Bible in a Year (The Story) Podcast
Bible in a Year (The Story) podcast features Professor Rachel Bodell, a marketing storyteller who teaches marketing, innovation, and leadership at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA University). She will not only read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation in one year, but she will share all the resources that have helped her to understand the Bible as one unfolding connected story along the way through short commentaries and reflections from biblical scholars, most of which read original biblical languages like Hebrew and Greek (e.g., Dr. Tim Mackie, N.T. Wright, Dr. Carmen Imes, Dr. Jeannine Hanger, Dr. James Petitfils, Kristi Mclelland, Dr. John Walton, Dr. Michael Heiser, and Dr. Lucy, Peppiatt) By 2024, we hope to additionally offer special episodes from the renowned Bible scholars themselves that will help you understand the context of hard-to-understand stories within the meta-narrative of the Bible. We want to help you not only listen but hear what God is saying through the Bible every year and grow in your understanding, practice, and re-telling of the story to others as you learn more about how all the pieces of the Bible fit together to tell the GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD with a God that is inviting us to participate in the story as it is unfolding today! Each episode is about 15 minutes and includes two to three scripture readings and a short commentary and reflection with suggested biblical scholar sources (e.g. The Bible Project and Premiere Insights) for this is our prayer ”that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:9-11). Some passages of the Bible and commentary reflections contain adult themes that may not be suitable for younger children - parental discretion is advised. Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Listen on:
Episodes
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
This is the weekend review and reflection challenge. We'll be back on Monday! If you need to catch up, the weekend gives you the chance to do that. Remember, you can start whenever, pause whenever, but never stop listening (or reading) the Bible!
Reflection challenge question: What is one or two things you learned this week from listening to the Bible that you can put into practice in your life today?
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to our show wherever you are podcasting to get notifications to remind you on Monday that the show has been posted! Subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing our show also helps to organically grow our channel and make it easier for people to find us! Thanks for listening and we look forward to being back with you next week.
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 64-66, and Ezekiel 22-23
Resources:
Daniel I. Block. (1997). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. Eerdmans.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 61-63, and Ezekiel 20-21. God is acting in accordance with His character, He cannot let evil endure, the cup of iniquity is full, and He will act for the sake of His reputation and His purposes. Ezekiel is making it known that Israel is one of many and their sins took root in Egypt and He will respond to infidelity and apostasy, it cannot be allowed and He can use human enemies to avenge the sacred corruption and spurning of His grace.
Resources:
Daniel I. Block. (1997). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. Eerdmans.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 59-60, and Ezekiel 17-19. In this story, we are reminded that repentance and returning to God are intrinsically linked in the Hebrew language "shuva" return, and "teshuva," repent. The root in both words is to return. This seems to be the described pre-operative steps toward God's gift of a new heart and a new soul, to live.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 57-58, and Ezekiel 14-16. Adult theme warning. We read a parabolic marriage metaphor with a dark allegorical twist (e.g. graphic storytelling imagery) - the marriage goes south with adultery (e.g. for pleasure) which is more frequently described as prostitution (e.g., for profit, gain, numbness). Then this story becomes different from the other similar parables we have read such as the Hosea story or even the Sodom and Gomorra story where Lot's daughters are spared and Hosea pursues His unfaithful wife for restoration. The outcome reads more like Judge 19, where there is shaming and violence that is so gruesome it is hard to consider. We are also reminded that this story is a parable using allegory within the context of a marriage metaphor and not actually about God and a woman but the relationship between God and Jerusalem, the Israelite people which is likened to this scenario, the point being the accusation is here and judgement is being rendered through exile and the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. Perhaps the parable is so allegorically dark and graphic to shock the hardened hearts of the people of Israel, to reach their wayward souls. This story is not condoning violence against women. Have you every listened to a story that is meant to illustrate the truth in imagery or story but you found the crassness or dark humor distasteful and problematic? This story is like that for me. I understand the lesson, the hidden meaning is conveyed, but it doesn't mean I liked the way the message was conveyed. We know from the stories we have already read, God wants right relationship with His people and will not give up on them or His purpose, His rescue mission, His desire to right-side the world.
Resources:
Daniel I. Block. (1997). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. Eerdmans.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 54-56, and Ezekiel 12-13. We are being reminded of the two responses to Jesus "the Servant." The first is to be humble and repent to receive God's blessing and become a transformed heart, a servant, a seed for the Messianic Kingdom. The second is to reject both "the Servant" and the servants of "the Servant." We also learn that "whitewashing" God's truth or prophesying with our imagination in a way that is drifted and not anchored in God's story, God's message, will ensnare people, encouraging people to wickedness, and discouraging the righteous.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Saturday Sep 02, 2023
Saturday Sep 02, 2023
This is the weekend review and reflection challenge. We'll be back on Monday! If you need to catch up, the weekend gives you the chance to do that. Remember, you can start whenever, pause whenever, but never stop listening (or reading) the Bible!
Reflection challenge question: What is one or two things you learned this week from listening to the Bible that you can put into practice in your life today?
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to our show wherever you are podcasting to get notifications to remind you on Monday that the show has been posted! Subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing our show also helps to organically grow our channel and make it easier for people to find us! Thanks for listening and we look forward to being back with you next week.
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Today is Isaiah 50-53 and Ezekiel 10-11.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 47-49 and Ezekiel 8-9. We are being told to lift up our eyes, to remember that God can take us from the warriors that hold us captive or the idols that have our hearts. And Yes, God can take us, who have become plunder for the adversary, tested in the furnace of affliction, and retrieve us. We are reminded that God is the first and the last. He created it all and it all works together for Him. His glory will not, cannot be denied. We are reminded to come near and listen to the Lord for He teaches us what is best and the direction to go. He gives peace, well-being, a name, and progeny. We are called by God to leave the things that have captured our hearts and declare the joy, be strengthened in the Lord and declare this message of redemption to others for He will provide water from the rock in the deserts we find ourselves in; He will be our sanctuary, our wing to provide shadow and flight. We read that the Lord will not quit on Israel, He will not desert His promise, He will display His glory and honor through His people. He will be their strength. He is their reward. His salvation will be a gift to all the earth and for all time. We are reminded yet again, that judgement, the fire, the desert, the valley of the shadow of death, the storm is intentional but the intent is not harm, it's to refine, transform, hewn us, those around us, and all creation. Not just that, but that God will be with us in front as a guide. He will be our rear guard and He will be our sanctuary in and through it all.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Today we read Isaiah 44-46 and Ezekiel 6-7. In this story, God is making clear, turn to me (Yahweh), listen to me, remember me. I (Yahweh) am God, there is no other. There is none like me. In the Lord alone is deliverance and strength. God says I have made you. I will carry you. I will sustain you (even in your old age). I will rescue you. He brings His righteousness near, even though we are far away from His righteousness and are stubborn-hearted. There is this sense of pursuit and urgency. In grace, in judgement, through it all God is working His plan, His promises and we will know He is Lord, through it all.
Credits
Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.