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The Family Podcast

The Family Podcast

PursueGOD
Niños y Familia, Sociedad y Cultura

Join Tracy and Bryan Dwyer every week to talk about marriage and parenting and everything that makes for a healthier family. Find resources to continue the conversation with your family, group, or mentor at pursueGOD.org/family.

32 - How Good Is Good Enough for God? - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast
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  • 32 - How Good Is Good Enough for God? - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast

    Almost every world religion offers a pathway to heaven through good works and personal efforts. Some even include a list of sacraments: Holy rituals by which a person can merit salvation. But Christianity is different. According to the Bible, there’s only one way to know if you’re good enough for God, and it has nothing to do with what you can do.

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    The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you’re looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

    Donate Now

    --

    Before we look at what the Bible says, let’s do a quick survey of a few popular world religions…

    Hinduism: Hinduism does not have a singular concept of salvation but rather multiple paths (yogas) that lead to spiritual liberation (moksha) from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). These paths include devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnana), and selfless action (karma yoga), among others. Salvation is achieved when an individual realizes their true self (atman) as one with the ultimate reality (Brahman). (Liberation depends on YOU.)


    Buddhism: Salvation in Buddhism is the cessation of suffering and the cycle of rebirth, achieved through the elimination of desire and ignorance. In Buddhism, the goal is to attain enlightenment (nirvana) by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes principles such as right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. (Nirvana depends on YOU.)


    Islam: In Islam, the plan of salvation involves belief in the oneness of God (Allah) and the prophethood of Muhammad. Muslims believe in living a righteous life according to the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad). Salvation is achieved through faith, repentance, and good deeds, with the ultimate reward being entry into paradise. Salvation in Islam is not guaranteed solely by faith or deeds but is ultimately dependent on the mercy and judgment of Allah. Muslims strive to live a life that is pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam in the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife. (Paradise depends on YOU.)


    (Note: similarity with Mormonism. “Saved by grace after all we can do.”) - Don’t include this in sermon!


    TRANS: So what does Christianity teach? To find that answer we need to look at one more world religion: Judaism. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity came out of Judaism. Understanding the link between those two religions, and specifically the key difference between them, will give us the insight we need to answer our question today. Let’s start with the words of Jesus from his famous Sermon on the Mount:


    Perfection

    Matthew 5:17 (NLT) “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”


    When Jesus talks about “the law and the prophets” he’s referring to Judaism. Here’s Judaism in a nutshell:

    God chose Abraham and made him some promises (Gen 12)God gave the 10 commandments to Moses - rules to live by in the land of promise they were about to enter.The people kept breaking the laws and failing to live right. Judges 21:25 (NLT) In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

    In Mt 5 Jesus is basically saying: “There’s nothing wrong with the law; there’s something wrong with the people.” That’s why he said this: 


    Matthew 5:20 (NLT) “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”


    Jesus goes on in the sermon to list examples in every area of life:

    You’ve heard “don’t murder,” but I say anger = murder in your heartYou’ve heard “don’t adulterate,” but I say lust = adultery in your heartYou’ve heard “the punishment must match the crime,” but I say turn the other cheekYou’ve heard “love your neighbor,” but I say “love your enemy”

    Then Jesus finishes the section with this crazy statement: 

    Matthew 5:48 (NLT) But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

    So, how good is good enough? Perfection. Anything less won’t work.

    The Pickle

    This leaves us in a pickle. God requires perfection, but people are far from it. The Apostle Paul explained this clearly in his letter to the Romans:


    Romans 3:20 (NLT) For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.


    This is crazy: Paul used to be a Pharisee! He was one of those guys from the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus was talking about. He was trying to get to God through his own works. Here’s how Paul himself explained it:


    Philippians 3:5-6 (NLT) I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.


    This next verse I want to use the NIV, because it helps us to calculate what Paul is trying to say:


    Philippians 3:7 (NIV) But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

    (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The shift from plural gains to singular loss indicates that Paul is not giving different values to each of his assets, discounting them at different rates: some are marked down 50%; others down 90%. Because of Christ, Paul has counted up all of his assets and considered them to be one huge liability. After his conversion to Christ, Paul recalculates the value of all of the advantages of his family and his accomplishments, his social class and his moral achievements, and then he enters the new bottom line: they all add up to one overwhelming disadvantage, one huge loss.Paul was in the red… and then he met ChristFamous Mormon example of a dad buying bike for his kid? 

    The Gift

    Here’s how Paul explained the math to the Ephesians: 


    Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT) God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.


    Think about the word “gift”. How much do you pay for it? Exactly nothing. Once you pay for it, it’s no longer a gift!

    Ex: Ross at the summer outreach event. Guy trying to pay for water bottle. 

    Two things about a gift: 

    “None of us can boast about it.” - religious boastingWe don’t have to wonder if we’ve done enough.Contrast with Islam: “Salvation in Islam is not guaranteed solely by faith or deeds…. Muslims strive to live a life that is pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam in the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife.”But they’ll never know for sure!!

    Back to Romans for two more verses:


    Romans 3:21-22 (NLT) But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law…. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.


    So the Bible’s answer to the question “How good is good enough for God?” reveals the difference between Christianity and every other religion.

    Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam are all “works-based”– It’s about what YOU can do to reach enlightenment, earn nirvanah, become righteous. Christianity has a different message: YOU can’t do anything to save yourself. People have tried, and they’ve always failed!You’ll need the perfection of Jesus. You’ll only get that by faith.
    Fri, 05 Apr 2024 - 33min
  • 31 - An Easter Message for the Ages (Mark 16:1-8) - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast

    We’ve been on a long journey through the gospel of Mark.  We started this in January of 2023.  Throughout Mark’s gospel, he has been building a case that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  He opened his gospel with this declaration and has spent the last 16 chapters stacking up the evidence. Today we're looking at this question: What would it take to convince you that Jesus is the Son of God?

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    The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you’re looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

    Donate Now

    --

    We’ve seen testimonies:

    Mark 1:11 And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”Mark 1:24 (NLT) “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”Mark 8:29 (NLT) Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

    We’ve seen teachings: 

    Mark 2:17 (NLT) “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”Mark 7:15 (NLT) “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”Mark 10:15 (NLT) “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

    We’ve seen his miracles: 

    Physical miraclescleansing the lepergiving sight to the blindHealing the lameResuscitating LazarusNature miracles:Feeding the multitudes… twice! Walking on water  Calming the stormEven a spiritual miracle:casting out evil spirits 

    TRANS: But there’s one miracle that stands out above them all. It’s the final and most important piece of evidence to point us to the true identity of Jesus. Today we’re looking at the incredible resurrection of Jesus.

    The resurrection is the climax of Mark’s gospel. Without the resurrection, there is no good news. Jesus’s death would simply be the most tragic case of injustice in history, with not an ounce of goodness to it. It was the resurrection that changed the minds of his disciples. It was an encounter with the risen Christ that changed them from cowardly, sniveling men who deserted him and were always arguing about who would be the greatest… to brave, faith-filled men who unashamedly proclaimed Mark 1:1 – that Jesus is the Son of God. 

    NOTE: As we dig into Mark 16, we’re going to go through verse 8.  If you’re reading in your Bible, you’ll likely have a footnote that says the “earliest manuscripts stop at verse 8.”  I want to talk about that for just a moment. I want to share with you why this strengthens my confidence in the accuracy, historicity, and authority of God’s Word.  I’m going to give you some reasons why we’re choosing to stop at verse 8 today and why many Bibles still include verse 9-20. 

    Earliest manuscripts we have don’t contain 9-20Overwhelming majority of early manuscripts do contain it. Early church fathers quoted from verses after verse 8Elements of verses 9-20 are found in other gospels and nothing in it contradicts scripture. (honesty/transparency) - we can trust the Bible

    Mark 16:1-4 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. 2Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

    They purchased burial spices. They had no expectation of an empty tomb. They expected to find a dead body. This anointing was not an attempt to preserve the body. Jews didn’t practice embalming. It was an act of love and devotion. They bought the spices at the first opportunity and made their way to the tomb at the first safe opportunity (as soon as it was daylight).  They didn’t put off showing their devotion to Jesus.  The touching of a dead body would have made them ceremonially unclean, another sacrifice they were willing to make for Jesus.  What are we willing to sacrifice for him? 

    It’s powerful testimony that all of the gospels record women being the first to hear/see the good news of the resurrection.  If you were making the story up, you’d never have women be the first to confess the resurrection.  Their testimony wasn’t admissible in court. (honesty/transparency)

    (Pillar New Testament Commentary) "This is the general rule: any evidence that a woman is not eligible to bring, [usurers, dice-players, pigeon-flyers, traffickers Sabbath year produce, and slaves] are not eligible to bring" (m. Ros HaSh. 1:8). Further: "Sooner let the words of the Law be burned than delivered to women" (b. Sot. 19a); "Happy is he whose children are male, but alas for him whose children are female" (b. Qid. 82b). Especially indicative is the morning prayer of Jewish men, who blessed God for not making them heathens, slaves, or women!(Pillar New Testament Commentary) Some two centuries after the Gospels were written, the pagan Celsus could still needle Origen on "the gossip of women about the empty tomb" (Origen, Contra Celsum 2, 55).1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NLT) Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

    Who will roll the stone away? We know from Matthew’s gospel that there was an earthquake and the angel is the one who rolled the stone away and then sat on it. We also know from Matthew’s gospel that the Roman guards who had been assigned to guard the tomb shook with fear and passed out at the sight of the angel. 

    Mark 16:5-7 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, 6but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,[b] who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. 7Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

    He is risen. Resurrection vs. resuscitation.  Jesus is the first to be resurrected.  There were resuscitations in the Bible prior to Jesus - Elijah raised the son of the widow from Zarephath back from the dead, Elisha raised the Shunammite’s son, Jairus’ daughter, Lazareth - but all these would die again.  Jesus didn’t resuscitate, he resurrected.  He came back to life never to die again.  Jesus was the first to do this.  This had never before been seen in history.  

    Look The angel challenged the women to see for themselves that the body was not there - “Look, this is where they laid his body.”  God is always willing to prove himself to anyone who’s willing to seek. But he won’t force you to go looking. You’re listening today; are you willing to really look into Jesus? 

    Including Peter. The women are specifically told to communicate the news to Peter.  Had he withdrawn because of his shame at denying Jesus three times?  Had the other disciples ostracized him because he had failed in the moment after being so adamant that he would die with Jesus? He was supposed to be the rock, but had crumbled like a cookie. The last interaction Peter had with Jesus was looking into his eyes after he had denied him three times.  How miserable these past days have been.  He probably no longer considered himself a disciple because of his denial.  He was too ashamed to be counted among his followers.  This is why the personal invitation is so important. Jesus extends that same personal invitation to you today. 

    You will see him in Galilee. The women are commanded to go and tell the Good News that Jesus is risen. The women went to the tomb looking for closure; they got anything but closure! Now they would be on mission again with Jesus, meeting him in Galilee - the place where he first called his disciples. The place that represented the whole world, not just the Jews!

    Mark 16:8 the women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.

    What a way to end Mark’s gospel! Five admissions of the women’s weakness:

    FledTremblingBewilderedSpeechlessFrightened 

    Not surprising. After all, we’ve learned throughout this gospel two simple truths over and over: people are broken; Jesus can fix us.

    So the women fled, broken but convinced. How could they not be? They just heard that Jesus performed his ultimate miracle: he was raised from the dead. Their lives would never be the same.

    Back to the question for today: 

    Q: What would it take to convince you that Jesus is the Son of God? 

    Mark’s gospel lays out all the proof we need. The testimonies. The teachings. The miracles. And now this: the resurrection.

    What we think about Jesus and how we respond to that is the most important thing about us.  It is what determines where we spend eternity.

    Sun, 31 Mar 2024 - 34min
  • 30 - How Should You Pray in Your Hour of Need? (Mark 14:32-42) - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast

    Today we’re looking at the famous story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’ll give us some insight into our question for the day: How should you pray in your hour of need?

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    The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you’re looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

    Donate Now

    --

    Today we’re looking at the famous story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s moments away from his betrayal and death, and he knows it. His actions – and by contrast his disciples’ actions – give us some insight into our question for the day:

    Q. How should you pray in your hour of need?

    Maybe this is exactly what some of you need to hear today. You’re in an hour of need…With your emotions: fighting anxiety, depressionIn your marriageLooking for a spouseWith your finances

    Personal example:


    Let’s go to the text…


    Mark 14:32-34 (NLT) They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”


    “Stay here and keep watch with me”

    Jesus brought the three disciples with him for a reason: “Stay here and keep watch with me” in view of his distress and grief. He didn’t want them to pray WITH him (to have a prayer meeting): “Sit here while I go pray.” He wanted them to pray FOR him and be available to him (“keep watch with me”) while he was going through his anguished conversation with the Father.Jesus just wanted a wing man. Can you relate? Personal story: 

    But here’s the most interesting part:


    “he became deeply troubled and distressed” and “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death”

    “The two verbs translated ‘deeply distressed and troubled’ together ‘describe an extremely acute emotion, a compound of bewilderment, fear, uncertainty and anxiety, nowhere else portrayed in such vivid terms as here.’ (EBC)Why so much angst? It goes against what we’ve come to expect from Jesus: measured, confident, at peace. Personal story: my angst re: panic attack, felt so weak. Jesus experienced this?

    Here’s what was happening: the picture of Jesus at Gethsemane shows us the human side of Christ. 

    “Gethsemane reveals the humanity of Jesus with astonishing fidelity. He is shown to be ‘anything but above temptation. So far from sailing serenely through his trials like some superior being unconcerned with this world, he is almost dead with distress.’” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)Remember hypostatic union?The Council of Chalcedon, held in 451 AD, affirmed the doctrine of the hypostatic union, declaring that Jesus Christ is "perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body." This formulation reconciled the seemingly paradoxical aspects of Jesus being both fully divine and fully human.The council also condemned several heresies, including Nestorianism, which emphasized the distinction between the divine and human natures of Christ to the point of suggesting they were two separate persons. The Chalcedonian Definition, the statement of faith produced by the council, rejected this view and affirmed the unity of Christ's person.Hebrews 4:15-16 (NLT) 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

    And here’s why it was crushing: not because Jesus was afraid to die, but because he would have to absorb the wrath of God for our sake. 

    God wouldn’t cancel his wrath against humanity, he would spend it on Jesus.(Pillar New Testament Commentary) Not his own mortality, but the specter of identifying with sinners so fully as to become the object of God's wrath against sin – it is this that overwhelms Jesus' soul "'to the point of death'" (v. 34).

    Let’s read on to hear his actual prayer:      


    Mark 14:35-36 (NLT) He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”


    “If it were possible” – maybe there’s another way, an “out”, a pathway that avoids suffering

    Have you ever prayed this way? Are you praying this way now?With your anxiety, depressionIn your marriageLooking for a spouseWith your financesAbraham and Isaac - he had the knife raised… and then God provided an “out”Genesis 22:9-14 (NLT) When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”(Pillar New Testament Commentary) That is a prayer for God not to strike the shepherd (14:27). Is it possible for Jesus to fulfill God's will in all ways but this one, or in some other way? Perhaps like Isaac the sacrifice can be averted even though the arm of Abraham is raised for the dagger's plunge. The plea of Jesus suggests that he is genuinely tempted to forsake the role of the suffering servant.So is that a promise? Will God provide for me? Will he answer my prayer?Or consider a second example: The famine in Egypt - God used Joseph to deliver the Israelites to GoshenGenesis 47:2-6 (NLT) Joseph took five of his brothers with him and presented them to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?” They replied, “We, your servants, are shepherds, just like our ancestors. We have come to live here in Egypt for a while, for there is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan. The famine is very severe there. So please, we request permission to live in the region of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have joined you here, choose any place in the entire land of Egypt for them to live. Give them the best land of Egypt. Let them live in the region of Goshen. And if any of them have special skills, put them in charge of my livestock, too.”Pharaoh granted their request, and they avoided suffering. Was there another way God could forgive the sins of human beings? Apparently not. A price had to be paid. God could not simply wipe the slate clean by an act of his choice, because that would violate his justice and holiness. 

    “Everything is possible for you…Please take this cup of suffering away from me.” 

    With one exception: it is not possible for God to act in a way contrary to his nature. It is not possible for God to NOT be holy or just. Thus, in a real sense, it was not possible for God to take the cup of suffering from Jesus, if he was to accomplish redemption.Sometimes our wants don’t line up with God’s will, and it’s not always a sin thing. Not always sin to want something else, but always a sin to consciously reject God’s will.Jesus never sinned, yet he’s expressing a real desire here that doesn’t line up with the Father’s will. 

    In the most human moment in Jesus’ life – in the Garden of Gethsemane – he says the thing that’s hardest for a human to say: “not my will, but yours be done.” 

    This is the essence of godly prayer. Express your heart to a personal God. Then submit to his will no matter what. That’s a dirty word these days: “submission”. “The cup is the same one Jesus referred to in 10:38-39 - the cup of the wrath of God. In the OT it is regularly used as a metaphor of punishment and judgment. Here it obviously refers to Jesus’ death. Jesus’ desire was for the removal of the cup. But he willingly placed his will in submission to his Father’s will.” (EBC)(Pillar New Testament Commentary) Gethsemane… presents us with a uniquely human interplay between the heart of the Son and the will of the Father. Jesus' prayer is not the result of calm absorption into an all-encompassing divine presence, but an intense struggle with the frightful reality of God's will and what it means fully to submit to it.

    “Abba, Father” - look at the personal language. “Daddy”

    Do you pray this way? Informal, pleadingStory: Kenzie’s first stitches, looking at me with pleading eyes: “Daddy, how could you let this happen?”Romans 8:15 (NLT) So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”We can be raw with God! HonestConsider the Psalms…But watch how Paul finishes the thought:Romans 8:17 (NLT) And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.“Everything is possible” for God, but that doesn’t mean he’ll always lead us down a pathway that avoids suffering.

    But look at how hard that is for us: 


    Mark 14:37-38 (NLT) Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”


    Observations: This all occurs at a very late hour. Sleep is understandable given the hour, the stress of the day, etc. Yet they had an assignment, which they could have fulfilled.

    “The verbs ‘watch’ and ‘pray’ are both imperatives…. The conquest of temptation can only come through these two actions. The spirit (a reference to the human spirit) might be willing to do what is right, but the human body is weak.” (EBC)

    Mark 14:39-40 (NLT) Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.


    Interesting: the same prayer as before. Let’s spell it out: ““Everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”


    Mark 14:41-42 (NLT) When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”


    NIV: “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come.”

    The words “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest.” are either ironic (Sleep then, if that’s what is so important to you) or a question (Are you still sleeping and resting?). The latter seems better in view of the situation. (EBC)(Pillar New Testament Commentary) The third time Jesus finds the disciples sleeping he retorts, "'Enough!'" (v. 41). This translation is simply a guess at the meaning of the original apechei, which seems to be an utterance of exasperation, perhaps "'What's the use?'"

    Look at the incredible contrast: Jesus is in anguish; his disciples are snoring! And then the climax: “The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”


    “Up, let’s be going”

    This is the resolve that flows out of godly prayer - let’s do this. God, I’m submitted to you no matter what happens. Your will, not mine. “‘Let’s be going’ cannot be intended to suggest flight, for the Lord had always reserved himself for this ‘hour’ and had now finally embraced the Divine Will concerning it. Jesus did not go to flee from Judas but to meet him.” (EBC)

    Close:

    Q. How should you pray in your hour of need?

    Be honest, vulnerable - share you heart w a personal GodBe willing to submit to his will, even if it means sufferingThen move forward, trusting his will to be done.
    Fri, 01 Mar 2024 - 31min
  • 29 - New Marriage, Same Couple: Part 4

    Today we’re joined again by Josh and Katie Walters, authors of the new book New Marriage, Same Couple. In today’s episode we talk through chapters 11-13 in the book as we wrap up our series and cover the “Y” in the STAY acronym: yield to vision.

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    The PursueGOD Family podcast helps you think biblically about marriage and parenting. Join Bryan and Tracy Dwyer on Wednesday mornings for new topics every week or two.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/family.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

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    Wed, 24 Jan 2024 - 40min
  • 28 - New Marriage, Same Couple: Part 3

    Today we’re joined again by Josh and Katie Walters, authors of the new book New Marriage, Same Couple. In today’s episode we talk through chapters 8, 9, and 10 in the book as we cover the “A” in the STAY acronym: allow others to be a part of your story. 

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    The PursueGOD Family podcast helps you think biblically about marriage and parenting. Join Bryan and Tracy Dwyer on Wednesday mornings for new topics every week or two.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/family.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

    Donate Now

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    Mentioned in this episode:

    Donate Now

    Wed, 17 Jan 2024 - 40min
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