warnings, however, are appropriate, when delivered in a Christ-like way. (HOW HE DELIVERED THEM) John 8:""Go, and from now on do not sin anymore." John 5:14 (to the Bethesda/paralyzed man, "14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, "See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn't happen to you." ") Jesus rarely seems to begin with the sin, unless he was dealing with hard-hearted religious leaders. The Gospel comes first.

9. Jesus breaks down ALL dividing walls - your words should too. "21 Jesus told her, "Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

10. Point people to Jesus. "26 "I am He," (the Messiah) Jesus told her, "the One speaking to you."" (Jesus pointed people to Himself) 28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They left the town and made their way to Him....

In John 4, Jesus does something way out of first century cultural norms: He has a deep conversation with a woman. Not only that - she was a SAMARITAN woman. How does the radical conversation that Jesus had here - which shocked even His disciples - teach us to evangelize and talk to people about spiritual things?

Shout out to Keith Heltsley and the guy in St. Louis that downloaded 83 episodes of the podcast today. Welcome aboard!

Keith's comment:

My own preference in bible translations are the ESV and CSB. I won't claim to be fluent in Greek or Hebrew, but have studied both enough to know these two translations are both faithful to word order, but flexible enough to make sense to the English reader.

I like the use of Yahweh for the reason that uppercase letters to designate the formal name for God are lost on me. As a blind person who relies on reading through listening to the scripture being read, LORD is pronounced the same as Lord, or lord. It's nice to use something different without the reader needing to stop and clarify every time, or to pause my text to speech software to set it to read by character, assuming there may be a need to stop and notice a difference… and it can be difficult to pick up on subtle differences in context to know whether I need to check.

KJV, ESV, CSB, NASB (and its update) are all excellent. They're all good, but since the grammar, and certain words used in 1611 have drifted, the KJV is becoming cumbersome to understand. Literal meanings of words have drifted to the point that a modern reader has to continually filter "what did this mean to the original audience?" "What did these words mean to English readers in 1611?" "What do these words mean to modern English understanding?"

If nothing else, and the modern reader has no tools or knowledge of original languages, comparing multiple versions side by side give a more rich understanding of the underlying, original language, and a deeper meaning that translators can't achieve with a single word for word translation. .The more versions to cross reference in parallel, the better.

Happy Friday, Everybody! We are still in crisis mode around the world - battling an unseen and terrifying foe - the coronavirus. I believe that this will be a worldwide fiery trial that will leave virtually no community untouched. If that prediction is accurate, then that will mean that the church - the Body of Christ - will go through extensive suffering and weakness over the coming weeks, and many of us will ask the question, "WHY" as loudly as we possibly can to God. I don't think that this will surprise you, but even though I'm a pastor and host of a daily Bible reading podcast, I am not on the list of those who get explanations from Heaven as to why things are happening the way they are. Why are we facing this pandemic? I know as much - or less - than Job knew at the beginning of his fiery trial in Job 1. That said - we do have the Word to inform us and encourage us, so let's turn there:

Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you.13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.

1 Peter 4:12

One of the major things we need to learn from the Word of God is that fiery trials/ordeals WILL COME. We aren't supposed to be surprised by them. I usually am surprised by these trials - but I shouldn't be. They are part and parcel of the Christian life. If somebody has told you that following Christ will protect you from trials, then somebody has lied to you. Consider 1 Thessalonians 3. Paul is writing to a church that was going through severe persecution, and he began his encouragement to them with these words:

And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened.

1 Thessalonians 3:2-4

So - trials, affliction, troubles - they are coming. As Jesus promised us - In this world, you will have tribulation...BUT TAKE HEART - HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! (John 16:33)

I have a love-hate relationship with 2 Corinthians 12. I love the truths found in there, and they are amongst the deepest and most profound truths in the Bible. When all of the American/Western way says to seek to be strong in wealth, health, security and popularity, the Bible - especially in the letters to the Corinthians - calls Christians to the POWER of WEAKNESS. Which is one of those divine paradoxes that make more Divine sense than rational human sense. The last time I preached on 2 Corinthians 12 at VBC in Salinas was in November of 2018. In November, I had been sick for about 4 weeks with a nasty case of bronchitis. It began to get better - a little bit, just long enough for me to develop a severely painful infected tooth - that had to be removed. A few days after that, I developed influenza A, which invited its friend bilateral pneumonia in the next week. I preached the following Sunday, and preached on the power of weakness, in about as weak a state as possible. I love that my church doesn't depend on my strength to shepherd them and to save them from their sins. I love them very much, but do not have the power to save them, nor do I have the power to spiritually protect them. I love that my family doesn't depend on me to save and protect them. I try my best, but I can't. I am, in and of myself, insufficient to save a one of them. I want to be the hero...but I'm not - I'm far too weak, and so are you. Ironically, that is where the power of God meets us - in our weakness. Dumpster story.

A theology of powerful weakness.

1 Corinthians 1: 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, 25 because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

1 Corinthians 2: 2 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 For I didn't think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5 so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power.

This is Paul - a man who came to the Corinthians in weakness, fear and trembling. A man without persuasive and charismatic words of wisdom. Probably not a great speaker.

Later, in 2nd Cor. 10, he says this: 10 For it is said, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable."

That's what the description was of Paul - weak in presence, and low in public speaking ability. HE APPEARED WEAK, not powerful. However, He does note this in 1 Corinthians 4:20 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

So - if the Kingdom of God is not about talking ability, and it is not about wealth, nor good looks, nor human power..then what is it about?

2nd Corinthians 12:3-10 I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I don't know, God knows— 4 was caught up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak. 5 I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses. 6 For if I want to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, 7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

A fundamental truth that we all need to grasp when we are talking about ministering to people and overcoming trials is that the power DOES NOT COME FROM US. When it does come from us, it is LESS POWERFUl.

2 Corinthians 4: 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. 6 For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who live are always given over to death because of Jesus, so that Jesus' life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.

So. God's power is made more manifest and active in our weakness. God has given us His good news to share to a lost and dying world and put His power IN US to accomplish His will on earth. Church, we might be about to go through some of the darkest days in our lifetimes. If we do, many of us will be made far weaker than we want to be. You might think that will DIM our gospel light and our ability to minister to a frightened, panicky, sick and dying world, but it WILL NOT! Our weakness is precisely the thing that God uses to manifest HIS power into the world. Lean into Him, dear brothers and sisters. If He so chooses to weaken you - I pray for your comfort, but also remember to pray for POWER in the midst of weakness. The light of Christ shines brightly in weak clay pots like ourselves, and this might just be our hour to brightly shine the light of Jesus in a way that the Western church has failed to do over the past decades. I'll close with Daniel 12. It speaks of the end-times Saints of God brightly shining the light of Christ as they are persecuted and struck down by the enemy. I am not implying that we are in the end times, but I am sharing that we CAN and we MUST shine like the stars in the Heavens as we go through this pandemic - remembering that there is no power IN and OF OURSELVES to shine, except for the POWER OF CHRIST in us, the Hope of Glory!

At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape. 2 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Daniel 12:1-3