1 Corinthians and End of Year Wrapped!

 New Content! 

10 books. 6 weeks. All new content! With less than 3 weeks to go until Christmas, we are excited for this week’s gift–1 Corinthians!

The Audio Guides for this book are available–right now! Let me tell you, this book was a fun book to record. If there was ever a Bible book written for today’s church, this is it. The church was facing struggles from the culture they lived in, but it was also dealing with struggles from within. Paul writes to help guide the Corinthian church through these difficulties, and pens some of the most famous scriptures of all time. 

You can find the Audio Guides in the TTW app, the Bible App from YouVersion, and on our website. Be sure to check them out, and let your friends know! You can easily share an Audio Guide by swiping left on any guide from the plan menu. 

And don’t worry, we aren’t getting rid of Pastors Sandy and Skip’s Audio Guides.  All of them will still be available on the TTW app. To find them, just click on the teacher’s name at the bottom of the browse page! 

That’s a Wrap!

As the end of the year approaches, my kids get excited about one of the greatest holiday traditions–Spotify Wrapped. And this year, we saw from a number of people that Through the Word was their top podcast on Spotify! It made us think, “What would our listener’s Wrapped would look like on the app?” Well, here it is–your top five completed plans on Through the Word!

Donation Thank-You Gift!

Anyone who donates to Through the Word between Wednesday, November 23 and December 31st will receive a free TTW tumbler as a thank-you gift! Just visit throughtheword.org/donate to give and request your tumbler.

These travel tumblers feature a beautiful cork wood bottom and are made of double-walled vacuum-insulated stainless steel. This tumbler will keep your drinks cold for up to 24 hours, and will keep your hot drinks warm for 12 hours!

Amazon Smile

Want to support Through the Word while shopping? Be sure to visit smile.amazon.com and select Through the Word as your non-profit of choice. 

God Bless!

Jonathan 

Donation Match and Thank You Gift!

Hello TTW family! 

I hope you have your menu planned, the shopping done, and the pies baked for Thanksgiving! 

This year has been amazing for Through the Word. As we head into the holidays, it’s time again to look back at all that God did this year. 

Check out the video update below as Pastor Kris shares a major milestone, an impact story you don’t want to miss, and how you can help us along the journey ahead in 2023. Then read below for this year’s TTW donor gift and donation match opportunities, both happening… right now!

Donation Match

This season, we are proud to announce we once again have a donation match opportunity! For a limited time, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar and help us take on new content creation, ambitious projects and make big steps forward in new lands and new languages. 

TTW remains 100% listener supported, and all of our amazing stories and stats are made possible by you, our faithful donors!

Thank You Gifts Are Here! 

This year’s gift is the TTW Travel Tumbler — a stainless steel, vacuum sealed, heavy-duty, beautiful white 18 oz tumbler with our awesome TTW logo on the side. It’s our thank you gift to donors, and it’s free! 

Visit throughtheword.org/donate to donate! And after you donate, be sure to fill out the form at the bottom of the screen to request your tumbler!

God Bless! 

Gospel of John and Something Special Coming...

 Hello Through the Word Family! 

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American family! Canadians, you are welcome to join us this Thursday, and get two Thanksgivings in one year!

This is a very busy week for most of us–between traveling, cleaning, cooking, eating, and watching football–but it’s also a time for us to stop and give thanks for all that God has done in our lives.

And we want to thank God for all of you who make Through the Word a family. We couldn’t be doing what we are doing without each and every one of you.

Now for some other news keeping us busy (besides the food and football)!

New Content Released!

10 books. 6 weeks. All new content! And today, we are excited to release the book of John from Pastor Peyton Jones!

The Audio Guides for this book are available–right now! And this is a huge book for us to finish–it is the last of the four gospels, and a wonderful book to share with your friends, especially those who are new believers or who are Bible-curious.

You can find the Audio Guides in the TTW app, the Bible App from YouVersion, and on our website. Be sure to check them out, and let your friends know! You can easily share an Audio Guide by swiping left on any guide from the plan menu. 

And don’t worry, we aren’t getting rid of Pastors Sandy and Skip’s Audio Guides.  All of them will still be available on the TTW app. To find them, just click on the teacher’s name at the bottom of the browse page! 

End Of Year Thank You Campaign

And there is more! This Wednesday, we are beginning our end-of-year Thank You gift campaign! We have a great gift we are excited about…But you’ll have to wait until Wednesday to find out what it is! 

God Bless, and Happy Thanksgiving!

New Content: 1, 2, 3 John!

Hello Through the Word Family! 

It’s finally here…The countdown to a complete, original Audio Guide through the New Testament from Through the Word! 

10 books. 6 weeks. All new content! And today we start by releasing not just one book, but three! 1, 2, & 3 John!

The Audio Guides for these books are available–right now! And if you have never studied these books, you are in for a treat. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...Wait…that’s The Princess Bride. But there is a deep story with these letters–true disciples, traveling deceivers, dangerous hospitality, confident faith, arrogant leaders… 

You can find the Audio Guides in the TTW app, the Bible App from YouVersion, and on our website. Be sure to check them out, and let your friends know! You can easily share an Audio Guide by swiping left on any guide from the Journey menu. 

And don’t worry, we aren’t getting rid of Pastors Sandy and Skip’s Audio Guides.  All of them will still be available on the TTW app. To find them, just click on the teacher’s name at the bottom of the browse page! 

Also, next week we will be announcing our end-of-year donor gift, so stay tuned!

God Bless,

Jonathan 

New Content Starting New Week!

Hello, Through the Word Family! Thank you for praying for us over the last week as the TTW team gathered together for a time of praise, prayer, and planning! And your prayers were heard! Over the week, we were able to plan out the direction TTW would be heading over the next year. We have some exciting new content we will be creating, translation projects starting, updates to the app, and so much more.

Honestly, I felt like The Avengers, assembling together to conquer the evils of Bible illiteracy and false teaching. But, alas, not everyone felt that way–the nerds on the team discovered that there were some who didn’t really get all the Marvel/DC/Star Wars illustrations…please continue to pray for us. :)

Now for a Big Announcement…

We are so excited to let you know that our team has been very busy over the last few months–finishing out Audio Guides for the entirety of the New Testament! Now, you might ask, didn’t you already have Audio Guides? Yes, but many of those were borrowed from other pastors' sermons. So Kris, Peyton, and myself have been busy studying, writing, and recording original TTW content for John, 1 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1& 2 Timothy, Hebrews, and 1, 2, & 3 John. We aren’t removing the messages from Sandy and Skip, but we are adding our own original content!

So what does that mean? We will be releasing new content weekly on both the TTW App and on the Bible App from YouVersion–for the rest of the year! And it all starts next week, November 14th, with Pastor Kris’ Audio Guides through the Letters of John. 

As the plans are released, you can find them on our app or at throughtheword.org/plans, where you can listen to our plans online and find links to all of our plans on the Bible App from YouVersion. 

We’ll keep you posted here, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with all of our updates. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay informed! 

We want to thank our donors and supporters for making these possible. We can’t wait to share these remaining New Testament Audio Guides with you! 

God Bless!

Jonathan 

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Would You Pray For Us?

 Hello Through the Word Family! And Happy November!

This week the Through the Word team is gathering for our annual praise and planning meeting.  We have a lot of great plans we are working on and are looking forward to sharing them with you all shortly!

We know prayer makes a difference. Through the Word exists as the result of many hours upon hours of prayer. We trust in God’s goodness and continually ask Him that His will be done in our lives and in the ministry.  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). And we love the partnership we have with our entire TTW family.  As you pray for us, know that we are praying for you. 

This year, we are praising God for a number of things. The team has grown, and we have some amazing projects we are accomplishing.  The Tech team has been busy at work, making the app more stable and secure, and dealing with those pesky login issues.  We have also created a lot of new content, which we will be sharing soon!

Would you join us in prayer as we plan for 2023? Specifically, can you pray for wisdom and knowledge for us as we gather this week? 

• We have a number of decisions to make on future plans, and we want to be sure that the plans we make are in alignment with God’s will.  

• In addition, please pray for the health of the entire team. As a bunch of us are flying in from across the country, we are asking God to keep those pesky travel bugs away!

• Finally, would you join us in prayer for the future listeners of Through the Word in 2023? We hope that many more people will find us and better understand the Bible, one chapter at a time.

We are excited to see what 2023 is going to hold for Through the Word!

Thanks for praying!

Jonathan

P.S. We receive prayer requests from listeners every day. Send your prayer needs to us on Instagram, Facebook, or email us at help@throughtheword.org.

Halloween - All Tricks or All Treats?

Hello, Through the Word Family! I hope you are doing well, especially those already getting snow! Sorry, you guys seem to have skipped straight from Summer to Winter, missing the most incredible season of all - Fall!

Can a Christian Celebrate Halloween?

We’re just a week away from Halloween, the official start of the holiday season.  After Halloween, we only have 24 days until Thanksgiving and 55 days until Christmas!

But before we get into those holidays, let's talk about Halloween a little. I know that Halloween can be controversial with Christians.  After all, isn’t it just a celebration of evil and darkness? Well, Halloween’s origins might surprise you.  

Many Christians celebrate All Saint’s Day on November 1, also called All Hallows Day. It’s a day to thank God for his faithfulness to all believers that have died. It’s a celebration that our loved ones who have died in the faith are resting in the presence of God! 

The day before (October 31) was called All Hallow’s Eve, which was later shortened–to Halloween. Unfortunately, the day's original meaning has been lost, and many in the world have focused not on celebrating the faithfulness of God to the dead but instead on death itself.  So, how should a Christian view Halloween? Is it a day to celebrate or ignore completely?

I think we can find an answer to this in 1 Corinthians 8. The church in Corinth was a pretty messy place.  One of the issues dividing the church was eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples.  Some Christians were perfectly fine eating this meat because they knew the pagan gods weren’t real.  They would get their meat, usually at a lower price, and thank God for their food.

Other Christians, however, saw this as an absolute sin.  Pauls says, “But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (1 Corinthians 8:7). Having come out of idolatry, every time they saw that meat it was a reminder of their old sinful lives. 

So how does this relate to Halloween? Well, if you feel the candy your neighbor is handing out is unclean because of the skeleton decorations hanging outside, then for you, it is! Don’t participate! Paul writes in Romans 14:23, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

But if you feel it’s okay for your kids to dress up as Captain America or a bowl of ramen (one of the best costumes I ever saw), then go for it! And make sure you collect the candy tax from your kid's goodie bags.  And feel free to send me any of the Reese’s you get. 

But here is the vital thing to remember–your righteousness is not determined by whether you participate in Halloween or not.  We are saved by the work of Christ alone (Acts 4:12), not by observing or abstaining from holidays (Colossians 2:16). Christians that take their kids trick-or-treating are still Christians. And Christians that stay home and ignore the doorbell are also Christians.  So don’t look down at each other. We are going to spend a long time together in Heaven, where we will forever be celebrating God’s faithfulness to us all. 

We are going to be discussing this more on social media this week, so if you aren’t already, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

God Bless!

Pastor Jonathan