Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Lydia

Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Lydia

In thinking about Lydia’s story, five divisions seemed to emerge. Lydia’s destiny,  Lydia’s career as a dye merchant Lydia’s desire to establish her own household The dream God gave Paul to evangelize in Macedonia And the dignity God settled on women in first century Palestine, and on Lydia, and the dignity the Apostle Paul also conferred on women and on Lydia I   Destiny, Acts 16:14 II  Dye Merchant, Acts 16:14 III Desire, Acts 16:14 IV Dream, Acts 16:6-12 V  Dignity, Acts 16:13-15 And through Lydia we learn that mature faith accepts God's crossing up of conventions--I first heard that taught in a BSF class, years ago, and I was struck with the simple wisdom in that statement. Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GraceandPeaceJoanne] Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study. Grace and Peace, Joanne Website [https://graceandpeacejoanne.com/] Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view Books by Joanne "Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful" [https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Searching-Trusted-Powerful-Biblical/dp/1725277700?crid=3TH5Z3HPGOTHZ&keywords=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204009&sprefix=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1-fkmr0&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=469b80b80703756378111a1f0c37290b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] "Love Feast" [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Feast-Passover-Infused-Gospel/dp/B083XW6866?crid=220WDFD4GJ2B1&keywords=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204153&sprefix=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=171c07425db4fe1b1031296eb6cb3e17&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] Forty Freebies If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...

Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Tabitha (Dorcas)

Tabitha’s story begins in Joppa, an ancient seaport along the Mediterranean. This is harbor city as the place Jonah fled to when he heard God’s call to Nineveh. Joppa’s international anchorage so well represented, Jonah knew he could board a ship to the farthest reaches of the west—in the opposite direction of Assyria—as soon as he arrived. Further back in its history, Joppa represented the territory allotted to the tribe of Dan in the book of Joshua. Centuries afterward, when Solomon built his palace and the temple, the massive cedar logs he conscripted had to come through Joppa’s port, the only natural harbor between Egypt to the south and Akko to the north. Again, a thousand years later at the rebuilding of the temple, the lumber needed to come through Joppa. Imagine a bustling metropolis, with thriving import-export trade, merchant families living in impressive homes, the sounds of creaking ships, gulls, languages from around the world, temples and houses of worship representing dozens of religions, wine bars and inns with an overflowing clientele of travelers and seafarers, an easy place to get lost in, to start over, to begin an adventure. Joppa also represented the meeting of many cultures, for though it was one Palestine’s most important port cities, and certainly Jerusalem’s most important, Joppa also bordered Samaria and occupied the Phoenician region. Which brings us to the unique and intriguing story of a woman with dual citizenship, as it were, a woman known for her good deeds, the only woman who was actually called disciple in the entire Christian Testament, whose death rocked her Christian community to its core, and her deliverance by being raised back to life generated widespread belief in the Lord. I Tabitha the Disciple, Acts 9:36 The Kingdom of God about the goodness of God that brings life to all who believe. II Tabitha’s Death, Acts 9:37-39 The Kingdom of God is about hope in the kindness, goodness, and power of God. III Tabitha’s Deliverance, Acts 9:40-42 The Kingdom of God is for all people. To view the original YouTube presentation, click on "Tabitha (Dorcas) [https://youtu.be/2TIs3B5Se8o]" Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GraceandPeaceJoanne] Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study. Grace and Peace, Joanne Website [https://graceandpeacejoanne.com/] Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view Books by Joanne "Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful" [https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Searching-Trusted-Powerful-Biblical/dp/1725277700?crid=3TH5Z3HPGOTHZ&keywords=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204009&sprefix=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1-fkmr0&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=469b80b80703756378111a1f0c37290b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] "Love Feast" [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Feast-Passover-Infused-Gospel/dp/B083XW6866?crid=220WDFD4GJ2B1&keywords=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204153&sprefix=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=171c07425db4fe1b1031296eb6cb3e17&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] Forty Freebies If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...

Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Mary of Bethany

Martha, Lazarus, and Mary were all disciples of Jesus, people who loved and followed Jesus, opened their home to Him, shared their table with Jesus in fellowship and enjoyed Jesus’ friendship as well as lived by Jesus’ teaching. Each had their own unique relationship with the Lord, yet together, as a family, they displayed all the aspects of a church. Especially the sisters, Martha and Mary, teach you and me about blessing God as a whole body of believers. Studying the Bible, learning the doctrines of the Christian faith, do not make a person wise, or strong in the faith. In fact, wisdom is not about knowing. Wisdom is about using what you know. In spiritual terms, the wise person is the one who lives out the truths they know, not necessarily the Bible scholar and theologian. We might say Martha brought in the importance of right doing in her service to the Lord, and in right thinking as Jesus’ developed her faith in knowing the truth about His divinity. Now enter Mary, who said few words, but whose passion and practice made a deep and lasting impact on Jesus’ heart and our understanding of discipleship. We see her first sitting at the feet of Jesus, then kneeling at His feet, and finally anointing his feet. I Sitting at Jesus’ Feet, Luke 10:38–42 II Kneeling at Jesus’ Feet, John 11:1–46 III Anointing Jesus’ Feet, Matthew 26:6–13, Mark 14:3–9, John 12:1-8 To view the original YouTube presentation, click on "Mary of Bethany [https://youtu.be/Gb2Q3kpqeiI]" Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GraceandPeaceJoanne] Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study. Grace and Peace, Joanne Website [https://graceandpeacejoanne.com/] Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view Books by Joanne "Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful" [https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Searching-Trusted-Powerful-Biblical/dp/1725277700?crid=3TH5Z3HPGOTHZ&keywords=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204009&sprefix=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1-fkmr0&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=469b80b80703756378111a1f0c37290b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] "Love Feast" [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Feast-Passover-Infused-Gospel/dp/B083XW6866?crid=220WDFD4GJ2B1&keywords=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204153&sprefix=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=171c07425db4fe1b1031296eb6cb3e17&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] Forty Freebies If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...

Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Martha of Bethany

Years and years ago, when I was in a high school writing class, we were asked to write our own obituary. I remember us all laughing nervously, it sounded so macabre! But it was the teacher’s sideways device to get us to write about our hopes and dreams. What would we want to be remembered for someday? And it made me wonder what Martha would have wanted to be remembered for? Most of us remember the Martha depicted in Luke’s Gospel, the busy beaver who is reprimanded by Jesus, and chastened to be more like her spiritual sister Mary. But I don’t think that’s the Martha Jesus knew, and knows to this today. The Gospels tell three stories about Martha. In the first story she opened her home to the Lord Jesus and his disciples who were with him. The next place we see Martha and Mary is at their brother’s funeral. Both sisters were deeply hurt and disappointed that Jesus had delayed in coming. In Martha’s final appearance, she was once again serving dinner at a large celebration in Simon the Leper’s home, thrown in honor of Jesus and her brother Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead. I think the way Martha would have liked to be remembered was as a woman of bold faith and blessed service, who was able to leave the conventions of her old life and enter into the grace and freedom Jesus offers, who opened the doors of her home and her heart to Jesus and all who come with him, who is bonded in love and faith to God through Christ. To view the original YouTube presentation, click on "Martha of Bethany [https://youtu.be/IN9j08HXP00]" Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GraceandPeaceJoanne] Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study. Grace and Peace, Joanne Website [https://graceandpeacejoanne.com/] Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view Books by Joanne "Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful" [https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Searching-Trusted-Powerful-Biblical/dp/1725277700?crid=3TH5Z3HPGOTHZ&keywords=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204009&sprefix=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1-fkmr0&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=469b80b80703756378111a1f0c37290b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] "Love Feast" [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Feast-Passover-Infused-Gospel/dp/B083XW6866?crid=220WDFD4GJ2B1&keywords=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204153&sprefix=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=171c07425db4fe1b1031296eb6cb3e17&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] Forty Freebies If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...

Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: The Woman at the Well

The story of the woman at the well comes right after Jesus made a blockbuster statement to the Pharisee and Sanhedrin member Nicodemus: God loves not just Pharisees, not even just Judeans, but the whole world. And, to illustrate this very point, Jesus made his way to some of the most despised people in the region, the Samaritans. Now, as Jesus and his disciples arrived at Jacob’s famous well, they decided to take a break. Jesus sat down to rest, and the disciples went into the nearest town to buy food, most likely a very unsettling prospect for them as Judeans. They may even have passed by this woman with her water jug as they walked into the town of Sychar. Archaeologists show there was another well in town, but she was walking the extra half-mile out of town to Jacob’s well, possibly because of her reputation within the community. The Lord Jesus loved this mixed-race, mixed-religion woman of questionable reputation, and he respected and honored her with his own humility and vulnerability. He was thirsty for water, and knew she was thirsty for eternal life. But. There is so . . . much . . . more to this story. You may be surprised by what the Greek reveals. To view the original YouTube presentation, click on "Woman at the Well [https://youtu.be/RyaXQA8_kNA]" Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@GraceandPeaceJoanne] Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study. Grace and Peace, Joanne Website [https://graceandpeacejoanne.com/] Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view Books by Joanne "Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful" [https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Searching-Trusted-Powerful-Biblical/dp/1725277700?crid=3TH5Z3HPGOTHZ&keywords=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204009&sprefix=joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C55&sr=8-1-fkmr0&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=469b80b80703756378111a1f0c37290b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] "Love Feast" [https://www.amazon.com/Love-Feast-Passover-Infused-Gospel/dp/B083XW6866?crid=220WDFD4GJ2B1&keywords=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer&qid=1687204153&sprefix=love+feast%2C+joanne+guarnieri+hagemeyer%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=graceandpe03f-20&linkId=171c07425db4fe1b1031296eb6cb3e17&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl] Forty Freebies If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...