Flipped Devotional
review weekly readings from Flipped Devotional the Book with the author and her husband
Flipped Devotional
August 11 - 17
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Here are the scriptures for this week:
August 11 - John 11: 1-10
August 12 - John 11: 11-23
August 13 - John 11: 24-32
August 14 - John 11: 33-44
August 15 - Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
August 16 - Micah 7: 18-20
August 17 - 3 John 1: 2-8
Welcome to Flip Devotional the Podcast. For each week, Martha Shannon, the author of Flip Devotional The Book, and Steve Shannon, discuss the readings from the week. If you haven't gotten Flip Devotional the Book, it's available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and it's available as an ebook on Barnes and Noble. Oh, we want to welcome France this week.
SPEAKER_01Beljo.
SPEAKER_00France is a new addition to our podcast family. Pretty excited about that. I met with a friend this week and she said, she asked me, what is it like to think that there are people in all these different countries listening to your podcast? And I was like, it's pretty humbling. Um just crazy that our internet system can be used in such a sweet, positive way that people from all over somehow got and listened to what we have to say. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's it's really, it's kind of crazy, really.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00Um, but uh pretty pretty excited about that. And so glad that you guys are listening. And uh this week we are doing the readings from August 11th to August 17th. Um the first four days have a nice little theme.
SPEAKER_01Uh they are all This is probably this will be the first week of school as well for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's true. So sorry, guys.
SPEAKER_01She's talking to teachers.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Uh so our our first story for the first four days is the story of Lazarus, and um it's a long story, so it was split up over four days. So we'll just jump in. You ready?
SPEAKER_01Ready.
SPEAKER_00Excuse me. So it starts in John 11, um, verse one, and it guess covers probably the entire chapter um of John 11. So uh August 11th is the first 10 days. And um Lazarus was a friend of Jesus'. Um, his sisters were Martha and Mary. Um there's another story before this one about Martha and Mary and Jesus coming, and um Mary sitting and listening to Jesus, and Martha is running around.
SPEAKER_01Um and it's most of chapter 11. Oh, there's more than yeah, verse 45, it's the plot to kill Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01So we hear about that initially, but yeah, this is the first 44 verses of chapter 11, one through 44, is is Lazarus. And not just Lazarus, but Mary and Martha, and obviously Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So um in the other story, uh my name is Martha, obviously, and so this story always kind of hits home to me because it's like Martha, Martha, Martha. And you if you would be like Mary.
SPEAKER_01Martha, Marsha, Marsha.
SPEAKER_00It's like, oh, I know. Okay. So anyway, this is after that. So Lazarus um is sick, and Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus and say, Lazarus is sick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like real sick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And um ask him to come. Now something in And Jesus knew them. Oh, he was friends with.
SPEAKER_01I mean, he says later on, Jesus loved Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. So they were very, very, very good friends.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01So this would be someone you would think would initiate a pretty quick response.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Um interesting in in the beginning of this, it says that Mary is the one who poured perfume on Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah. And that's a big story. Probably covered it, right? So clearly they were very close, good, good friends. Later on, um now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So it was I mean, it just wasn't someone they had met sometimes.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah. And so he he hears the message, and he says he when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which if people around him, I and I don't know if he shared with people, you know, oh, Lazarus is sick. Um we're gonna stay here a couple more days. I mean, people would have been like, um, shouldn't we go?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why, why are you staying?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, but but Jesus said the sickness will not end in death. So clearly, there is enough alarm that he talked about death. Right.
SPEAKER_00So um and then he said, let's go back to Judea. And the disciples are like, should we? Because just a little while ago the Jews were trying to stone you there. Why, you know, why would we go back? And Jesus' answer to them, which is the the last verse of this section, is kind of confusing to me.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00He says, are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, if I were the disciples, I think I would have said, um, good answer, not to my question, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, okay, let me ask you again, why are we going back?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I assume that it means it's just not time. Because he often talked about, my time has not come.
SPEAKER_01Right. And my I have my Bible open in addition to the devotional. The light is could be spiritual lightness, spiritual darkness. That's a reference from it earlier, but that's what it says here. So it could very well be if you walk in the spiritual light, right, there's plenty of time. If you walk in spiritual darkness, right, it's not good, right?
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know, but we'll not stumble, for they see by the world's light. Another thing, do we want to see by the world's light?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01No, right. So yeah. But but it says walk by the world's so. It is not when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light. So the point is have light. And who was the light of the world?
SPEAKER_00Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Jesus. So the world's light could very well be. Follow Jesus, obviously. Walk in his light, it will be good. It's really hard for us to see that at the time. Right? That, oh wait, if I walk in Jesus' light, it will be okay. Because things aren't okay.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01If if if you're the messenger and the dis and or the disciples, they try to stone you in Judea. Why go there? Right? It's okay. We're walking in the spiritual light, we'll be okay. It's hard for okay. Didn't work last time when they tried to stone you. And Mary, you know, we're waiting and he's not coming. No sense of urgency, it appears.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it goes back to Jesus doesn't have urgency necessarily, right? He may or may not, but he's you know right.
SPEAKER_00That's true. Yeah. And something for the listeners that maybe this will give you some, some, I don't know, comfort, something. Um some people are hesitant to to read the Bible because they don't understand everything in it. Um, you clearly just heard us read through this passage, and most of it we follow along with and and we, you know, totally understand what it's saying. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, I said I got to this last part, and I was like, I'm not exactly sure what he's saying here. And that's okay, because God can explain it to you. God can give you other people who might um be able to enlighten you on what it means.
SPEAKER_01Um, but it's and we talk about fan mail, you know, contact us. Uh-huh. If you have a question like this.
SPEAKER_00Or if you have an answer.
SPEAKER_01Or an answer. Use the technology to communicate. Feel free. Yeah, we'll try. And I think this is part of I think it is a struggle for a lot of people to read the Bible. It's not like reading a novel, right? Where you understand what's happening. You, you know, maybe it's a mystery. Yeah, yeah. This unfolds, but it's not always clear. And, you know, I'm a piece of well, I've read the Bible. It's not something you read once. It really is um it's it's it's almost a living book. It's dynamic. That it's not the same every time. Now, there's pieces you reread a book, you pick up things different times, you know, probably this before. Um maybe not. But I read the Christmas Carol every year in December. Every year. And I've been doing it 20 plus years.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01It's still not always the same. Some things I either had forgotten that were there, or you know, it's new to me, or it's appear that way. So I think the Bible can be the same way.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's one of the great things if you can find a group to talk about it. You know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you can even do like us, you can read the devotional with other people, and then get together and go over the the readings. And you know, what did you think that meant, or what did you get out of that? And um different things. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um we joke that I don't like psalms.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And it's I don't really give Psalms. Some I like, but as a whole, I would never race the Psalms. They don't speak to me.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01I like Proverbs, right? Books of the Old Testament like that, but it's just so it's going to speak to different people differently.
SPEAKER_00Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Because it is God's word, and God speaks to different people differently.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the same person differently.
SPEAKER_00But don't not read it because you're afraid you're not going to understand every bit of it.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Read it and ask questions. That's okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, this next day, um, August 12th is John 11, 11 through 23, and I have two question marks um in this section. Uh so we're continuing with Lazarus. So Lazarus um Jesus has heard he's sick, he's waiting to go, and um uh he's he tells them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm gonna go wake him up. And the disciples are kind of like, okay, if he's sleeping, he's fine.
SPEAKER_01He'll get better. Why are we going?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But Jesus was speaking of his death. Um, his disciples thought he just meant sleeping. So I love this. It says, so then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's like, okay. And he says, for for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there. So maybe if he had gone initially, yeah, he wouldn't have been dead yet, and then the whole story wouldn't have happened the way it happens. Um, and then we have Thomas. So not often do we have people named. Correct. You know, lots of times just the disciples, or you know, they. And it says, then Thomas, and this is the Thomas that we nicely call doubting Thomas.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and we read that story. Yes, yes, you know, where he didn't believe Jesus was erected until he saw, touched, put his fingers in the wounds, and touched, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So that Thomas says, Let us go to that we may die with him. I have a question mark there.
SPEAKER_01Well, if you remember, they tried to stone him earlier in this chapter, right? They said that.
SPEAKER_00Stoned who?
SPEAKER_01Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00Oh, right.
SPEAKER_01Right. So the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you want to go back. So is he saying, let us go, right? And if they stone him, they'll stone us. Obviously, Judea was not receptive to Jesus, right? That's where they're going back to, right?
SPEAKER_00Okay. See, since it said Lazarus is dead, you I thought they were talking about um, actually, them dying like Lazarus has died.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think for me, that when I read it, he's referencing that. He's saying, right?
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. But that's that's again, and to me that makes it flow, right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Because it's it's it's yeah. And they're saying the same thing.
SPEAKER_00See, this is why you discuss scripture with other people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's quite enlightening. All right, so then Jesus arrives, and um when he arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They were going to Bethany, and how far away was it?
SPEAKER_00Two miles. Less than two miles. Now, um, but was he coming from Jerusalem? See, I read that as all the the Jews came because it was less than two miles from Jerusalem. So all these um other Jews had come to be with Martha and Mary. And that's why there were so many people there. Because I I looked back at that trying to figure out where Jesus was at the at the onset.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Steve's gonna see if he can figure that out. So um, so they get there, Lazarus is dead. Um, Martha heard that Jesus was coming and she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home again. Um, and Martha comes and says, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Like she has total faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01And I don't think her tone was, if you had been here, he wouldn't have died.
SPEAKER_00Right. I don't think he was mad, right? No, no, I think it was, oh man, if you had only been here, he wouldn't have died. Because I I know you could have saved him. Um, and because she follows it with, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Well, I wrote, what was she thinking? What was she thinking that Jesus might ask God for?
SPEAKER_01Uh bring your brother back to life.
SPEAKER_00I don't know because when he later when he talks about that, they're kind of like, ooh, no.
SPEAKER_01Like don't open the yeah, don't open the tomb.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I don't know. And then Jesus says, your brother will rise again, and we'll continue the story on the next day. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You ready to move on?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And I didn't get an answer to where Jesus was. Okay. So I don't know if he was two miles away or what, but I mean he got there pretty quickly. I think that's part of the point, is he was relatively close.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know. Yeah. So the 13th, we continue the story, verses 24 through 32. So Jesus said, Your brother will rise again. And she says, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. So, I mean, she is totally um educated.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she under Yeah, she's heard Jesus and understands his message.
SPEAKER_00Understands it, believes it, is all in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And it's interesting because it's um a friend of ours, when someone has passed away, says, they're the winner, right? You know, they're with Jesus, right? So in this thing, Martha's kind of like, yeah, I know at the end of the resurrection, he'll come, I'll see him then. But he could have been saved now and not wait for that. So it's still that experiencing of loss, even though you know you'll see them again at the resurrection. But that's not what Jesus meant, right?
SPEAKER_00Um, right, right. But then he follows it up with, I am the resurrection and the life. You know, anyone who believes in me will live, blah, blah, blah. And she he says, Do you believe this? And she's like, Yes, I I believe that totally. Again, she she's educated, she's totally in, full of faith. And um Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Today she's a Christian who gets it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And so she's kind of like, yeah, I believe all that. And then she turns and goes and calls her Sister Mary. And I think this is kind of interesting. She said, the teacher is here and is asking for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I never read that part.
SPEAKER_00If he did, it was not written down in this scripture. So that's just kind of interesting. It's like, hmm, Martha. What are you tired of talking to Jesus about this? And you're like, oh, Mary, your turn. Come. Come talk to him.
SPEAKER_01When you when I heard it, it's like, would Mary not have come if Martha had said, Come here, Mary?
SPEAKER_00But oh, but Jesus wants you.
SPEAKER_01Jesus wants you. Oh, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Could be. Could be.
SPEAKER_01But it's interesting, those little side things that aren't necessarily significant to the story. I mean, this is the story about Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00Right. But but still.
SPEAKER_01Still. Why would she use those choice of words?
SPEAKER_00These are the little things that stand out to me at times and make me go, hmm, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01It also makes it more human. It helps us understand our relationship with some people, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, kids. You know, brother or sister, come here. They don't listen. Mommy wants to see you. Right? I'm going.
SPEAKER_00And so Mary gets up and runs to Jesus and uh falls at his feet and says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. So we we get that again.
SPEAKER_01The family line. But I don't think it's set out of anger again.
SPEAKER_00No. No, I think it's just very matter-of-fact.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, we Yeah. We we know, we believe that you have that power that if you'd been here, you could have saved them. It's just, yeah. So we move to the next day, and this is the end of the Lazarus story.
SPEAKER_01If you think about it, this is the Lazarus story, and it's most of chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01But it starts with Lazarus has died, and we know how it ends. But the all the in-between part isn't about Lazarus necessarily. It relates to him. You know, it's more about people's faith and understanding. Right?
SPEAKER_00And about Jesus getting ready to do what he's about to do, and this huge audience that's gonna see it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So he didn't call. It just occurred. I mean, Jesus didn't call the people to come watch him.
SPEAKER_00Oh, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00No. Um. And this this passage has the shortest verse in the Bible in it, which is Jesus wept. Um, which also is, I think, the only time Jesus cries that we know of.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I think so.
SPEAKER_00We we know he was angry when he flipped the tables at the temple. Um, so he's showing emotion here. So he he has emotions. He right.
SPEAKER_01So we Is there any reference to him laughing?
SPEAKER_00Um not that I know of. Yeah, not that I know of. But I I think just those two references. Um when it says that we have a high priest um who understands it's true. He he understands the feelings we have. Um he understands um you know being having sorrow, he understands um anger. And there's some disc I've I've heard discussions about what is he weeping about, what is he sad about? Is he sad because um his friends Mary and Martha are so hurt um and uh and other people are are weeping so much over this? Um is he weeping because he's sad that Lazarus well, I mean, I don't know. He would be sad that Lazarus died because he knows he's about to come back to life. Um so I I don't know. I don't know. The the verse after it says, see how he loved him, so they're speculating that he's crying because he loved Lazarus so much and is uh upset that he's dead.
SPEAKER_01But when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, he replied.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, why was he troubled?
SPEAKER_01Uh maybe because they were all so moved by it. That that Jesus saw her weeping, and the her refers to Mary or Martha, right? And all the other group. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Do you think any of it is him looking towards his death because it's gonna happen not too long after this? I don't know. So other people are saying you know, could could he have not kept him from dying? So if everyone believes he could have done it if he'd been there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and then he he says, take away the stone, and that's when they're like, hmm, yeah. Just four days is gonna smell. Um and then he says, Do I not tell you that if you believe, you'll see the glory of God. And so they take away the stone, and Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. Kind of an interesting prayer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But it is interesting. I thank you for you have heard me. I knew you always hear me, right? But he still thanks God for this hearing. Not, you know, even though I knew. I knew you hear, and right. But I thank you for that, right? And he said it for the benefit of the people. So it was a learning moment as well. But it was, you know. So what does that say about us? We can thank God while acknowledging he always hears us or he always cares for us, he always loves you. But thank you for doing that. And every now and again, people like to be thanked. You know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Thank you, Steve.
SPEAKER_01You're welcome. You sound like some character on Saturday Night Live. Thank you, Steve.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00And then he calls in a loud voice.
SPEAKER_01Well, you've been dead for four days.
SPEAKER_00Lazarus come out. And it says, the dead man came out. So it's like confirming he was really dead.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He wasn't just sleeping in there.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Really dead. Um, and he he comes out. He says, Take off the grave clothes and let him go.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I was anticlimatic. Been dead for four days. He comes out, you know, like let him go. Like Lazarus had something scheduled for four days later. You know, I had that appointment with my accountant.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But to me, this is a fairly familiar story. I think a lot of people have heard this.
SPEAKER_01But even this, it's all about the death of Lazarus, but it's a lot about other people as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so to do the whole story in four different days gives you a chance to take in all of it instead of just going, right, Lazarus died, they asked Jesus to come, he didn't come immediately, but then he came and he rose Lazarus from the dead. Ta-da. I mean, that's what most people would say about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because it's it's it's one chapter of John, most of one chapter. Right. So you can do it in a day, but very the smaller, it allows you to stop and go, okay, what's happening? Yeah. Yeah. And you know, in my notes, I have he was wearing grave clothes. So whoever did that knew he was dead.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It wasn't, you know, it's it's they had done it before.
SPEAKER_00They were familiar with what death looked like when um our daughter Katie was young and she was, you know, wanting to read her Bible regularly, and she was like, I don't know how much to read. Um, you know, if I say I'm gonna read a chapter every day, sometimes that's too much or too little, or like I just don't know. And one time I said, Why don't you just read until you get to a point where you go, hmm, something you want to kind of stop on and think about or question or just hold on to, um, and give yourself a chance to sit with that for a day and then pick up reading again the next day. Instead of, you know, we as people are always putting um demands or rules on ourselves, and we're like, oh, I, you know, I should read a chapter a day, I should read a book a day, I should, you know, it's like there is no right or wrong, how much to read.
SPEAKER_01Right. There's also discussion of when to read.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Some would say, oh, I first thing in the morning, start my day fresh with the word.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_01Others say, Oh, I read it at night. So it's the last thing I read, last thing information I take in is God's word.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. It's truly what works for you. And I I have done the gamut. You are a morning person, you are a choo choom choom person.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And so you read every morning.
SPEAKER_01And is as Martha waves her hand, the and is full of message.
SPEAKER_00Um, but I am not a morning person. I I'm more so now than I was. But um, yeah, I've gone from reading in the morning to reading at night to reading when I was teaching. Um sometimes when I would first come home from school, um, it's just it's hard. And and if you're one of those who, you know, if you're a mom, you've got kids you're taking care of, and you're fixing a meal, and you you know, have to get to work and all these things, it's sometimes it's hard.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but you just, you know, you gotta try to figure it out.
SPEAKER_01Um, that was one of the reasons you wrote the flip devotional.
SPEAKER_00Yes, make it a little easier. And um people will read a devotional, fairly short readings each day. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And dated.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. So it's easy to follow, and um yeah, exactly. So I I I do think it's important to read the Bible every day. I really do. Obviously, that's how I wrote this devotional. Um, but the amount that you read totally up to you and God. All right, ooh, which is kind of a nice segue into August 15th, which is Ecclesiastes three.
SPEAKER_01So famous poem, obviously, right? Um it really is, and it is very simple. It just says there's a time for all sorts of things, right? So in God's perspective, there's a time for everything. And when those occur, we don't know, right? But there's a time. So we need to figure out, you know, and I think this is just I don't think the challenge is to know the time, but the challenge is to acknowledge there's a time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I like that um it says it's there's a time to laugh, yeah, a time to dance.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not sure there's that's the case.
SPEAKER_00Um I I feel like in the past I have known people who are like, oh, you know, I don't want to be a Christian because you have to be so serious and so uh, you know, all the time. It's like, no, no, and this this passage clearly that there is a time for laughter. Yeah, there is a time to um get together, have fun, yes, dance, what you know, whatever. Right. Something I think might surprise people that's on the list is that there's a time to hate. There's a time for war.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, I I feel like most people would think uh that would not be in the Bible. Mm-hmm. But it is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And and there's absolutely references to war in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Right. Oh, lots of war. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, but it's just, and it's interesting, I didn't realize this. Ecclesiastes um translates as the teacher.
SPEAKER_03Hmm.
SPEAKER_01And and the central character, Ohilet, who I don't even know the name comes up anywhere, he was presents the teacher as Solomon, but many scholars think that the teacher was not actually Solomon. So maybe it's who knows? Somebody. But as a teacher, so this is designed again to help us learn and to teach us, apparently, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it never mentions the covenant name for God is Lord, but clearly has God in mind and fully aware. So this is I think many people have heard this, but they don't know what's biblical. I would think.
SPEAKER_00Um agreed. Um perhaps they have heard it.
SPEAKER_01You got it, you can do it.
SPEAKER_00Got it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. The birds. I had looked at it. We talked about this beforehand. There's a Joan Collins and Pete Seeger who wrote the song on acoustic guitar. But it's just, it's again, I don't think from the Bible. Straight from the Bible. With like yours has a time to weep and a time to laugh. They went with a time to laugh and a time to weep. What does it matter? Exactly. I mean, excuse us. We're our friends in France.
SPEAKER_00Yes. All right.
SPEAKER_01Um when you see it someplace else.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. Yes. August 16th is Micah, chapter seven. And, you know, one of my goals in the devotional was to have something from every book in the Bible. Uh so August 15th, Ecclesiastes, probably the only reference to Ecclesiastes. Um, this might be the only reference to Micah. Micah's not a big book in the world.
SPEAKER_01No, but he had a wonderful flooring business. He invented floor mica.
SPEAKER_00Oh, goodness. Um, and the the little ditty up at the top. What are those called? That it figure that out. Next week we'll we'll share.
SPEAKER_01There is no one like our god?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but that little thing up at the top. I always say the little thing, the little ditty.
SPEAKER_01Title?
SPEAKER_00It's not a title, it's maybe a heading.
SPEAKER_01A heading, sure. I think it's a heading's a great choice. You wrote it. You name it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know. But it says, Um, who is a god like you? And short little three verses, but look at what God does. He pardons sin, he forgives, he doesn't stay angry. Interesting, doesn't stay angry. Correct. So he does get angry.
SPEAKER_01But he pardons and forgives. In our world today, people may have their incarceration, their jail time, pardon. They're not necessarily forgiven. Right? For us, pardon is kind of a technical legalistic word, but this pardons and forgives.
SPEAKER_00And then on down, um, says, has compassion on us and will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. So not only pardons and forgives, but like tosses them so far away that he's not gonna bring them back up again.
SPEAKER_01Right. Right, right. And he tread our sins underfoot, so he stomps on them.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Hurls all our iniquities and so he just says these are gone, right? Again, Micah doesn't get a lot of attention, but this is almost the whole message, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, he pardons our sins, he forgives our sins, right?
SPEAKER_00And what's interesting is this is in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00This is pre-Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. This is the mean guy, right?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_01But then, and so he talks about pardons, forgives, does not stay angry, shows mercy, compassion, treads on our sins, hurled her iniquities. He will be faithful, you will be faithful. He speaking to God, you're faithful to Jacob, you show love to Abraham. These are all wonderful things. And it's again, it's Micah, again, not someone pays a lot of attention to, but in these three little verses, you know, this is the message.
SPEAKER_00And it's one of those, why wouldn't you follow them?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, this this is God, and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's interesting, he pardons sins, forgives our transgressions. So it could be a transgression, may or may not be a sin. Right? Could be, right? Something, right? I don't know, but still. But it clearly shows this is a person of God that cares, right? So you do not stay angry forever. Which again, your point is he may get angry. Right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's totally again not something we all talk about, but Jesus got angry. Right. So anger is real.
SPEAKER_00So all right, last day this week. August 17th, um third John, chapter one, two through eight. So there's a first John, second John, third John.
SPEAKER_01And there's John.
SPEAKER_00And there's John. And the first John, second John, third John are short little books.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So again, when I was trying to pull from every book, some of these short little books.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it sounds like midsummer you got a little tired.
SPEAKER_00Perhaps.
SPEAKER_01But no, this is good.
SPEAKER_00No, but again, I also knew I was running out of days. Yes. And it's like, okay, I gotta get these books then.
SPEAKER_01I mean Right. Yeah, I assume when we get to December, it's gotta focus on Christmas.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01You couldn't put this in December.
SPEAKER_00November is is thankfulness. October is fears.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_00So I'm down to August and September. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah. Yeah. And September is football related.
SPEAKER_00I do not know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we'll have to find out.
SPEAKER_00I'm still not real sure what the theme of August was, but um but the thing that I thought was interesting about this, so um John is um is is writing this letter and um he's praising people for their faithfulness. Um and I just as I read it, I was like, huh, I wonder what people would say about me.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00And not that you should live because for that reason. Right.
SPEAKER_01But how how have you lived and what letter would result from that?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01What would happen, right? Yeah, what would and really is it's an interesting thing. What would people say about you? You know, it's always the same thing. At your funeral, what will they say?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think it's gonna be Steve Who.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it might be something interesting to ponder.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And his dear friend is G-A-I-U-S. Gaius, maybe, right? That's who he's writing to. So that's that's the person, right? Great joy when some believers, these are people who came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth and telling how you continue to walk in it. And and what is the truth? Jesus' word, right? I mean, the Bible's the truth, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So walk in that, right? But also, this is kind of fun for me. It says down in that last chapter, halfway into that chapter, maybe first, third sentence, please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. When I look that up, what does that mean? It might very well mean that there's visiting pastors almost, traveling around, talking about the word, talking about Jesus, right? And please send them on their way in a manner that honors God means maybe give them some money. Because they have to travel and get there, right? So there's no shame in pastors or missionaries or those folks, right? Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God, right? It could be a prayer, it could be a blessing, but you know, my big Bible with notes and such talked about, you know, it could very well mean offer them some support. Yeah. Because it is for the sake of the name that they went out. Jesus being the name that they went out. That's why they went and for no other reason. Make sure they're okay. You know, because Paul had an, I mean, he worked a job to support his travels, had a really bad experience, but he, you know, he he was a tent maker. So he would, you know, that's how he supported himself. And obviously, tent maker back there was like a construction worker today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01But I like these last three little pieces that you don't normally get.
SPEAKER_00So um, yeah, and I I like that you mentioned your your big Bible that has notes in it. Um because again, if you are new to reading the Bible, uh it's okay to get one that has footnotes or study notes or something with it uh that can help you understand parts that you're reading. And there's so many out there. And and the only thing that I So hard to pick. Well, that I kind of miss is there used to be a Zondervan bookstore, which was a Christian bookstore, and they had like all the Bibles, and you could go in there and look at them. And um and and now, I mean, some of the other bookstores have them. Uh I would have a difficult time going on Amazon and and picking out a Bible because I I I want to see it.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Um Ollie's, yeah some like bargain shop thing has Bibles.
SPEAKER_01And what did I buy at Ollie's?
SPEAKER_00French Bible.
SPEAKER_01A French Bible. So our friend in France.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Check out Ollie's.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But Steve used to read the Bible in French and discovered some interesting things by doing that just because of the translation. It's like, okay, it translated this way, and I know that in French that translates back to English as this, which would kind of change the not the meaning, but it would change kind of how you saw.
SPEAKER_01You know, we have an Listener in France, which this could really make them angry. But in French, and many foreign languages, and English as well, we used to have thou, right, for you. Uh-huh. And I think thou was kind of the familiar. You called your friends thou, and you called people in honor you or something, right? But French has that. To you is the familiar, right. V, V-O-U-S is how you show respect, how you address an adult if you're a child or a teacher, until you have that relationship. So a lot of the Bible, even the New Testament, uses to to you, the familiar. So it's just a different, it almost has a different sense, in my opinion. Right. Because we don't differentiate. And I would never associate with anyone addressing Jesus as the familiar.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So But we totally should.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it was, yeah, without a doubt. Or the Old Testament, it'd be interesting to go back and see how Abraham, Abram, referred to what did he use, right? You know.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01But it's interesting. Yeah. And this says here, uh, this is 3 John verse 8, and we read 2 through 8. Uh-huh. That's right. We ought therefore show hospitality to such people, right? We ought therefore, that's in in this section, and that means three things, according, you know, this whoever researched this. Preachers have gone out for the sake of the name, which we kind of knew. These preachers depended on the Christian community for hospitality because they received no help from pagans. Right? And uh, by doing so, Gaia is will be working together with these preachers for the truth of the gospel. So they're going to participate. It's a way to participate with.
SPEAKER_00So very good. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. That's it for this week.
SPEAKER_01That's it. See you all next week.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to this week's Flip Devotional of the Podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, um, send us some fan mail. Um, download, share with your friends. That's I think the the biggie. Um, get get with some other people, listen to it together um and talk about it. And we will see you next week.
SPEAKER_02See y'all.
