Exile's Return: Recent Episodes
J. Oliver Glasgow
Covid exile forced our church family, our temples, to shut down and disperse worldwide. We were separated from our spiritual homes and put in remarkably stressful isolation from our community. This project is a simple collection of messages to be sent out, one every “day”, to your church’s leadership in an important preparation to a systematic and effective outreach effort to rebuild your temple that G-d will reveal to you. The pandemic will likely have long-term effects on spiritual health, mental wellbeing, and addiction. Current data point to a major disruption in the way churches live and grow. We’ve lost our ability to community. Can we reverse that trend? We took six books from the Hebrew Bible that address restoration after Babylonian exile and compiled their chapters into timeline-ordered events. What do they have to tell us today? By studying them together, in order, we can find G-d’s solution to this present darkness. Each episode of this podcast will explore a "day" in this journey with a special guest. Tune in to find out more!
In our exciting Season 1 Finale, we speak with 3 amazing and yet typical folks to get some feedback on our journey so far. The fact that they are a close friend, my daughter, and my wife should not be misinterpreted as completely biased... not even remotely!
In music, an intermezzo is a short connecting instrumental movement in an opera or other larger musical work. In this case, we are about 1/4th of the way through this study of rebuilding after exile. It’s good to pause and take an inventory and measurements.
Read along with the Big Take-aways: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day14-5/
We can’t improve a thing without measuring a thing. Before we start production on Season 2, we need your feedback! Please be encouraged to reach out to me with your critique. You can post at http://exilesreturn.blog
Please help us grow our audience by sharing. Season 2 promises to be a block-buster! We can't wait.
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day14/
Who are our prophets today? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:5, there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And in Ephesians 4:11 we see some are prophets. Do we know our own spiritual gifts? Did they know more about spiritual gifts in Ezra’s time than we do today?
Learn more about your spiritual gifts.
What we can glean from this chapter is that the prophets prophesied, and the leaders rose up and started rebuilding. They did this in the face of a hostile government that had ordered them to stop by force with a military presence. In their determination, and rather than taking matters into their own hands, they used faith first to overcome their death to a vision.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Intermezzo #1.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day13/
This passage reminds me of the ghostly message Ray Kinsella heard at the beginning of, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.”
Commentaries can overthink things sometimes, and this chapter is no small exception. In full context, Zechariah is still firmly discussing rebuilding the temple. That’s the subject. Get ready to have yet another wild vision demystified!
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Ezra 5.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day12/
Today's scripture has baffled many upon first reading—particularly if they start here and just read this chapter. But for us, this is a piece of cake because we understand the full context and the previous 10 chapters of chronology.
How are we doing? If you’re excited about this project, please consider getting others involved by sharing the signup with them.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 6.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day10/
We shift from our last focus on the pastorate (Joshua son of Jehozadak) to the executive leadership (Zerubbabel). The imagery can remind us of that used by John in the book of Revelations. The lampstand and 7 lamps are likely the visible temple, being fed oil automatically from two olive trees directly through pipes. The two trees likely represent the “anointed ones”, most directly the executive and pastoral leadership.
It’s an interesting passage set apart for executive leadership, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit”.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 5.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day10/
Do you remember that old John Carpenter sci-fi thriller called, They Live? Other than giving social credence to the mullet haircut, it was best known for the sunglasses that, if you put them on, you could suddenly see the creepy aliens that had been standing right next to you all along. Well… today, the prophet Zechariah is going to provide you, our listeners, with your very own pair of spiritual warfare sunglasses.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 4.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day9/
G-d has a way of cramming chapters of meaning into a single verse like verse 2. If the project was to rebuild the temple, and the goal was to minister to the entire country of Israel, why would the angel be measuring Jerusalem? It may initially seem odd because its perimeter lies between the project and the goal.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 3.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day8/
Here comes one of Zechariah’s psychedelic moments! Even though the seed of revival, sewn through the tag-team duo of Zechariah and Haggai, had taken root in Jerusalem, it still hadn’t spread across the whole land, which was essential to G-d’s plan.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 2.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day7/
This is the raucous episode WWP (World Wrestling Prophets) tag-team smack down as Zachariah and Haggai preach only a handful of days apart on the same subject from two different perspectives. Are you ready to rebuild!?
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 1:7-21.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day6/
At this point in the game, G-d knows what trials we have gone through, and more importantly, He knows the trials to come. In this moment, He asks us to compare our temple: the way it was before exile and the way it is now, and knowing all the trials we face He says, “Take courage and work!”
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Zechariah 1:1-6.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day5/
We land in the dusty streets of a “paused” Jerusalem, Darius has either just taken the throne of Persia for the first time, or as some historians have postulated, he’s returned to clean up some messes his progeny made while he took a little holiday. Here in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel is still the executive leader in charge and the pastoral leadership is still Joshua, or as Ezra captured it, Jeshua.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Haggai 2:1-9.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at http://exilesreturn.blog/ -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
In chapter 4, Ezra steps back and allows a more encompassing view of the future, foreshadowing a death to the vision of rebuilding the temple.
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day2/
Q. Why did the leaders start by rebuilding the altar?
A. Because they were terrified of the peoples of the lands.
Sacrifices, feasts, and festivals were the order of the day. They wanted a public statement of dedication to focus their efforts on rebuilding, and one goal was their defense against the peoples of the lands.
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Ezra chapter 3.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day2/
As the great theologian and writer, Steven Ger, once said, “There’s a lot of great action in genealogies.” Listen in as Jay interviews the other Jay about Elam and the other Elam!
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Ezra chapter 3.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
Learning Material: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/day1/
Are you ready for miracles? How about plans within plans? What is G-d going to reveal to you…to all of us about rebuilding our temple after Covid exile as we read through these 56 days of scriptures together?
Let's start the journey together on this Day 1!
New podcasts available each week. Next week... Ezra chapter 2.
For an introduction to this series, start here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!
"Don't panic"
(written in “large, friendly letters”)The new, hot, breakaway podcast sensation that's about to hook you...all starts right here with this unassuming intro. Find out what all the buzz is about and share it with your friends and family. You're invited to join the online community and read accompanying materials here: https://grow.shalomdfw.care/projects/exilesreturn/overview/
The Lord is trying to tell us something. Something important.
Something…wonderful.
So, grab a cup of tea and pull up a comfy chair. Like a friendly fireside chat on a blustery autumnal eve, it’ll draw us closer, time will fly. What starts out as a simple, friendly conversation will quickly become the opening thread to a greater adventure.
This tempting string, this flaxen filament before us, if we decide to pull it, will reveal a problem of Brobdingnagian proportions that we simply must think through together, you and I. And as we do, a shocking duty will emerge like a rocky spire in a receding, moon-lit tide–one that’s as inescapable as it is foreboding. It calls to us…woos us to engage.
It’s in this moment that I find my heart gladdened that you are here. I couldn’t imagine this epic quest without your skills and your spiritual gifts.
Join host J. Oliver Glasgow as he discusses the Exile's Return project with Military and Police Training Expert and Advisor Jay Garza. This surprisingly touching and eye-opening exploration will leave you craving the next amazing drop of the new hit podcast, Exile's Return!
You can learn more about this exciting outreach project, as well as other great outreach ideas at https://shalomDFW.care -- we hope to see you real soon in the growing community of care. Shalom!