August 13, 2024 • 37 mins
Ever felt the struggle between worry and worship? Join us on this heartfelt episode of the Sojo Show where AJ and Jen reminisce over nearly six years of amazing Bible studies from Sojo Academy.
We talk about the value of investing in truthful resources, hint at exciting upcoming plans, and share a few laughs about the technical challenges of recording.
Join us for a blend of heartfelt reflection, spiritual insight, and humorous moments as we navigate these enriching topics together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome to the Sojo Show with Jen and AJ, where
you'll dig deep into God's Wordalongside two imperfect,
frequently ineloquent women, aswe discover fresh ways to walk
out God's truth together.
Hello, welcome to the Sojo Show.
(00:40):
I am here alongside AJ andshe's actually in the dark.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I actually scared her .
We are recording this on Zoomand I scared her when I came on.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
What is happening?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So if we have time we will put a little blooper of
that in a visual for you guysyeah, we should make a quick
screenshot, quick screenshot,are you ready?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
yeah, sure, I mean like any cheese should I do sure
.
Okay, so I will post thatsomewhere because it's like okay
I told her I was her worstnightmare reappearing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was so scary.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So we're here together.
We're going to skip the earlynonsense because I'm sure we'll
have nonsense throughout, andwe're going to jump right in.
So, aj, do you want to tell themasses that have been awaiting?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
this episode what we're going to do.
Yeah, I'm sure everybody hasbeen waiting on bated breath,
but I will say before we makethe announcement, I will say
that we've been working reallyhard behind the scenes and
that's one of the reasons why wehaven't dropped a podcast
episode every week like wenormally have been doing.
For the past what two and ahalf years almost, we've been
(02:02):
working really hard behind thescenes.
So today we get to give you alittle sneak peek of what that
has been and we're kind ofkicking it off with something
fun.
So today we are going to reviewsome of our favorite studies
that we have written inside SojaAcademy, and actually we should
probably back up a little bitand say how many studies we've
(02:24):
written over the past howevermany years.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So we've been doing this now for almost six years.
We are coming up on six years.
Can you believe that?
First of all, and as far asSojo Academy and so, we've
written a study every singlemonth so you can do the math on
that and so we have about 60 to65 studies, I believe, in total,
(02:48):
and it has been an incredible,an incredible journey, and some
of the studies come really easyfor us and some are not as easy
to write, and so we thought thatwe would take the opportunity
to kind of look back at these.
And now, don't worry, if you'relistening and you're like, oh,
you know, this is not going toapply to me, it will, because
(03:11):
our prayer is that, as we thinkthrough the truths that we
studied over the last few yearsjust a few it will inspire you
to go and look in God's word foryourself.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, because, as we've written all of these
studies and we've reflected onsome of those things that we've
learned, that's what makes agood study a good study right Is
when you really hear somethingfrom the Lord and you get
something to apply to your life.
And so those are the highlightswe're going to be sharing today
, which is I can't wait to hearwhat you have to share, Jen,
because I'm sure yours aredifferent than mine, and it'll
(03:43):
just be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And I will be honest with you.
We first started doing this.
We were just going to pick ourfavorite study.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That's way too hard.
65 studies.
I was like, no, no, that's waytoo hard, I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So we did narrow it down to three, three each, so
we're going to pop through themvery quickly, but again, I want
you to listen to these, notbecause we wrote them and not
because we think the studies arethat great, but because we know
that the truth we uncoverthrough reading God's word by
(04:17):
doing these studies is what islife transforming?
It does transform lives when wehear from God and that's why
we're looking at it.
Okay, are you ready?
Do you have yours?
I can, I can.
I got one.
Okay, go ahead.
So the the first that came to mymind, which is really, really
(04:38):
interesting, because it is notone of the ones that we often
highlight, like we're really.
We often highlight the armor ofGod, study, battle ready, and
the anxiety study, which is soapplicable right now, and some
of the women of the word studies.
So we highlight those a lot andand those are important studies
(04:59):
.
But the one study that came tomy mind when I thought of what,
what, what may be, my favoriteis one called it's actually
titled it, oh Lord, how Long andit was a study on the book of
Habakkuk.
So Habakkuk was one of theminor prophets.
It's a tiny little book, so itwas really easy to study and I
(05:20):
could not believe that wesqueezed a whole month out of
this tiny little book and hadroom and we could have even done
more.
But Habakkuk really I relate tohim a lot because he's a
complicated character.
Right, he was a whiner, agumballainer he was, but he had
(05:42):
a lot of concerns and he tookthem to God, right.
And what happened was, we seein this book he went from really
worry and burden to the endresult of worship and praise.
So it was not a neat and tidystory, but because of this story
(06:03):
we saw him transform.
It reminds us that we too cando that.
It touches on the sovereigntyof God and the concept of
waiting on God and trusting inGod, and even when we're in the
middle of confusion.
So, all that to say, I'm oftensitting where Habakkuk was.
Now, obviously, his complaintswere actually more righteous
(06:26):
than mine because he had real,true concern for his people, and
my complaints often are not asrighteous.
But the point being, god isfaithful, he is good, he is
sovereign, and to see Habakkuk'stransformation inspires me.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So, yeah, that was probably one of my very favorite
studies.
Yeah, yeah, I remember thatstudy too, and it is always
interesting to do an OldTestament book study, because
you really don't hear a lotabout the Old Testament and you
don't really do like those verseby verse studies typically of
Old Testament books, and so thatone was really an interesting
(07:08):
one to walk through.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
On the flip side.
One of my favorites was ourbook study of Galatians and I
think a couple really strongthings stood out to me.
I mean, honestly, the wholebook is just so, so good.
And Paul really just he's aheavy hitter in this book.
He doesn't pull any punches, hejust says it like it is.
(07:32):
And it's so refreshing becausea lot of times we don't hear
truth just so clearly stated ashe does in Galatians.
But one of the things that Iloved was the call to be free
from people pleasing.
And in Galatians 1, right outof the gate, first chapter of
Galatians, in verse 10, he saysam I now seeking the approval of
(07:55):
men or of God?
Am I striving to please men?
If I were still trying toplease men, I would not be a
servant of Christ.
And right from the get-go hesays okay, you're going to have
to choose who you're going toserve.
Are you going to please God orare you going to be a servant of
Jesus Christ?
You have to make that choiceand that is just so relevant to
(08:17):
all of us today.
We have to choose.
Are we going to follow theculture?
Are we going to kind of like,put one ear to the culture and
one ear to God and try to ridethe fence here.
Or are we going to say I am notpleasing men, that is not my
goal.
I am turning from that aim inmy life and I'm going to pursue
being a servant of Jesus Christ.
(08:38):
So it just was timely for me andit's always timely for me, and
I think it's always timely forothers.
Timely for me and it's it'salways timely for me and I think
it's always timely for others.
The other thing that reallystood out to me in this book was
that Peter was in sin and Paulcalled him out on it and just
how he did that and how heconfronted someone who was in a
(09:00):
position of leadership who wasnot being faithful to the gospel
of Christ.
It just really encouraged me tostand firm and not to be like
confrontational with people, butthat it's okay to call sense in
, and I think giving ourselvespermission to do that is
something we really need to hearin our day and age.
(09:22):
So it was just overall,definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, yeah, and you know, and as we talked about
these first two, I mean it'swhat really strikes me is how
different they are.
Obviously, the, the minorprophet, the epistle Paul, these
, these, these books of theBible are so different.
They were written completelydifferent times, completely
different people, but yet howapplicable they both are and the
(09:49):
entire canon of scripture is toour lives today, and how
beautiful that is that the HolySpirit, you know that God gave
us, that.
The Holy Spirit inspired thiswriting for us today, and so
there's nothing stale about this, about this, these writings,
and the scripture and the beautyof God's word and as it hit you
(10:10):
in that particular time, sodoes scripture hit us all when
we take time to be in the word.
So I love that option andGalatians is definitely timely.
I love that option andGalatians is definitely timely,
and I'm so encouraged and sothankful that God's word is
(10:30):
living and active, right, sothat's a good one.
My second one was I had a littlebit of a toss up Because one
year in 2023, we did like combostudies, so Galatians was part
of that, because we didGalatians and then we did a
(10:54):
study on the law and the promise, which was kind of in that and
then also in that year we didRomans 8, studying Romans 8,
which may be the greatestchapter in the Bible.
It was one of those justmountaintop peak kind of every
single verse is powerful, and sowe had that.
But then we did this counterstudy not counter, but this,
what would you call it Companion.
(11:16):
There we go A companion studyon and it was called Revealed
and that was where we took 10Old Testament narratives and
stories and we compared them toRomans 8, basically, and how we
can see Christ in the OldTestament, the first story being
the bronze serpent.
(11:37):
And really the reason that I'mbringing this up is because it's
such a good reminder of how theOld Testament points to Christ
and in that particular storythat first one, the bronze
serpent, obviously is a type ofChrist and typology, the study
(11:58):
of typology and types of Christ,is so powerful to our
understanding of the word.
And so throughout thatparticular study we did that 10
different times with 10different Old Testament
narratives and we compared themto different things in the New
Testament, but in particular toRomans 8.
And I just think anytime we canconnect the truth of the Old
(12:19):
Testament and the New and in ourminds and in our brains and our
hearts.
It helps us to understand ourpowerful and beautiful God more
so.
That was my number two.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah Well, kind of along those same lines.
My number two would be thestudy we did on Joshua.
So I think we went through thefirst seven chapters of Joshua,
because Joshua is pretty moreit's, it's.
It extends beyond four weeks ora month.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We just took the first seven chapters and that
was really impactful to me,because One of the things I see
over and over again in Joshua isnot just the command to be
strong and courageous, but thisidea of courage coming from your
weakness and God asking us tobe weak.
(13:16):
So and one of the examples ofthis is circumcision Right, and
one of the examples of this iscircumcision right.
So when God caused theIsraelites, he parted the waters
, they crossed through theJordan River and, immediately
before sending them into battle,he asked all of the men to be
(13:36):
circumcised.
And here they were, the whole,entire army, completely weak and
incapacitated in the land oftheir enemies, and this was the
very beginning of their journeyinto the promised land.
And how powerful of a picture isthat?
Because God has given us vastpromises and yet the only way we
(14:03):
can claim any of those promisesand possess them is when we
walk in obedience to him and weallow our weakness to become his
strength.
And it just is such a beautifulpicture to me and I just
remember that day of the studyor that week of the study where
we walked through that chapter.
(14:23):
It was so humbling andempowering, honestly, because a
lot of times you know the worldtells us.
You know, be strong.
You know you deserve this, goafter it.
Like, put your all into this.
And yet the way of the Lord ismeekness, and Christ models that
(14:46):
.
You know.
If we look at Christ in the OldTestament, we see how all of
these things point to him andhow he lived that life of
meekness.
You know he laid down his lifefor an eternal win for millions
of people throughout all of time, and so patterning our lives
(15:09):
after that was just a realchallenge to me once we walked
through that study.
It was very impactful.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, I think we did an entire episode on that.
Yeah, I think we did a podcastepisode on on the circumcision
and I, and, and I felt the sameway it was.
It was one of those unusualparts of the story.
Until you understand themeaning behind it, right, once
you understand, once you come tonot just read it for you, you
(15:40):
know just what it is.
But for the message and what itis what God was teaching his
people and what he teaches us,it becomes completely new and
different and beautiful.
So, yeah, yeah, I love that.
Okay, so my number three I, Iagain this was so hard.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It was very hard hard .
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It's very hard because there's so many great
studies.
I mean I thought about maybe we, maybe we should use um you
know the story of um Esther orthe story of Ruth, which we
studied, both of those and theywere deep, rich, beautiful
studies.
We went through Genesis, wewent through we just went
through a lot, but what Ifinally decided to bring up was
(16:28):
a study that's a little bit offthe beaten path.
So normally my favorite studiesare expositional studies, where
you're going through books oryou're going through passages,
and this particular study wasnot that way.
This was more of a topicalstudy, but it was so gospel
saturated that I have to chooseit because it was a little bit
different.
And it was the study that wecalled the gospel in hymns, and
(16:52):
it was back in 2022.
And hymns are just a specialgenre of music that not everyone
appreciates, and I did notappreciate when I was younger.
But when I dive into thesebeautiful hymns I see the
richness of the gospel.
And so in this study we talkedabout, we used a hymn every day.
We talked about what do I bringto salvation, what does God
(17:15):
bring to salvation, how do Irespond to that and who is God
to me now and we use the hymnsas examples to answer those
questions.
And then we took the hymns asspringboards into the scripture.
So it was a really, really funstudy to write because it was a
(17:40):
little bit off the beaten path.
But I was super encouraged bythe deep, rich truth that was
found in these hymns, becauseit's not just the words that
somebody wrote, that the hymnwriter wrote, they're all
founded in the Word of God.
So that is where we tetheredthe lines of the hymn with
(18:04):
scripture and it became apowerful study for me.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, and I really like that study too, because we
talked about the authors ofthese hymns and how their lives
reflected the theology that theywere writing about in these
songs.
And it really is beautiful,especially when someone has you
know their life was well-lived,like it's over and done.
(18:31):
They didn't like crash at thelast minute, which we all have
the potential of doing, thatit's like until you're finished,
there's still life ahead of you.
So just knowing that thesepeople ran their races well and
this is the theology that theyheld to to get them to that
finish line, it was really,really encouraging just to see
(18:55):
that.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So that's true.
It was somewhat of abiographical study too for these
historical figures.
So, even though you know the,the the authors themselves, of
course, were not in the Biblethe, the faith was encouraging,
yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, yeah, very true .
So, as you said, it was reallyreally hard to choose and,
honestly, like, there's a couplestudies that I really love.
I love the hidden habits, orthe path less traveled.
I love that one because itreally looks at some of those
habits that we are to cultivateas Christian women that we often
(19:34):
don't talk about.
It's like not the Bible studyand the prayer habits we got
those down but, like some ofthose hidden ones, I also really
loved the fresh start studythat we did on like how to just
make a clean start and reallyallow God to empower your
choices.
(19:58):
But, I had to settle on the Lordwhy I really liked this one.
And it is because the veryfirst word of the Lord's prayer
really opened my mind to theimportance of corporate prayer,
Because the Lord's prayer startswith the word are O-U-R.
Are?
(20:19):
It's plural, it's not my fatherwhich are in heaven, and he
doesn't say give me this day mydaily bread.
It's give us this day our dailybread, Forgive us our
trespasses.
And so just the plurality ofthe language in the Lord's
Prayer really made me startthinking.
(20:40):
You know how?
What was Jesus conveying whenhe said this?
And there's an element toprayer that has to be corporate.
You know, there has to be thataspect of us as believers coming
together, united aroundexalting the name of God,
(21:01):
hallowing, honoring his name,asking for his kingdom to come
in our lives and in our world,Like that is not something we do
solo.
Yes, it is something we need todo solo, but not just solo.
There needs to be a corporateaspect to prayer.
And it's right there, it'sdemonstrated.
It's like you can't avoid it.
(21:21):
When you really look at word byword, verse by verse of
scripture, you can't unsee thatyou know.
So that was a really powerfulstudy for me as well.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, yeah, we have several studies that focus on
prayer because of how importantthat is and how misunderstood
that is and and I think and Ithink we as believers tend to
not we don't always have a rightunderstanding of prayer.
So we do have several, we haveseveral podcast episodes and
(21:53):
studies on that and thisparticular study was we were
able to really kind of dig downinto this kind of dig down into
this very, very famous, populareverybody can probably say it
out loud this prayer that we allknow, but we're able to
(22:16):
understand a little more when wereally dive into it more.
So that was really powerful andit's also a great example of a
familiar passage or familiarparts of the Bible that
sometimes we overlook when westudy because we think, oh, we
know it, but when we in fact,you know, back at the beginning
(22:39):
I was talking about how God'sWord is living and active and it
teaches us something all thetime when we go back and we
humble ourselves to study thoseparts that we feel like we have,
we have, you know, reviewed andread and studied over and over
again how faithful God is toteach us new things, and that's
a great example of that, thatstudy.
I, I love that and it's, it's aconvicting and humbling study,
(23:05):
because we all have I mean,maybe you don't if you're
listening to me, but most of ushave plenty of room to grow in
these spiritual disciplines, andthis one in particular.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and, and you know,
and that's the thing too.
It's yeah, absolutely, and, andyou know, and that's the thing
too, it's.
It's just Bible study isn'tjust about accumulating head
knowledge of the Bible.
It's about even just taking oneconcept like that and
implementing it into our lives.
Like that is really the goal ofBible study is to allow God to
(23:42):
speak to us and to shape ourlives, to commune with him and
then to obey what it is he'sshowing us to do.
And you know, I don't knowabout you, but like it takes me
some time to shape my lifearound those things that I'm
learning in scripture.
It's not like, okay, a one anddone.
(24:03):
It's like, okay, let mepractice this, and then I fail,
and then I practice again andmaybe I get a little bit better
and I practice again.
It's kind of like learning howto ride a bike and obedience is
like that and it's okay.
That's okay.
That's part of the process ofbeing transformed and being
sanctified.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.
So we have a couple of reasonsfor this, for this podcast, and
and I I think we have threepieces of of homework or three
things to think of, as I was, aswe were thinking of this, and
you may have more, but the firstthing that comes to mind when
(24:43):
we're talking about these is Iwould love for you to use these
as a springboard for your ownstudy.
These passages of scripturethat we've been kind of talking
about and that have meant a lotto us, and we would love to see
you.
If nothing else, all you needis to open the Word of God and
read them and study them foryourself.
(25:05):
Okay, that is what is the mostimportant thing.
But we also, I'm reminded thatit's a good idea to do these
with other people, and we didall these studies with our
membership, our Sojo Academymembership, and as we were
talking about them, I distinctlyremember women.
(25:25):
I see their faces as they aretalking to us and we're talking
to them about what we'relearning in God's word, and so
that is a critical part of this,and we would love for you to be
part of that going forward inthe future.
So we'll, we would love for youto be part of Sojo.
(25:46):
And then the third reason we'rebringing this up is because we
have an offer.
I hate to use the word offer,but it is.
It's a it's it's an offer thatwe've never done before and
we'll never do again.
And this is the time if you'relistening to us, relatively soon
after this podcast episode airs, for you to jump on it.
(26:07):
So I don't know, do you want tobring it?
Do you want to mention it?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I think we should, because honestly, it's
really too good not to let youguys know about it.
We have decided that we'redoing things a little bit
differently in Sojo Academy inthe way we structure our Bible
studies.
And just really quick, as abackstory to that, in this year
(26:34):
that we're recording this isAugust 2024, this year so far we
have really tried to be more ofa discipleship slash, spiritual
growth formation communityinstead of just a Bible study
community, and we've always beenthat.
We meet together every singleweek.
We have more of a life-on-lifeapproach to Bible study
community and we've always beenthat.
We meet together every singleweek.
(26:54):
We have more of a life-on-lifeapproach to Bible study.
But this year we've reallyleaned into that even more, and
so we've learned a lot of thingsover the past eight months of
doing this, and what we havedecided going forward is that we
want to lean into that evenmore, and so we're going to be
changing the structure of theway we do things in Sojo Academy
(27:16):
slightly, and it's kind of leftus with a big question mark as
to okay, well, we've done all ofthese Bible studies in this one
format for the past five and ahalf years.
What are we gonna do with allof these studies that we just
talked about All 60, whatever ofthem and we decided that we
(27:37):
really want to allow whoeverwants them to have access to
them.
And so we have bundled 50 of ourBible studies, our previous
Bible studies, together, and weare offering them basically for
the price of one.
We're pretty much giving themaway.
Now, we can't give them awayfor free because we can't afford
(28:01):
to do that financially.
It does cost us money to hostthem, to have the designer, blah
, blah, blah.
You guys all know that.
But not only that, but we wantyou to put in a little bit of
investment, because we know thatif you pay for something, you
actually will probably open itup on your computer and use them
.
If you don't, you're likely tojust let it sit with all the
other million things you'vedownloaded before.
(28:22):
So we want you to get somevalid use of these studies.
And not only that, but for thevery first time ever, we are
also offering a group license tothese studies.
So, jen, you want to share alittle bit about that.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah.
So I also will say that this isan insane amount of Bible
studies for an insanely low cost.
Literally, it's just prettymuch the cost for us to send you
the email to give them to you.
But the and we know that youwill never in your whole
lifetime go through all 50studies and that's not that.
(29:01):
Well, you might, but that's notthe goal.
Ok, these studies were monthlong studies each, so don't feel
like, oh, I can never do thismuch, I don't need this much.
The point of this is, and sixstudies that we discussed and
all the extra ones that we kindof thought through, they're all
in this bundle, just so you know.
But even if you do one or twoof these studies that interest
(29:27):
you, you will 100% get yourmoney's worth.
So I just want to kind of throwthat out there too.
But what we'll do is after youpurchase if you purchase the
bundle I can't imagine why youwouldn't if you want to do even
one of our studies but after youpurchase that, you'll have the
opportunity to also purchase agroup license, and this group
(29:47):
license we've never done before.
So what we're going to do is weare going to give you the
opportunity to purchase thislicense to use for up to 20
women in person in your church,in your small group, in your
ladies Bible study.
Now, this is not something foronline groups and you cannot
post the studies online, butthis is powerful to gather
(30:13):
together with a group of womenin a coffee shop at your church,
just you know.
Maybe you're not doing thisalready, but you're feeling led
to, maybe you are doing this andyou need more resources.
Every single one of the 50studies will be available for
you to use with your small groupIf you purchase this license
and again, this is it will go.
(30:35):
I promise it will go away oncethe bundle's over, this will go
away and we will not be able tooffer that again, but I think
it's a great thing.
I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, yeah.
And again, that license isgoing to be very reasonably
priced and you get access to useall 50 of the studies.
And, honestly, the reason whywe have done this, why we
decided to do this, is one ofthe pillars of our Sojo Strong
Blueprint is empoweredleadership.
That's one of the traits thatwe want to develop in ourselves
(31:09):
and in each one of our SojoAcademy members is to empower
every woman, every Christianwoman, to lead others, not
necessarily like in aministerial position, but just
in imparting the gospel to thosearound her.
And this is a way that we cando that.
We can give you a study, we cangive you license to use it in
(31:32):
your small group with yourgrandkids or your kids and their
friends, or whoever it is thatyou neighbors, whoever it is
that you want to gather with.
We want to empower you to dothat, we want to make it easy,
and so that's what we are hopingto do with this.
I think invitation is a betterword.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
And it's as simple as getting together and doing it
together.
You don't have to lead, youdon't have to teach, you just
have to say, okay, we're goingto all do you know week number
one, and get back together andlet's discuss it.
And that is the power of God'sword is.
It brings people together, andthis would be a great
opportunity if you happen to belistening and you attend a
(32:17):
church that maybe doesn't havean organized women's ministry,
which I think is great.
I think it's totally fine.
I think that we can sometimesoverdo women's ministry stuff.
Honestly, that's a whole notherpodcast.
But the point is, if you'relooking for resources and you
trust AJ and I, which I hope youdo, if you've listened this far
into the podcast, then thiswould be a great opportunity for
(32:40):
your, for maybe your church, topurchase or get together with a
group of women and purchasetogether.
So, anyway, it's just, it'sjust an offer.
You're right, it's not offerinvitation, it's an invitation.
Yes, it's an offer.
You're right, it's not an offerInvitation, it's an invitation,
yes.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
It's an invitation.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
And we're excited to offer it and to invite you into
this, and we hope that thegospel is far reaching because
of it and goes beyond just usand beyond just those few that
we can reach, but goes to thosethat, if everybody that
(33:16):
purchases this bundle alsoreaches out to 20 other women
and you go through even one ofthese studies, even one book of
the Bible, it's just, itmultiplies and it becomes such a
beautiful thing and it becomessuch a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Exactly, there's a real grassroots growth potential
here If you just take one ofthe resources we're offering and
invite.
Even it doesn't have to be 20people, it could be a group of
two people, four or five yes.
Yeah and just say, okay, we'rejust humbly going to expect God
(33:53):
to show up as we open his word.
That's all it takes, that's allwe've done, like we're nothing
special, that's all we've done.
And and God does show up, and Ireally think that he just has a
special ear for women.
I really do.
I think he's got a special earbecause he made us so unique and
(34:14):
he just he longs to showhimself strong on our behalf.
So, okay, so I just have tothrow this out here because this
came to mind.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So we're getting probably long-winded in this too
.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So I know well, this, this is it.
This is really quick, I promiseOkay.
I have a lot of books in myhouse and I have a lot of Bible
resources and I've beencollecting them ever since I've
been married for 30 years.
So my husband told me it's okayif we have books because
there's a Proverbs in the bookof Proverbs I don't know the
reference.
I need to look this up.
(34:47):
You guys can look it up on yourown that says buy the truth and
sell it, not on your own.
That says buy the truth andsell it not.
So if you need permission tobuy a resource like this to
invest in yourself, there youhave it.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
You have a Proverbs.
Okay, there you go.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Buy the truth and sell it not.
I mean, the Proverbs really issaying truth is valuable, it's
worth your investing in.
So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, and so we.
So we invite you to.
There'll be a link somewhere inthis podcast because when this
goes live, the sale will be live.
So we invite you to takeadvantage of the invitation.
We also invite you to join usin Sojo Academy, because we are
not going away.
Even though we are changingthings, we are going to be more,
(35:35):
more accountable to each otherthan ever.
It is such a special group andif you need that accountability
and a group of women, over thenext four, over September to
December, we're actually goingto be going through the Old
Testament how about them apples?
In a special way.
So we definitely encourage youto to join us for that as well,
(36:00):
and we look forward to hearingfrom you again, I think maybe
next week, or I think we've gotanother plan for next week,
right?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yes, we do.
We have a plan for next weekand we're going to be revealing
some other things and sharing alittle bit more about what's in
store for Sojo Academy throughthe rest of the year, so be sure
to tune in then.
Yeah, have a great day Bye.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
This episode is brought to you by Sojo Academy,
an ongoing membership forChristian women that provides a
practical, streamlined spiritualgrowth plan for every woman
women that provides a practical,streamlined spiritual growth
plan for every woman If we thinkwe need the video.
I'll go get ready.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
It just took me by surprise.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I'm the dark shadow of your nightmare.
It's like the interview whereyou don't want to have your
identity.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
You're like deep throat.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
I don't know my lights on.
I can tell.
And your old back lip, you'reso dark I can't even see your
facial expressions.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
It's a good thing, because I have no mascara on
right now, like I have nothing.
I'm just, I'm literally runningin.
You feel like I?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
need to mascara on right now, like I have nothing.
I'm just, I'm literally runningin.
You feel like I need to turn onmy lights.
I'm still brighter than you.
Let's record in the dark.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I'm at my kitchen table.
This is like the only place Ihave to work.
It's bad.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
It's really bad, I'm sorry.
Okay.
Well, it's okay, we'll'll getover it.
We'll get through it.
I just was cracking up when Iyou.
Welcome to the Sojo Show with Jen and AJ, where
you'll dig deep into God's Wordalongside two imperfect,
frequently ineloquent women, aswe discover fresh ways to walk
out God's truth together.
Hello, welcome to the Sojo Show.
(00:40):
I am here alongside AJ andshe's actually in the dark.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I actually scared her .
We are recording this on Zoomand I scared her when I came on.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
What is happening?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So if we have time we will put a little blooper of
that in a visual for you guysyeah, we should make a quick
screenshot, quick screenshot,are you ready?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
yeah, sure, I mean like any cheese should I do sure
.
Okay, so I will post thatsomewhere because it's like okay
I told her I was her worstnightmare reappearing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was so scary.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So we're here together.
We're going to skip the earlynonsense because I'm sure we'll
have nonsense throughout, andwe're going to jump right in.
So, aj, do you want to tell themasses that have been awaiting?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
this episode what we're going to do.
Yeah, I'm sure everybody hasbeen waiting on bated breath,
but I will say before we makethe announcement, I will say
that we've been working reallyhard behind the scenes and
that's one of the reasons why wehaven't dropped a podcast
episode every week like wenormally have been doing.
For the past what two and ahalf years almost, we've been
(02:02):
working really hard behind thescenes.
So today we get to give you alittle sneak peek of what that
has been and we're kind ofkicking it off with something
fun.
So today we are going to reviewsome of our favorite studies
that we have written inside SojaAcademy, and actually we should
probably back up a little bitand say how many studies we've
(02:24):
written over the past howevermany years.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So we've been doing this now for almost six years.
We are coming up on six years.
Can you believe that?
First of all, and as far asSojo Academy and so, we've
written a study every singlemonth so you can do the math on
that and so we have about 60 to65 studies, I believe, in total,
(02:48):
and it has been an incredible,an incredible journey, and some
of the studies come really easyfor us and some are not as easy
to write, and so we thought thatwe would take the opportunity
to kind of look back at these.
And now, don't worry, if you'relistening and you're like, oh,
you know, this is not going toapply to me, it will, because
(03:11):
our prayer is that, as we thinkthrough the truths that we
studied over the last few yearsjust a few it will inspire you
to go and look in God's word foryourself.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, because, as we've written all of these
studies and we've reflected onsome of those things that we've
learned, that's what makes agood study a good study right Is
when you really hear somethingfrom the Lord and you get
something to apply to your life.
And so those are the highlightswe're going to be sharing today
, which is I can't wait to hearwhat you have to share, Jen,
because I'm sure yours aredifferent than mine, and it'll
(03:43):
just be fun.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And I will be honest with you.
We first started doing this.
We were just going to pick ourfavorite study.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That's way too hard.
65 studies.
I was like, no, no, that's waytoo hard, I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So we did narrow it down to three, three each, so
we're going to pop through themvery quickly, but again, I want
you to listen to these, notbecause we wrote them and not
because we think the studies arethat great, but because we know
that the truth we uncoverthrough reading God's word by
(04:17):
doing these studies is what islife transforming?
It does transform lives when wehear from God and that's why
we're looking at it.
Okay, are you ready?
Do you have yours?
I can, I can.
I got one.
Okay, go ahead.
So the the first that came to mymind, which is really, really
(04:38):
interesting, because it is notone of the ones that we often
highlight, like we're really.
We often highlight the armor ofGod, study, battle ready, and
the anxiety study, which is soapplicable right now, and some
of the women of the word studies.
So we highlight those a lot andand those are important studies
(04:59):
.
But the one study that came tomy mind when I thought of what,
what, what may be, my favoriteis one called it's actually
titled it, oh Lord, how Long andit was a study on the book of
Habakkuk.
So Habakkuk was one of theminor prophets.
It's a tiny little book, so itwas really easy to study and I
(05:20):
could not believe that wesqueezed a whole month out of
this tiny little book and hadroom and we could have even done
more.
But Habakkuk really I relate tohim a lot because he's a
complicated character.
Right, he was a whiner, agumballainer he was, but he had
(05:42):
a lot of concerns and he tookthem to God, right.
And what happened was, we seein this book he went from really
worry and burden to the endresult of worship and praise.
So it was not a neat and tidystory, but because of this story
(06:03):
we saw him transform.
It reminds us that we too cando that.
It touches on the sovereigntyof God and the concept of
waiting on God and trusting inGod, and even when we're in the
middle of confusion.
So, all that to say, I'm oftensitting where Habakkuk was.
Now, obviously, his complaintswere actually more righteous
(06:26):
than mine because he had real,true concern for his people, and
my complaints often are not asrighteous.
But the point being, god isfaithful, he is good, he is
sovereign, and to see Habakkuk'stransformation inspires me.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So, yeah, that was probably one of my very favorite
studies.
Yeah, yeah, I remember thatstudy too, and it is always
interesting to do an OldTestament book study, because
you really don't hear a lotabout the Old Testament and you
don't really do like those verseby verse studies typically of
Old Testament books, and so thatone was really an interesting
(07:08):
one to walk through.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
On the flip side.
One of my favorites was ourbook study of Galatians and I
think a couple really strongthings stood out to me.
I mean, honestly, the wholebook is just so, so good.
And Paul really just he's aheavy hitter in this book.
He doesn't pull any punches, hejust says it like it is.
(07:32):
And it's so refreshing becausea lot of times we don't hear
truth just so clearly stated ashe does in Galatians.
But one of the things that Iloved was the call to be free
from people pleasing.
And in Galatians 1, right outof the gate, first chapter of
Galatians, in verse 10, he saysam I now seeking the approval of
(07:55):
men or of God?
Am I striving to please men?
If I were still trying toplease men, I would not be a
servant of Christ.
And right from the get-go hesays okay, you're going to have
to choose who you're going toserve.
Are you going to please God orare you going to be a servant of
Jesus Christ?
You have to make that choiceand that is just so relevant to
(08:17):
all of us today.
We have to choose.
Are we going to follow theculture?
Are we going to kind of like,put one ear to the culture and
one ear to God and try to ridethe fence here.
Or are we going to say I am notpleasing men, that is not my
goal.
I am turning from that aim inmy life and I'm going to pursue
being a servant of Jesus Christ.
(08:38):
So it just was timely for me andit's always timely for me, and
I think it's always timely forothers.
Timely for me and it's it'salways timely for me and I think
it's always timely for others.
The other thing that reallystood out to me in this book was
that Peter was in sin and Paulcalled him out on it and just
how he did that and how heconfronted someone who was in a
(09:00):
position of leadership who wasnot being faithful to the gospel
of Christ.
It just really encouraged me tostand firm and not to be like
confrontational with people, butthat it's okay to call sense in
, and I think giving ourselvespermission to do that is
something we really need to hearin our day and age.
(09:22):
So it was just overall,definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, yeah, and you know, and as we talked about
these first two, I mean it'swhat really strikes me is how
different they are.
Obviously, the, the minorprophet, the epistle Paul, these
, these, these books of theBible are so different.
They were written completelydifferent times, completely
different people, but yet howapplicable they both are and the
(09:49):
entire canon of scripture is toour lives today, and how
beautiful that is that the HolySpirit, you know that God gave
us, that.
The Holy Spirit inspired thiswriting for us today, and so
there's nothing stale about this, about this, these writings,
and the scripture and the beautyof God's word and as it hit you
(10:10):
in that particular time, sodoes scripture hit us all when
we take time to be in the word.
So I love that option andGalatians is definitely timely.
I love that option andGalatians is definitely timely,
and I'm so encouraged and sothankful that God's word is
(10:30):
living and active, right, sothat's a good one.
My second one was I had a littlebit of a toss up Because one
year in 2023, we did like combostudies, so Galatians was part
of that, because we didGalatians and then we did a
(10:54):
study on the law and the promise, which was kind of in that and
then also in that year we didRomans 8, studying Romans 8,
which may be the greatestchapter in the Bible.
It was one of those justmountaintop peak kind of every
single verse is powerful, and sowe had that.
But then we did this counterstudy not counter, but this,
what would you call it Companion.
(11:16):
There we go A companion studyon and it was called Revealed
and that was where we took 10Old Testament narratives and
stories and we compared them toRomans 8, basically, and how we
can see Christ in the OldTestament, the first story being
the bronze serpent.
(11:37):
And really the reason that I'mbringing this up is because it's
such a good reminder of how theOld Testament points to Christ
and in that particular storythat first one, the bronze
serpent, obviously is a type ofChrist and typology, the study
(11:58):
of typology and types of Christ,is so powerful to our
understanding of the word.
And so throughout thatparticular study we did that 10
different times with 10different Old Testament
narratives and we compared themto different things in the New
Testament, but in particular toRomans 8.
And I just think anytime we canconnect the truth of the Old
(12:19):
Testament and the New and in ourminds and in our brains and our
hearts.
It helps us to understand ourpowerful and beautiful God more
so.
That was my number two.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah Well, kind of along those same lines.
My number two would be thestudy we did on Joshua.
So I think we went through thefirst seven chapters of Joshua,
because Joshua is pretty moreit's, it's.
It extends beyond four weeks ora month.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We just took the first seven chapters and that
was really impactful to me,because One of the things I see
over and over again in Joshua isnot just the command to be
strong and courageous, but thisidea of courage coming from your
weakness and God asking us tobe weak.
(13:16):
So and one of the examples ofthis is circumcision Right, and
one of the examples of this iscircumcision right.
So when God caused theIsraelites, he parted the waters
, they crossed through theJordan River and, immediately
before sending them into battle,he asked all of the men to be
(13:36):
circumcised.
And here they were, the whole,entire army, completely weak and
incapacitated in the land oftheir enemies, and this was the
very beginning of their journeyinto the promised land.
And how powerful of a picture isthat?
Because God has given us vastpromises and yet the only way we
(14:03):
can claim any of those promisesand possess them is when we
walk in obedience to him and weallow our weakness to become his
strength.
And it just is such a beautifulpicture to me and I just
remember that day of the studyor that week of the study where
we walked through that chapter.
(14:23):
It was so humbling andempowering, honestly, because a
lot of times you know the worldtells us.
You know, be strong.
You know you deserve this, goafter it.
Like, put your all into this.
And yet the way of the Lord ismeekness, and Christ models that
(14:46):
.
You know.
If we look at Christ in the OldTestament, we see how all of
these things point to him andhow he lived that life of
meekness.
You know he laid down his lifefor an eternal win for millions
of people throughout all of time, and so patterning our lives
(15:09):
after that was just a realchallenge to me once we walked
through that study.
It was very impactful.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, I think we did an entire episode on that.
Yeah, I think we did a podcastepisode on on the circumcision
and I, and, and I felt the sameway it was.
It was one of those unusualparts of the story.
Until you understand themeaning behind it, right, once
you understand, once you come tonot just read it for you, you
(15:40):
know just what it is.
But for the message and what itis what God was teaching his
people and what he teaches us,it becomes completely new and
different and beautiful.
So, yeah, yeah, I love that.
Okay, so my number three I, Iagain this was so hard.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It was very hard hard .
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It's very hard because there's so many great
studies.
I mean I thought about maybe we, maybe we should use um you
know the story of um Esther orthe story of Ruth, which we
studied, both of those and theywere deep, rich, beautiful
studies.
We went through Genesis, wewent through we just went
through a lot, but what Ifinally decided to bring up was
(16:28):
a study that's a little bit offthe beaten path.
So normally my favorite studiesare expositional studies, where
you're going through books oryou're going through passages,
and this particular study wasnot that way.
This was more of a topicalstudy, but it was so gospel
saturated that I have to chooseit because it was a little bit
different.
And it was the study that wecalled the gospel in hymns, and
(16:52):
it was back in 2022.
And hymns are just a specialgenre of music that not everyone
appreciates, and I did notappreciate when I was younger.
But when I dive into thesebeautiful hymns I see the
richness of the gospel.
And so in this study we talkedabout, we used a hymn every day.
We talked about what do I bringto salvation, what does God
(17:15):
bring to salvation, how do Irespond to that and who is God
to me now and we use the hymnsas examples to answer those
questions.
And then we took the hymns asspringboards into the scripture.
So it was a really, really funstudy to write because it was a
(17:40):
little bit off the beaten path.
But I was super encouraged bythe deep, rich truth that was
found in these hymns, becauseit's not just the words that
somebody wrote, that the hymnwriter wrote, they're all
founded in the Word of God.
So that is where we tetheredthe lines of the hymn with
(18:04):
scripture and it became apowerful study for me.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, and I really like that study too, because we
talked about the authors ofthese hymns and how their lives
reflected the theology that theywere writing about in these
songs.
And it really is beautiful,especially when someone has you
know their life was well-lived,like it's over and done.
(18:31):
They didn't like crash at thelast minute, which we all have
the potential of doing, thatit's like until you're finished,
there's still life ahead of you.
So just knowing that thesepeople ran their races well and
this is the theology that theyheld to to get them to that
finish line, it was really,really encouraging just to see
(18:55):
that.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So that's true.
It was somewhat of abiographical study too for these
historical figures.
So, even though you know the,the the authors themselves, of
course, were not in the Biblethe, the faith was encouraging,
yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, yeah, very true .
So, as you said, it was reallyreally hard to choose and,
honestly, like, there's a couplestudies that I really love.
I love the hidden habits, orthe path less traveled.
I love that one because itreally looks at some of those
habits that we are to cultivateas Christian women that we often
(19:34):
don't talk about.
It's like not the Bible studyand the prayer habits we got
those down but, like some ofthose hidden ones, I also really
loved the fresh start studythat we did on like how to just
make a clean start and reallyallow God to empower your
choices.
(19:58):
But, I had to settle on the Lordwhy I really liked this one.
And it is because the veryfirst word of the Lord's prayer
really opened my mind to theimportance of corporate prayer,
Because the Lord's prayer startswith the word are O-U-R.
Are?
(20:19):
It's plural, it's not my fatherwhich are in heaven, and he
doesn't say give me this day mydaily bread.
It's give us this day our dailybread, Forgive us our
trespasses.
And so just the plurality ofthe language in the Lord's
Prayer really made me startthinking.
(20:40):
You know how?
What was Jesus conveying whenhe said this?
And there's an element toprayer that has to be corporate.
You know, there has to be thataspect of us as believers coming
together, united aroundexalting the name of God,
(21:01):
hallowing, honoring his name,asking for his kingdom to come
in our lives and in our world,Like that is not something we do
solo.
Yes, it is something we need todo solo, but not just solo.
There needs to be a corporateaspect to prayer.
And it's right there, it'sdemonstrated.
It's like you can't avoid it.
(21:21):
When you really look at word byword, verse by verse of
scripture, you can't unsee thatyou know.
So that was a really powerfulstudy for me as well.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, yeah, we have several studies that focus on
prayer because of how importantthat is and how misunderstood
that is and and I think and Ithink we as believers tend to
not we don't always have a rightunderstanding of prayer.
So we do have several, we haveseveral podcast episodes and
(21:53):
studies on that and thisparticular study was we were
able to really kind of dig downinto this kind of dig down into
this very, very famous, populareverybody can probably say it
out loud this prayer that we allknow, but we're able to
(22:16):
understand a little more when wereally dive into it more.
So that was really powerful andit's also a great example of a
familiar passage or familiarparts of the Bible that
sometimes we overlook when westudy because we think, oh, we
know it, but when we in fact,you know, back at the beginning
(22:39):
I was talking about how God'sWord is living and active and it
teaches us something all thetime when we go back and we
humble ourselves to study thoseparts that we feel like we have,
we have, you know, reviewed andread and studied over and over
again how faithful God is toteach us new things, and that's
a great example of that, thatstudy.
I, I love that and it's, it's aconvicting and humbling study,
(23:05):
because we all have I mean,maybe you don't if you're
listening to me, but most of ushave plenty of room to grow in
these spiritual disciplines, andthis one in particular.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and, and you know,
and that's the thing too.
It's yeah, absolutely, and, andyou know, and that's the thing
too, it's.
It's just Bible study isn'tjust about accumulating head
knowledge of the Bible.
It's about even just taking oneconcept like that and
implementing it into our lives.
Like that is really the goal ofBible study is to allow God to
(23:42):
speak to us and to shape ourlives, to commune with him and
then to obey what it is he'sshowing us to do.
And you know, I don't knowabout you, but like it takes me
some time to shape my lifearound those things that I'm
learning in scripture.
It's not like, okay, a one anddone.
(24:03):
It's like, okay, let mepractice this, and then I fail,
and then I practice again andmaybe I get a little bit better
and I practice again.
It's kind of like learning howto ride a bike and obedience is
like that and it's okay.
That's okay.
That's part of the process ofbeing transformed and being
sanctified.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.
So we have a couple of reasonsfor this, for this podcast, and
and I I think we have threepieces of of homework or three
things to think of, as I was, aswe were thinking of this, and
you may have more, but the firstthing that comes to mind when
(24:43):
we're talking about these is Iwould love for you to use these
as a springboard for your ownstudy.
These passages of scripturethat we've been kind of talking
about and that have meant a lotto us, and we would love to see
you.
If nothing else, all you needis to open the Word of God and
read them and study them foryourself.
(25:05):
Okay, that is what is the mostimportant thing.
But we also, I'm reminded thatit's a good idea to do these
with other people, and we didall these studies with our
membership, our Sojo Academymembership, and as we were
talking about them, I distinctlyremember women.
(25:25):
I see their faces as they aretalking to us and we're talking
to them about what we'relearning in God's word, and so
that is a critical part of this,and we would love for you to be
part of that going forward inthe future.
So we'll, we would love for youto be part of Sojo.
(25:46):
And then the third reason we'rebringing this up is because we
have an offer.
I hate to use the word offer,but it is.
It's a it's it's an offer thatwe've never done before and
we'll never do again.
And this is the time if you'relistening to us, relatively soon
after this podcast episode airs, for you to jump on it.
(26:07):
So I don't know, do you want tobring it?
Do you want to mention it?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I think we should, because honestly, it's
really too good not to let youguys know about it.
We have decided that we'redoing things a little bit
differently in Sojo Academy inthe way we structure our Bible
studies.
And just really quick, as abackstory to that, in this year
(26:34):
that we're recording this isAugust 2024, this year so far we
have really tried to be more ofa discipleship slash, spiritual
growth formation communityinstead of just a Bible study
community, and we've always beenthat.
We meet together every singleweek.
We have more of a life-on-lifeapproach to Bible study
community and we've always beenthat.
We meet together every singleweek.
(26:54):
We have more of a life-on-lifeapproach to Bible study.
But this year we've reallyleaned into that even more, and
so we've learned a lot of thingsover the past eight months of
doing this, and what we havedecided going forward is that we
want to lean into that evenmore, and so we're going to be
changing the structure of theway we do things in Sojo Academy
(27:16):
slightly, and it's kind of leftus with a big question mark as
to okay, well, we've done all ofthese Bible studies in this one
format for the past five and ahalf years.
What are we gonna do with allof these studies that we just
talked about All 60, whatever ofthem and we decided that we
(27:37):
really want to allow whoeverwants them to have access to
them.
And so we have bundled 50 of ourBible studies, our previous
Bible studies, together, and weare offering them basically for
the price of one.
We're pretty much giving themaway.
Now, we can't give them awayfor free because we can't afford
(28:01):
to do that financially.
It does cost us money to hostthem, to have the designer, blah
, blah, blah.
You guys all know that.
But not only that, but we wantyou to put in a little bit of
investment, because we know thatif you pay for something, you
actually will probably open itup on your computer and use them
.
If you don't, you're likely tojust let it sit with all the
other million things you'vedownloaded before.
(28:22):
So we want you to get somevalid use of these studies.
And not only that, but for thevery first time ever, we are
also offering a group license tothese studies.
So, jen, you want to share alittle bit about that.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah.
So I also will say that this isan insane amount of Bible
studies for an insanely low cost.
Literally, it's just prettymuch the cost for us to send you
the email to give them to you.
But the and we know that youwill never in your whole
lifetime go through all 50studies and that's not that.
(29:01):
Well, you might, but that's notthe goal.
Ok, these studies were monthlong studies each, so don't feel
like, oh, I can never do thismuch, I don't need this much.
The point of this is, and sixstudies that we discussed and
all the extra ones that we kindof thought through, they're all
in this bundle, just so you know.
But even if you do one or twoof these studies that interest
(29:27):
you, you will 100% get yourmoney's worth.
So I just want to kind of throwthat out there too.
But what we'll do is after youpurchase if you purchase the
bundle I can't imagine why youwouldn't if you want to do even
one of our studies but after youpurchase that, you'll have the
opportunity to also purchase agroup license, and this group
(29:47):
license we've never done before.
So what we're going to do is weare going to give you the
opportunity to purchase thislicense to use for up to 20
women in person in your church,in your small group, in your
ladies Bible study.
Now, this is not something foronline groups and you cannot
post the studies online, butthis is powerful to gather
(30:13):
together with a group of womenin a coffee shop at your church,
just you know.
Maybe you're not doing thisalready, but you're feeling led
to, maybe you are doing this andyou need more resources.
Every single one of the 50studies will be available for
you to use with your small groupIf you purchase this license
and again, this is it will go.
(30:35):
I promise it will go away oncethe bundle's over, this will go
away and we will not be able tooffer that again, but I think
it's a great thing.
I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, yeah.
And again, that license isgoing to be very reasonably
priced and you get access to useall 50 of the studies.
And, honestly, the reason whywe have done this, why we
decided to do this, is one ofthe pillars of our Sojo Strong
Blueprint is empoweredleadership.
That's one of the traits thatwe want to develop in ourselves
(31:09):
and in each one of our SojoAcademy members is to empower
every woman, every Christianwoman, to lead others, not
necessarily like in aministerial position, but just
in imparting the gospel to thosearound her.
And this is a way that we cando that.
We can give you a study, we cangive you license to use it in
(31:32):
your small group with yourgrandkids or your kids and their
friends, or whoever it is thatyou neighbors, whoever it is
that you want to gather with.
We want to empower you to dothat, we want to make it easy,
and so that's what we are hopingto do with this.
I think invitation is a betterword.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
And it's as simple as getting together and doing it
together.
You don't have to lead, youdon't have to teach, you just
have to say, okay, we're goingto all do you know week number
one, and get back together andlet's discuss it.
And that is the power of God'sword is.
It brings people together, andthis would be a great
opportunity if you happen to belistening and you attend a
(32:17):
church that maybe doesn't havean organized women's ministry,
which I think is great.
I think it's totally fine.
I think that we can sometimesoverdo women's ministry stuff.
Honestly, that's a whole notherpodcast.
But the point is, if you'relooking for resources and you
trust AJ and I, which I hope youdo, if you've listened this far
into the podcast, then thiswould be a great opportunity for
(32:40):
your, for maybe your church, topurchase or get together with a
group of women and purchasetogether.
So, anyway, it's just, it'sjust an offer.
You're right, it's not offerinvitation, it's an invitation.
Yes, it's an offer.
You're right, it's not an offerInvitation, it's an invitation,
yes.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
It's an invitation.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
And we're excited to offer it and to invite you into
this, and we hope that thegospel is far reaching because
of it and goes beyond just usand beyond just those few that
we can reach, but goes to thosethat, if everybody that
(33:16):
purchases this bundle alsoreaches out to 20 other women
and you go through even one ofthese studies, even one book of
the Bible, it's just, itmultiplies and it becomes such a
beautiful thing and it becomessuch a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Exactly, there's a real grassroots growth potential
here If you just take one ofthe resources we're offering and
invite.
Even it doesn't have to be 20people, it could be a group of
two people, four or five yes.
Yeah and just say, okay, we'rejust humbly going to expect God
(33:53):
to show up as we open his word.
That's all it takes, that's allwe've done, like we're nothing
special, that's all we've done.
And and God does show up, and Ireally think that he just has a
special ear for women.
I really do.
I think he's got a special earbecause he made us so unique and
(34:14):
he just he longs to showhimself strong on our behalf.
So, okay, so I just have tothrow this out here because this
came to mind.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So we're getting probably long-winded in this too
.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So I know well, this, this is it.
This is really quick, I promiseOkay.
I have a lot of books in myhouse and I have a lot of Bible
resources and I've beencollecting them ever since I've
been married for 30 years.
So my husband told me it's okayif we have books because
there's a Proverbs in the bookof Proverbs I don't know the
reference.
I need to look this up.
(34:47):
You guys can look it up on yourown that says buy the truth and
sell it, not on your own.
That says buy the truth andsell it not.
So if you need permission tobuy a resource like this to
invest in yourself, there youhave it.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
You have a Proverbs.
Okay, there you go.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Buy the truth and sell it not.
I mean, the Proverbs really issaying truth is valuable, it's
worth your investing in.
So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, and so we.
So we invite you to.
There'll be a link somewhere inthis podcast because when this
goes live, the sale will be live.
So we invite you to takeadvantage of the invitation.
We also invite you to join usin Sojo Academy, because we are
not going away.
Even though we are changingthings, we are going to be more,
(35:35):
more accountable to each otherthan ever.
It is such a special group andif you need that accountability
and a group of women, over thenext four, over September to
December, we're actually goingto be going through the Old
Testament how about them apples?
In a special way.
So we definitely encourage youto to join us for that as well,
(36:00):
and we look forward to hearingfrom you again, I think maybe
next week, or I think we've gotanother plan for next week,
right?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yes, we do.
We have a plan for next weekand we're going to be revealing
some other things and sharing alittle bit more about what's in
store for Sojo Academy throughthe rest of the year, so be sure
to tune in then.
Yeah, have a great day Bye.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
This episode is brought to you by Sojo Academy,
an ongoing membership forChristian women that provides a
practical, streamlined spiritualgrowth plan for every woman
women that provides a practical,streamlined spiritual growth
plan for every woman If we thinkwe need the video.
I'll go get ready.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
It just took me by surprise.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I'm the dark shadow of your nightmare.
It's like the interview whereyou don't want to have your
identity.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
You're like deep throat.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
I don't know my lights on.
I can tell.
And your old back lip, you'reso dark I can't even see your
facial expressions.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
It's a good thing, because I have no mascara on
right now, like I have nothing.
I'm just, I'm literally runningin.
You feel like I?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
need to mascara on right now, like I have nothing.
I'm just, I'm literally runningin.
You feel like I need to turn onmy lights.
I'm still brighter than you.
Let's record in the dark.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I'm at my kitchen table.
This is like the only place Ihave to work.
It's bad.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
It's really bad, I'm sorry.
Okay.
Well, it's okay, we'll'll getover it.
We'll get through it.
I just was cracking up when Iyou.
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