“Okay, So We Need to Talk”
EPISODE 225
Choose Your Favorite Bible Verses
It's DRAFT TIME! Join us for another exciting Bible Bracket, this time drafting our Favorite Bible Verses. We're playing 64 single — ahem — verses in four regional categories: Timeless Wisdom, Precious Promises, Hard Truths, and Trust Builders. Why are these verses meaningful? Where did we get the idea for the Trust Builders regional? And what happens when we mess everything up? Find out and go vote for your favorites at biblegeeks.fm/bracket to get in on the action! Plus, stay tuned for news on our 'Getting to Square One' series and more.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: The Bible is full of timeless wisdom, precious promises, hard truths, and trust building verses.
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Bryan: Okay, so we need to talk. We need to have a conversation because I'm not entirely sure that's one verse.
Ryan: Romans 8:
Bryan: 38 says, for I am sure
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, comma.
Ryan: Okay. Okay. Okay.
Introduction
Bryan: Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast, this is episode 225, I'm Bryan Schiele.
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy.
Bryan: And thanks so much everyone for tuning in.
Past Bible Brackets
Bryan: We are here in March and you guessed it. This is time for March Madness. We are doing our Bible bracket once again This is our fourth Bible bracket I am so glad that you brought this to the show because I am NOT a March Madness fan but I am a Bible bracket fan and This is definitely something that was Ryan's spaghetti to throw at the wall and it has definitely stuck I love this whole little activity we do once a year
Ryan: We'll have to talk later about how could you possibly not be a March Madness fan. I'm wondering if you've just never experienced like 10 games that matter ending in the last two minutes at the same time and you're invested in all of them and Cinderella stories, David versus Goliath. Come on.
this is sports drama at its best. It's like a Disney sports movie all in one.
Bryan: I mean you're selling me on it for sure, but I still think I'll take the Bible bracket over March Madness. But
Ryan: Valid.
Bryan: back in 2020. It was kind of like born out of COVID, I guess, at some level. We were all inside and
Ryan: There was no March Madness.
Bryan: there was no March
Ryan: was no tournament. So yeah.
Bryan: was the very inaugural episode of the Bible bracket.
We did favorite Bible chapters and we had some really good results from that one. Then in 2023,we did take in a big poll of everyone and got everyone's favorite figures of faith.
last year, we did favorite Bible stories. So today on this episode we are drafting our favorite Bible verses. we've done chapters, now we've done verses, we did stories, we did people. It should definitely lead us on the next time to do our favorite Bible villains. I still can't convince you to do favorite Bible villains with
Ryan: [ laughter] How are you going to have a favorite like I'm voting for Haman I'm voting like
Bryan: It's all in the marketing, man. We gotta figure out a way to spin it. But,
Ryan: Least favorite I uh... I don't know.
Rules of Engagement
Bryan: Anyway, favorite Bible verses. On the surface, it was like, "Oh yeah, that sounds easy." But we'll talk in a little bit about why it is almost impossible. So the rules of engagement, we should begin here by saying that we're going to have, as always four regionals and we'll do 16 Bible verses per regional and those regionals are as follows.
Timeless Wisdom, Precious Promises, Hard Truths, and Trust Builders. Do you think everything fits into this? Were you able to fit all your verses into these four categories?
Ryan: yeah, there's a lot of overlap, but yeah, I mean, he could, he can make it work with, with any of them, I
Bryan: so we're gonna pick eight a piece and we'll do them in order and they will be our favorite versus going down to our least favorite of the ones that we pick. So we're gonna try to seed this thing appropriately. I think.
one year we really seeded it terribly. Anyway, we're doing our best here So only single versus.
That is the kicker here. That is the hard thing. So not multiple verses, not two verses stuck together or four verses together. No, one verse. And that's it. That's all we get. harder for sure. But as we do this draft, we are going to immediately turn around. And as this episode publishes, we're going to open up the voting starting now, and then we will close the voting on March 21st, and your results will be announced the following week.
So, really excited about it. Again, spread the word, share it with your friends, get everyone else that you know involved. This should be a good one on our favorite Bible verses.
Ryan: I mean, it's really something I look forward to every year. It really is. It's just fun. The voting is fun and this draft process is always good to see, like to match wits and try to draft. No, we're not really drafting against each other, but to see what each other comes up with is always good.
Bryan: Right. All right. So let's do we have is there anything we want to say before we kick off? Because,
Ryan:
Bryan: as I was building my list I think it needs to be very clear that some people might become very angry or upset as angry as anyone can be about a silly Bible based game. You know we're gonna do our best here to build a faithful list of what we think are our favorite verses, but we need a little bit of grace here, people.
We are absolutely going to miss something. We're
Ryan: Oh man,
Bryan: going to miss someone's favorite verse, the one they have written in scripty font on their wall. going to miss something here, so I'm very sorry. But we only get 64 verses, and it is going to be a challenge to fit the Bible's best hits in just 64 slots.
Ryan: Yeah. I, and this is, this is not the most valuable passage, the MVP, right? This is favorite verses, they're favorites, and each one is one verse only, as you said. So, I mean, a part of favorite is trying to be personal, be reflective. We're meaning for this to be a opportunity to think about what has helped you, what has been meaningful to you in your life.
All of God's word is precious and inspired, but there's a reason we have particular verses identified as memory verses or as sermon texts, or like you said, you know, passages in scripty font on the wall or on jewelry or bookmarks or whatever, so I would just encourage everybody, let it be personal. The Bible is meant to be personal.
Let it be personal as you think about this and shine a light and feel free in comments whenever you do go on to you know, our Facebook page or something to throw in ones that we missed. That would be great to hear.
Bryan: Yeah. Tell us all the ways that we failed and we'll try to do better next time. Alright everyone, thank you, and let us get in to our very first regional, and this is
Timeless Wisdom Regional
Bryan: the Timeless Wisdom Regional.
Ryan: Okay, for timeless wisdom, you know where is a very good place to start?
Bryan: Oh, here we go. Here we go.
Ryan: Right at the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1. We're gonna start with the start.
Bryan: Wow. So, that's really funny that you picked Genesis 1:1 as timeless wisdom. I had it on my list elsewhere. I would have never expected the timeless wisdom to be Genesis 1:1, but I'm with it. I could see that.
Ryan: at the heart of everything, is that God is the origin of all things that
we know. This is why we are dependent on Him and turn to Him for all authority. So that's my first pick. What do you got? Number two.
Bryan: Alright, I'm going to put a proverb that I think just resonates in my brain every day hopefully, if not, it should. It is Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Timeless wisdom, for sure.
Ryan: Timeless wisdom. That's a great one. I, that was on my list for timeless wisdom also. All right. Number three, maybe it shouldn't have gone this long without getting to this, but I'm going to go with the greatest commandment, Matthew 22:37. Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind."
Bryan: Ah, well, that's one of those that you just want to continue reading.
Ryan: I know, that was hard. [laughing]
Bryan: you don't want to stop there for sure. Um, I'm looking for And I leaned into here the wisdom part of this and obviously i'm doing a lot In uh in the proverbs here But I think my my pick number four here in the timeless wisdom regional is going to be pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall, Definitely something to keep in mind as we
It does tend to be the essence and source of all of
The
Ryan: our sin. I mean, it's really the opposite of where we started, of God being the source of all good things. All right, well, I went with the greatest commandment. I'm not going to go with the second greatest commandment, but kind of a version of that, I'm going to go with Matthew 7:12, the golden rule.
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them for this is the law and the prophets.
Bryan: It's so hard, 'cause... I feel like everything from the Sermon on the Mount just belongs on the Timeless Wisdom Regional, don't you think?
Like... just throw it all there. Um...Proverbs 22 :6
a a child in the way he should go and when he is
old he will not depart from it.
Ryan: That's a great one. I love it. Yeah, we have a whole series, 13 lessons
built around that one.
Bryan: I actually, not to tip my hand, but I found myself digging into a lot of our past core verses for some of our guided studies on this one.
Ryan: All right, I'm going to go with Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. Timeless wisdom. You know, I found that this timeless wisdom regional is where I needed to put a lot of the classic verses that aren't promises they're not hard truths, they're just truths that we need to, you know, kind of capture.
Bryan: So it's, again, not to go into it too much here, but I did actually have that one in my Trust Builders Regional.
Ryan: Yeah, I can see how it could fit
Bryan: So there are a lot of these verses that I think really fit into Trust Builders. You know, you read this, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." That is, that's all about trust, but at the same time, I do agree with you, that is a timeless wisdom.
again, I'm gonna camp in Proverbs here for pick number eight, and that is, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. "Fools despise wisdom and instruction." You almost get a twofer there on that proverb. Proverbs 1:7.
Ryan: I like it, I like it.
okay, I'm going to go with Micah 6:8. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? We talked in episode about boiling things down, reduction sauces.
This is quite a reduction. This is my father-in-law's favorite verse. I heard it was Jimmy Carter's favorite verse. You know, Jimmy Carter recently passed away, kind of been in the news, and it's one of my favorite verses, this essence of what it means to walk with God and to be what he defines It's good.
Bryan: That's a meaty one too. If you're looking for a verse that sounds like it should be about two or three verses, that's a good one. Let's see here. I there's timeless wisdom in another thing that Jesus said in his great Sermon on the Mount, and this is one that always makes me chuckle.
So how can you say to your brother, let me take this back out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye, as Jesus said in Matthew 7:4.
Ryan: I'm going to go to my favorite chapter in the New Testament, which boy was it hard to just pick one or two verses from this, but that's Romans 12. And I'm going to go with the second verse. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Bryan: You could easily have gone with first one, but I'm glad that you went with verse two there. it, here we go.
I'm gonna go with Proverbs 27:17. Again, another guided studies seed. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. And I'll throw to the two-by-two guided study that we did on that one.
Ryan: That's solid. All right, I am going to, this is one that could go in one of the other spots.
Bryan: many of them are multifaceted, right?
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, this could be a trust builder or a promise, but I put it in timeless wisdom, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33, back to the Sermon on the Mount, of course, but I was thinking of, you know, To me, this regional is about the kinds of things that we want to offer as guidance to people.
What do you want to pass on as truth that's going to lead people well? And if you can seek God first, that's going to make a huge difference.
Bryan: I had that one in precious promises and real high up there in my precious promises actually but yeah I like that one a lot for the timeless wisdom pick number 14 in the timeless wisdom regional Ephesians 6:1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Is a, you can't have one of these where like, every little kid didn't memorize something and not keep it in the timeless wisdom regional.
Ryan: [laughter]
Bryan: Oh yeah.
Ryan: That's good. I didn't have that one in here at all, but that's one I really like to have instilled in my children. So that's good.
Bryan: [laughing]
Ryan: Okay, I am going to go with Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
That's a timeless truth, timeless wisdom about where we can find salvation and its power.
Bryan: I didn't even have that on my list. OK, so that leads us to the last pick in Timeless Wisdom Regional. No, pressure at all. Listen, you know, the challenge is trying to figure out a verse that doesn't contain the word wisdom, you know, as you're like searching for things and I'm going to go with James 1:5, where James says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
You know, maybe a little bit of meta there, but yeah, just about prayer.
Ryan: perfectly closes out the regional. It's just sneaking into the, to the tournament as a 16 seed, but I love
Bryan: We may do some restructuring here, but
I feel good about our list, for sure.
Ryan: think it's a good starting point. We've got a lot long way to go
Precious Promises Regional
Bryan: All right, let's keep it rolling here into the Precious Promises Regional, and I guess I picked last time, so why don't I pick again the first time this time
Ryan: Yeah, well, snake drafted here.
Bryan: so number one, there is no world in which I cannot pick John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, "that whoever believes in him should not perish, "but have eternal life."
If there was ever a promise, that's the one.
Ryan: That is the correct call
Bryan: Beat that,
Ryan: For seed number one. Oh man, there's so many good ones, but they're all going to be a little bit of a deeper cut than that. I'm going to go Romans 8:28,
Bryan: That was
my next
Ryan: "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Bryan: That's so good. Yeah. what an encouragement. Alright, I'm gonna go... Mark 16:16... Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Ryan: had thought of that in the hard truths. There's both, right? There's both there,
right? Okay, all right, for my next pick, number four in the Precious Promises, I'm going to the book of Revelation. Revelation 21:4.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more for the former things have passed away. Of course, we could have gone to Isaiah for that, but again, how do you pick from Revelation 21 and 22?
That's the one I went with.
Bryan: Oh man, I am going to go for pick number five in the precious promises regional with Matthew 1:21.
She will bear a son and you shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. if you could just clarify it in one sentence, that's a good one to clarify it with for sure.
Ryan: absolutely. I am going to go, oh man, going to go with Joshua 1:9, which again, could go in trust builders as well, but I have it here. Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, don't be afraid, do not be discouraged, for The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Bryan: It's hard not to sing the song with that one, right?
Be strong. Yeah, that's a solid one for sure. Definitely that fits the scripty font on the walls requirement of our Bible verses bracket for
For pick number seven, I am going to pick Romans 6:23 , " For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." There's a lot of gospel-themed ones in this section for sure, but again, could be a hard truth, but
Ryan: That's where I had it. I had that in hard truths, yeah. But I like it because it's both,
Bryan: It is, yep.
Ryan: Yeah, no, that's really good. I am going to go to a promise about Jesus from the prophets and go to Isaiah 9:6, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Bryan: Ah! So good! I can't help but sing the song on that one too. We need to do "By the power of the Holy Spirit". favorite Bible songs as a
Ryan: Oh, oh man. Yep. We're
Bryan: Mmm, good ideas.
Ryan: loading up for future.
Bryan: Spaghetti on the wall. That's a really good one. I know what I'm going to do. I have to do it. And I've waited this long. Matthew 11:28, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Ryan: Awesome.
Bryan: I was just trying to check and see if I used it already, but no, no, no, we're good.
Ryan: Now you nailed it, that's awesome. Alright, I'm going to say Isaiah 41 verse 10. Don't fear because I am with you. Don't be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will surely help you. I will hold you with my righteous strong hand. goes with Joshua 1,
Bryan: Yes.
Ryan: but there's a lot fresh concepts there. Another favorite that I've turned to.
Bryan: I will say that I did have that in my Trust Builders Regional, so I really wanted to pull this in, and I think this is a good time to do it in the 11th choice for the Precious Promises Regional. I'm going to go with one of the most important promises, and that was from Genesis 26:4, "I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands.
And in your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." That was a tough one because that promise is obviously reiterated multiple times. So kind of trying to find the one that has all the meat of it kind of in one verse.
Ryan: a promise to Abraham that ends up being a promise for all of us, right?
Bryan: That's
Ryan: That's great. I'm going to go 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Bryan: a prophetic verse and I like that a lot.
alright, I'm going to say John 14 as my next pick, verse 2, " In my Father's house are many rooms."
If it were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. That was Jesus, and I guess kind of fits in the same prophetic idea that you were just talking about, but the mansion waiting for us someday.
Ryan: if there is a reshuffling, that might go up a little higher.
Bryan: I brought yeah, it very easily could for
Ryan: [laughs] But, but no, it's good. We've got to have some low seeds that make it break through. I'm going to go, and you know, this one is, I think, beloved by a lot of people, even though I think this is the right spot for it. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Bryan: That's solid. I did not even have that remotely on my list at all. But I like that a
Ryan: It's a promise. Jesus' grace is sufficient. Could go a few other places also,
Bryan: Could also, yeah. We haven't done this one and it's a long one. Not gonna probably be one that's in scripty font on anyone's wall, but as a 15th seed, I'm gonna pick it. No temptation has overtaken you, but such that is common to man. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13.
Ryan: Okay, that is that's great Closing us out here go Acts 2:38 here. "And Peter
said to
them,
Bryan: list?
Ryan: 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins and the promise, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
Bryan: The, uh... We gotta talk about reshuffling
Ryan: We might, we might have to.
Bryan: Okay, we'll get to the end of this and we'll think through some things, but uh.. Okay, so we've got some heavy hitters here for the Precious Promises Regional, and we are going to continue on.
Let this rock keep rolling down the hill, and we'll get to our third regional, and then maybe at the end we'll think about restructuring some things.
Hard Truths Regional
Bryan: But the Hard Truths Regional, and I went first, so why don't you go ahead and take this first one.
Ryan: okay, I'm gonna go with Matthew 7:21, back to the Sermon on the
Mount.
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Bryan: Yeah, I think as we talked about the timeless wisdom coming from the Sermon on the Mount, I think the hard truths one is absolutely gonna be all over the place here. It just makes sense for me to pick as the second seed, Matthew 7:13, " Enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many."
Ryan: Okay, I am going to go with Ecclesiastes 12:13, which could have gone in timeless wisdom, but I'm going to put it here. "The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." This is what you're here to do. Face that truth and embrace it.
Bryan: I want to say that that was on my list, but it was absolutely not. I feel so bad. But that's amazing. That's a perfect next pick. listen, if you have this in scripty font on your wall, it belongs in pick number four here, Joshua 24:15
Ryan: Oh good,
Bryan: And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. I doubt anyone has that part of it stuck on their wall. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Maybe crocheted in a little frame on your wall there, that last little bit. Joshua 24 verse 15.
Ryan: Okay, I am going to go next with 1 John 4, verse
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Bryan: Yeah, that's gonna be a popular one for sure.
I didn't order my list very well, so this was at the bottom of mine But I think it fits here nicely John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me."
Ryan: you nailed it.
Yep. Yep. didn't have that here and I didn't have that anywhere on my list and that's perfect for this. You know what? Let's build on that and say Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?" Kind of goes with Matthew 7, with my first pick, but that's a passage I think about all the time.
It's so clear. You talked about the clarity of Jesus as a cornerstone. If you're calling Jesus Lord, you have to have to follow him. Do what he says.
Bryan: maybe that just leads me into this next one.
Another sermon on the mount, no one can serve two masters, Matthew 6:24. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. That's going to definitely tie into our last episode where we talked about that verse,
Ryan: Okay I think I'm going to put the, just jump three verses down
Bryan: Okay.
Ryan: from what you just said and go with Matthew 6:27. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? You know, when you do an exercise like this, you really see how central the Sermon on the Mount is to everything.
I mean, how quotable, but also just how much you rely on it as this place that summarizes so many truths.
Bryan: obviously, Hard Truths is going to be all about dedication and where we put our priorities. Luke 14:27 is my next verse in Pick 10. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now drop the mic, lay the smack down, that's it.
Ryan: Okay, I'm gonna go with 1 Corinthians 13:3.
Bryan: Yeah!
Ryan: Gotta get 13 in here, and this is the verse. "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."
Bryan: I might have gone the clanging symbols approach in that one, but verse three is a good one for sure. Alright, let me see here. We're in pick 12. yeah, this one fits into the theme of some of the stuff we've been talking about here, but Matthew 16:26, "For what will it profit a man "if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? "Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" [laughs]
Ryan: that belongs here. That's really good. I am gonna go with Isaiah 59:2. We use this verse as a part of our square one study as we were thinking about the effects of sin. says, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear."
And, where do you put hard truths in a favorite versus collection, right? You know, like,
Bryan: why we had to
Ryan: a favorite, but it's also is a favorite that, you know, you just go to again and again, because it boils down so much of what we want to explain to people, what God has resolved for us. So the precious promises don't mean much without the hard truths, right?
The good news, it doesn't work without the bad
Bryan: it's not all bubble gum and raindrops here. Romans 6:23 is my next pick for pick 14. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." All the way down to pick 14 to pull that one out.
Ryan: All right. I'm going to go to the next chapter of Romans. And it's a weird one, but I think a lot of us resonate with the struggle that Paul had in Romans 7. a hard truth, but it's a truth that helps us kind of feel understood as we're thinking through.
Of course, at the end of seven, he says, "Wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death? Praise be to God through Jesus Christ." But before that, that's not my pick. Romans 7:19, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." And I talk to a lot of young people who've grabbed onto that as they're working through and developing their faith and their resolve in the Lord.
So where are we now in our hard truths here? We're down to the last
Bryan: last pick. Hard Truths Regional.
there's two that I'm waffling between yes, I know where I'm going here. All right. Isaiah 53:6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Ryan: Oh man,
Bryan: Obviously, you know, the Servant Song, speaking of how we've all just messed up big time, and a hard truth for us to all kind of center in on for sure.
Ryan: Hard truths, like you said, I think is a really challenging, you know, thing to call our favorite verses, but yeah, I feel like you have to have theseThey're bittersweet, but they're sweet nonetheless. Like that passage that you just quoted, partaking of the Lord's Supper. sit and you reflect on the hardness, the sadness, the happiness, the gratitude, all of it comes together because it's not real
without that.
Bryan: Yeah.
Trust Builders Regional
Bryan: Alright, so I'm gonna round this thing out here with the Trust Builders Regional, And I'm going to start us off, with Psalm 23:1. " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." You know, like some of these are going to be a little bit more statements of fact, as opposed to some, things that shore up our faith, but something that the Psalmist could say, I feel like we can all, and should all be able to say ourselves, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
Psalm 23, verse one.
Ryan: I'm going to go with Philippians 4:13. Feels like it needs to go pretty early.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Bryan: was a little further down on my list, but I agree sticking that up here. I kept bumping into this verse in multiple formats and in multiple places, and I'm going to land on Psalm 118:6, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear, what can man do to me?"
Obviously, this shows up in Hebrews and other places as well, but I think that was a good encapsulation of this verse
Ryan: yeah, absolutely.
Okay, I'm going to go with another classic, Isaiah 40:31, "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Bryan: Yeah, it's really funny when you bring up these verses know, you start reading them and I find myself immediately just like smiling. You know,
Ryan: Yeah, quoting along.
Bryan: it's so good. this is going to be a trust builder for a lot of people And that is Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." I think prayer is showing up in a few of these verses, especially here about anxiety.
Also, anxiety is showing up in a lot of these verses. I don't know what that says about us. but
Ryan: You know, on that train, I had already highlighted this before you chose this, but I'm going with it, just to stick with it. 1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxieties upon him, for he cares for you. And it's again, it's that last part that really makes it a trust builder. You know, he cares for you.
There's a reason to throw it all on him.
Bryan: Yeah. I don't know what it says about us that we both picked anxiety verses next in our Trust Builders Regional.
Ryan: Yep. Yep.
Bryan: All right, you started us off with in the beginning and totally stole something from my Trust Builders Regional, which I thought would have been perfect for this section here, but I get it.
I get why it's timeless wisdom. I am going to go with a similar verse though. John 1:1, " In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God. Boom.
Ryan: That's good, I had that in timeless wisdom also. And I'm gonna go back to Romans 8. You know, it's funny, if we were to look at like our final four chapters on our chapter bracket, we probably, not surprisingly, are cherry picking from those, but I'm gonna go Romans 8:38. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Bryan: Okay, so we need to talk. We need to have a conversation because I'm not entirely sure that's one verse.
Ryan: Oh, oh, I had it down as Romans 8:38. Okay, hold on. Romans 8:
Bryan: 38 says, for I am sure
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, comma.
Ryan: Okay. Okay. Okay. I might have messed that up. I'm going to go the verse before. How's that?
Bryan: Oh,
Ryan: a dilemma.
Bryan: you got taken advantage of by our own rules. Oh,
Ryan: I'm gonna go 37.
Romans 8:37. No in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So the verse before, that's selection.
Bryan: man.
Ryan: But you can imagine how good it will be in the two-verse bracket we do in a decade when we're out of ideas. And I keep vetoing Bryan's villains choices. Your favorite two-verse couplets.
Bryan: I'm going to go with something from the same chapter. Actually, when you said Romans 8, verse whatever, I pasted in a verse that I thought you were talking about, and it wasn't actually the verse you were talking about. So, I'm going to go with Romans 8:28, where it says, "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
Now, did you already... we already
Ryan: I did already choose that one. We're breaking all kinds of rules because now we're having it in two
Bryan: Okay. I was... I thought I was doing good checking myself and double checking myself. So, we're having a real hard time in the Trust
Builders Regional.
Ryan: pick any verse in Romans eight and you're probably pretty good. If God is for us, who could be against us?
Bryan: Okay. I'm going to go with Psalm 119:11. "I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." I need to leave Romans 8 for a while. Psalm 119 verse 11. Sorry, that
Ryan: was ...
I love it. I love it. Okay. I am going to go back to Genesis, Genesis 50:20, words of Joseph to his brothers. As for you, you meant for evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
Bryan: I do appreciate that verse a lot. I quote it often, and I think it's a good reminder for us that even in difficult times like picking the Trust Builders Regional. You know, we can find some, we can find a
Ryan: you want to stall, I can riff. I
mean, it really summons the whole story of Joseph. I'll tell that to you now over the next two minutes as Bryan chooses his next,
his next trust builder.
Bryan: ooh, see this is a good one. I really like Hebrews 13:5 for this next pick. So I'm gonna go with that one. Keep your life free from the love of money. also a great wisdom one, but keep your life free from the love of money, be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Ryan: Okay.
1 Corinthians 15:58 . Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Bryan: there's no way we're gonna like get everything in here but this is gold. These verses are gold. I love this so much. You know as a side benefit here anyone who is like well past our Bible bracket time can always go back to these verses and find some real real gems here in difficult times for sure And in that note, I'm going to roll with a verse I don't think we've picked yet, but if we have, you can tell me.
John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Some real comforting words from Jesus there.
Ryan: you know, something that we didn't mention when we were introducing this regional is that this comes from collection of verses that a friend of ours in the past Ken Leach, had this collection of verses he called trust builders that he would give out to people and you would write in your margin of your Bible the next verse as you were flipping through and you go to all of these and not all of these were on his list, but I'm pretty sure a few of them were.
I am going to go for my next one with a personal favorite. I had to pull something out from Psalm 63 and I'm going to pull out Psalm 63:3, that's my favorite passage in all of the Bible, Psalm 63. And I'm going to go with verse three, "Because your steadfast love is better than life. My lips will praise you.
Your love is better than life itself.
Bryan: I'm not sure that was even remotely on my list, but I'm gonna go with Psalm 145, keeping in the Psalms here. Psalm 145:13, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works."
Ryan: How did it happen that we are at the end of the bracket?
Bryan: Yeah, we're at the end of the bracket
Ryan: Bryan has been multitasking through this whole thing impressively, which I could not do. I mean, I've been trying here to manage my own list, but you've been building out the list and I had not seen that we are now at pick 16 in
our fourth and final
Bryan: last one.
Ryan: with 1 John 4:10 just because it feels like it belongs in here somewhere. We're going to end with our theme this year is the gospel. We're going to end with a verse about the good news. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Bryan: I'm looking at all of these and I feel like there is an opportunity for us to maybe reshuffle some things. I'm
Okay, so let's go back through and
restructure some things. So we'll be back in just a minute. Okay. We're back. So we made some changes to the list ever so slightly. We just reordered a few things.
Ryan: [laughs]
Rock the Vote!
Bryan: You can go to biblegeeks.fm/bracket to see the list and also to vote for your favorite in the first round of selections here in our favorite Bible verses bracket.
So, go to biblegeeks.fm/bracket, vote today, get your votes in, spread the word, let other people know about it, And hopefully, your favorite verse is champion, the victor, the most favorite verse of all people all time for all eternity. So I don't know if that's overstating the purpose of the Bible Geeks bracket, but...
Ryan: How about we just say this is an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on great verses of Scripture and to share them with your friends and, you know, like you said, make your voice heard. Your voice matters. Rock the
vote.
Bryan: the vote. Uh, yeah.
Next Episode
Bryan: So on the next episode,
we are going to add to our Getting to Square One series that we did. We did three episodes of that guided study, and we are going to add a fourth part because we felt like it was missing just a little bit of the glue between getting to square one and the square one series that we're going to be focused on for the rest of this season.
We're really excited about that. So tune in there. Don't forget to vote, tune in for the results of the voting and we'll have all of those results in a few episodes here sometime in the future, Lord willing.
Wrap-up and Farewell
Bryan: So been episode 225 of the Bible Geeks podcast. Thank you so much. And Ryan, thanks for drafting with me, buddy. It's been a whirlwind. All right, so you can find show notes for this episode at your podcast player of choice or at biblegeeks.fm/225. You can sign up for our newsletter, you can check out our blog,
Ryan: out on YouTube.
Boom.
Bryan: You can check us out on YouTube and see our lovely smiling faces and me just laughing my face off during this episode.
can do that all across the webs So until the next episode, everyone, may the Lord bless you and keep you.