First Fifteen

To our followers:  We're taking a break for the next few days to catch our breath but the journey continues on Friday with Episode 41.  In the meantime, consider reading or re-reading some portions or all of Matthew 21-26 the next few days.  Use our four step-process to read, meditate and pray God's message back to him.  If you're new to the podcast, there are other earlier episodes you can listen to for your first fifteen minutes of the day.

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the podcast:  [email protected]

Peace and blessings!
Ron

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It’s a terrible thing to deny what you know is true.    Why would you ever do that?  Fear?  Pressure?  Torture?  These are not pleasant things to think about at the start of the day, or really any time.  But we need to look deeper so we do not deny the truth when we need to stand strong.         
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:69-75.  While Jesus was being mistreated by soldiers, waiting, and then standing trial, at the same time out in the cold, dark hours of the night and early morning in Caiaphas' courtyard, one follower tries to stay close enough to find out what is happening…but not too close to arouse suspicion.  These are dangerous times.  Peter is recognized by sight and by his accent as an associate of Jesus, but he denies it each time with increasing ferocity until the rooster crows and he breaks down.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

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We hear stories often about a miscarriage of justice, of how the authorities charged to protect us and faithfully serve the law fall down on the job.  Of course it doesn’t happen always or even as often as the stories might make us believe.  But humans can be seriously wrong even when they fervently believe they are upholding the law.  Like in today’s story.     
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:57-68.  The armed crowd marches Jesus from Gethsemane on the slopes of the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem, to the high priest Caiaphas' house.  The Jewish Sanhedrin meets there in an extraordinary session, not to hear the claims and counter-claims for and against Jesus, but to look for any evidence that can incriminate Jesus and remove him from the spotlight.  They convict him on his own testimony that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by condemning him they condemn themselves.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

Have you ever been seized by something that felt bigger than you, that seemed to carry you along without any effort on your part?  There are times we feel small in the light of larger events, when we do irrational things to try to get a handle on the situation.  Today’s reading speaks to that feeling and gives us a handle to grab on to in Matthew 26.   
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:50-56.   A crowd arrests Jesus in Gethsemane and one of his followers draws a sword.  Before violence can escalate, Jesus defuses the situation and submits to God's will for saving his people instead of calling on overwhelming angel force which is at his disposal.  God's will has to be carried out God's way.  When Jesus is seized, it raises an important question for us:  What are you seized by?    

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

It can be deeply embarrassing when you are caught doing something you aren't supposed to be doing.  Jesus asks his disciples to stand watch, guard him, and pray with him while he faces the ultimate test.  Instead they fall asleep.  Three times.  Soldiers stationed for sentry duty who fall asleep can be court martialed.  Something worse is going to happen here.   
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:40-49.   In Gethsemane Jesus asks his disciples to watch and pray.  They fall asleep instead.  Jesus remains steadfast in prayer, returning three times to find them sleeping.  Besides sleeping, they fall down in their sentry duty, not only letting Jesus down but also allowing the enemy to steal in among them and infiltrate their ranks.  Another sleeper, the traitor Judas, is activated and shows up with an armed mob to arrest Jesus.    

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

We are learning to pray each episode of First Fifteen.  We’ve learned that prayer is conversation with God, a back and forth listening and response to him.  We make requests sometimes, and other times God makes requests of us.  What do we do when what God wants doesn’t line up with what we want? 
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:36-39.  Jesus takes his disciples back to the Mount of Olives, to a garden area called Gethsemane, where he prays.  He wrestles in prayer with the conflict between his own anguish and fear about death and accepting the divine will that makes the sacrifice necessary.  As in so many other circumstances, Jesus shows us how to be fully human and walk in relationship with God.   

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

Can you recall the last time you tried to do a kind deed and it was totally misunderstood?  There is some sting in that.  In today’s reading someone is going to get stung, and we get to see their true character revealed before the end of the story.
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 26:1-13.  Jesus and his disciples go to Bethany near Jerusalem two days before Passover and while in Simon the leper's house, a woman brings a very expensive perfume and uses it to anoint Jesus for burial.  He has just repeated his prophecy that he will soon be crucified.  The disciples criticize the woman for her extravagance and waste, citing they could have given a generous gift to the poor, but Jesus defends her sacrifice and honors her act of devotion which prefigures the costly sacrifice of the cross.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

What would you do if you won the lottery?  What if someone rich gave you a large sum of money and asked you to manage it for them?  Jesus gives us that kind of a challenge question so we can see what importance God places on finishing what we started. 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 25:14-30.  Jesus teaches his disciples the importance of bearing fruit and giving glory to God in our daily pursuits.  This parable challenges our notions of "fairness" and reassures us of a reward for faithful service and also a rebuke for failing to honor God with what he has blessed us with. 

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen. 

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

Who wouldn’t like to know the future?  What is going to happen to bring distressing times to an end?  Is there anything we can really count on in uncertain times? 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 24:29-35.  Jesus has left the temple grounds with his disciples and cross the valley before climbing the Mount of Olives which looks over the holy city.  In Matthew 24-25 he gives an extended teaching which looks to the future and end times.  The disciples are focused--like many people--on the question of when. When will these things happen?  Jesus focuses on the certainty that God will restore and put things right and when he will do that is in his hands.  Even earth and sky will pass away, but God's words never will.  

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show

What could possibly be more important than listening to God?  There is something, and Jesus tells us what it is today in Matthew 23.     
 
If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 23:1-3.  Jesus has answered all the questions his opponents raised by the end of Matthew 22.  He doesn’t delight in putting down his opponents; he wants to win their hearts.  If they won’t let God touch them, Jesus wants to make sure their stubbornness doesn’t infect other sincere seekers of God.  Knowing God's word or his will isn't really enough--something else is required.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com

Support the show