Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 5-6 ERV

Podcast Introduction

This is Epistles Sunday. We’re going to begin the book of 1 Corinthians 1-2.. I’m calling this episode “It’s Science.”

Comments on 1 Corinthians 1 and 2

Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians is actually the Apostle Paul’s *second* letter to the church at Corinth (In 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul mentions his “previous letter”.  This letter has been lost.), he opens chapter 1 by identifying himself, and he declares that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ *by the will of God*. 

We haven’t talked about what an apostle is yet on this season of the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15, but let me quickly give you the meaning. The Greek word *apostolos* means “a special ambassador”. What is an ambassador? According to Merriam-Webster it is “a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.”

The eleven disciples (remember Judas was out of the picture at this point) became apostles when Jesus told them to “…go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you to do…” just before he ascended into heaven.

Paul’s apostleship does not come from the fact that he was one of the 11, because he wasn’t. It comes from the fact that Jesus spoke to him after His death and resurrection, and after His ascension, while Paul was traveling to Damascus. (Acts 9) (If you’re not familiar with this part of the history of the early church, we won’t get to Acts 9 until July of next year so you might want to go read it now.) So Paul is saying that God called him to be an apostle.  

He is establishing his credentials, his authority, because he has some important spiritual matters to take up with them.  

After his introduction and giving thanks to God for those in the Corinthian church, we learn that even in the very early church, some division had crept in. Which confirms once again the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

As a race, people don’t really change. Even today, divisions happen within churches. Factions form. Disagreements happen. Preferences clash. Listen, people are people. These unfortunate things happen in any organization that has more than one person in it, don’t they? My goodness, even in my own one-man business I have disagreements with myself!

There are many reasons that divisions and disagreements are not good, but the main reason that Paul points out is that the central idea of the church gets lost. Paul says, “…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg all of you to agree with each other. You should not be divided into different groups. Be completely joined together again with the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.”

He says it in a nice way, but in essence he gets out the big stick when he says, “by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is as if the Lord  (which means The Big Boss, The Master) Himself is telling them this. And Paul says, “Get it together, folks. Focus on the Main Thing.”

What is the main thing? He tells us in verse 23: But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross.

The full meaning of that phrase is that Jesus purchased their salvation by shedding His blood for them. It is the message of salvation. And that should be our only focus. 

We should not be separated by the kind of music we sing, the kind of clothes we wear, whether someone has tattoos or, dare I say it? One’s vaccination status, or anything else. When we focus on those things, people who don’t yet know Jesus see nothing different about us than any other organization. Except perhaps it’s even worse when they see division in the church, since they know that we are *supposed* to represent a loving God. They say, “What a bunch of hypocrites” or “Why should I join them? I can fight at work or at home or on social media.”

Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 2

Corinth was in Greece. At that time, the people of Greece honored intellectual pursuit above all else. They thought that man could answer or reason the mysteries of the world. 

And so, when Paul opens chapter two by saying that when he first came to them with the simple message of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, he was saying, “I didn’t present the message in a way that you are used to, with big words and complicated reasoning.” Paul wanted the message to be simple, so that the power of God would be the object of their faith, not Paul’s skills of oratory or reasoning.

And he told them that even the simple message of the Gospel could not be understood by even the smartest individuals unless the Holy Spirit revealed it to them.

And this is something that we need to keep in mind even today. When I hear of debates between atheists and Christians, I have to admit that I’m amused. It’s a lesson in futility. The idea that an intellectual debate will persuade anyone to change their mind about who Jesus is is just ludicrous. The only way a man or woman realizes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He was born to a virgin, lived a completely sinless life, was put to death on a Roman cross for my sin and yours, was laid in a tomb, came back to life on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, and will one day come back to planet Earth to reign as King for a thousand years, and then create a new Heaven and a New Earth where believers will reign with Him for eternity…the only way anyone comes to believe that is if the Holy Spirit breathes spiritual life into him or her and gives them the faith to believe it. All the arguments in the world cannot do that. Expecting someone who has not experienced that spiritual quickening to understand or embrace that is the same thing as expecting the family dog who brings in the newspaper to understand what is written in that paper. It’s not going to happen.

One of the things we hear often today is, “It’s science!” “Believe the science!” “Science proves this. Science proves that!” Wonderful. In its proper place, science is great. I have a scientific background. I have a degree in biology. I know the scientific method. And that piece of paper that proves my scientific study is worthless in the eyes of God. It wasn’t science that brought me to the cross of Christ. It was the grace of God. It was the realization, deep in my heart, that I needed God to forgive me of my sins. 

My friend, I’m not saying that we should not engage people in conversations about why we believe what we believe. But I am saying that unless God reveals His truth to the heart of the listener, you can talk until you have no more words, and they will still not believe. Any such conversation must be done with a lot of prayer. Paul said in verse 3 of chapter 2, “When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear.” Come to the conversation with humility, not with arrogance. Ask God to go before you and prepare the heart of the one you will be speaking to, and prepare your heart with love.

Sometimes it’s not easy, but that’s a topic for another time. Just know that it is possible when you see your opponent through the eyes of Jesus.

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I Corinthians 1-2: It’s Science (LSFAB S13E057)

[TEASER – 0:00]
Even in my own one-man business, I have disagreements with the boss.

[INTRO S13E057 – 0:11]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year. The website is lifespringmedia.com. This is Epistle Sunday and we’re going to begin the book of First Corinthians. And we’ll read chapters 1 and 2. I’m calling this episode, “It’s Science”.

Before we read, let’s pray.

[OPENING PRAYER – 0:39]
Our heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your Word. And we pray that you would bless this time around your Word as we read. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, let’s begin.

[I CORINTHIANS 1 (ERV) – 0:52]
I Corinthians, chapter 1.

(1) Greetings from Paul. I was chosen to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. God chose me because that is what he wanted. Greetings also from Sosthenes, our brother in Christ.

(2) To God’s church in Corinth, you who have been made holy because you belong to Christ Jesus. You were chosen to be God’s holy people together with all people everywhere who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.

(3) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(4) I always thank my God for you because of the grace that he has given you through Christ Jesus. (5) In him you have been blessed in every way. You have been blessed in all your speaking and all your knowledge. (6) This proves that what we told you about Christ is true. (7) Now you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. (8) He will keep you strong until the end so that on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, you will be free from all blame. (9) God is faithful. He is the one who has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

(10) Brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg all of you to agree with each other. You should not be divided into different groups. Be completely joined together again with the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.

(11) My brothers and sisters, some members of Chloe’s family told me that there are arguments among you. (12) This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and someone else says, “I follow Apollos.” Another says, “I follow Peter,” and someone else says, “I follow Christ.” (13) Christ cannot be divided into different groups. It wasn’t Paul who died on the cross for you, was it? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? (14) I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. (15) I am thankful because now no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (16) (I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I don’t remember that I myself baptized any others.) (17) Christ did not give me the work of baptizing people. He gave me the work of telling the Good News. But he sent me to tell the Good News without using clever speech, which would take away the power that is in the cross of Christ.

(18) The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (19) As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will confuse the understanding of the intelligent.”

(20) So what does this say about the philosopher, the law expert, or anyone in this world who is skilled in making clever arguments? God has made the wisdom of the world look foolish. (21) This is what God in his wisdom decided: Since the world did not find him through its own wisdom, he used the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it.

(22) The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom. (23) But this is the message we will tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense. (24) But Christ is God’s power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks. (25) Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

(26) Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families. (27) But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (28) And God chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important. (29) God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast about anything. (30) It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin. (31) So, as the Scriptures say, “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”

[I CORINTHIANS 2 (ERV) – 5:19]
I Corinthians, chapter 2.

(1) Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom. (2) I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. (3) When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear. (4) My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives. (5) I did this so that your faith would be in God’s power, not in human wisdom.

(6) We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. (7) But we speak God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began. (8) None of the rulers of this world understood this wisdom. If they had understood it, they would not have killed our great and glorious Lord on a cross. (9) But as the Scriptures say,

“No one has ever seen,
no one has ever heard,
no one has ever imagined
what God has prepared for those who love him.”

(10) But God has shown us these things through the Spirit.

The Spirit knows all things. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God. (11) It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only the person’s spirit that lives inside knows those thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit. (12) We received the Spirit that is from God, not the spirit of the world. We received God’s Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us.

(13) When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. (14) People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. (15) We who have the Spirit are able to make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us. (16) As the Scriptures say,

“Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind?
Who is able to give him advice?”

But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.

[COMMENTARY – 7:43]
Today, I’ve got comments on both chapters 1 and 2. First Corinthians is actually the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth. We know that because in I Corinthians 5:9, Paul mentions his “previous letter”. This letter’s been lost. But in chapter 1, he opens by identifying himself and he declares that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.

We haven’t talked about what an apostle is yet on this season of the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. So let me do that for just a moment. Paul talks about what an apostle is in I
Corinthians 15. But let me quickly give you the meaning. The Greek word “apostolos” means “a special ambassador”. What is an ambassador? Well, according to Merriam-Webster, it is “a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign, as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.”

The 11 disciples – remember Judas was out of the picture at this point – the 11 became apostles when Jesus gave them the Great Commission, which was, of course, “…go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything that I’ve told you to do.” And he gave them this commission just before he ascended to heaven. So he was basically telling them to be his ambassadors.

Well, Paul’s apostleship does not come from the fact that he was one of the 11 because he wasn’t. It comes from the fact that Jesus spoke to him after his death and resurrection, and after his ascension, while Paul was traveling to Damascus, we read about that in Acts 9. (And if you’re not familiar with this part of the history of the church, we won’t get to Acts 9 until July of next year, so you might want to go read it now.) So Paul is saying that God called him to be an apostle.

Here at the beginning of chapter 1, he is establishing his credentials or his authority, because he has some important spiritual matters to take up with them.

Now after his introduction, and giving thanks to God for those in the Corinthian church, we learn that even in the very early church, some division had already crept in. Which confirms once again the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:9, which says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Beloved, as a race, people don’t really change. Even today, divisions happen within churches, factions form, disagreements happen, preferences clash. Listen, people are people, these unfortunate things happen in any organization that has more than one person in it, don’t they? My goodness, even in my own one-man business, I have disagreements with the boss, me.

There are many reasons that divisions and disagreements aren’t good. But the main reason that Paul points out is that the central idea of the church gets lost. Paul says, “…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg all of you to agree with each other. You should not be divided into different groups. Be completely joined together with the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.”

He says it in a nice way, but in essence, he gets out the big stick when he says, “by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s as if the Lord (which means, by the way, The Big Boss, or The Master) is himself telling them this. And Paul says, “Get it together, folks. Focus on the Main Thing.”

What is the main thing? He tells us this in verse 23. “But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross.”

Now the full meaning of that phrase is that Jesus purchased their salvation by shedding his blood for them. It’s the message of salvation. And that should be our only focus.

We should not be separated by the kind of music we sing, the kind of clothes we wear, whether someone has tattoos, or, dare I say it, one’s vaccination status, or anything else. When we focus on those things, people who don’t yet know Jesus see nothing different about us than any other organization. Except perhaps it’s even worse when they see division in the church since they know that we’re supposed to represent a loving God. They say, “What a bunch of hypocrites,” or “Why should I join them? I can fight at work or at home or on social media.”

Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

Now let’s move on to chapter 2. Corinth was in Greece. And at that time, the people of Greece honored intellectual pursuit above all else. They thought that man could answer or reason the mysteries of the world.

And so, when Paul opens chapter 2 by saying that when he first came to them with a simple message of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, he was saying, “I didn’t present the message in a way that you are used to, with big words and complicated reasoning.” Paul wanted the message to be simple so that the power of God would be the object of their faith, not Paul’s skills of oratory or reasoning.

And he told them that even the simple message of the Gospel could not be understood by even the smartest individuals unless the Holy Spirit revealed it to them.

And this is something that we need to keep in mind even today. When I hear of debates between atheists and Christians, I have to admit that I’m somewhat amused. Why? Well, because it’s a lesson in futility. The idea that an intellectual debate will persuade anyone to change their mind about who Jesus is, is just ludicrous. The only way a man or woman realizes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he was born to a virgin, lived a completely sinless life, was put to death on a Roman cross for my sin and yours, was laid in the tomb, came back to life on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, and will one day come back to planet Earth to reign as king for a thousand years, and then create a new heaven and a new earth, where believers will reign with Him for eternity, the only way anyone comes to that belief is if the Holy Spirit breathes spiritual life into him or her and gives them the faith to believe it. All the arguments in the world can’t do that. Expecting someone who has not experienced that spiritual quickening, to understand or embrace that is the same thing as expecting the family dog who brings the newspaper in to understand what’s written in that paper. It just isn’t going to happen.

One of the things we hear often today is “It’s science! Believe the science! Science proved this! Science proves that.” Yeah, wonderful. In its proper place, science is great. I’ve got a scientific background. I’ve got a degree in biology. I know the scientific method. And that piece of paper that proves my scientific study is worthless in the eyes of God. It wasn’t science that brought me to the cross of Christ. It was the grace of God. It was the realization deep in my heart that I needed God to forgive me of my sins.

Now, Beloved, I’m not saying that we should not engage people in conversations about why we believe what we believe. But I am saying that unless God reveals His truth to the heart of the listener, you can talk until you have no more words, and they’ll still not believe. Any conversation like that has to be done with a lot of prayer. Paul said in verse 3 of chapter 2, “When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear.” We have to come to these kinds of conversations with humility, not with arrogance. Ask God to go before you and prepare the heart of the one you’ll be speaking to, and prepare your heart with love. And sometimes that isn’t easy. But that’s a topic for another time. Just know that it is possible when you see your opponent through the eyes of Jesus.

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 15:49]
Tell me your thoughts. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. Or if you’d rather type something out, go to comment.lifespringmedia.com, or email me at steve.lifespringmedia.com. I’d love to share your comments on the show.

Tomorrow is The Law Monday. We’ll read Genesis 32 through 35.

[LISTENER FEEDBACK – 16:15]
And speaking of comments, I got an email today from Lifespring Family Berean Brother John of Canada again. He is responding to the Judges 1 through 6, “Questioning God” episode. He said, “Another good podcast with Israel following God and falling away then being restored back again. Sounds like us, doesn’t it?”

Yes, John, it does. As a matter of fact, the first time I tried to read through the Bible unsuccessfully… as I was reading about the children of Israel it… I thought to myself what a bunch of dummies and then God impressed on my heart that I’m the same way. So yes, nothing changes.

Anyway, Brother John continues, “Eighteen years ago, what was I doing? Well, I was recently graduated, engaged, and working. I didn’t have a cell phone then. Podcasts were something I stumbled on looking for an audio Bible. And Brian Harden’s Daily Audio Bible program was the first one I subscribed to and Lifespring All Shows was very likely the second one. I would download the shows on dial-up, and then burn them to CDs initially. And later, I bought a pocket mp3 player that I would sync my computer to and sort manually into a listening order. I use an app called Mp3 Game to level the volumes across files before burning or sinking them. Oh, how much easier it is now with modern podcast apps keeping track of everything for us.”

Yeah, John, isn’t that the truth?

He says, “My modern app may not be so modern. I’ve used and loved Overcast for years. It has some cool features for organizing automatic playlists, and podcast-level controls that I like. It does chapters, displays the show art, volume levels, skips dead air, smart resumes by going back a bit after pausing, just about everything except the money-for-listening thing. I just don’t understand the economics of the thing.”

He’s referring there to the Fountain app that pays you while you listen.

John says, “How do they afford to pay people to listen? The old adage is if you can’t see the product, then you are the product. So I’m guessing they’re collecting our information to sell for revenue.”

Well, John, I’m glad you brought that up. As far as I know, they don’t do that. They do take a small fee, fractions of a penny when you send a boost. So if you boost 500 sats, you get charged 500 sats, but I received something like 450 or something like that. I don’t know the exact math, but it’s just fractions of a penny. And I think that maybe they take a small fee if you decide to cash out your sats. Now, I’m not positive about that part, because I’ve never cashed out of Fountain. What I basically do is I just kind of recycle them. I get them when I listen to somebody’s show and then I usually boost that amount to the podcaster at some point. So when you take into consideration all the boosts that people do on Fountain, it does add up for the Fountain people.

Now John continues. He said, “I pay a small annual fee for the premium Overcast app. And it’s a funding model that seems clearer. With premium, I can also upload any mp3 I want from my computer and it syncs with Overcast automatically, so I can add some music or audiobooks I’ve purchased to my mix as well.

Now there’s a lot of people who love Overcast. I know that. It’s a very mature app with great features, I know. What I do is use several different podcast apps. So for shows I want to stream sats to and boost I use one of the state of the art apps. For the shows that are not enabled for streaming payments, I use one of the old legacy apps.

John continues, “Change my mind if the new podcasting thing isn’t how I imagined it.”

Well, maybe listening to my explanation there will do that.

He says, “For now I’m sticking with Overcast. It feels more private and I’m comfortable. We’re in a world that already tracks us enough.”

Well, that’s for sure.

He said, “The last few years have shown that clearly as governments use cell phone tracking without consent to determine COVID compliance. Environmental tracking with carbon limits may be a thing they wish to do someday. Time will tell.”

Could be.

“Anyway enough about podcast apps. I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure you, Daily Audio Bible, and perhaps John Piper were the first shows I subscribe to. I used to use a podcatcher called Juice on my PC to download the files many years ago.”

Man, I remember Juice. I haven’t thought about that one in a long time. We have come a long way since then, haven’t we, John?

John says, “Again, congrats on 18 years. Someday on this side or the next, I look forward to meeting you.”

Well, same here Brother John. I would love to meet you.

He said, “If you’re ever in Ontario, the Canadian version, let me know and perhaps I’ll see California someday. Julie would sure like the weather. She’s a fan of summer. As a farm kid, my favorite seasons are spring and fall.

My Brother John, summer around here gets pretty warm, over 100 degrees is not unusual. It’s my least favorite season. Now when I was able to afford to ski, winter was my favorite season. And my favorite winters were when I was a professional ski patrolman at Mammoth Mountain, and they paid me to ski. Those were the days. Now my favorite seasons are, like you, John, spring, and fall. So, Brother John, thank you for the note. God bless you.

[ANNOUNCER:]
Boostagram.

[LISTENER FEEDBACK, CONT’D – 21:35]
And I did get a boostagram today. Got 3500 sats from user 4146048223897028 on the Fountain app. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna call you 7028, okay?

He said, “Thank you for your courage.”

So he’s a “No Agenda” listener, and right back at you, 7028. Thanks for that boostagram. Much appreciated.

I have to say this season, the boostagrams and streaming is pretty light compared to last year. Let me play this clip from the “Podcasting 2.0” podcast from a couple of weeks ago. Maybe the last show. I lose track. It’s Adam Curry telling his co-host the Pod Sage, Dave Jones about a boostagram he got from Comic Strip Blogger or CSB. CSB submits show art for the “No Agenda” show. And Adam has recently been sending a percentage of the sats that come into that episode that… that the artist’s submission is used on to the artist and CSB’s boostagram is in response to the sats that he’s gotten from this percentage or split from having one of his art pieces being used.

[ADAM CURRY – 22:40]
I finally and deeply understand why you are so passionate about satoshi streaming per minute another part of V-for-V apart from boosts and boostagrams. It gives the impression of intimate connection with the listeners. It informs that people actually listen to the podcast and not merely download it but maybe never listen like I do with some podcasts. It’s truly astonishing. It’s an awesome feeling.

[LISTENER FEEDBACK, CONT’D: – 23:04]
So I played that to let you hear how much your participation in streaming sats and boosting your favorite podcaster is appreciated. Look at your podcast app right now. Do you see a boost button? If you don’t and if you’d like to be able to send this kind of immediate feedback to me and your other favorite podcasts, get a better podcast app. If you don’t see that button, you’re using an old legacy app. Do what the cool kids do and get a modern app at newpodcastapps.com. A favorite of a lot of people is the Fountain app which pays you as you listen and we talked about that already. The app is free. And there are other great apps to choose from. I also like the Podverse app, for example. So check them out at newpodcastapps.com. And thanks again, 7028 for the boostagram.

[HOW DID YOU FIND THE SHOW? – 23:59]
I always like to find out how you found the show. Did a friend tell you? Did you hear about the show on another podcast? From a social media post? Let me know. Email me at st***@*************ia.com and use the subject line “Here’s where I found you.”

[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 24:17]
Prayer requests. Speaking of Adam Curry, he’s going to begin a long process of having his teeth fixed this Tuesday. It involves quite a lot of surgery. I heard him say something like three to four hours this coming Tuesday. And there’s more after that. So let’s pray that all goes well and that the recovery time is quick as possible with no complications.

And I believe it’s this week that Kathi is going to be going to City of Hope for more procedures.

So let’s pray for them.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your love and for your steadfast mercy, for your faithfulness, and for your patience with us. And we thank you for the times where you chastise us when we go astray, that tells us that you love us. Help us, Lord, to be responsive to the Holy Spirit when that happens, and Father, I pray that you would draw us ever closer on a daily basis.

And now Lord, we pray for our brother Adam Curry, who is now a believer, we are so thankful for that. And for the surgery that’s coming up, I pray God that this would be as comfortable for Adam as possible that he would not have a lot of pain and that he would have a quick recovery. Lord, I pray that he would feel your presence with him as he is healing.

And I pray now for Kathi and for Del and I pray that as they go to City of Hope again this week, I believe that your will be done. We thank you, Lord, for the witness that she’s had with her Jewish doctor. I pray, Lord, that you would speak to this doctor’s heart and that he would come to know Jesus as his Yeshua HaMashiach, the Messiah, the real Messiah, the only Messiah.

Thank you, Lord, for the Lifespring family. I pray, God, that you would minister to them and that they would seek your face. May each of us become more like Jesus every day. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

[OUTRO S13E057 – 26:18]
Please do remember to send in your family pics, Thanksgiving or not. Send them to st***@*************ia.com with the subject line “Family album” and let me know if it’s okay to put them in the newsletter and on the website, or only one or the other.

Also, remember to send in your Christmas questions. Somebody’s going to win a signed copy of my book “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide”, and it might as well be you. Every question I use on the show will give you one entry in the drawing. So if I use two of your questions, that’ll be two entries, four questions used will be four entries, et cetera. So send them in at st***@*************ia.com with the subject line “Christmas question”.

Comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com or by emailing me.

If the Lifespring Family Audio Bible is a blessing in your life, would you be willing to support it? Think about what the show adds to your life then head on over to lifespringmedia.com/support.

And Sister Denise [edit: Kirsty] does the newsletter. Brother Sean of San Pedro does the chapters and Sister Denise corrects the transcripts. Thanks, guys.

And until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your day. I’m honored. I don’t take it for granted. And my name is Steve Webb. Bye.

[ANNOUNCER – 27:41]
The Lifespring Media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise