The Family Bible Journey Podcast

Warning signs tell us of danger ahead, and so too does Jesus who challenged those who rejected His words and love. But He doesn't deal with them in anger. Rather, in love, Jesus warned his opponents, telling them of the tender loving care they would receive from His Father, were they to repent of their stubborn unbelief.

Why did God's people fight with God and Moses when they were fighting for them? It seems human nature can never be content. Even so, in this chapter, we see two powerful types of Christ in Moses and Joshua, who teach us that God fights for His people, despite their tendency to fight with Him every step of their earthly way.

God's people were not impressed enough with the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea to trust Him. When they got a little rumbly in the tummy they cried out against God and Moses. Why did you bring us into the desert to kill us with hunger? We can laugh at their antics, not even trusting the Lord when bread starts falling from heaven, but lets be on guard unless we forget that the same unbelief...

The parable of the wedding feast teaches that only those who are clothed in the robe of Christ's righteousness will get to celebrate the life and love of God. Many then, many now, are too busy, too distracted or outright hostile to God and His generous invitation. We do well to embrace His invitation, knowing that in Christ, in glory, the things that detract from our human relationships, the thing...

Rejoicing in the victory God won over Pharaoh, Moses sings unbridled praise for God Almighty. His praise climaxed with the expression, "The Lord has become my salvation!" In this episode, we learn how to praise the Lord, and how Jesus is the key to understanding how God would fully save his people even in this song sung 1,500 years before His birth.

When Pharaoh changed his mind about letting the Israelites go, they found themselves caught between a mountain, the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army. The moment of their salvation seemed to be their demise. But when God divided the Red Sea, the waters that provided their salvation became God's instrument of wrath when He drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. Here we see a powerful il...

Jesus challenged the religious establishment of His day by telling them they were giving lipservice to God instead of doing the Lord's work. Too many churches today are suffering for the very same thing. Today we consider how we, as the people of God, can learn what's most important and be blessed by sharing God's love with others.

Mass marketers know how important it is to get us to remember their products, which is why billions are spent every year on marketing. God also knows, so He inspired Moses to record the basis of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread so that Israel would begin every year by remembering God's redeeming love. Learn how the calendar and worship life of Israel were designed so that they would neve...

The Passover, the night when the Angel of Death would literally pass over the houses of the Israelites who listened to God, would become the beginning of the year and most important anual remembrance of God's mercy shown to His people in Egypt. The Israelites and the Egyptians who listened to God sacrificed an unblemished lamb and painted its blood upon their doorposts as an act of faith in the Go...

Jesus fulfilled all sorts of prophecies with his Palm Sunday procession into Jerusalem. The praises sung by the people flowed from the psalms they had been singing for a thousand years as they entered the Holy City. Learn how the events of the triumphal entry encourage all who seek the Lord still today.

Have you ever experienced complete and utter darkness? The plague of supernatural darkness, this one aimed at Ra, the Sun God, who was believed to be the first Pharaoh, crippled Egypt for three days while the land of Goshen was bathed in light. This dark premonition warned of the death that was on the horizon for Pharaoh and all who refused to let God's people go.

While Pharaoh continued his stubborned unbelief, the people of Egypt began pleading with him to listen and let Israel go. What good are slaves if we ourselves are dead? God, in mercy, gave Egypt a 24 hour warning before the plague of hail, so all who listened in Egypt were spared. Here we learn that God is merciful to all who listen to His voice, regardless of tribe or nation.

The parable of the vineyard, where every worker received the same wage whether they worked twelve hours or just one seems an injustice to many, especially those who had done most of the work. But the lesson of the parable is not so much about what the workers earned as it is about the generosity of the master. Here we consider how God rewards faithfulness and what we "deserve."

God's holy war against the false gods of the Egyptians and hard-hearted Pharaoh continues, with God now afflicting the land of the Egyptians, but not the land of Goshen, where Israel dwelt. Every step of the way God has demonstrated his power over everything Egypt has to counter with. Pharaoh feigns repentance, offering to let Israel sacrifice in Egypt, but that is not what God had asked for, so t...

Learn how each of the ten plagues inflicted on Egypt was an attack on specific deities of Egypt. God wasn't just redeeming His people in the Exodus. He was making a public statement of his superiority over the false Gods of the Egyptians. Here we get to see how God begins to deliver His people as only He could.

Jesus continued to teach the blessings of putting other people first, while dismissing the notion that anyone is good enough for His kingdom. The disciples were perplexed by his rebuke of a rich young man who seemed to have done everything right, but was not worthy of God's kingdom. Jesus responded to the confusion of the disciples saying, "With man it is impossible, but all things are possible fo...

"Night is darkest just before the dawn." The Israelites learned the hard way the truth of this statement when Pharaoh made their lives unbearable. God was not deterred because He was determined to secure the freedom of His people. In this chapter, we count ourselves among the Israelites when things get worse before getting much better. 

When Moses asks Pharaoh's permission for Israel to leave and worship God, Pharaoh responds by increasing the burdens of his Israelite slaves. Conflict erupts between Israel, her leaders, Pharaoh and Moses is left crying out to God, "what have you done to your people?" In this episode, we consider how we respond to difficulties and how we treat our leaders. It seems people are way more interested i...

Matthew 18, particularly 15-17, is one of the most weaponized passages in scripture. But the message of this chapter is not condemnation, but rather one of restoration and forgiveness. As we consider the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Unforgiving Servant, we learn how God's children seek to restore broken relationships in the spirit of humility and forgiveness, not willing that anyone should b...

The powerful signs God gave Moses to demonstrate his authority as a prophet of the Most Big God were unmistakable. The perfect correlation between God's words and works gives us opportunity to consider how our words and actions are not always in alignment. Moses was living proof of this fact, wavering between faith and fear even on the mountain with God. Yet, God had mercy on Moses, and sent Aaron...

Moses has all sorts of questions when a mysterious God speaks to him from a bizarrely burning, oh wait, not burning, bush. God answers his questions with affirmation and promises, pledging to use Moses to redeem His people from slavery. Here we learn that God will not be overcome by our questions or doubts, but will rather overcome them by His mighty power to save.

At the Transfiguration, the Father spoke a blessing over His Son, who was determined to go the cross. "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased." What powerful words of affirmation to carry Jesus to and through His time of suffering. This blessing gives us strength as well, because we know that in Jesus, God is well-pleased with us.

The Exodus begins by highlighting two women as saviors of God's people, in particular, saviors for the Hebrew boys who were sentenced to death by Pharaoh simply for being born to the wrong parents. Despite the Egyptians doing all they could to oppress God's people, Israel grew to become a great nation. Moses was one of the Hebrew boys born an outlaw. Against all odds, by the end of chapter two, Mo...

Joseph's dying wish was that Israel take his bones to Canaan when they depart Egypt. This bold request was an expression of his deep faith in the God Who was faithful to him and prospered him despite his afflictions. Little did he know it would be some 400 years before Israel would leave Egypt, but his dying wish was a bold testimony of faith to the nation that would go from being loved to loathed...

Peter stars in this chapter as both a hero and a villain. He is the first disciple to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But in the very next passage, he rebuked Jesus when told that Jesus must suffer and die. In Peter, we receive encouragement for when we get it right, and grace when we get it wrong.