One podcast, three segments…all about Jesus

Yes. And no.

Here’s the thing… ¾ of the Bible is Old Testament. Almost no Bible reading plans account for that…and the fact that most folks reeeally bog down in the Old Testament.

I first target time instead of chapters…about 22 minutes a day.

Second, I use a modified approach that gets through the the NT in about 9 ½ months, the OT in about 13 ½. If you do the math, that means every five years or so you’ll have been through the NT six times to the OT’s four times. You can thank a lot of listener feedback for that.

Imagine you and me sitting down over coffee and reading the Bible? Is it perfect? No. Is it personal and real? Totally.

Yes, sometimes I bust out laughing (e.g., the irony in Isaiah 44:19! LOL!) or crying (yes, seriously, like the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22).

If “keepin’ it real” is your thing, this might be for. Otherwise you’ll probably just find me weird.

Just jump in!

The Bible doesn’t read front-to-back like a contemporary novel. In fact, some books like Jeremiah jump around chronologically!

Moreover, just like we need physical food pretty much daily, we need spiritual food daily, too.

But I’d encourage you to just jump in. You might be surprised that, because we do things a little differently, it’s just useful to sit down at the table. It’s a lifestyle, not a project here..

But if you want to start at the beginning (so to speak), find and start at Episode 2473 (January 6, 2025).

God’s word (and Word) are most important. We read the whole thing…even the weird and difficult parts.

But I provide intros, transitions, and occasional interjections to help understanding and flow.

The whole Bible points to Jesus, but some parts are more obvious than others. Plus, I know that listening is a different brain function than reading (who doesn’t tune out and miss something sometimes?) Each day’s ‘theme’ is just a point from somewhere in the text that is worth highlighting.

Yes. In the brain, listening is processed differently than reading. It’s not better or worse, but it is different.

Think about how your physical Bible helps you see certain things — red words for Jesus, indentation for poetry, bold copy for NT quotations of the OT, capitalizing Spirit to mean something different than spirit.

Every one of those things is missed in a typical audio Bible.

And this is before phrasing, pauses, and things that help illuminate the meaning. Some readers do this alright, one or two pretty well. It’s just something I value, because we’re not looking to check a box on a Bible reading plan.

Most folks who actually do Bible read-throughs do a little bit of skimming. We do, too, and here’s how and why.

When you get to Numbers 7, what do you figure out? It’s 89 verses long, and most of that is the twelve tribes of Israel each bringing a set of gifts that is quite detailed. It doesn’t take long to figure out it’s exactly the same for each of twelve tribes.

When you get to 1 Chronicles, you figure out that it looks like this: “Name, name, name, father of name, name, name, name, name, name, OTHER TIDBIT, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, TIDBIT, name, name, name, name, name.” For NINE chapters.

I call it “verbal skimming.” I’ve highlighted all those tidbits…you don’t miss a one. But instead of spending two episodes reading you names you’ll not remember, I’ll instead remind you of why God put in those genealogies to begin with and what that means to us.

So…it’s not often. One other thing: Sometimes I repeat something, too. You don’t get that with an audio Bible unless you back up. Is it reeeeally important? Sometimes just say, “don’t miss this…” and read it again.

If you just read or listen to the Bible front to back, you figure out that there are a LOT of Psalms. In my humble opinion, we often miss their punch.

And how about Proverbs? Interestingly, Proverbs 1-9 reads a lot like narrative, but chs 10-31 are a whole lot of pithy sayings…also an opportunity to get repetitive.

Remember how I “read for TIME rather than chapters” (~22 min a day)?

We read the Psalms with the OT, roughly in chronological order OR those that fit with the day’s NT and OT reading (like Ps 19 in Ep 2473 is perfect as a companion to Gen. 1-2).

We read Proverbs 1-9 with our OT reading, and intersperse the rest a few at a time, throughout the rest of the year.

This helps me manage to time, but importantly it helps you hear bits of wisdom literature each day.

The CSB.

Here’s a secret: except for the King James, contemporary English Bibles all have copyrights that make it illegal to quote them more than 500 words (or so). And that’s ok with me — it’s not cheap to translate and update. So the first two years of the podcast I cycled through 11 different translations, using a different one daily.

I learned two things…some are definitely easier to read! But I also want faithfulness.

About that time a dear elder friend had a friend who was on the translation committee that updated the HCSB to the CSB. I wrote Holman, and they graciously gave me permission to use just the Christian Standard Bible. And I love it. It’s now what I use for personal devotions, too (though I still use multiples, especially the ESV for my doctoral work).

If you’re new to the podcast thing, you’re not alone. It’s why I make it so that every episode can be accessed from a web page (navigate to “Podcasts” and you’ll see the three options.

Alternatively, the easiest way to listen to podcasts like a pro is to subscribe. ANY podcast application will work; here are links to the three most popular. If you haven’t downloaded the app, you’ll be invited to.

Apple |  Spotify  |  iHeart