A Year in the Gospel of John: A Journey of Insight and Reflection with Charles Vance

Embark on a year-long voyage through the profound depths of the Gospel of John with me, Charles Vance, as your captain on the Living Words Podcast. We promise to deliver a weekly dose of insight and reflection that will not only deepen your knowledge of Scripture but also enhance your relationship with the divine. Let's navigate together the powerful themes of love, deity, and the incarnation, immersing ourselves in the unique perspective of the beloved disciple. We'll dissect passages, unravel their meanings, and apply the lessons to our daily lives, all while engaging in personal contemplation that fosters spiritual growth.

Each episode, structured as a 30-minute Sabbath day sanctuary, offers an oasis of tranquility where we can pause and ponder the living Word. Through narrative, commentary, and thought-provoking questions, we'll challenge our understanding and seek transformation. I'll share suggested prayers for those looking to enrich their conversation with God, whether they're seasoned in faith or new to the fold. A companion devotional is available for those who wish to dive deeper, yet this journey is crafted to be fully experienced through each podcast installment alone. Join us as we commit this sacred time to spiritual study and let the Living Word reshape our hearts and minds.

The Devotional "In His Footsteps" can be found on Amazon at this link.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYQD2N8Z

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, I'm Charles Vance and I'm the host of Living Words Podcast and in this podcast we're going to delve into the transformative power of Scripture through weekly devotionals starting with, in His Footsteps, a 52-week journey into the Gospel of John. I curated and published the devotional because I wanted to have a deeper, structured exploration of the Gospel of John. Now the structure is each week there will be a passage of scripture from John, and we're going to do it in series until we've covered the whole book and then at the end of that there's going to be some thematic studies, so that there's 52 weeks covered. So for a year you're going to be immersed deeply into the book of John. I chose the book of John because John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was a disciple who leaned upon the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper, and John is the one who introduces us to the idea of the deity and incarnation of Jesus Christ. He said that he is in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That's from John. So after we go through the narrative, there will be a commentary where I discuss what the meaning of that passage is. And then there's three lessons that can be drawn from that. And then some reflective questions, three to five, that will allow the reader to, or the listener to, immerse themselves more into the word, to think about things deeply To. You know, more than just read the Word and pass on, you actually are going to dwell a little bit on the Scripture and think about it. What does it mean to you? What thoughts does that passage or that particular verse or Scripture bring up? How does it affect you? How do you think that's going to change your life or how can it transform you? Those are the kind of questions that we're going to reflect on, to bring out more power from the Scripture. And then, after that, there's going to be three suggested prayers.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Now, a lot of people, some people I don't know they don't have trouble praying. They just, you know, intuitively, are able to do it. But others have a little anxiety around it. Maybe they're not familiar with Christianity or the Bible not been very it. Maybe they're not familiar with Christianity or the Bible not been very religious, maybe they're new believers. They don't really know how to pray, who to speak to. You know, jesus actually teaches us, taught us how to pray in the Lord's Prayer. So there was definitely this need to understand how to pray and who do you pray to God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And what these prayer suggestions do is they actually provide prayer models where you can pray these prayers to the Holy Spirit to God the Father or the Son, and bring more transformative power to you. As you pray these prayers to the Holy Spirit, this inspiration of the Holy Spirit within will bring the truth to you and transform you, and it's all part of that same transformative renewal, washing of the Word. So there you have it. So every week we're going to go through a different passage of John until we've completed 52 weeks of study and we have that commentary. You have the lessons that come out of it, some reflective questions and then suggested prayers.

Speaker 1: 3:08

The plan right now is to have a 30-minute study, so the podcast will be 30-minute episodes weekly. I'm going to do that. He's on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the seventh day. It's the day that God has commended us to set apart and to rest, and that's a day that he wants us to commit and devote to him. So that's why I've chosen to use the Sabbath day to release the episode, each new episode of this transformative study. I'm going to put a link to the In His Footsteps devotional on the Amazon page so that you can go and purchase one if you want for the study to go through it with me. It's not necessary, I'm going to cover everything on this podcast, uh so, but the link will be there in case you need it, and I hope you'll join me and I'll see you then.