Exploring My Strange Bible
113 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 5.5K ratingsWelcome to Exploring My Strange Bible by Tim Mackie, lead theologian and co-founder of BibleProject.
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Episodes
Book of Hebrews Part 4 - The Anchor of your Soul
December 27, 2017 08:00 - 39 minutes - 36.7 MBThis section is based off of Chapter 6 of the Letters to the Hebrews. It's the pastor's meditation on the nature of God’s covenant promises. What does it mean for people to live as if God really meant what he said when he made his covenant promises to bless all of the nations through Abraham? Why is this such a big deal? Why do promises that God made to somebody thousands of years ago matter to us? We explore these questions in this episode.
Book of Hebrews Part 3 - Invitation to Rest
December 18, 2017 08:00 - 47 minutes - 44 MBIn this episode, we dive into Hebrews Chapter 4. In the chapter, the pastor urges these followers of Jesus to remember a whole bunch of themes and stories from all over the Old Testament. He is going to recall the stories of Israel’s wilderness wanderings. They were on the way to the promised land, and he links the life that God wanted to give his people with the theme of Sabbath rest. The pastor then links this story to faith. Faith, by his definition, doesn’t mean you do nothing, but rath...
Book of Hebrews Part 2 - What does it mean to be Human?
December 11, 2017 08:00 - 44 minutes - 40.5 MBThis teaching comes from Hebrews chapter 2 and it is exploring the portrait of Jesus as God becomes human that the anonymous pastor goes into. What is it that human story of Jesus reveals about the glory and power of God? We explore this on today’s episode.
Book of Hebrews Part 1 - Are You Listening?
December 04, 2017 08:00 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBThis is a letter that doesn’t actually behave like a letter. There is no proper introduction. So what this first letter does is orient us towards the question “what is the letter to the Hebrews?”. It is kind of like an early Christian sermon, but kind of like a letter too. We talk about what we know (and don’t know) about this letter in this lecture. We also talk about what it means to be the divine identity of Jesus and what that means to be disciples of Jesus.
I am who I am Part 10: Born of the Spirit
November 29, 2017 08:00 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBIn this last episode, we are going to look at a phrase that appears in one of the four gospel accounts about Jesus. It’s a phrase that Jesus uses called “being born again” or “born of the spirit”. The phrase comes from Jesus and a conversation that he had with Nicodemus (John Chapter 3), and what Jesus means and what Nicodemus means by this phrase are two different things. We’ll learn more about what they each mean in this episode.
I am who I am Part 9: The Spirit & The Temple
November 27, 2017 08:05 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBIn this episode we are going to look at the way that the spirit’s presence in the Bible story is often connected to a physical building… the temple or the sacred space of God. It’s a major theme uniting the hebrew scriptures and a theme that New Testament authors use to talk about who Jesus is. Then, the theme continues on into the Book of Axe and the letters to the apostles in the New Testament.
I am who I am Part 8: The Spirit as a Voice of Love
November 27, 2017 08:00 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBThis is episode eight of a ten part series called “I am who I am”. The series is about the multifaceted portrait of God throughout the scriptures.
I am who I am Part 8: The Spirit as a Voice of Love
November 27, 2017 08:00 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBIn this episode we explore the story of the baptism of Jesus. This story is very powerful and there are many many biblical themes colliding here. This story communicates the love of the father as a gift to the son before the son has done anything at all. This wasn’t just something that Jesus experienced, it was something that he invited his followers to experience as well.
I am who I am Part 7: The Spirit, Suffering, and Prayer
November 22, 2017 08:00 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBThis is part seven of a ten part series called "I am who I am" where we’re exploring different facets of the portrait of God throughout the scriptures.
I am who I am Part 7: The Spirit, Suffering, and Prayer
November 22, 2017 08:00 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBIn this message we are going to look at something very personal, very serious... it is the motif of how God’s spirit is particularly present in moments of human pain and suffering. There is something about suffering and pain that brings the whole human experience to this really acute pinpoint type of moment where we are participating in something very deep and very spiritual. We are going to look at a chapter in Roman chapter 8. It is one of the most beautiful depictions of the trinity at wo...
I am who I am Part 6: The Spirit and the Fruit
November 20, 2017 08:05 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBThe longest part of the series is about God’s spirit… what does that even mean? In this teaching called the spirit and the fruit, we are looking at God’s personal creative presence as the one who creates and generates growth and life. What does it mean for the spirit to be at work? We’ll address this in this episode.
I am who I am Part 6: The Spirit and the Fruit
November 20, 2017 08:05 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBThis episode is the sixth of a ten part series called “I am who I am”. The series explores the vast portraits of God presented by the scriptures.
I am who I am Part 5: Spirit as a Life Giver
November 20, 2017 08:00 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBThis is part five of a ten part series called “I am who I am”. We explore the portrait of the spirit in these latter episodes.
I am who I am Part 5: Spirit as a Life Giver
November 20, 2017 08:00 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBIf someone didn’t really grow up in a tradition that emphasized the spirit of God, then these are kind of abstract and difficult things for people to incorporate into their thinking and life experience. This is going to explore different facets of the biblical portrayal of the person in work of the spirit. This first teaching is mostly hanging out on page one of the bible and then following the thread of the spirit as creator and giver of life throughout the Old and New Testaments.
I am who I am Part 4: Who Can Forgive Sins?
November 15, 2017 08:05 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBIn this episode we’re exploring the story of Jesus. We’re going to explore the version from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus fundamentally redefines his understanding of God by his acts of forgiveness and healing. How does forgiveness reveal something fundamental about God’s heartbeat? We address this question and more in this episode.
I am who I am Part 3: Jesus' Family Story
November 15, 2017 08:00 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBThis teaching is more like story time rather than a lecture. I wanted to try to capture the story that is driving the fist three quarters of the Bible. I begin on page one of the Old Testament and narrate the story as different people contribute with scriptures. The goal of this was to help us rebuild our portrait of God by grounding it in the actual biblical story.
I am who I am Part 2: Yahweh is our Gracious Judge
November 13, 2017 08:05 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBThis teaching is about character and the role of God as a judge of human behavior (specifically human’s moral behavior). What does it mean to say that “God brings to bear his justice on our behavior and evaluates it according to justice”? Is that bad news or good news? We explore Exodus 34 to learn what it means for God to be a judge.
I am who I am Part 1: Yahweh Is Our God
November 13, 2017 08:00 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBThis first teaching explores the word “God” both in English and in the Bible. I discuss the divine name of God revealed through Moses to the people Israel. If you’re going to get to know someone, you have to start with their name. We explore what God’s name means in this episode.
Ephesians Part 5: A Household of Gospel
November 08, 2017 08:00 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBThis teaching is based on the last chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul talks about how the good news about Jesus should influence the day to day relationships in the home. He talks about parents and children, and then he addresses slavery. How does slavery get re-examined and reshaped in the good news about Jesus? If the slave owner and the slave are both followers of Jesus, does that make them equal? We learn more about power and authority in this episode.
Ephesians Part 4: Be Filled with the Spirit
November 06, 2017 08:00 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MBThis is part four of a five part series exploring Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians Part 4: Be Filled with the Spirit
November 06, 2017 08:00 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MBThis teaching explores how Paul challenges the Christians to explore God’s spirit. The whole debate about God’s spirit and how he expresses God’s powers is very controversial conversations. However, the Apostle Paul actually intended the exact opposite - he wanted the spirit to be something that united Christians.
Ephesians Part 3: A New Humanity
November 01, 2017 07:00 - 53 minutes - 49.5 MBThis teaching comes from chapter 4. It is where Paul shifts, specifically from focusing on practical out-workings in day to day life of the grand vision of the good news about Jesus that he explored in the first half of his letter. In the first half of the letter, he shares this grand vision of Jesus as the redeemer and resurrected king of a new humanity that’s made up of every kind of person ethnically/socioeconomically/culturally. The second half of the letter, he explores what it is actua...
Ephesians Part 2: A New Family
October 30, 2017 07:05 - 57 minutes - 53.2 MBIt was important to Paul that Jesus' followers were a diverse group of people across many ethnicities. In this teaching, we explore Paul’s vision for diversity and bridging relationships among people who are different but unified under Christianity.
Ephesians Part 1: Prayer for Power
October 30, 2017 07:00 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBThis first teaching is actually from the middle of chapter 1. It’s a prayer that Paul prays for the followers of Jesus in Ephesus. It’s an amazing prayer where he prays for power. The kind of power that Paul thinks that followers of Jesus have access to is a very different conception of power. It’s a power that was expressed when Jesus gave up his life and was resurrected by the power of love and self-sacrifice. This is exactly the kind of power that Paul wants followers of Jesus to recogniz...
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 4: Praying Through Doubt
October 25, 2017 07:05 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBIn this teaching we are going to explore Psalm 73, which is a prayer where the poet is expressing a crisis of faith. When he looks at the world, he doesn’t see a world that his faith can always make sense of. In fact, it is the opposite. It seems like many of the things that this poet believes about God are contradicted by what he sees going on around him.
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 4: Praying Through Doubt
October 25, 2017 07:05 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBThis is part four of a four part series that we’ve been doing through the Book of Psalms, learning how to adopt the language of these ancient poems and prayers as teaching us how to pray.
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 3: A Prayer of Confessions
October 25, 2017 07:00 - 45 minutes - 42.3 MBThis teaching was exploring what it means to talk to God when we have seriously screwed up: hurt others, hurt ourselves, dishonored others and God, etc. How can we even talk to God in moments where we’re feeling so ashamed?
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 2: Praying Through Our Pain
October 23, 2017 07:05 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBPslams teach us that protesting to God about horrors that take place in our world is a crucially important habit that we need to adopt. In this episode, We explore Pslam 22. We’re reflecting on the poets experience of extreme suffering and pain. We address what it means to hold on to the conviction that ‘God is good’ and has redemptive purposes when the world seems like it is falling apart. This poem teaches us the meaning of ‘lament’ and ‘protest’. It is very powerful, there is so much goin...
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 1: Praying Through Our Fears
October 23, 2017 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBAs a new follower of Jesus, I loved the Book of Psalms. I remember realizing for the first time that multiple points in Jesus’s life teaching, he used the language of the psalm to express his own thoughts. Jesus models for us what it means to use the psalms as language for our own prayers. This first teaching is based on Psalm 3, it is about learning how to pray in the midst of great fear and anxiety in our lives.
Psalms - The Language of Prayer Part 1: Praying Through Our Fears
October 23, 2017 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBThis is going to be the first of a four part series on the podcast. These are teachings that I did on the Book of Pslams. The Book of Psalms teaches us how to pray and how to talk to God.
Language of Faith Part 3: Covenant
October 18, 2017 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this teaching we are exploring the word “covenant” and how it is crucially important for understanding the storyline architecture of the whole story of the bible. It really only gets used in a small number of ways in modern English.
Language of Faith Part 2: Glory
October 16, 2017 07:05 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBIn this episode we’re exploring a biblical word that is commonly used, but mostly not understood: glory. This is actually a crucially important concept for understanding the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Language of Faith Part 1: Holiness
October 16, 2017 07:00 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MBIn this first teaching, I explore the biblical word and concept of holiness: God’s holiness, people’s holiness, the story underneath it all, and more. This is an extremely important idea for understanding what followers of Jesus believe about God and themselves.
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 5: All Things New or All New Things?
October 11, 2017 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.6 MBIn this episode, we explore the final pages of the bible (Revelation chs. 21-22) and how they describe the resurrection and the new creation. In this poetic visions, John shows how the new creation is both similar and dissimilar to the world as we currently experience. What does that mean? Why is that important? We address these questions in this episode… take a listen!
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 4: Acorns of Fire
October 09, 2017 07:00 - 49 minutes - 45.3 MBIn this teaching we are going to explore the apostle Paul’s most in-depth conversation about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians It one the most important discussions of resurrection hope in the whole New Testament. Here he ponders the nature of the kind of physical body that Jesus after his resurrection, and what that means for his followers. He's very concerned to show how the new creation will be continuous with our current experience of the world, but also really different at the same ti...
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 3: Groaning and Liberation
October 04, 2017 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBThis is the third of a five part series on the idea of resurrection and new creation in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 3: Groaning and Liberation
October 04, 2017 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBThis episode dives into one of the most beautiful chapters of Paul’s writings- Romans Ch. 8. We watch him retell the story from Genesis to Revelation with the images drawn from the Old Testament book of the Exodus. It’s a story about slavery and God’s liberation and moving into freedom and the promised land. For Paul, the resurrection of Jesus opens up a whole new future and hope for humanity, and for the universe itself.
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 2: A Living Hope
October 02, 2017 07:05 - 49 minutes - 45.7 MBIn this episode we'll explore the nature of Christian hope from 1 Peter ch.1. We'll learn the story of a Holocaust survivor named Victor Frankel and what he learned about human psychology and hope. This story gives us a profound insight into the important role that hope based on the resurrection of Jesus can play in our lives.
Resurrection as a Way of Life Part 1: A New Vision
October 02, 2017 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBThis episode explores a story about the appearance of the resurrected Jesus in the Gospel of Luke Ch. 24. Two disciples who spent a lot of time with Jesus are suddenly blind to his true identity; they can't recognize him! What's up with that? This beautifully told story shows how Jesus' own followers can become blind to who he really is, because of the pre-loaded assumptions about him. Truly seeing Jesus means surrendering our most cherished beliefs about the world, God, and ourselves and al...
Why Church Matters Part 2: Sharing Grace
September 27, 2017 07:05 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBIn this teaching, we'll continue exploring the portrait of the first "church" community in Acts ch.2, specifically how they committed to sharing their resources with each other. This shows us a core habit of the church from the beginning, crossing over the boundary lines between ourselves and other people, and releasing our time and resources into their lives. Why is it so hard to share our stuff? Why does church play such a critical part in helping us learn this habit? We explore these q...
Why Church Matters Part 1: A Life of Learning
September 25, 2017 07:00 - 55 minutes - 51.5 MBIn this teaching we'll explore the first depiction of "the church" in Acts ch. 2. What we discover may surprise you! We see a group of people committing to each other and to Jesus so they can learn new ideas and form new habits of living and thinking together, all centered around Jesus. Being open to new ideas is not the first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of Christians. That's because we've lost a key part of the mindset of a "disciple," a word that means "learner." So ...
Heaven & Hell 4 - A Renewed Creation
September 20, 2017 07:05 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBThis episode draws together all the ideas of the previous three lectures. We explore the images of eternal death and what these images mean, and the images used by Jesus in his teachings about God’s final justice. In the second half, we talk about the images of new creation, resurrection, and eternal life. We explore what Jesus and the Apostles have to say about this. Then, we focus on the last two pages of the Bible and ponder the beautiful hope of heaven and earth reunited in the renewed ...
Heaven & Hell 3 - Divine Judgment and Resurrection Hope
September 20, 2017 07:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBThe definitions of human life and death on pages 1-3 of the bible are based on the idea that humans can live in a state of death. The goal of God’s rescue mission is to take people out of “living death” and transfer them into a mode of “eternal life” here in the present. According to the biblical story, these are the two ways to be human being - to be among the living dead or to be among the truly living. Keeping this in mind, in this episode we move onto a new part of the story which is th...
Heaven & Hell 2 - Heaven and Zombies
September 18, 2017 07:05 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBIn this lecture we tackle the biblical word “heaven," and what that does and does not mean. From there we tackle the language about life and death throughout the rest of the bible. What you’ll see pretty clearly is that biblical authors don’t see death as something that just happens to you at the end of your physical life. Rather, from page 3 of the bible on, both life and death are present realities. Basically, the concept of zombies is a biblical idea. Most of these ideas aren’t mine. I...
Heaven & Hell 1 - Life and Death in Genesis 1-3
September 18, 2017 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.6 MBIn this first episode we explore the popular misunderstandings and distortions of the concepts of heaven and hell in Western culture. This will help us rediscover what the Scriptures are actually trying to say. This is really just an effort to clear the ground and help people rebuild these concepts. We start on page 1 of the Bible and work through it, looking at the themes of life, death, the grave, eternal life, and eternal death, etc. I’ll just say this… prepare to be surprised. I was sur...
Practicing Faith Part 3: Praying & Acting
September 13, 2017 07:10 - 53 minutes - 49 MBIn this teaching we explore how Jesus' concept of prayer included asking God to act and acting oneself. We'll focus on the Lord's prayer, and discover within it a vision of praying and acting that promotes dependence on God as well as action. At the end of this teaching, I play the Lord’s Prayer, sung in ancient Aramaic by a Syrian-orthodox nun in Jerusalem.
Practicing Faith Part 2: Feasting & Fasting
September 11, 2017 07:05 - 43 minutes - 40 MBIn this teaching we'll explore the ancient practice of fasting, withholding food from yourself for a symbolic and intentional reason. This practice marked the lives of many ancient Israelites, of Jesus himself, and it was a habit that was carried on in the early Jesus-movement as well. However, this practice was also accompanied by regular periods of feasting to celebrate God's generosity and grace. What exactly are these habits? How do they balance with each other? Why is it important to h...
Practicing Faith Part 1: Solitude & Community
September 11, 2017 07:00 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBThis is the first of a three part series about important spiritual practices that have marked the lives of followers of Jesus throughout history and in all different traditions of the church.
Practicing Faith Part 1: Solitude & Community
September 11, 2017 07:00 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBThis teaching is called “Solitude & Community”. In the New Testament, "church" is the gathering of Jesus' followers into a community of support and worship. But in the life of Jesus, that communal practice is also matched by the habit of regular solitude. What is this practice all about, and why was it so important to Jesus?
A Renewed Heavens & Earth: New Testament Themes Part 6
September 06, 2017 07:10 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MBThis teaching comes from the final chapters of the Book of Revelation, where we find many images about the time when heaven and earth are brought together. The phrase "eternal life" for many people conjures up images of a non-physical, spiritual world where you live forever with God. This is not the idea of "eternal life" in the Bible, so let's check our assumptions at the door and open our minds to learn all over again what it means to hope for the arrival of eternity!