Open the Word with Circle of Friends

Jan West is on today sharing her story with Missy, how God has continually worked through her life through hardships and difficulties, and how He has never stopped wooing her and showing His love despite whatever circumstances she has faced. ---- Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com ---- Scriptures Mentioned: Jeremiah 2...

Beth, Sandi, and Missy are continuing to roundtable through the principle of forgiveness, talking about how we can choose to forgive not only others but also ourselves.   Scriptures Mentioned: Psalm 79:8-9 Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; del...

Gwyn’s continuing from last week’s episode on the importance of the context of Scripture to understanding its meaning.  She’s detailing what can go wrong when we’re trying to understand the interpretation of a passage. ---- Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com ---- The Bible cannot mean something to us today that i...

Beth and Missy are at the table again talking about the importance of abiding in the Word. --- Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com --- Scriptures Mentioned: Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer...

Beth, Sandi, and Missy are continuing the conversation of forgiveness today and how through our obedience in forgiving each other, we also carry one another’s burdens as Paul tells us to do in Galatians 6. --- Find us on Facebook or Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com --- Scriptures Mentioned: Proverbs 16:6 By steadfast love and faithfulness...

Gwyn’s talking about the importance of understanding Scripture within its original context and showing us what that looks like in practice. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com The Bible cannot mean something for us today that it did not mean to its orininal audience and in its original context. Observation, Interpretat...

Gwyn and Missy are looking at a story you may not know in Numbers 27 about the daughters of Zelophehad coming to Moses and requesting their father's inheritance and how God provides for them.  They're also discussing how God has shown His love for women throughout all of Scripture and helping to make sense of how cultural times in the Bible may left us with a different impression than that. F...

We're continuing the topic of forgiveness, talking through how to forgive, the process, and recognizing that forgiveness doesn't negate the severity of the offense or relinquish the offender from the consequences. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com

Gwyn's sharing how many of the New Testament men lived out the great commission, enduring persecution even to the point of death. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Peter requested to be crucified upside down. Both Peter and Paul were both eventually martyred in Rome about 66 A.D., during the persecution under Emperor...

Missy and Gwyn are opening up the Word to Nehemiah 9 and continuing from last Monday's episode , where after God's people have finally heard the Word of God after years in captivity in Nehemiah 8.  In this chapter they confess publicly and to God their sins, the natural response after hearing the Word, and leads to worshipping the Lord. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsle...

Beth, Missy, and Sandi are talking through the LaRed principle of forgiveness today and how victory in our lives comes through forgiving not only others but also ourselves. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Scriptures Mentioned: Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Galatians 6:9 And...

Gwyn's carrying on the conversations about martyrs today as a testament as to why we can trust the Bible.   Listen to part 1 here Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message at openthewordpodcast@gmail.com

Gwyn and Missy are opening up the Word to Nehemiah 8, giving context to what’s happened to God’s people up until this point, and how they responded to God’s Word being read. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Nehemiah 8 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra th...

LeeAnn sits down with Amy and her parents Bill and Carolyn again in this archive episode to talk about parenting.  They chat about maintaining relationships with adult children and regrets in parenting. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com

Two things that corroborate and affirm the authenticity of the Bible: Non-christian contemporary sources affirming details of the Bible and the lives of the Martyrs. The willingness of the followers of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to lay down their very lives for this new Kingdom Heb.11:33-40 The resurrection is what the whole Church and saints of the Old Testament will share together. Being persecut...

Beth and Missy are talking about being emotionally and spiritually healthy today and how relying on our Source allows us to be so individually and within the body. Romans 12:3-21 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as i...

Is it okay to have doubt?  Is it normal in our faith journey?  What do we do when our faith isn't rock steady, when we're questioning God and the Bible?  LeeAnn and Amy are having an honest conversation about doubts in their faith and sharing some stories of how God has met them in those moments. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to...

What God’s word, Jesus and the Apostles say about the Bible: The old testament was canonized by the time Jesus came to redeem the relationship lost in the fall. Every time Jesus quotes it, reads it or references it, he affirms its authority. The same goes for Paul, Peter and other New Testament writers. Paul: 1 Corinthians 14:37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknow...

There's more heartbreak in Rebecca's story, but there's more hope too.  She's sharing another final storm she weathered in her life and how she's had to walk through forgiveness. If you've missed her previous episodes, make sure to listen to Part 1 and Part 2 . Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Scripture Mention...

Amy's back with her parents, Bill and Carolyn, along with LeeAnn and they're talking about a passage of Scripture that's hard to make sense of, how God can handle our questions, and what God's healing can look like in different circumstances.  This conversation is raw and real and shows us that we can wrestle with what Scripture means in the hardest parts of our lives, and reminds us that God's gl...

Today Gwyn is walking us through versions, translations, and paraphrases - what it all means and how to pick the best Bible for yourself! Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Paraphrases: restatement or summaries of a translation into modern language. often expanded for clarification. Critical qualities: can add and rem...

Rebecca’s sharing another part of her story today.  What happens when the person you look up to is no longer worth looking up to?  What happens when what you thought was such a sure foundation begins to crumble?  She talks about walking through her parents divorce as an adult and how those difficult years taught her to put God in His rightful place on the pedestal in her life. Liste...

Amy Schlabach and her parents talk with LeeAnn about what was like to be diagnosed as having a fatal lung disease at age 9 and living another 4 decades despite the odds, how that impacted their parenting and how Amy walked in faith despite any health challenges she faced.   Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to opentheword@gmail.com Scriptures...

Gwyn picks up where she left off last week with the A.D timeline of how Scripture came together.  Catch up here if you missed it! -0-35AD life of Jesus. Jesus affirms the authority of the Old testament by quoting from it. -100BC-450AD: The Romans had continued efforts to unify territories by building elaborate systems of roads, buildings, walls and canals. These Roads and the sea routes that...

Rebecca Studer shares the first part of her story today and how God sustained her through the loss of a dear family member.  Her heart is one of hope and encouragement despite life’s difficulties. Find us on Facebook and Instagram Sign up for our newsletter here Send us a message to openthewordpodcast@gmail.com Scriptures mentioned: John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and th...