The Jordan Valley Podcast
The Jordan Valley Ministries
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Welcome to our Bible Study Podcast where we meet up with a bunch of people from different backgrounds and denominations, to discuss various passages from the Bible.
We follow different versions of the Bible and usually have contrasting opinions on several passages but through these differences we hope to know God in a whole new perspective.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Dec 11, 2020
Daniel 10 to 12 – Our Allotted Inheritance
Like Daniel, we also do not need to know the times of these events describe in this book. What we must understand is that there is a spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes of our problems but realise that God has allowed for it and only He can put a stop to it at the appointed time. Till then we need to stay on the path that God has chosen for us, fully submitting to His will, and when the Day of the Lord arrives, we too will receive our allotted inheritance.
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Dec 3, 2020
Daniel 6 – Sleepless in Babylon
We all can see our state of mind during the trials in our lives and can evaluate how actually close we are to God. Are we like Darius? Sleepless, panicking and not sure what will happen next or are we like Daniel? Who in spite of not knowing the result of standing alone, left the worrying to God and slept peacefully that night.
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Nov 26, 2020
Daniel 9 – His Everlasting Righteousness
Like Daniel, we too start questioning God and start listing down all the good we have supposedly done for Him. We want to prove to God that we are worthy of His Grace and Blessings on us and are is some sense 'demanding to see the manger' when things are not working out for us. We must realise that if we try to play that game with our Creator, we will never win, as what He has done for us is immeasurable, while our so-called good deeds, more often than not, are driven by self-preservation.
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Nov 19, 2020
Daniel 5 – The Writing was Always on The Wall
Daniel was still unknown to the new king of the land Belshazzar, who was the joint ruler of Babylon from 553-539 BC. The events in this chapter are the accounts of his last day in office as he was assassinated seemingly out of the blue, but the writing was always on the wall.
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Nov 12, 2020
Daniel 8 – And the Evenings and the Mornings were a Nightmare
These days all our photos and documents are stored in the cloud. Imagine if that connection was disrupted what a nightmarish scenario that would be. Anytime we are not allowed to commune with God, it would be hell on earth for us. Our soul cannot find rest till the connection to our maker is restored. Imagine our evenings and mornings when we are not able to commune with God, that should be our nightmarish scenario. Let us rejoice that God sent His Son to restore that broken connection and put an end to our nightmare.
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Nov 5, 2020
Daniel 7 – The Son of Man
When our plans for the future are not aligned with that of God's, we too will face disappointments, heartaches and even grief. If someone like Daniel can misinterpret God's plan, what chance do we have? But remember that Daniel did not have the Spirit residing in him, guiding all his steps.
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Oct 29, 2020
Daniel 4 – The Tree of Babel
It is strange to see a passage in the Bible not authored by one of the Jewish writers but Daniel's inclusion of this letter that Nebuchadnezzar had seemingly written to the entire world, shows us how God can work in anyone's life. We must understand that, while our pride and arrogance might give us confidence in our own abilities, our God can instantly humble our pride.
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Oct 16, 2020
Daniel 3 – From the Fiery Pit to the Eternal Throne
Our God is a God who will even come down to our fiery pit and save us. But even if He did not save us, will we give Him the glory He deserves?
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Oct 11, 2020
Daniel 2 – The Rock is Mightier than the Statue
As Nebuchadnezzar found out God is the ultimate revealer of mysteries, but are we content in deriving blessings from Him rather than sit with Him and ask Him to reveal His plans. Let us not chase after the things of this world and realise that His Rock is mightier than any statue that this world has to offer.
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Sep 27, 2020
Daniel 1 – The Return to Babel
We need to keep our trust on God and not succumb to the pressures of this world and its pagan ways. Otherwise, just like the Israelites, we too will keep returning to our Babel.
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Aug 27, 2020
Genesis 50 – God our Guarantor
Our lives are not perfect and oftentimes we too mess up like these people, but if we allow God to work in our lives he will transform our mess into something beautiful. And that's the story of Genesis!
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Aug 18, 2020
Genesis 48 & 49 – The Scepter Will Never Depart
The final chapters of the book of Genesis don't really give us any insights into the lives of Jacob and his sons in Egypt but if we read carefully they do give us a glimmer of hope for a promise to come.
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Aug 6, 2020
Genesis 47 – Rags to Riches
While Egyptians were selling of their lands to ward off starvation, Joseph’s family was making real estate investments in Egypt. For us it may be a flip of the page but for Jacob’s family it took many years for them to realise the dream that God had shown the patriarchs. Most of us give up on God when we are passing through our famines. We forget all his past blessings and promises for our future. .
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Jul 30, 2020
Genesis 45 & 46 – The Big Reveal
The basic principle behind Machine learning is to use past mistakes to figure out the right path. That's how our mind also works when it comes to the people who have hurt us. We pretend that we are over it, but deep down our minds are still storing their mistakes and our future actions will be based on this data, all this to avoid getting hurt by them in the future.
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Jul 16, 2020
Genesis 44 – The Slave Becomes the Master
From selling Joseph out of jealousy to trading prison sentence with Joseph's younger brother out of loyalty, we see a huge shift in the attitude of Judah.
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Jul 2, 2020
Genesis 43 – Here We Go Again
In trying to hide his identity, Joseph kept delaying God's plan in the lives of his family members.
The outward show that we put on may prevent us hurt from the people around us but it also prevents us from admitting our weaknesses and coming to God for a solution.
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Jun 11, 2020
Genesis 42 – Everything is Against Us
So many of us carry that guilt around, the guilt of our past mistakes. It is not God who burdens us but the deceiver who keeps reminding us of our past shortcomings so that we drown ourselves in sorrow and guilt and forget about our connection with God.
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May 29, 2020
Genesis 41 – A New Robe
This earth will only be able to give us robes (Honor) made by human hands but God wants to give us a New Robe. He wants to replace our worn out prison clothes with His heavenly robe and His seal of approval.
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May 14, 2020
Genesis 40 – Remember Me
Often times we want humans to remember us. We seek the favor of our fellowmen and women and long for their affection, especially during our present state. But the one who is within us, who is constantly seeking us, who always remembers us and has carved us in the palm of his hands, we treat indifferently or maybe take Him for granted.
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May 7, 2020
Genesis 39 – It’s Joseph’s Cloak Again
Once again Joseph's cloak became an integral part of someone's lie and Potiphar was fooled by his wife. Joseph was sent to prison but the Lord's hand was still with him as the change in scenery did not stop Joseph from rising among the ranks even when he was in the prison.
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May 6, 2020
Genesis 38 – To Err is Human not God
People question why did Jesus have to come in a manger? Why did God do this to His Son? This passage will be absolute shocker to them that Jesus chose this family to be born in.
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Apr 27, 2020
Genesis 37 – The Corrupt Race
A combination of Jacob's love for Joseph and Joseph's innate nature of telling on his brothers caused friction in the house of Israel. Jacob did not help matters when he made an ornate robe for his favourite son Joseph causing further drift among the siblings.
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Apr 19, 2020
Genesis 36 – The Red State
In this quick update about Esau and his family we discuss how Issac's firstborn did everything he thought was right and perhaps led a good and honorable life. But as we find out living a good life is just not good enough.
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Apr 12, 2020
Genesis 35 – Return to Our Bethel
Like Jacob, it's time for all of us to return to our Bethel, the place where we first met God.
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Apr 3, 2020
Genesis 34 – Love or Lust
A very dark but real chapter in which we learn about Dinah, the daughter of Leah, who on her casual outing to visit her friends was raped by the ruler of the land, Shechem.
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Mar 28, 2020
Genesis 32 & 33 – The Pacifier
Having overcome Laban, Jacob prepares for his next obstacle on his way back home, his scorned brother Esau. On his way, the angels of the Lord met him and for some reason, Jacob saw it fit to rename that place Mahanaim, meaning two camps, one for him and one for God and his angels.
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Mar 23, 2020
Genesis 31 – The Exit Strategy
Jacob finally had enough of his uncle Laban's attitude and after a message from God, finally got the nerve to return to his hometown and face his brother. He met with his wives privately in the fields to plan his exit strategy. He put forward his case in front of Laban's daughters, pointing out how badly their father had treated him and let them in on his dream, that he thought was from God, asking him to go back to his homeland.
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Mar 13, 2020
Genesis 29 & 30 – A Tale of Two Sisters
Jacob finally arrived in the land of the eastern People and met few shepherds who were waiting to water their sheep near a well. This could have very well been the same well where Eliezer, Abraham's servant met Rebecca almost a century ago....
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Feb 28, 2020
Genesis 28 – Backpacking Through Europe
Jacob did not know God or the plans He had for him. Maybe that is why he was afraid of the dream he saw. The only way to know the heart of God is to have regular fellowship with Him. That was missing in Jacob's life and truth be told, in most of our lives today.
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Feb 21, 2020
Genesis 27 – A Case of Mistaken Identity
The the chosen family became the fractured family where none of the four (Isaac, Rebecca, Esau & Jacob) trusted God to carry out his will but rather tried to intervene in every possible way to ensure their own will be accomplished. That might as we be the summary of our own walk with Jesus.
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Feb 1, 2020
Genesis 26 – Like Father Like Son
The age old saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree holds true as we see Isaac introducing Rebekah as his sister to Abimelek.
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Jan 25, 2020
Genesis 25 – The Descendants
The two brothers who could not be more different from each other. One was a ladies' man while the other was a lady like man. Esau was a hairy individual who loved the outdoors while Jacob was content managing the household chores. But Jacob was chosen by God to continue the lineage leading to Jesus while Esau had to be content with his bowl of soup.
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Jan 20, 2020
Genesis 23 & 24 – A Wedding and A Funeral
Rebecca replaces Sarah as the leading lady of this story and we see God leading this family even while they are making seemingly arbitrary choices, regarding a burial site and perhaps a not so arbitrary choice in finding a life partner for Isaac.
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Jan 5, 2020
Genesis 22 – Jesus is the ‘Ram’
Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket and that ram replaced his son as the burnt offering. Just like that ram replaced Isaac on the alter, Jesus replaced all of us when he died for our transgressions. Perhaps this was the symbolic gesture that God was giving us through this example of a father sacrificing his son.
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Dec 8, 2019
Genesis 21 – Everybody Laughs at Isaac
We saw in the last chapter that God had enabled everyone in Abimelek's household to conceive again but Sarah was still kept barren. Abraham had laughed at the very thought of Isaac being born to Sarah, Sarah now has joyous laughter that God came through for her despite her disbelief and then there is Ishmael who is mocking his new younger brother. The Hebrew texts quite aptly say that Ishmael was laughing at Isaac. That captures the sentiment of everyone involved in this saga.
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Dec 3, 2019
Genesis 20 – Déjà Vu
After experiencing close communion with God (Chapter 18) and seeing the destruction of the twin cities (Chapter 19), one would assume that Abraham would definitely be closer to God than ever before. But he was in fact back to his old ways. Moving to a land without God's leading, we don't see him building any altars or even praying to God, giving Sarah to be married to the ruler of that land by letting everyone believe they are siblings again and in the end profiting off of the ruler's guilt, again!
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Nov 25, 2019
Genesis 19 – “D Day” for Lot
It’s D day for Lot as the two angels reached the entrance of the twin cites. They are met by Abraham’s nephew lot at the city gate who much like his uncle, insists that they stay with him. But unlike with Abraham the Angels refused to stay with lot and would rather spend the night in the town square. Reluctantly they went with Lot but were greeted by the town welcoming committee in the most horrific manner.
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Nov 18, 2019
Genesis 18 – The Negotiation
God lets Abraham in on his plan to destroy the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah resulting in Abraham blatantly pleading for his nephew Lot. The pleading turns into negotiations with God agreeing to all of Abraham’s changes to the clauses but Abraham himself knew that his negotiations will not be able to save his nephew.
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Nov 11, 2019
Genesis 17 – The Circumcision
So we can finally start calling Abram as Abraham, as in this chapter, God renames Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of many). Seems like a cruel joke to rename a guy who is about to turn 100 and whose wife is on the verge of turning 90. But when God renames someone, it is far from a joke, but rather an assurance of the fulfillment of the promise he had made to Abram almost a quarter of a century ago.
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Nov 4, 2019
Genesis 16 – The Family Feud
I like the NIV heading as it doesn't mention Abram or Sarai and just reads 'Hagar and Ishmael'. Not surprising, given that this chapter reveals more details about the chosen family that we generally would not associate with the father of faith.
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Oct 28, 2019
Genesis 15 – The Covenant
Chapter 15 starts off with God renewing his promise to Abram with the words "I am your shield, your very great reward". That is what God was offering Abram. In a sense offering himself through the birth of Jesus the snake crusher.
But Abram misconstrues this to mean that God will bless him with great wealth and land and quickly speaks his mind saying that the inheritance that God is promising him in the future is of no use to him without a legal heir. He will surely not be alive to enjoy it and since he does not have any sons (not yet) his servant Eliezer’s family would reap the benefits.
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Oct 18, 2019
Genesis 13 & 14 – The Separation
Today we are looking at chapters 13 & 14 and in particular the relationship between Abram and Lot. We know very little about Lot up to this point. We know he accompanied Abram to Egypt and came back but apart from that the author of genesis has not revealed anything about Lot. Lot did not have a father and Abram did not have a son so it’s safe to say that Lot saw Abram as a father figure given that he also left his hometown to follow Abram. And Abram would have seen lot as his son and his presumed heir.
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Oct 4, 2019
Genesis 11&12 – The Chosen Family
One day, Abram heard a voice asking him to leave his father's household and go to the land of Canaan. Several years later, Abram listens to the voice and sets out from his hometown to the land that God had promised him.
This marked the beginning of the nomadic life for the chosen family and would be the first of their many travels. Much like this initial expedition, Abram's spiritual journey was also in its infancy which can be clearly seen in today's passage.
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Aug 30, 2019
Genesis 9-11 – The Tower
In the last chapter we saw God using a rainbow to remind us of his covenant with us but the incomplete tower of Babel will be forever a sign of our rebellion against Him.
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Aug 20, 2019
Genesis 6-9 – The Flood
This week we are discussing the Sunday school favorite story of Noah and the ark and see how God showed His grace upon Noah and his family and how Noah reciprocated by obeying God's voice to the letter.
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Aug 13, 2019
Genesis 4&5 – A Tale of Two Families
We are looking into genealogies this week, specifically the genealogies of Cain and Seth and see how God's faithfulness is not dependent on ours.
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Aug 6, 2019
The Healing Ministry – John 5
This week we are discussing the back to back healing that Jesus performed in John Chapters 4 & 5. The official’s entire family believed and the invalid man who sat near the pool of Bethesda for 38 years finally got up. Then why was Jesus reluctant in revealing His Glory through miraculous healing?
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Jul 13, 2019
Samaritans Believe – John 4
The conversation between Jesus and the unnamed woman at the well gives us an insight into what God actually wants from us, that we worship Him in the Spirit and in truth. We discuss that and other bold claims Jesus made that baffled the woman and see how we can apply those truths in our lives.
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Jul 8, 2019
Genesis 4 – The First Murder
The fall of man continues through the next generation as we see Cain not taking heed to God's warning regarding the 'crouching tiger' and commits the first murder.
We discuss the first sixteen verses of Chapter 4 (Genesis 4:1-16) and see how man's rebellion against God is prevalent even today.
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Jul 4, 2019
Light and Darkness – John 3
Today, we look at John Chapter 3 and discuss the infamous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus which gave us the verse that perfectly summarizes God's love for mankind, the mankind that keeps failing to understand His love.
Nicodemus seems to represent our confused state and much like us, struggles to grasp the true meaning of Jesus' words.
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Jul 2, 2019
Genesis 3 – The Fall
Genesis Chapter 3 starts off by introducing us to a new creature, the serpent, the craftiest of all wild animals that God had made. We discuss the impact of that infamous conversation between man and the Serpent and how God planned to redeem us through the Snake Crusher. (Genesis 3:15)
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Jun 15, 2019
New Wine – John 2
We continue our series on John and see the first of the many signs that Jesus performed where he used six dirty vessels to bring out new wine and had the same plans for the six ordinary men that were following him at the time of the wedding.
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May 30, 2019
John the Baptist – John 1
We continue our series on John and see the first three witnesses of Jesus
1. John the Baptist introduces Jesus to his onlookers - (John 1:19-34)
2. Andrew introduces Jesus to his brother Simon - (John 1:35-42)
3. Philip introduces Jesus to his friend Nathaniel - (John 1:43-51)
In this episode we cover the second half (v 19-51) of Chapter 1 of the book of John.
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May 13, 2019
Genesis 2 – Adam
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. The second chapter of the book of Genesis starts off with that line and goes into the details of how God created the first humans and placed them in this delightful garden where all their needs were provided.
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May 10, 2019
In the Beginning – John 1
We start our Series on the book of John and immediately are bombarded with callbacks from the very first book of the Bible. John takes us back to the creation and calls Jesus by three simple yet distinct names.
The Word (John 1:1), used to create everything, The Light (John1:4), the start of the creation and the Life (John 1:4), what God breathed into Adam's nostrils.
In this episode we cover the first half (v 1-18) of Chapter 1 of the book of John.
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Apr 30, 2019
Genesis 1 – In the Beginning
We start our Series on the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which tells us about God's wonderful creation, our subsequent fall and God's plan for our redemption. Chapter one tells us how it all began and quite aptly the very first line of the bible is In the beginning.
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