GRINDIT podcast

Mary has a visit from the angel Gabriel and he tells her that she is going to be with child and that child is from God Himself! She asks, “How can this be?” she asked, “I can’t have a child…I’m a virgin!” And the angel explains to her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her. A couple of says later she leaves to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is si...

In Luke 1 we are introduced to two women who are related, they are cousins—Mary and Elizabeth. One is old and has been serving God a long time. The other is young and is basically trying to figure out where her place is in society. One has been praying to God for a long time to have a baby yet she never did and has passed the age of being able to get pregnant…way past. The other is a virgin and is...

Luke says he has checked out other people’s accounts about Jesus and how they compared. He said he investigated them going all the way back to the beginning and not only that but he used eyewitness accounts from the early disciples when he wrote his gospel. Why? “…so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.” In other words. Luke is meticulous with his writings therefore his r...

Paul has an opportunity to share his defense with Agrippa and as he does, Agrippa comes to the conclusion that Paul could have been set free that day if he had not appealed to Caesar. But since he did, the book of Acts continues with Luke giving us a lot of details of the trip to Rome; how the weather was, where they sailed to and from, the storm that tore the ship the pieces, and even how the gue...

Paul has given his defense, his testimony to the angry mob that tried to kill him and to the high council. In Acts 24 and 25 he has a hearing with Felix, the governor and for two years, Felix tries to get Paul to pay him a bribe to let him go but Paul never did. Felix leaves office and Festus takes over. Festus wanted to please the Jews so he had Paul's hearing immediately after taking office and...

Paul was warned by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem but he was determined to go and he did go. He was there less than a week when he was dragged out of the temple and nearly beaten to death. The only thing that saved his life was the Roman soldiers that showed up because of the uproar. They arrested him and was taking him to the fortress to find out who he was and what he has done to cause s...

Ever heard anyone say, "Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it"? Paul was warned many times by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem and city after city the Holy Spirit warned him what was to come if he continued to go there. The Holy Spirit used people to persuade Paul not to go but he was fixed on his plan to go to Jerusalem and he said he was ready to die for Jesus if that...

Why did Paul say he was "bound by the Spirit" to go to Jerusalem? If you have the answers please email me at thegrinditpodcast@gmail.com ! As for now, I will give my opinions because he was told several times by people speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit to not go to Jerusalem! Why would he not listen? Why did he continue his journey? Just think of all the great things he could have done to h...

When Paul was visiting with the believers in Troas, the first day of the week arrived and they took the Lord’s Supper together. One can read Exodus 12 to learn about the Passover, which is where the Lord’s Supper, or communion, came from. A lamb without any imperfections had to be sacrificed and its blood had to be put over the doorposts of the people’s home. When the death angel came along and sa...

Paul has started his third missionary journey and will be leaving Philippi for Troas where he hangs out with some local believers to encourage them as he knows his time is short and they wouldn’t see him again. Luke tells us the names of seven men that was traveling with Paul at the time but soon they would be nowhere around. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul says everyone has deserted him and...

Paul is going to hang out in Ephesus for at least two years preaching the gospel and giving the people hope. Luke writes that God gave Paul the ability to perform unusual miracles, so unusual that when a handkerchief that he owned touched a sick person, they were completely healed...immediately! As he continues to convert people to Jesus, the worship of false gods along with their idols begins to...

Apollos was telling people about Jesus with enthusiasm but when he would baptize people that wanted to follow Jesus, he would baptize them with the baptism of John the baptizer, a baptism of repentance. Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos give an invitation call one Sabbath Day in the synagogue and pulled him off to the side and taught him correctly, that he should be baptizing people in the name o...

Apollos was a Jew that had been converted from Judaism to Jesus. He was smart, enthusiastic, loved to tell people about Jesus, but he was missing something. Aquila and Priscilla heard him speaking boldly at the synagogue one Sabbath day and pulled him off to the side and asked him about his baptism. He was only familiar with the baptism of John the Baptizer so when he would tell someone about Jesu...

Why did Jesus talk to Paul after not speaking audibly to him in roughly 18 years? Was Paul discouraged? Was he ready to give up? Throw in the towel? Maybe he wasn’t ready to quit but perhaps he was thinking: “Why am I doing this?“ or “I gave up a better life for this?” or “Is this really worth it?” He just had a confrontation with some Jews at the synagogue where he had been trying to tell them Je...

We think our world, our society is in such bad shape today and it is, however it’s nothing new. When Paul walked into Corinth he saw the same things you and I see today but it wasn't spread all over social media since it didn't exist. Corinth was a major city on a trade route that allowed people to bring and sell their goods there at the Agora, or marketplace. Perhaps this is where Paul met Aquila...

Paul hung out in Athens for some time because he had to wait for Timothy and Silas. This would be a perfect time for Paul to take a break, to get some much needed rest from all the persecution he has been facing, but nope...not Paul! He makes great use of his time by walking around Athens and checking things out. When he runs across some idols to the false gods, he reads one that says, "To the Unk...

Have you ever seen water that was clear but yet you step in it or stir it and dirt and trash that had settled to the bottom rises up and the clear water has now become dirty, nasty looking? That’s what these people are saying about Paul and Silas. “Our city was calm, settled, peaceful, but these men have stirred the water and has made it nasty. The people called Paul and Silas "troublemakers" whic...

Paul received the Macedonian Call from a dude in a vision. He told Silas that he felt like hey needed to hurry on to Macedonia to help spread the gospel there so they immediately headed that way. One would think that since Paul had the vision that there would be a huge crowd just waiting on them, eagerly waiting to hear the message about Jesus but what they find when they get there is crickets. Th...

As Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled they would start to leave for a certain city and the Holy Spirit would sometimes say "No," so they would go in a different direction. When they are in Troas, Paul has a vision of a man in Macedonia asking him to come help there so one would think since Paul has this "Macedonian Call" that things would be rockin' and rollin' but that's not the case. When Paul ar...

Barnabas decides to take John Mark with him to revisit the churches he and Paul started on their first "Missionary Journey." As Barnabas rides off into the sunset Luke turns his attention to Paul and begins to now focus on his ministry. But before we turn loose of Barnabas, we can take a great lesson from him: Just because we don't hear from him again, he is just as important as Paul or any other...

Can people who follow Christ have a disagreement? Can they be mad at each other? If the answer is yes, then what about "love"? Where did the "love" go? The answer to the question is yes. Just because someone has been washed in the blood of Christ and has had their sins forgiven doesn't mean they stopped being human. We still have opinions, feelings, and emotions and many times we feel as though ou...

In Acts 15 a very debatable topic has been brought to the forefront. Now that Gentiles are being saved some Jews have a little something they want to add to grace...circumcision. Circumcision is the removal of a piece of skin on the male sex organ. Why would these Jews tell the Gentiles they have to be circumcised to be saved? The answer will surprise you! It's actually a covenant given to Abraham...

Paul and Barnabas travel to Iconium and they get chased out of town. From there they go to Lystra where things get really tough. Paul was in the middle of a sermon when he noticed a man who had been crippled his entire life and Paul calls him out right there on the spot and heals the man! The people who were listening and witnessed the miracle thought Paul and Barnabas were gods, Zeus and Hermes,...

When the church leaders at Antioch were in a time of prayer and fasting the Holy Spirit gave clear direction, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work which I have called them to do." In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about fasting as if he assumed we would be people who fast. Do you fats? Why or why not? We know from Acts 9 the work the Lord called Paul to do was take the gospel to t...

Acts 13 is the start of Paul and Barnabas' missionary journeys. We know many "heroes" of faith from the Old and New Testament but in this chapter there are some hidden gems that need to be mentioned: Manaen, who was the childhood friend of Herod Antipus. Yes, the Herod Antipus that had Jesus crucified and John the Baptizer beheaded! He helped start the church in Antioch of Syria! Also, there are t...