Episodes

  • 160 - How to Actually Read the Book of Revelation

    160 - How to Actually Read the Book of Revelation
    Jun 30 2026
    I’ll be honest — when I was a kid, a movie based on The Late Great Planet Earth (which is loosely about the book of Revelation) kept me up for a month. So when I decided to start a Revelation series in The Bible in Small Steps, my first thought was “this might be the scariest thing I’ve ever recorded.” This episode is the why-and-how before we dive in — not the first real chapter, but the posture I want us to bring into the whole series.It’s a Pastoral Letter First. Before Revelation is apocalyptic, it’s a letter written to real churches under real first-century pressure, meant to comfort and steady frightened people. That’s still its job today — Revelation is meant to settle you, not give you a puzzle to solve.Four Views, No Need to Pick One. I walk through preterist, futurist, historicist, and idealist readings of Revelation — and explain why I’m taking a “yes to all of it” approach rather than picking a side, the same way a single image can be true of the first century, true throughout church history, and true at the end.Birth Pangs, Not a Timeline. Jesus used labor imagery for a reason — waves of pain and easing that build toward a final delivery. Seals, trumpets, and bowls in Revelation work the same way: not three sequential timelines, but the same conflict retold with the volume turned up each time.Don’t Make a Wanted Poster. Throughout history people have confidently named the Antichrist — Hitler, Napoleon, various popes and emperors — and every guess has aged badly. I explain why naming names actually undermines real vigilance, and why the better question is “what does opposition to Christ actually look like” rather than “who is it.”Numbers Are Vocabulary, Not Math. Seven means completeness, twelve means God’s people, a thousand means “a really long time” — not a literal count. Holding the numbers loosely is key to not getting lost chasing dates and calculations.We Already Know How It Ends. Jesus reigns, His people are secure, the Lamb triumphs. Every strange image in Revelation should be read forward from that ending, not as a mystery hanging over the outcome.If you only take one thing from this episode into the series: don’t try to solve Revelation like a code. Let it do what it was written to do — steady you.Jill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”.By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.
    Show More Show Less
    12 mins
  • 159 - John's Letters and the Church in Crisis

    159 - John's Letters and the Church in Crisis
    Jun 23 2026
    Have you ever trusted someone completely, only to have them start picking apart the very foundation of what you believed? That’s the situation the original readers of 1 John were living in — and it’s why this letter was written. Before we get into the text itself, I wanted to slow down and answer the questions that shape everything else: who wrote this, who was it written to, and what was actually going wrong in that church?No name, but no doubt. Unlike Paul’s letters, 1 John opens with no greeting and no sender. The church has nonetheless attributed it to John for two thousand years, and the evidence holds up — starting with Irenaeus, who knew Polycarp, who knew John personally. That’s a remarkably short chain of testimony.The fingerprints are everywhere. The vocabulary and rhythm of 1 John — light, darkness, truth, abiding, eternal life — echo the Gospel of John so closely that the two read like they came from the same hand and the same way of seeing the world. The letter doesn’t just share themes with the Gospel; it shares texture.An eyewitness, not a historian. The author doesn’t say “I’ve studied this” — he says “we heard him, we saw him, we touched him.” That’s not secondhand testimony. It’s the voice of someone who was actually there.A church under pressure. By the time John wrote, he was likely the last living apostle, writing from Ephesus to congregations being pulled apart by teachers offering “secret knowledge” — an early form of what would become Gnosticism. These teachers denied that Jesus had truly come in the flesh, taught that the physical world was inherently evil, and unsettled ordinary believers who started wondering if they were missing something.Why John wrote it. Not as an academic exercise, but so that his readers could know — not hope, not guess, but know — that they had eternal life. Assurance, for John, isn’t arrogance. It’s the natural fruit of trusting a trustworthy Savior.Four themes to watch for. God is light. Jesus Christ came in real flesh. Love is costly, not sentimental. And assurance is meant to be settled ground, not a source of anxiety.I’m genuinely excited to walk through this letter with you. If you’ve ever had someone confidently tell you something that sounded true but wasn’t quite right, you already understand why John wrote this the way he did.You can find this and all of my podcasts at jillfromthenorthwoods.com — see you in 1 John.Jill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”.By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
  • 158 - The Mozart Problem - Stop Measuring Gifts

    158 - The Mozart Problem - Stop Measuring Gifts
    Jun 16 2026
    I’ve been obsessed with the story of Amadeus for about forty years. And I’ve been sitting with a question it raises for just as long.What do you do when the most gifted person in the room is also the messiest, most broken person in the room? And what does it mean when God seems to work through them anyway?This episode starts with the story of Salieri — a fictional treatment, not a history lesson, but one that surfaces something real. Salieri was faithful, disciplined, devoted. He made what he understood to be a deal with God: I’ll give everything to my art and to you, and you’ll bless me with greatness. Then Mozart walked in. Crude, immature, self-destructive in almost every direction — and the music that came out of him sounded, to Salieri’s ears, like the voice of God itself.And Salieri’s response wasn’t envy. It was grief. Why is God doing this like this?Most of us have felt something like that. Maybe not about music. Maybe about a coworker who got a promotion they didn’t seem to earn. A sibling who shines without trying. A pastor whose sermons are genuinely life-changing and whose private life is a wreck. That low-grade ache — part envy, part confusion, part honest theological question — deserves a real answer.What the Bible actually says about giftednessThe Bible never promises that the most gifted people will live the most faithful lives. Scripture is full of the opposite: David — warrior, poet, man after God’s own heart, and also capable of adultery, deception, and arranging a murder. Samson, supernaturally powerful and completely unable to learn from his mistakes. Solomon, with wisdom that drew people from distant lands, who compromised himself into a fractured kingdom. Jonah, who delivered one of the most effective prophetic revivals in history while being furious it worked. Peter, who denied Christ three times in a single night and became the foundation of the early church.The pattern isn’t that God uses imperfect people. It’s that God uses people, period.Gifts vs. fruit — they’re not the same categoryPaul makes this explicit in 1 Corinthians. You can prophesy, move mountains, give away everything you own — and still have nothing that actually matters without love. Gifts are not fruit. They’re not the same thing, and confusing them is the source of a lot of our surprise when gifted leaders fall apart. We still believe, somewhere underneath, what Salieri believed: that someone who produces something that beautiful must be living something beautiful. Scripture doesn’t teach that.The hidden peopleThe kingdom runs on a different math than we’re used to. The widow with two coins. The woman who anoints Jesus and says nothing. The faithful servant trusted with small things. The unnamed believer Paul greets at the end of Romans. Not everyone is Mozart. Not everyone was meant to be. Faithfulness in ordinary things, when nobody’s watching and nobody’s applauding, is what Jesus keeps returning to.Salieri’s real tragedyBy the end of the story, Salieri’s tragedy isn’t that Mozart had more gifts. It’s that he couldn’t receive anything in his own life because he spent all of it staring at someone else’s calling. He had gifts, influence, an audience, a life. And he couldn’t see any of it. That’s the spiritual danger — spending your one life measuring it against someone else’s calling and missing the one you were actually given.Three small stepsName the ache. Don’t spiritualize it away too fast. When you encounter a gifted and messy person, ask a different question — not “why them and not me” but “what is God doing here?” And then turn your attention back to your own lane. Not with resignation, but with intention.Your faithfulness isn’t diminished by someone else’s gift. Your calling isn’t smaller because someone else’s is louder.📬 jillfromthenorthwoods.com✉️ jill@startwithsmallsteps.comJill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used...
    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • 157 - Letters of Peter - Do We Hear the Real Peter in His Letters?

    157 - Letters of Peter - Do We Hear the Real Peter in His Letters?
    Jun 9 2026
    I’ve been spending a lot of time in 1 Peter lately, and before we dive into the chapters, I wanted to take a step back and ask a question that kept nagging at me: can you actually hear Peter’s voice in these letters? Not just a theological voice, but the Peter — the impulsive, passionate, foot-in-mouth fisherman who denied Jesus three times and then preached at Pentecost. That’s what this episode is about. We’re doing a full overview of both letters before we move into the text itself.Who Was Peter by the Time He Wrote This?By the time Peter picks up his pen — or more likely, dictates to his companion Silvanus — he has lived an entire life inside the story of Jesus. He was there for the transfiguration, Gethsemane, the denial, the restoration on the beach at Galilee. He preached at Pentecost, was imprisoned and released, and now he is aging and writing from Rome while Nero is actively targeting Christians. He knows his end is coming. The weight of all of that is underneath every sentence.The Historical Setting: Nero’s Rome and the Churches of Asia MinorPeter writes sometime between 63–67 AD, just years before the Jerusalem temple falls. The church in Rome had survived Nero’s brutal scapegoating after the great fire of 64 AD — and the believers scattered across modern-day Turkey (Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, Bithynia) were facing their own version of social hostility and persecution. These were largely Gentile converts who had walked away from the religious and social world of Rome — and paid a steep price for it. The exile language Peter uses throughout the letters is not a metaphor for them. It is their daily reality.Why the Greek Is So Polished (and What That Tells Us)One of the things that has puzzled readers is the elegantly polished Greek of 1 Peter — high literary quality that doesn’t quite match what you’d expect from a Galilean fisherman. The most straightforward explanation is Silvanus (also known as Silas), the same traveling companion who served Paul, likely took down Peter’s dictation and gave it its refined form. 2 Peter reads noticeably rougher, which may suggest a different secretary — or Peter writing more directly himself near the end of his life.Chosen and Exiled: The Letter’s Central TensionPeter calls his readers two things at once: chosen and exiles. That paradox is the heartbeat of both letters. They have been selected by God, brought into covenant relationship through the blood of Jesus — and yet they are strangers in the world they live in. Peter’s whole purpose is to help them hold both truths at the same time without collapsing into despair on one side or triumphalism on the other.Do We Hear the Real Peter?This was the question that got me most. And yes — I think we do, if you know what to look for. The pastoral depth of his comfort to suffering believers doesn’t read like academic theology. It reads like someone who has been to the bottom and knows the way back. The repeated emphasis on the resurrection, the stone imagery, the focus on suffering as a refining rather than a destroying force — all of it sounds like a man who failed catastrophically, was restored, and now writes with the authority of someone who has lived through what he’s teaching.When you’re reading 1 Peter, you’re not reading a theological treatise. You’re reading a letter from a shepherd who knows exactly what the wolves look like — because he’s faced them himself.Download blank templates, schedules here:https://schmern2.notion.site/Downloads-Template-Word-and-Excel-Schedule-67439d14449d4c20bfe00efe069f78b8Logos RAMPS Workflow - RAMPS Bible Study - The Bible in Small Steps in Logos WorkflowsJill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May ...
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • 156 - MIRRORS: Jonathan — Faithfulness Without the Crown

    156 - MIRRORS: Jonathan — Faithfulness Without the Crown
    Jun 2 2026
    What do you do when someone else gets what you expected to be yours? Not a stranger — someone you know, maybe someone you love. That's the question Jonathan's life puts in front of us, and it's one of the most searching questions in all of Scripture. Jonathan was Israel's crown prince — a proven warrior, a man of genuine faith and ability — and he watched God choose someone else for the throne he expected to inherit. What he did in response is one of the most remarkable things in the entire Bible.Who Jonathan WasJonathan is introduced in Scripture as courageous before almost anything else. In 1 Samuel 14, he slipped away from his paralyzed father's army and approached the Philistine garrison with only his armor-bearer, saying: 'Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.' That word 'perhaps' is a window into his soul — not reckless presumption, not paralyzed fear, but faith that moves before certainty arrives.A Covenant FriendshipWhen David arrived at Saul's court, something happened between Jonathan and David that Scripture describes in striking terms: the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Jonathan chose covenant over competition, and he expressed that choice in a profoundly symbolic act — giving David his own robe, armor, sword, bow, and belt. He was honoring the coming of a king before the kingdom had even changed hands, and he had everything to lose by doing it.Faithfulness at Personal CostJonathan defended David against Saul at great personal risk, even after Saul hurled a spear at his own son for it. Later, in a forest while David was fleeing for his life, Jonathan sought him out and 'strengthened his hand in God' — he helped David find his footing in faith when David's own courage was flagging. He then said something remarkable: that David would be king, and that he himself would stand beside him. He surrendered his own claim to the throne in a way that blessed the man who was going to take it.The Painful MiddleJonathan's story is not without tragedy. He stayed too close to Saul's collapse and died beside his father on Mount Gilboa in a battle that was, by every measure, already lost. Scripture doesn't condemn him for this — some see it as honorable loyalty to his father to the last breath, others see it as an inability to fully step into the new order. Both readings are probably partially right. Jonathan lived in the painful middle: loving David, honoring Saul, never fully resolving the tension between them.The Mirror — Three Questions for UsJonathan's life holds up a mirror. The first question is the hardest: what happens inside you when someone else succeeds where you expected to? The second is about friendship — not networking, but the kind where souls are actually knit together. The third is the most personal: what throne are you holding on to? Most of us have one — a future we imagined, a role we expected, something we've carried for years as if it already belonged to us. Jonathan teaches us that releasing it is not defeat. It's the beginning of freedom.Jonathan didn't have a crown. But David grieved him with some of the most beautiful poetry in all of Scripture, and that lament has been read for over 3,000 years. You don't have to be the center of the story to build something that lasts forever.Jill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”.By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you ...
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • The Letter of James - James: Faith That Has to Show Up

    The Letter of James - James: Faith That Has to Show Up
    May 26 2026
    What if the most spiritual thing you could do today isn't a ritual, a reading plan, or a theological position — but something as ordinary as how you treat the person standing in front of you? That's the provocation that opens the letter of James, and it's what we're starting today.Who Was James?The letter opens simply: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." No title, no credentials — just a name and a posture. Most conservative scholars identify him as Jesus' brother: the same James who didn't believe in Jesus during his earthly ministry, who appears in the Gospels with his brothers trying to pull Jesus away from the crowds, and who Paul tells us was visited personally by the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7). That encounter changed everything. James became the leading figure of the Jerusalem church, known in early tradition as "James the Just" — a man whose knees were calloused from prayer.Who Was He Writing To?James addresses "the twelve tribes in the dispersion" — Jewish Christians scattered across the Greco-Roman world, most of them forced out of Jerusalem by the persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen. These were not comfortable, settled believers. They were poor, pressured, displaced, and uncertain. That context explains everything about why this letter sounds the way it does.Why James Sounds the Way It DoesJames has edges. It uses language that sometimes feels confrontational. That's not accident — it reflects the Jewish wisdom tradition James was steeped in, and the fact that he had watched what happened when faith stayed in people's heads and never reached their hands or their wallets. He had seen wealth distort the church. He had watched speech tear communities apart. He loved these people too much to leave them comfortable.The Major ThemesJames covers ground that will feel immediately relevant: how to endure trials without losing faith, how to ask God for wisdom without being double-minded, the danger of showing favoritism toward the wealthy, the destructive power of uncontrolled speech, and the relationship between faith and works. Each theme connects to real life — not theology for its own sake, but formation that shows up in actual behavior.Faith and Works: The Most Debated PassagePaul says we're saved by faith, not works. James says faith without works is dead. These aren't contradictions — they're two sides of the same truth. Paul is fighting the idea that people can earn salvation through religious performance. James is fighting the idea that someone can claim faith while showing zero evidence of transformation. Real faith produces movement.This letter is a mirror. It's most useful when you stand in front of it long enough to see what it's actually showing you — and what James is asking you to do about it.Timestamps0:00 Introduction1:49 Who was James? Background and conversion4:43 The twelve tribes — who he was writing to5:55 Why James sounds so urgent and direct10:15 The major themes of the letter17:13 Faith and works — the most debated passage23:13 Closing thoughtsJill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”.By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual ...
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • 154 - Did God’s Plan Fail? Walking Through the Covenants of Scripture

    154 - Did God’s Plan Fail? Walking Through the Covenants of Scripture
    May 19 2026
    If you’ve ever read through the Bible from beginning to end, you’ve probably noticed it: the arrangements keep changing. A garden. A flood. A promise to a wandering man. A law given at a mountain. A shepherd made king. And then a prophet speaking about something entirely new, written not on stone but on the heart. It can look, from the outside, like God is improvising — or worse, like one plan failed and another had to be invented. Today we’re going to walk through the major covenants of Scripture and show why that reading misses everything.What a Covenant Is — and Why They’re Not All Doing the Same ThingSome covenants are unconditional promises from God regardless of human response. Others are designed to expose what’s already in the human heart. Some are given to a nation, others to all humanity. If we assume they’re all trying to accomplish the same thing in the same way, we tie ourselves in knots. When we ask what each one is revealing, the whole story opens up.The Garden and the Flood: The Problem EstablishedThe Edenic arrangement shows us what the human condition actually is — not a flaw in God’s design, but a flaw in ours. The prohibition wasn’t arbitrary; it was an invitation to trust. And we chose otherwise. We chose, and still choose, “I know better.” The Noahic covenant follows a flood not with requirements for a reformed humanity, but with an unconditional promise. God says “never again” to a world He knows is still bent the wrong way. God’s faithfulness does not depend on human consistency — and that becomes one of the great recurring themes of the entire Bible.Abraham: The Method RevealedIn Genesis 15, God seals a covenant with Abraham using an ancient Near Eastern ritual — animals split in two, parties walking between them. But Abram falls asleep. God alone passes through. The covenant doesn’t rest on Abraham’s performance; it rests entirely on God’s. And Genesis 15:6 gives us one of the most important sentences in all of Scripture: Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Paul returns to this in Romans and Galatians to argue that the method of salvation has never changed. It was always this: trust in God’s promise, received as a gift.Moses: The Law as Diagnostic ToolThe law at Sinai wasn’t a replacement for the promise — it serves the promise. Paul explains exactly what it was designed to do: expose the depth of our problem. The law is like a perfectly straight edge held against a crooked wall. It shows you exactly where things are off. But it doesn’t fix the wall. Israel’s repeated failures aren’t evidence that God’s plan went wrong — they’re evidence the law was working as designed. Romans 3:20 says it plainly: through the law comes the knowledge of sin, not relief from it. You can’t seek a cure unless you know you’re sick.David and the New Covenant: The Promise Narrows, Then ArrivesThe Davidic covenant pointed toward a king unlike any human king — one who would bear the sin the law exposed and establish a kingdom no human ambition could build or destroy. When the kings fail, as they all do, it’s not a collapse. It’s a confirmation that the hope was never in them. Then Jeremiah 31 arrives: a new covenant, not written on stone tablets, but on hearts. Not requiring human compliance to function — requiring a transformation of the person from the inside. Everything the other covenants revealed as broken, the New Covenant promises to restore. Jesus, on the night before His crucifixion, took the cup and said: this is the new covenant in my blood. He knew exactly what He was saying.The Word That Holds It All Together: HesedThere is a Hebrew word that appears over 200 times in the Old Testament, running through the covenant story like a thread: hesed — often translated as steadfast love or covenant faithfulness. It’s not affection. It’s a committed, loyal bond that does not release its hold even when the other party has failed. Jeremiah writes about it in the middle of the rubble of a destroyed Jerusalem: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” Not from a comfortable place. From the ash.Did God’s plan fail? No. The covenants are not a series of escalating attempts with an uncertain outcome. They are the careful, patient unfolding of a story God already knew the ending of — a story that ends not in judgment, but with a man on a cross saying, It is finished.Jill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV ...
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • 153 - MIRRORS - Samuel: The Man Who Spoke and Wasn’t Heard

    153 - MIRRORS - Samuel: The Man Who Spoke and Wasn’t Heard
    May 12 2026
    Have you ever said the right thing and watched it go nowhere? Warned someone, told the truth, gave the best counsel you had — and the person nodded and did exactly what they were going to do anyway? That feeling has a name in Scripture, and it belongs to one of the most faithfully obedient people in the entire Old Testament. This episode is about Samuel.The Moment He Lived InSamuel’s life spanned two eras: the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. He served during one of the most turbulent transitions in Israel’s history, as a loosely confederated tribal society insisted on becoming a monarchy like its neighbors. He was a kingmaker who never became king himself, who heard God speak from childhood and carried that voice forward his entire life.Who He Was: Identity Built on ListeningSamuel’s identity was formed in the dark of the tabernacle, hearing his name called three times and finally learning to respond: “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” His whole vocation — prophet, judge, anointer of kings — rested on that posture. He was not a strategist or a politician. He was simply someone who heard God and said what God told him to say.What He Got Right: Costly FaithfulnessWhen Israel demanded a king, God told Samuel to warn them what a king would cost. Samuel warned them clearly, completely, and faithfully. They ignored him anyway. And Samuel kept serving. He anointed Saul — a king he disagreed with — and continued his work. He then anointed David, weeping over Saul’s failure, and stepped off the stage when his part was done. Faithfulness when no one is listening. Obedience when the crowd has already made up its mind. This is what costly faithfulness looks like.What He Got Wrong: Grief That Almost Became ParalysisSamuel’s sons were corrupt, taking bribes and perverting justice. The man who listened so carefully to God throughout a nation’s history somehow couldn’t translate that faithfulness into his closest relationships. And when Saul failed, Samuel’s grief tipped toward something God had to interrupt: “How long will you grieve? Get up. There is more work to do.”The Mirror: What Samuel’s Life Says to UsSamuel never saw the fruit of what he planted. He anointed two kings, both failures in different ways, and died before David’s kingdom came together. God never called that a failure. Faithfulness is not measured by outcome. If you have said true things, done right things, and watched them go nowhere — Samuel’s life is permission to grieve that, and then to get up. Your work is not done.Jill’s Linkshttps://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgodhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspodhttps://twitter.com/schmernEmail the podcast at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.”Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.“The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”.By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins