"Word to Life" Audio Devo: Recent Episodes
Steve Cook
"Word to Life" is a weekly audio devotional, covering one solar calendar year, beginning at the biblical first week of the year - Passover/Easter Week (Exodus 12:2, Mark 14:1). It features 2 minutes of highly realistic and engaging Scripture drama followed by 2 minutes of commentary by Steve Cook. It's perfect for family, school or small group devotionals.
I’ll always remember this time a couple of years ago when I got this really deep, close hug from my daughter. Y’know the kind that make you think about the time when she won’t be so close anymore, and it makes you savor every second?
And then when it was over, neither one of us knew quite what to do next. And we were just standing there.And then my daughter did what most 3-year-olds do to express their joy. She started jumping up and down, holding out her hands for me to join her in a little father-daughter happy dance.
Oftentimes, the thing we most want to express - like joy - we can’t. And I think that’s the case sometimes when it comes to sharing the Gospel. We know what Christ has done for us, we want to share that joy with others, but we don’t think we have the right words or - worse yet - we think we’ll say the wrong thing. So, we just don’t do it. We don’t take the leap.
It’s interesting that Mary doesn’t even have to use any words to tell Elizabeth about Jesus. A pre-natal John Baptist does it for her…by jumping up and down in the womb. The joy is unspoken, but unmistakable. Because that’s how God works. Not with wise persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, as Paul writes about in 1Corinthians.
We don’t need the right words. We need to be like my daughter, and John Baptist. We need to go ahead and jump, with our arms stretched out in love. And let the Spirit take it from there.
The other day I was blowing leaves in my driveway with my 5-year-old son. And as usual, he was helping me out with his toy blower. And I decided to go over and surprise him with an opportunity to use the big blower for a minute. And the look on his face must have been similar to the one the shepherds had on their faces that night. The look of uncertainty, at first, but quickly replaced by an overwhelming joy and gratitude at the unexpected gift that they had been given.
I love the last verse in that story, “The shepherds returned praising God, and glorifying Him, for all that they had seen and heard, as it was told to them.”
The shepherds were not the most respected men in Bethlehem. If a shepherd came up to you in the street and said that God had chosen him to tell you the Messiah had finally come, and that you would find him outside of town, laying in a feeding trough, along with a teenage peasant girl and her Galilean husband….I guess today, you might just smirk and say, “Really?”
And yet, the Bible tells us that all who heard what the shepherds said “wondered” at it.
This literally is the story of the most important event in the history of the world being accomplished by some of the most unimportant people. And yet, it IS accomplished.
So, let us be like the shepherds, and like my son, let us receive and believe the gracious gift of God’s word with great wonder and excitement. And let us overflow with the gratitude of a child.
Really.
Matthew 2:1-12 is, of course, one of the famous parts of the Christmas Story and is used by the Spirit to great effect for the Kingdom at this time of year. But did you know that Matthew 1 is probably responsible for just as many people coming to faith in Christ over the centuries? It is well-documented by missionaries that entire tribes have been saved simply by hearing Jesus' genealogy. Older cultures still often verify identity this way. And it’s definitely no accident that the Apostle Matthew put it at the beginning of his Gospel, and thus, at the beginning of the Emmanuel Story.
The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 is one of the beautiful things that sets the Bible apart from every other "Holy" book. It is the only one that offers such accountability for its claims to truth, both historically and chronologically.
So this Christmas, as you read Luke 1 with your family, don’t forget to do the same with Matthew 1. It is equally as important.
The birth of the Christ child brought two kinds of peace: 1) Peace with God (Romans 5:1) and 2) Peace with the world (John 16:33). May we all know both this Christmas.
Oftentimes famous passages can reveal even deeper truths when we examine the verses before or after them.
One such passage is Philippians 2:12-13…
The “mountaintop” immediately followed by the “valley”. Doesn’t God seem to work that way a lot?
In Mark 6, Jesus performs the only miracle besides the Resurrection to be mentioned in all 4 Gospels…
Confession: Whenever I have thought of the Book of James in the past, I have usually thought first of legalism. After all, some of its most famous verses seem to be in praise not only temperance, but of outright affliction and indeed (gasp) even "working" for my salvation...
The Revised Geneva Translation, based on the Geneva Bible of the 1500’s, differs from many other modern versions of Scripture in several places.
One such pace is…
Did you know the Ethiopian eunuch's testimony in Acts 8:37 is omitted from the Greek base text of most major modern translations of the Holy Bible? (NIV, NLT, NASB, ESV, etc)…
…Words matter; especially God's words; and especially if you're acting them out (or speaking them) in front of people. You’d better know exactly what you're saying and why...
None of us, if our child asks for bread, will give him a stone. But what if he asks for candy…?
Active Scripture Memorization Wait a minute. Isn't that redundant? I mean, all Scripture is supposed to be “living and active” already, right? (Hebrews 4:12) Ahh, yes, but it's not the Scripture that needs activating. It's the memorization of it…
If I want to know the central promise of the Gospel, I need listen no further than Revelation 21:4-8….
Sometimes people ask, "So, what's the difference between The Revised Geneva Translation and other Bibles?" Good question!
In addition to several completely unique renderings of New Testament passages like Matthew 6:13a, Luke 2:14, Acts 24:27, John 1:15, Acts 17:22, 1Corinthians 9:5, and Philippians 4:13, the RGT also renders several Old Testament verses uniquely.
One example is Exodus 12:31…
It’s one thing to know the Truth. It’s quite another to trust in it.
That was Satan’s fatal flaw. He knew God’s power very well, but he trusted in his own power more.
Jesus only says “have you not read... (Scripture)?” when talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees?
When speaking to His disciples, He almost exclusively uses words like “hear” and “see” when referring to the Word of God…
Sometimes people ask, "So, what's the difference between The Revised Geneva Translation and other Bibles?" Good question!
One difference is the RGT's carefully considered rendering of the same ancient Greek word in 1Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:8, Romans 12:13 and Hebrews 13:2. See if you can guess what it is…
DID YOU KNOW...? ...there is a false teaching that both of Jesus' Commandments from Matthew 22:36-40 (and Mark 12:29-31) are of equal value?
A great conversation starter with an unbeliever is to ask one simple question, "What is your source of Truth?"
This question must be answered in order to explain the…
Cornelius' words about fasting in Acts 10:30 are omitted from most major modern translations of Scripture. (NIV, NLT, NASB, ESV, etc)…
In August of 2009, when I first began memorizing and dramatizing long passages of Scripture, I also began to petition the Holy Spirit for new and more effective ways to approach the lost.
This week a look at Mark 2 reminds me that when it comes down to it, Jesus wants the same thing that I want; to be loved for who I am, not just for what I can do.
DID YOU KNOW...? there's a great mnemonic for remembering the last 7 Books of the New Testament, from 1Peter all the way to Revelation?
In Luke 5:8, after Jesus fills his boat with fish, Peter quotes Isaiah 6:5 to express a seminal point in his spiritual transformation…