Wednesday in the Word

When Jesus tells a story about a crooked manager who cooks the books—and then gets commended —it can sound like the strangest parable in the Gospels. In this episode on Luke 16:1–8, we wrestle with the “unjust steward” and discover that Jesus is not praising fraud, but highlighting something far more unsettling and hopeful: the shrewdness of a man who finally realizes he is bankrupt, out of option...

In a culture where repentance was seen as a work you did to earn God’s favor, Jesus tells a story about a lost son, a shame-bearing father, and an angry older brother to redefine repentance entirely. In this episode on Luke 15, we walk through the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and especially the lost sons to see that repentance is not paying God back, but admitting you cannot—and throwing...

A man in a ditch, a priest on a donkey, a Samaritan with everything to lose—and a lawyer who wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. In this episode on Luke 10:25–37, we step into Jesus’ debate with a law expert and discover that the parable of the Good Samaritan is not a simple “be nicer” story. It is a searching exposure of our inability to love God and neighbor the way the law re...

In a world that prefers blurred lines and “shades of gray,” Jesus tells a story about wheat and weeds that insists judgment is real, coming, and impossible to avoid. In this episode on Matthew 13:24–43, we explore the parable of the wheat and the tares as an analogy of God’s delayed but certain judgment, why evil is allowed to grow alongside good for now, and how that delay is actually an expressi...

On a crowded shoreline in Galilee, Jesus tells what sounds like a simple farming story—but it turns out to be a spiritual X-ray. In this episode on Matthew 13:1–23, we explore the parable of the sower and the soils, why Jesus chooses this moment to begin teaching in parables, and how this story explains both the mixed responses to Jesus then and the mixed responses to the gospel now.  In this week...

Parables are not children’s stories or soft edges on hard theology—they are one of Jesus’ primary ways of telling the truth about God, the world, and us. In this introductory episode, we explore what makes a parable a parable, why they’ve been so badly misunderstood, and how recovering their first-century Jewish setting helps us hear them as Jesus’ original audience would have heard them—with clar...

Can I resist the working of God’s grace in my life to the point where I am no longer saved? Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a week, plus a worksheet you can use on any passage for the rest of your life. Sign up for Bible Study Boot Camp

You may never have thought this question through. You may be inconsistent in how you live it out. But how you answer some basic theological questions makes a world of difference in daily life. Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a week, plus a worksheet you can use on any passage for the rest of your life....

James ends his letter with a tender, urgent question: what happens when believers grow weary, wander, or feel like their faith is hanging by a thread? In this episode on James 5:12–20, we look at how God meets spiritually exhausted people through honest speech, humble prayer, and a community that refuses to give up on one another—and why this passage is less about a guaranteed cure for sickness an...

James 5:1–11 brings James’s warnings about wealth and his call to steadfastness into sharp focus. In this episode, we look at why James speaks so fiercely to the rich who trust in their wealth, how that connects to his larger concern about genuine faith versus worldliness, and how his final encouragements call all of us—whether rich or poor—to patient endurance in light of the Lord’s coming.  In t...

James 4:7–17 brings James’s letter to its sharpest point: if we’ve been flirting with the world, judging others from a lofty perch, and living as if we control our own future, what now? In this episode, we hear James’s bottom line—repent—and see that true repentance is not self-punishment but a humble return to the God who gladly draws near, gives grace to the lowly, and reclaims people who have b...

James 3:13–4:6 forces a hard question into the open: when we reach for influence, fight for our way, or get tangled in church conflict, what kind of “wisdom” is really shaping us? In this episode, we look at James’s contrast between wisdom from above and the jealous, self-promoting “wisdom” of the world, and we trace how our desires, our arguments, and even our prayers reveal whether we are trusti...

James 3:1–12 brings us face to face with something both ordinary and terrifying: our words. In this episode, we look at why James warns that “not many” should become teachers, how the tongue can quietly steer an entire life, and why no human effort can finally tame it—only the work of God in a heart that has been humbled by the gospel.  In this week’s episode, we explore: Why James cautions eager...

James 2:21–26 brings James’s “problem passage” with Paul to its sharpest point: what does it mean to be “justified by works and not by faith alone”? In this episode, we follow James’s use of Abraham and Rahab to see how context clarifies the apparent tension, and how both James and Paul are ultimately talking about the same reality from different angles: we are brought into a right standing with G...

James 2:14–20 puts a sharp edge on a question that runs through the whole letter: what kind of “faith” actually saves? In this episode, we look at James’s “problem passage” alongside Paul, and see that James is not contradicting justification by faith alone, but clarifying what real, saving faith looks like when it shows up in the real world—under pressure, in community, and in the quiet details o...

James 2:1–13 confronts something most of us would rather ignore: the way we size people up at a glance and quietly decide who matters more. In this episode, we walk through James’s command to “show no partiality” and explore how the gospel reorders our instincts about wealth, status, and worth—moving us from judging by appearances to seeing others, and ourselves, through the mercy of God.  In this...

James 1:19–27 presses a hard but hopeful question: what do you actually do with the gospel you claim to believe? In this episode, we look at how James moves from hearing the “word of truth” to living as if it’s true—showing us that genuine faith listens humbly to God, stops arguing with him, and begins to change the way we speak, the way we see people, and the way we move through the world.  In th...

James turns from the general theme of trials to a very specific and uncomfortable one: what we do with our envy, our desires, and our view of God when life feels unfair. In this episode on James 1:9–18, we look at the contrast between poor believers and rich unbelievers, the tension of being oppressed and overlooked, and how God uses those very circumstances to expose where our hopes really rest—a...

James opens his letter by telling us to “count it all joy” when we face trials—a command that can feel impossible until we understand what, exactly, is being tested and what God is doing through our hardships. In this episode, we sit with James 1:1–8 and explore how God uses pressure, loss, and confusion not to measure our worthiness, but to reveal and grow real, saving faith and a wiser way of se...

In his critique of Tim Keller's Generous Justice, Giere refers to Galatians and points to a major theme of James. Do James and Paul offer a litmus test of saving faith? Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a week, plus a worksheet you can use on any passage for the rest of your life. Sign up for Bible...

James opens his letter with a simple greeting—but behind it stands a man transformed. In this introductory episode, we trace how James, once a skeptical brother who thought Jesus was “out of his mind,” became a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, a key leader in the Jerusalem church, and a pastor writing to scattered Jewish believers about what it really means to live what you say you bel...

What is there to celebrate about Christmas? I’d like to answer that question by looking at one of my favorite Christmas stories: Job. The hope that sustained Job sitting on that ash heap, scraping at his boils, is the knowledge that he had a Redeemer who was born on Christmas day. Series: Christmas Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes tha...

Paul writes his final comments with his own hand to emphasize his message. For a newer, more detailed podcast on this passage go to: Galatians 6:8-18 Invest in Truth Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a week, plus a worksheet you can use on any passage for the rest of your life. Sign up for Bible Study Bo...

It's easy to discuss "loving our neighbor" in the abstract. It is more difficult to figure out how to apply that to concrete, practical everyday situations. For a newer, more detailed podcast on this passage go to: Galatians 5:25-6:5 Bear Each Others’ Burdens Galatians 6:8-18 Invest in Truth Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp f...

What sort of freedom is Christian freedom? What does it mean to "walk by the Spirit" or "crucify the flesh"? For a newer, more detailed podcast on this passage go to: Galatians 5:13-24 Walk by the Spirit Galatians 5:25-6:5 Bear Each Others’ Burdens Most people fail at Bible study because no one ever taught them how. Bible Study Boot Camp fixes that: one short email a day for a...