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Original airdate: Sunday, September 15, 2019
*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***
Lead:
Today’s an anniversary for me, of sorts. Join me in just hearing Jesus’ heart?
Intro:
Four years ago today my life changed. I’d met a beautiful woman and was beginning to get to know her. I asked her if she’d like to read the Bible together. I’d read to her over the phone while she was driving to work, and in the evening she’d read a psalm to me. And we read the whole bible, out loud, in a year. Today’s the anniversary of starting that, and I was hopeful we might do that for the rest of our lives together. It was not to be.
Life doesn’t always go the way you’d hope, but I have never stopped the regular Bible reading. But it wasn’t always that way. Like many, many people I’ve talked to, I’d start, stop, start again, drift again. But something clicked inside me. I fell in love. Yes, with a woman, but I fell in love with Jesus again, too.
As of today, four years later I’ve read the Bible through 5.9 times in this last four years, which is more than the previous 16 years combined. Of that nearly six times through, nearly two times through has been out loud into this microphone. 885 programs. Every day. With you.
The Bible is a unified story that all points to Jesus. There is something special about just listening to God speak, sitting at Jesus feet and listening, so to speak, even if we don’t understand it all. You have heard me laugh, you have heard me cry. Most of all, you have been part of my journey whether you realize it or not. It is a privilege to be able to read to you with whatever gift of breath I have today.
Yesterday we read perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible. We heard God’s heart that all would be reconciled in their relationship to Him. It makes me think about what He has called us to — to love Him and to love others, and how many Christians get so wrapped up in other Christians being the wrong kind of Christians that they’re willing to do and say some rather un-Christian things.
Today, though, would you join me in listening to Jesus, forgiving like Jesus, reconciling relationship like Jesus? Would you make it a point to pray for those who hurt you? To love those who talk behind your back? To turn the other cheek? To love those people that you may not even like?
A few days from now in the book of John we will hear Jesus say, “Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends.” But He also says that it’s easy to love someone who loves you. It’s a lot harder to love someone who spits on you. Today I pray that you will remember that Jesus did just that. For you and me. And even for those people in your life who have not treated you well.
Today I’m just going to read. Let’s hear His heart, fall in love all over again, and may His love transform us to be more like Him.
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Bible Segment:
Passage: John 5-6
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 118
Words: ~2535
With All Our Minds Segment
Wisdom Segment
Passage:
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses:
Words:
Love you!
-R
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
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