March 1, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode of Bible Bites, we delve into the profound lessons from the withering of the fig tree, an event recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. This moment in Jesus' ministry serves as a powerful metaphor for spiritual fruitfulness and the authority of faith-filled prayer. We explore how the fig tree's barrenness symbolizes the danger of outward religious appearances without true devotion, and how Jesus uses this event to teach about the power of genuine faith and the importance of aligning our prayers with God's will.
We also reflect on the broader implications of this event, particularly its connection to Jesus' cleansing of the temple and the warning against religious hypocrisy. The episode encourages listeners to examine their own spiritual lives, ensuring that their faith is not just an external display but a reflection of a transformed heart. We conclude with a prayer, lifting up various requests from our community, and look forward to discussing the next miracle in our series, where Jesus heals a servant's severed ear.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
We
(00:07):
gather here today
with open hearts and minds
to grow in faith and truth
(00:52):
Welcome to Bible Bites, the podcast where we work to inspire faith
one bite at a time. I'm your host, Randy Black.
One of the more striking moments in Jesus' ministry
is the withering of the fig tree on the road from Bethany.
This event recorded in both the gospels of Matthew and Mark teaches profound lessons on faith,
(01:14):
spiritual fruitfulness,
and the power of prayer.
Through these scriptures,
we're gonna explore the significance of this event, its meaning for believers,
and how we can apply its lessons
in our daily walk with Christ.
As we do each week before we dive into the scripture,
let's open up with a word of prayer.
(01:36):
Heavenly father, we come before you with open hearts seeking wisdom and understanding.
As we study your word,
reveal to us the deep truths within this, the lesson
of the withered fig tree.
Help us to to grow in faith,
to bear good fruit,
and to trust in the power of prayer.
(01:58):
May your spirit guide us to apply these lessons
in our own lives.
In the name of your son, Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 21,
verses 18 through 22.
(02:21):
Now in the morning when he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone. And he said to it, no longer shall there ever be fruit from you. And at once the fig tree withered.
Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, how did the fig tree wither all at once? And Jesus answered and said to them,
(02:45):
truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt,
you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen.
And whatever you ask in prayer,
believing,
you will receive.
(03:07):
Mark chapter 11 verses 12 through 14.
On the next day when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.
Seeing from a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
(03:28):
And his disciples were listening.
Jesus' act of cursing the fig tree seems unusual at glance,
especially since Mark notes that it was not the season for figs.
However,
fig trees in that region typically produce early edible buds before the full fruit develops.
(03:52):
The presence of leaves suggested
the tree might have these buds,
but upon closer inspection,
it was barren.
This serves as a powerful metaphor for spiritual barrenness,
outward signs of vitality,
but lacking
true fruitfulness.
The immediate withering of the tree in Matthew's account highlights the authority and power of Jesus' words.
(04:16):
The disciples'
amazement at this event prompted Jesus to teach about faith and prayer.
The lesson is not merely about the fig tree, but about spiritual integrity
and trust in God's power.
Jesus connects this event to faith, illustrating that genuine faith when exercised without doubt
(04:37):
can accomplish miraculous things.
Additionally, this incident occurred as Jesus was on his way to cleanse the temple, which was another demonstration of judgment against hypocrisy.
Just as the fig tree had the appearance of fruitfulness but was barren,
the religious leaders of Israel displayed
(04:57):
outward piety
yet lacked true devotion to God.
This event serves as a warning
against empty religion and a call to genuine faith and obedience.
Moreover, Jesus's words on prayer emphasize the importance of believing in God's power.
True faith in God is not just about avoiding judgment,
(05:19):
but about actively trusting Him to work through our lives.
Jesus assures His disciples
that faith filled prayer
has the ability
to bring about change
provided
it is aligned
with God's will.
We have some key takeaways from these pieces of scripture.
(05:42):
The is that spiritual fruitfulness matters.
God desires that his people bear spiritual fruit, not just maintain an outward appearance of faith.
The fig tree had leaves but no fruit, symbolizing those who appear religious
but lack true devotion.
As believers, we must examine our hearts to ensure we are actively living out our faith.
(06:07):
This means producing the fruits of the spirit,
engaging in good works, and growing in our relationship with Christ.
A life that only appears godly but lacks spiritual depth
is ultimately
unproductive.
Our next takeaway is that faith has
power.
(06:28):
Jesus uses this moment to teach that faith,
when genuine and unwavering,
can accomplish great things.
The power of faith is not in the believer alone, but in God who responds to a heart that truly trusts him.
When we face challenges,
doubts can creep in,
but Jesus reminds us that faith should be steadfast.
(06:52):
Just as he spoke with authority and saw results,
we too can rely on God's power when we pray and step out in faith.
A life lived in faith will witness the mighty hand of God at work.
Our takeaway deals with the idea of judgment on hypocrisy.
(07:13):
The barren fig tree serves as a warning against religious hypocrisy.
It is possible to look the part, attending church,
praying, quoting scripture,
while still lacking a true relationship with God.
Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his time for this very reason.
(07:34):
God is not interested in mere rituals, but in hearts that genuinely seek him.
We must ask ourselves whether our faith is merely external
or if it flows from a transformed and surrendered heart.
Our last takeaway is that prayer
requires belief.
(07:55):
Jesus assures his disciples that whatever they ask in faith, believing, they will receive.
This does not mean that God grants every request without discernment,
but rather that he honors prayers rooted in faith and aligned with his will.
Our prayers should be filled with confidence in God's power and wisdom.
(08:17):
Doubt weakens our prayers, but trust in God strengthens our relationship with him and deepens our understanding of his will.
When we pray with faith, we acknowledge God's sovereignty
and ability
to act in ways beyond our understanding.
As we reflect on these two passages, we must ask ourselves,
(08:41):
are we bearing spiritual fruit in our lives?
It's easy to focus on outward religious practices, attending church, reading scripture, praying,
but our hearts,
if they are not aligned with Christ,
we risk becoming like the barren fig tree.
Jesus' emphasis on
(09:01):
faith
challenges us to examine the strength
of our trust in God.
Do we truly believe that he can work in our lives,
or do we allow doubt to hinder our prayers?
Faith is not about manipulating outcomes
but about trusting God fully
(09:21):
and surrendering
to his will.
Additionally, these passages encourage us to be mindful of hypocrisy.
Are we presenting ourselves as faithful believers
while neglecting the deeper work of the spirit within us?
God desires authenticity and obedience,
not mere outward expressions of religion.
(09:44):
And finally,
the lesson we have here on prayer reminds us to approach God with confidence.
Prayer is not just a ritual. It is a powerful connection with our creator.
Jesus assures us that when we pray with true faith,
God will respond
according to his perfect plan.
(10:07):
Let's close out our study of the scripture with a word of prayer.
Heavenly father, we thank you for your word
and the lessons we have learned from it today.
Help us
to be spiritually fruitful,
living lives that reflect true devotion to you.
Strengthen our faith
(10:28):
so that we may trust in your power without doubt.
Guard our hearts against hypocrisy,
and lead us
to authentic worship
and obedience.
May our prayers be filled with confidence
knowing that you hear us
and answer according to your will.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
(10:50):
Amen.
This podcast supports podcasting two point o, so feel free to send us a boost if you are listening on a new podcast app. Find your new app now at podcasting2pointorg/apps.
That's podcasting2pointorg/apps.
(11:11):
Here at Bible Bytes, we operate this podcast under what's called the value for value model. And we hope that by providing you this content free each week, we are providing value to you. And that then you in in turn would provide value back to us in one form or another. And we see that you typically in three ways. We call them time, talent, and treasure.
(11:32):
Time is as simple as you take the time you tweak to listen to the podcast,
or you take the time to share it with someone else after you've heard it thinking that this is something they may need,
in their daily walk.
Talent would be offering to assist us in some way with the show by working on our website
or providing cover art for an episode or
providing us with ideas for scriptures and topics to build episodes off of, even writing those those ideas down into the form of an episode.
(12:01):
It could even be stepping up and recording with us and being on the show.
And the last is with treasure. Treasure implies something that is financial in its nature. It is something of great value based on that.
In in this case, you know, if you're listening in a modern podcast app, and you should be listening in a modern podcast app, just on the features that are available there,
(12:22):
you can set up a wallet linked into that app, and you can use it to stream Satoshi's very, very small amounts of Bitcoin.
That's currently the form being used for this.
You can stream those to the show based on the amount of value you're receiving. So if you wanna stream
10 sats a minute, you can do that. If you wanna send a thousand sats a minute, you can do that. It's up to you. It's your choice on how much value you're receiving. You can also use those modern podcast app to send us a boost. A boost is a one time pledge of support in some amount of Satoshis,
(12:53):
or you can send a boost to gram, which is the same as a boost, but also includes a message. And you can use the boost to gram to also send in prayer requests to us, and we'll talk about those in just a moment.
You could also head to our website where we have a widget embedded on the site,
that you can use PayPal, Venmo to send us a pledge of support, or you can set up a recurring pledge of support that way for the show.
(13:17):
We also have links there for Strike and for ALBI. Both of those are tools we can use to allow you to provide support to us in in another way. And we have a link there where you can purchase one time credits on a service we use to process our audio called Auphonic.
We could use that to help in our production flow with the show.
(13:37):
If you wanna learn more about the value for value model and how it is that we apply it to this show and use it, then head over to our website, and you can read up on it, by going to bible-bytes.com/v4v.
That's bible-byteswithay,bytes.com/theletter4
theletterv,thenumberfour,theletterv.
(13:59):
Biblebytes.com.
Bible-bytes.com/v4v.
If you have a prayer request, please reach out to us here on the show that we can,
share that with the audience in hopes that we can all raise those requests up to the Lord.
You can do that by going to our website. There's a prayer request form there on our website you could use. You can also send it to us in a BoostiGram.
(14:23):
But we have some requests to lift up this week, and we also have a praise report that I wanna share.
off, I wanna continue to remember my parents. My dad has finished up his cancer treatments. We're in a process of waiting to see where it goes, but I still wanna remember them and everything that they've gone through with this and also that we can hopefully get them back into church each week,
(14:43):
serving and worshiping together with others,
for the Lord.
I wanna
lift up the the Scarberry family,
gentleman
who I was very close with, growing up named Chris.
Chris's father, who I also became close with, lost
his,
Chris lost his father this week, he and his mother, Neli.
(15:06):
Irvin was a great man, was an educator for over forty years in our local school system, was a deacon in several in in in a church. He actually was a deacon in the church my father pastored at one time,
But a good Christian man,
was an inspiration for so many people,
a a gentleman that even when we weren't attending church and stuff with him, when I would see him, run into him at a school for some reason or another. He'd always, you know, check on me to see how I was doing and tell me he was proud of what I'd done in becoming an educator when I was in the classroom and stuff. So we wanna remember their family and his they recently lost, Irvin's sister as well. So we wanna continue to remember them as a whole family that, you know, that they can be touched and and
(15:48):
and blessed,
by the Lord and and comforted as they go through this time. And most importantly, that if anyone in the family isn't
worshiping,
weekly or isn't isn't a Christian, isn't saved, that they can they can find that path back in their life and and use it to lead them in the right way. Now I wanna continue to remember,
(16:08):
close friends, Greg and Kim. Kim with her treatment for the her the what she's dealing with in in her illness,
as well as Greg and everything going on with him and the potential of the of cancer with him.
Continue to remember my dad's cousin who worked for him, Kevin, as he goes through all the the process of everything he's going through with,
his toe being amputated and all that and the recovery he's going through. And continue to remember me, still
(16:34):
adjusting with the medicine, having some side effects. They're not bad, but they are a little annoying at times, but still working my way through this whole process.
And a praise report, I had the chance to stop and speak with Tim Kolekka, who we've been requesting prayer for. I wanna continue to request prayer for him. Had a chance to stop and speak with him on Thursday this week,
(16:54):
and see how he's doing. They've made some changes in his medication as his wife had told me, but he's doing well. He's still very much
praising the lord for everything that's going on, that he knows that it's it's God and God's hands that are taking care of him through this and helping to heal him. So, very, very happy to see that and hear that from him, but also very you know, still want to continue to remember him in prayer as we go through this.
(17:18):
So let's before we close out the show and
talk about,
our our episode for next week,
let's let's close out,
with a prayer for these requests.
Heavenly father, we thank you again for this chance, this amazing opportunity to
share your word with others and to learn from it. We lift up these requests to you,
(17:40):
my mom and dad, the Scarberry family, Greg and Kim, Kevin,
myself,
Tim,
and Tim's wife as she helps him through this.
We know that you know
what these requests are and what the needs are. We wanna lift up those unspoken requests that people in our audience
may have that they haven't had the chance to share with us.
(18:01):
You hold the answers to these, and whatever answers you provide will be within your will, and we trust that, that you're going to guide these things in the right direction
in the way that best fits with your will.
It's in your name we keep working each week producing the episodes to share your word with the world in hopes that it guides someone and helps them as they go through this process in life of serving you, but more importantly that they might take it and share it with someone else who hears it and starts to to look at things, and they feel that stirring in their heart,
(18:35):
and they come to know your son, Jesus, as their savior.
And they then can spend eternity in heaven with all of us who are saved and with you and with your son.
To the name of your son, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.
Our next episode will be miracle 36 out of 37
in our series as we've started the show,
(18:56):
over the last thirty five weeks.
We wanna take a look at this miracle next week,
as we prepare to move in a new direction after we hit our 30 miracle in the series,
and we'll talk about that later on when we get there. But miracle number 36 in the series
is when Jesus heals a servant's severed ear
(19:17):
while he is being arrested,
and you can find that in the gospel of Luke,
That is chapter 22
verses fifty
and fifty one. So join us on the next episode of Bible Bites, the podcast
where we work to inspire faith
one bite at a time. Bible
bites.
(19:38):
Bible
bites.
Inspiring
faith one bite at a time.
We
(00:07):
gather here today
with open hearts and minds
to grow in faith and truth
(00:52):
Welcome to Bible Bites, the podcast where we work to inspire faith
one bite at a time. I'm your host, Randy Black.
One of the more striking moments in Jesus' ministry
is the withering of the fig tree on the road from Bethany.
This event recorded in both the gospels of Matthew and Mark teaches profound lessons on faith,
(01:14):
spiritual fruitfulness,
and the power of prayer.
Through these scriptures,
we're gonna explore the significance of this event, its meaning for believers,
and how we can apply its lessons
in our daily walk with Christ.
As we do each week before we dive into the scripture,
let's open up with a word of prayer.
(01:36):
Heavenly father, we come before you with open hearts seeking wisdom and understanding.
As we study your word,
reveal to us the deep truths within this, the lesson
of the withered fig tree.
Help us to to grow in faith,
to bear good fruit,
and to trust in the power of prayer.
(01:58):
May your spirit guide us to apply these lessons
in our own lives.
In the name of your son, Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 21,
verses 18 through 22.
(02:21):
Now in the morning when he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone. And he said to it, no longer shall there ever be fruit from you. And at once the fig tree withered.
Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, how did the fig tree wither all at once? And Jesus answered and said to them,
(02:45):
truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt,
you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen.
And whatever you ask in prayer,
believing,
you will receive.
(03:07):
Mark chapter 11 verses 12 through 14.
On the next day when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.
Seeing from a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
(03:28):
And his disciples were listening.
Jesus' act of cursing the fig tree seems unusual at glance,
especially since Mark notes that it was not the season for figs.
However,
fig trees in that region typically produce early edible buds before the full fruit develops.
(03:52):
The presence of leaves suggested
the tree might have these buds,
but upon closer inspection,
it was barren.
This serves as a powerful metaphor for spiritual barrenness,
outward signs of vitality,
but lacking
true fruitfulness.
The immediate withering of the tree in Matthew's account highlights the authority and power of Jesus' words.
(04:16):
The disciples'
amazement at this event prompted Jesus to teach about faith and prayer.
The lesson is not merely about the fig tree, but about spiritual integrity
and trust in God's power.
Jesus connects this event to faith, illustrating that genuine faith when exercised without doubt
(04:37):
can accomplish miraculous things.
Additionally, this incident occurred as Jesus was on his way to cleanse the temple, which was another demonstration of judgment against hypocrisy.
Just as the fig tree had the appearance of fruitfulness but was barren,
the religious leaders of Israel displayed
(04:57):
outward piety
yet lacked true devotion to God.
This event serves as a warning
against empty religion and a call to genuine faith and obedience.
Moreover, Jesus's words on prayer emphasize the importance of believing in God's power.
True faith in God is not just about avoiding judgment,
(05:19):
but about actively trusting Him to work through our lives.
Jesus assures His disciples
that faith filled prayer
has the ability
to bring about change
provided
it is aligned
with God's will.
We have some key takeaways from these pieces of scripture.
(05:42):
The is that spiritual fruitfulness matters.
God desires that his people bear spiritual fruit, not just maintain an outward appearance of faith.
The fig tree had leaves but no fruit, symbolizing those who appear religious
but lack true devotion.
As believers, we must examine our hearts to ensure we are actively living out our faith.
(06:07):
This means producing the fruits of the spirit,
engaging in good works, and growing in our relationship with Christ.
A life that only appears godly but lacks spiritual depth
is ultimately
unproductive.
Our next takeaway is that faith has
power.
(06:28):
Jesus uses this moment to teach that faith,
when genuine and unwavering,
can accomplish great things.
The power of faith is not in the believer alone, but in God who responds to a heart that truly trusts him.
When we face challenges,
doubts can creep in,
but Jesus reminds us that faith should be steadfast.
(06:52):
Just as he spoke with authority and saw results,
we too can rely on God's power when we pray and step out in faith.
A life lived in faith will witness the mighty hand of God at work.
Our takeaway deals with the idea of judgment on hypocrisy.
(07:13):
The barren fig tree serves as a warning against religious hypocrisy.
It is possible to look the part, attending church,
praying, quoting scripture,
while still lacking a true relationship with God.
Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his time for this very reason.
(07:34):
God is not interested in mere rituals, but in hearts that genuinely seek him.
We must ask ourselves whether our faith is merely external
or if it flows from a transformed and surrendered heart.
Our last takeaway is that prayer
requires belief.
(07:55):
Jesus assures his disciples that whatever they ask in faith, believing, they will receive.
This does not mean that God grants every request without discernment,
but rather that he honors prayers rooted in faith and aligned with his will.
Our prayers should be filled with confidence in God's power and wisdom.
(08:17):
Doubt weakens our prayers, but trust in God strengthens our relationship with him and deepens our understanding of his will.
When we pray with faith, we acknowledge God's sovereignty
and ability
to act in ways beyond our understanding.
As we reflect on these two passages, we must ask ourselves,
(08:41):
are we bearing spiritual fruit in our lives?
It's easy to focus on outward religious practices, attending church, reading scripture, praying,
but our hearts,
if they are not aligned with Christ,
we risk becoming like the barren fig tree.
Jesus' emphasis on
(09:01):
faith
challenges us to examine the strength
of our trust in God.
Do we truly believe that he can work in our lives,
or do we allow doubt to hinder our prayers?
Faith is not about manipulating outcomes
but about trusting God fully
(09:21):
and surrendering
to his will.
Additionally, these passages encourage us to be mindful of hypocrisy.
Are we presenting ourselves as faithful believers
while neglecting the deeper work of the spirit within us?
God desires authenticity and obedience,
not mere outward expressions of religion.
(09:44):
And finally,
the lesson we have here on prayer reminds us to approach God with confidence.
Prayer is not just a ritual. It is a powerful connection with our creator.
Jesus assures us that when we pray with true faith,
God will respond
according to his perfect plan.
(10:07):
Let's close out our study of the scripture with a word of prayer.
Heavenly father, we thank you for your word
and the lessons we have learned from it today.
Help us
to be spiritually fruitful,
living lives that reflect true devotion to you.
Strengthen our faith
(10:28):
so that we may trust in your power without doubt.
Guard our hearts against hypocrisy,
and lead us
to authentic worship
and obedience.
May our prayers be filled with confidence
knowing that you hear us
and answer according to your will.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
(10:50):
Amen.
This podcast supports podcasting two point o, so feel free to send us a boost if you are listening on a new podcast app. Find your new app now at podcasting2pointorg/apps.
That's podcasting2pointorg/apps.
(11:11):
Here at Bible Bytes, we operate this podcast under what's called the value for value model. And we hope that by providing you this content free each week, we are providing value to you. And that then you in in turn would provide value back to us in one form or another. And we see that you typically in three ways. We call them time, talent, and treasure.
(11:32):
Time is as simple as you take the time you tweak to listen to the podcast,
or you take the time to share it with someone else after you've heard it thinking that this is something they may need,
in their daily walk.
Talent would be offering to assist us in some way with the show by working on our website
or providing cover art for an episode or
providing us with ideas for scriptures and topics to build episodes off of, even writing those those ideas down into the form of an episode.
(12:01):
It could even be stepping up and recording with us and being on the show.
And the last is with treasure. Treasure implies something that is financial in its nature. It is something of great value based on that.
In in this case, you know, if you're listening in a modern podcast app, and you should be listening in a modern podcast app, just on the features that are available there,
(12:22):
you can set up a wallet linked into that app, and you can use it to stream Satoshi's very, very small amounts of Bitcoin.
That's currently the form being used for this.
You can stream those to the show based on the amount of value you're receiving. So if you wanna stream
10 sats a minute, you can do that. If you wanna send a thousand sats a minute, you can do that. It's up to you. It's your choice on how much value you're receiving. You can also use those modern podcast app to send us a boost. A boost is a one time pledge of support in some amount of Satoshis,
(12:53):
or you can send a boost to gram, which is the same as a boost, but also includes a message. And you can use the boost to gram to also send in prayer requests to us, and we'll talk about those in just a moment.
You could also head to our website where we have a widget embedded on the site,
that you can use PayPal, Venmo to send us a pledge of support, or you can set up a recurring pledge of support that way for the show.
(13:17):
We also have links there for Strike and for ALBI. Both of those are tools we can use to allow you to provide support to us in in another way. And we have a link there where you can purchase one time credits on a service we use to process our audio called Auphonic.
We could use that to help in our production flow with the show.
(13:37):
If you wanna learn more about the value for value model and how it is that we apply it to this show and use it, then head over to our website, and you can read up on it, by going to bible-bytes.com/v4v.
That's bible-byteswithay,bytes.com/theletter4
theletterv,thenumberfour,theletterv.
(13:59):
Biblebytes.com.
Bible-bytes.com/v4v.
If you have a prayer request, please reach out to us here on the show that we can,
share that with the audience in hopes that we can all raise those requests up to the Lord.
You can do that by going to our website. There's a prayer request form there on our website you could use. You can also send it to us in a BoostiGram.
(14:23):
But we have some requests to lift up this week, and we also have a praise report that I wanna share.
off, I wanna continue to remember my parents. My dad has finished up his cancer treatments. We're in a process of waiting to see where it goes, but I still wanna remember them and everything that they've gone through with this and also that we can hopefully get them back into church each week,
(14:43):
serving and worshiping together with others,
for the Lord.
I wanna
lift up the the Scarberry family,
gentleman
who I was very close with, growing up named Chris.
Chris's father, who I also became close with, lost
his,
Chris lost his father this week, he and his mother, Neli.
(15:06):
Irvin was a great man, was an educator for over forty years in our local school system, was a deacon in several in in in a church. He actually was a deacon in the church my father pastored at one time,
But a good Christian man,
was an inspiration for so many people,
a a gentleman that even when we weren't attending church and stuff with him, when I would see him, run into him at a school for some reason or another. He'd always, you know, check on me to see how I was doing and tell me he was proud of what I'd done in becoming an educator when I was in the classroom and stuff. So we wanna remember their family and his they recently lost, Irvin's sister as well. So we wanna continue to remember them as a whole family that, you know, that they can be touched and and
(15:48):
and blessed,
by the Lord and and comforted as they go through this time. And most importantly, that if anyone in the family isn't
worshiping,
weekly or isn't isn't a Christian, isn't saved, that they can they can find that path back in their life and and use it to lead them in the right way. Now I wanna continue to remember,
(16:08):
close friends, Greg and Kim. Kim with her treatment for the her the what she's dealing with in in her illness,
as well as Greg and everything going on with him and the potential of the of cancer with him.
Continue to remember my dad's cousin who worked for him, Kevin, as he goes through all the the process of everything he's going through with,
his toe being amputated and all that and the recovery he's going through. And continue to remember me, still
(16:34):
adjusting with the medicine, having some side effects. They're not bad, but they are a little annoying at times, but still working my way through this whole process.
And a praise report, I had the chance to stop and speak with Tim Kolekka, who we've been requesting prayer for. I wanna continue to request prayer for him. Had a chance to stop and speak with him on Thursday this week,
(16:54):
and see how he's doing. They've made some changes in his medication as his wife had told me, but he's doing well. He's still very much
praising the lord for everything that's going on, that he knows that it's it's God and God's hands that are taking care of him through this and helping to heal him. So, very, very happy to see that and hear that from him, but also very you know, still want to continue to remember him in prayer as we go through this.
(17:18):
So let's before we close out the show and
talk about,
our our episode for next week,
let's let's close out,
with a prayer for these requests.
Heavenly father, we thank you again for this chance, this amazing opportunity to
share your word with others and to learn from it. We lift up these requests to you,
(17:40):
my mom and dad, the Scarberry family, Greg and Kim, Kevin,
myself,
Tim,
and Tim's wife as she helps him through this.
We know that you know
what these requests are and what the needs are. We wanna lift up those unspoken requests that people in our audience
may have that they haven't had the chance to share with us.
(18:01):
You hold the answers to these, and whatever answers you provide will be within your will, and we trust that, that you're going to guide these things in the right direction
in the way that best fits with your will.
It's in your name we keep working each week producing the episodes to share your word with the world in hopes that it guides someone and helps them as they go through this process in life of serving you, but more importantly that they might take it and share it with someone else who hears it and starts to to look at things, and they feel that stirring in their heart,
(18:35):
and they come to know your son, Jesus, as their savior.
And they then can spend eternity in heaven with all of us who are saved and with you and with your son.
To the name of your son, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.
Our next episode will be miracle 36 out of 37
in our series as we've started the show,
(18:56):
over the last thirty five weeks.
We wanna take a look at this miracle next week,
as we prepare to move in a new direction after we hit our 30 miracle in the series,
and we'll talk about that later on when we get there. But miracle number 36 in the series
is when Jesus heals a servant's severed ear
(19:17):
while he is being arrested,
and you can find that in the gospel of Luke,
That is chapter 22
verses fifty
and fifty one. So join us on the next episode of Bible Bites, the podcast
where we work to inspire faith
one bite at a time. Bible
bites.
(19:38):
Bible
bites.
Inspiring
faith one bite at a time.
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