Open Our Bibles Together with MFahring

Happiest of New Year's to all of you my OOBTers!    I'm so very glad to be back studying with you after a much needed break during the holiday season! However, I can assure you that I am now 100% ready to jump right into our studies as together we take a deeper dive into just who is this I AM referenced 6,519 times in the Old Testament alone. To revisit Moses' conversation with our Mighty God at t...

Merriest  ALMOST Christmas to all of you my OOBTers ! It's hard to believe this episode release happens less than one week before Christmas so let's be sure we spend some time slowing our hearts and minds to lean into that story; to be fully prepared to celebrate that baby in the manger on Christmas Day.   With that thought in mind, how about we start our time in this episode in the Christmas stor...

  Advent.   A time to turn our attention toward preparing our hearts and homes to celebrate Jesus' birth… prepare Him room so to speak. Today's episode highlights some Old Testament threads, promises, and prophecies of the Rescuer who came down to the Israelites in Egypt just as our Rescuer came down in the form of the baby in a manger. How amazing it truly is. God Himself would come. God came dow...

I am guessing this will come as no surprise to any of us, but gratitude is not often our default setting. Complaining and grumbling is. Ouch.   With that said (and since we are just coming off the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites in the wilderness after their Exodus from Egypt in our studies), I felt this is an ideal time to lean in here a bit more to have us all consider to true antido...

Hello and Welcome to this episode JAM PACKED FULL of ALL SORT s of celebrating O OBT's 50th episode + 2nd ANNIVERSARY . Eek! Can you believe it!?!   For that reason, we promise you are in for a TREAT today on OOBT… and that sure does seem fitting since we are celebrating not one but TWO big milestones am I right?! Anyway, this episode finds me not just talking to the wall by myself but instead sha...

Grumbling. Complaining. Manna from Heaven. Bread of Life. Water from the Rock. Living Water. Rest. Provision. Moses' Raised Hands. Victory Over the Amalekites. "The LORD is My Banner." Jethro's Visit + Zipporah and Their Sons Return to Moses.   ((How about I just go ahead and say it right now… the more I read about the grumbling of the Israelites and their many MANY complaints in the book of Exodu...

FIGHT.   This one word seems to accurately sum up today's episode of OOBT. So. Much. Fighting.   Pharaoh and his army came for the Israelites. The Israelites fought against Moses about bringing them out into the wilderness to die. God fought for the Israelites when their backs were to the Red Sea. A fight for freedom. A million voices singing praises to Yahweh their warrior and rescuer only for th...

Exodus 10-12 details the last three plagues of the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt because Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the people of God go. Locusts infesting the entire land and devouring whatever food was left after the hail, total darkness that lasted for three days and could be "felt," the 10 th and final plague of the death of all the firstborns in Egypt… through all of thi...

Today on OOBT we find the phrase "Let my people go" on repeat. The reason why? Pharaoh's hardened heart. Full stop.   Over and over again we see God sending Moses and Aaron back to request Pharaoh let the Israelites go AND over and over again we hear Pharaoh refuse… just as God said he would. We also see on repeat the disaster and devastation Pharaoh's hard heart brought upon Egypt. UNBELIEVABLE…...

In today's episode of OOBT, we pick up with more conversation between God and Moses at that burning bush. Truthfully, the verses covered in Exodus 4 were the literal mic drop moment in the creation of this podcast ( and yep… the mic pun was definitely intended there! LOL! ).   These words are now forever etched in M's mind as confirmation that God has called her to serve as a Bible Study Podcast H...

Hello and Welcome to the book of Exodus OOBTers!   Listen in as M helps us with the framework of what is for us only a flip of the page from Genesis to Exodus but actually represents many years of hard living and struggle for the Israelites in Egypt. There is so much happening in the "in-between" of the continuation of that storyline. Genesis begins at creation and concludes with the events leadin...

Welcome back OOBTers!   This episode is both a BONUS and a PREQUEL to our upcoming studies in the book of Exodus. As M has been digging in to prep for this time together, she's found so many things to share with you to help us transition from Genesis to Exodus. Truthfully, there are so many valuable things for us to hear … so many things discovered that M decided we would just make time for them i...

  Welcome to Summer 2023 OOBTers! In today's episode, we are going to go all the way back to the beginning of OOBT as a refresher for many of us as well as maybe even a first-time listen for all of our new friends who have joined us along the way!   If finishing the book of Genesis has taught us anything, for sure it has shown us the importance of the beginnings of all things. With that in mind, l...

:::: THAT'S A WRAP MY OOBTers!! ::::   WELL…. WITH THE BOOK OF GENESIS ANYWAY ! 🎉🎉🎉   Two books down (Genesis and Job) with only 64 more to go! We got this right?! LOL!   So we FINISH the book of Genesis today AND up next we'll BEGIN Exodus. In the meantime, though, please tuck this truth in the back of your mind… We cannot cut the ties between the books of Genesis and Exodus. (More on that lat...

Hello there and welcome to the Open Our Bibles Together podcast! I am so happy you are here and joining me today as we once again continue our studies in the book of Genesis. BUUTTT can we just pause to take a moment to celebrate the big 4-O?? Well, OOBT's 40 th episode anyway! LOL!   I am super humbled and oh so very excited to still be studying alongside each one of you … now 40 episodes later…...

Hey there!   M here checking in with all of my absolute favorite Bible study partners as we take a deep dive together into Genesis 43-45 in this episode release of the OOBT podcast.   Truthfully, where should we even begin as there is so much found in these three chapters tucked near the middle of Joseph's story… With that in mind, how about we start by considering some of the thoughts, feelings,...

Today's OOBT can best be summed up with these words you'll hear in this episode, "When you are facing a setback, the beginning of a Joseph-like attitude is to acknowledge that God is with you. There is nothing like His presence to shed new light on a dark situation." Oh my. Yet another example of our Emmanuel - God With Us, right?! And nope, that is absolutely not just a title of God and Jesus tha...

THERE REALLY IS SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.  About both of those Marys.   Pretty bizarre way to describe an EASTER edition of the OOBT podcast, right?! Today we take a closer look at Mary Magdalene + Mary of Bethany (plus her sister Martha and brother Lazarus) as we consider the miracles and events leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. Kinda hard to explain briefly, but M PROMISES it will make mo...

Today on OOBT, we start our studies with Joseph being sold into slavery and THEN in the very next chapter we read about his brother Judah, and his daughter-in-law, Tamar, to THEN end our time together back with Joseph… but this time… in prison. What seems like a break in the narrative actually becomes crucial to our understanding of the unfolding metanarrative of scripture found in both stories –...

Ok, friends, let's just start with this... there's some really hard stuff found in Genesis 34-36. This one actually comes with a trigger warning as the subject of rape, abuse, and murder are all dealt with in Dinah's story, as found in Genesis 34.   However, as God often does, there is so much tenderness and steadfast love tucked in these chapters as well.   Reminders that Jacob's return to Bethel...

Wrestling.   This one word seems to sum up almost everything happening in today's OOBT episode. Wrestling between Jacob and Laban as Jacob leaves to return to Canaan. Literal wrestling between God and Jacob. (Yes… this really happens!!) Jacob wrestling with his identity and is then given a new name by God. The end of the wrestling between two brothers after 20 years.   Oh, friends, maybe you, too,...

Today's episode opens with a 500-mile journey (on the run) to Haran. A stairway from heaven. God's reminder of promises He made to Abraham and Isaac (and now to Jacob). The cheater is cheated. The deceiver is deceived. And then throw in a whole lot of striving, comparison, hurt, jealousy, resentment, and competition between two sister-wives.   How about we just come right out and say it… isn't it...

Deceit. Manipulation. Cheating. Favoritism. Fear. Doubt. Hatred. Danger.   Now that's quite a list, isn't it??   Today our study resumes in Genesis with the death of Abraham and then lands us right back in the story of Isaac + Rebekah + their twin sons. And every single word on that list above is found in today's episode of OOBT. Whew.   The story of Esau + Jacob begins with a scandalous claim tha...

Welcome back OOBTers to a New Year + New Episode of the Podcast!   As we are a little over one year into M's obedience to God's call for her to be a Bible Study Podcast Host, listen in as she not only encourages herself to keep on in the God-sized mission God gave her in OOBT, but also encourages each one of us to step into both the big and the small callings God places on each one of our hearts,...

Merry Merry Merriest of Christmases to each of you!   Be sure to join M on today's episode of OOBT as she leans in to consider the real lives of the people involved in the Christmas story.   In all honesty, her prayer has been and continues to be that God will give us all a new sense of AWE + WONDER as we look closer at the gift of that baby boy in the manger through the eyes of Zechariah, Elizabe...