Christian Podcast: Bible Recap

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast Making Theology Central. Okay, I want you to think about Christianity right now. I want you to think about Christianity inside the church. I want you to think about what's going on outside of the church. Do you feel that right now a fire has been lit inside the church and outside the church? A spark has started a fire and there is and when I say fire, not in a bad way, but in a positive way, a fire of passion or zeal or hunger for the things of God. Do you feel like there's some kind of I don't know, I don't want to dare say the word revival, but there's some something is happening inside the church, something is happening outside the church? Or do you feel maybe the opposite? Are you kind of like I think right now things are not going so great spiritually? How would you even measure it?

1:06 How would you even measure if something a fire has been lit inside the church or outside the church? How would you measure it? Would you measure it based on the number of downloads a podcast has received, are based on the number of books purchased? Would you determine that a revival is going on, that a move of God is happening, based on a number of podcast downloads or books sold. Now we're going to talk about all of this, and we're going to talk about a particular book and a particular podcast. But first I need to say good afternoon everyone. It is Monday, February the twenty fourth, twenty twenty five. It is currently one thirteen pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I'm going to do my very best here to try to be positive, try to be rational, reasonable. Now I know there's a part of me. In fact, the thought just crossed my mind right when I was giving my intro.

2:22 There was a there was a thought that entered in my mind. I'm not I'm not going to lie or deny this. I was like, WHOA if I was to name the podcast we're going to be talking about, if I was to name the book that we're getting ready to talk about, and I gave that in the title and said exposed, you know, just you know, shocking secrets about the name of this podcast or this book. I could ensure that I would get a lot of downloads and a lot of streams. I could really utilize the popularity of what we're going to be talking about to my advantage by saying shocking secrets revealed, expose something along those lines the way people do things on YouTube, and then it could really benefit me. But I don't want to go into this like I'm trying to expose something or I'm trying to reveal something. I'm really going into this because someone asked me to talk about it now.

3:20 Right before we went live, I did discover some things that I think are well. They bother me, they may not bother you. But let me put this all together and hopefully this will this will be beneficial. So are you ready? Okay, So here is what happened. At eleven eighteen am. Eleven eighteen am, so less than two hours ago. Almost two hours ago, I received an email. It had a link to a news story posted at the Christianpost dot com. Underneath that it says, do a review of this podcast. Is it philologically sound and what makes it popular?

4:04 I'm like, okay, that's that's a good request, right review it? Is it theologically sound and see if you can determine what makes it popular. All right, So I click on the link and it takes me to the Christianpost dot com with a story that was published yesterday, February twenty third, twenty twenty five. All right, here we go. Now it gives the name of the individual. I'm gonna let her tell you her name here in a minute. But she is sharing, this individual sharing how God is using the Bible Recap to spark a fire both inside and outside the church. So God is using the Bible Recap. The Bible Recap's sparking a fire. Now do you see the fire?

4:55 Do you see it? Now? Many people may say they do. But what are they basing this fire on? Well, the Bible Recap. If you do not know, it's a podcast, a very very popular podcast, and it is also a book. In fact, if you go to Amazon dot com, go to Amazon dot com, type in Bible Recap, you will find The Bible Recap, a one year guide to reading and understanding the entire Bible. You can purchase it for eighteen dollars and fourteen cents. Kindle hardcover will cost you nineteen dollars and eighty cents. Spiral bound will cost you forty dollars and sixty nine cents. Okay, you can buy it new, Oh, nineteen dollars and eighty cents. Okay, that's the hard hardcover. Right now, we'll talk about the book and a little bit, but it's also a podcast, and that's what I was asked to review, is to review the podcast. Now I've got I've got this story here, so I'm gonna read a little bit of the story and then we're gonna we're gonna dig in. I just started doing a little bit of research and for the most part, I'm just I'm just going to be honest with you my attitude towards it. And I've seen the Bible recap on podcasting charts numerous times. In fact, we've been we were we kind of have a series on the Christian Spotlight on different Christian podcasts where I kind of turned the spotlight on to show you what's going on in the Christian podcasting world. And there are so many obviously, and we keep up with the podcasting charts

6:27 on Spotify, right, And I've seen the Bible recap on there. I've seen it. But I'm going to be honest with you, I've never covered it. I've always skipped it, right. I've always skipped it because I know this is going to sound bad, but I kind of like, oh, it's another one of those. It's another one of those, right. And when I say another one of those, what I mean is kind of a five to ten minute short and giving you kind of like we're going to walk through the Bible in a year with these little five ten minute summaries of maybe a couple of chapters or a section or a book, whatever, and just get you through the Bible any year five ten minutes. You're not going to be able to do much with it, but it's short, it's to the point, and it works for people with their busy lifestyle. I'm just gonna be I know that sounds like I'm being dismissive. I'm not trying to be dismissive, obviously.

7:18 You know. My approach is radically different. Hour long episodes, hour and a half hour and forty five minutes, a completely different approach. Now, in some ways I wish I could do a little five minute, ten minute things. I've attempted, right, Today's focus that an entire podcast series was supposed to be a little ten to fifteen minute thing, and I never can quite pull that off. It's not in my I'm not strong at it. I want to make myself be able to pull that off because there is a place for that, because people are busy, they have things to do. But I'm just gonna be honest. I've always kind of been dismissive of it. I'm like, eh, okay, whatever, there's a lot of these kinds of things out there.

7:59 I'm like, all right, there's you know, and these and there always tend to be somewhat popular. So I was kind of dismissive of it. So when I saw the email, I was like, okay, great. When I saw the story headline, that's when I kind of sighed and was like, oh man, kind of rolled my eyes, which I don't typically do. And I'm gonna tell you, why did I know this is gonna sound like some of you are not gonna understand. I get bothered because I've been in the Christian world now since you know, I became a Christian as a teenager. I've been around in the Christian world for a very long time, and I have seen these things happen over and over and over again. And if you've been a Christian for a long time, you know it as well.

8:47 Something will happen. It will be a movie or a Christian book or a Christian DVD, going depending on the era, right, the Christian, this the Christian, that the Christian, and it'll be like this is revolutionized the world. This will change your Christian life. This is renewing the church. This is bringing change to the church. God is moving and they always hype it right like, oh, this is remember the prayer in Jabez. It's revolutionizing the way people pray. It's bringing a revival to the church. It's changing things. It changed my life the prayer and Jaybas Oh you heard all of those testimonies. It came and then where is it today? Oh, the purpose driven life. It's revolutionizing, it's changing people's lives. You just name the book. Whichever book rises makes it to that like, oh, this is the thing.

9:35 Everyone has to get it and we always know what happens. Right, once the book reaches that level where this is the thing that's going to change your life, you've got to get a copy. Then church after church starts buying copies, and then little Bible studies start breaking out, and then what do the publishers do? What do the authors do. All that we got to merchandise is we've got the purpose driven church and the purpose driven life, purpose driven church, a purpose driven hat, a purpose driven pen, a purpose driven sweatshirt, and then we've got the prayer of Jabez this and a prayer of Jabez coffee mug, and then we got this, and we merchandise merchandise, merchandise, merchandise. And so what I tend to see is something hits at the right time, gets all of the popularity, gets all of the attention, and then you merchandise the heck out of it right, and then it just becomes this big industry built around it to sell, sell, sell, And when it's all said and done, all the people who purchased the merchandise purchased the book, I don't know if their lives were truly ever changed. They may claim it was, But I know whose lives are changed. The people who make millions upon millions of dollars, The people spending all of that money for the supposedly new Christian hot item that's going to change their lives. I think a lot of times, if they're really honest, did it really change your life? You may get excited, but did it really, And the same thing is true is oh, we got a revival breaking out here, We got a revival breaking out here. I just know this the Christian world there, I mean, let's not be can we just be blunt?

11:08 There is a Christian industrial complex. And if you can get the right person, make them the right celebrity. You can pack out arenas selling tickets for people to get in. You can pack out churches where people pay money to get in so they can hear that person supposedly speak about the Bible teach the Bible. Then they'll tell you to see my merch table. Well I won't call it a merch table, see my book table. And then they'll sell this, and sell this and sell this. And money is moving, money is flowing, and a lot of and before it's all over, people make whoever's putting on the conferences is making money. If the churches are renting out, they're building, they're making money. The people selling the books are making money, the people making the t shirts are making money. Everyone's making money. Our lives really being changed.

11:53 I don't know. I will call myself skeptical. I will call myself I'm not saying oh sure, but it happens every single time. So now the Bible Recap, well supposedly, is sparking a fire both inside and outside the church. Let's read a little bit again. You can go to the Christianpost dot com. There's a picture of her. You're gonna hear from her in just a minute. Here we go. For years, conversations about the decline of biblical literacy and warning church and I'm sorry. For years, conversations about the decline of biblical literacy and waning church attendants has dominated discussions among faith leaders. But Tara Lee cobbles her podcast, The Bible Recap, has transformed the way people engage with scripture, proving that hunger for the Word of God is far from dead. So she has transformed the way people engage the Bible. She's transformed it before she came along. Oh this is the way we engage the Bible. She comes along, Oh, it's been transformed. So what is she doing so differently?

13:09 And she is proving that people's hunger for the Word of God is not dead. Now, let's just make sure we understand. At least on the Spotify podcasting charts, she's not even number one on the Spotify podcasting chart. There are others the Bible in a Year. I think his name is Father Mike SCHMIDTZ Catholic. His podcast has been dominating and it's the same kind of thing, taking the people through the Bible in a year. So there are lots of podcasts out there doing this. Does that demonstrate that people are hungering for the Word of God? Well, you could say possibly, it reflects that we could go back and forth the Bible Recap. The Bible Recap podcast has consistently ranked at the top of Apple podcasting charts.

14:01 At times it even surpasses the cultural juggernaut Joe Rogan's podcast, drawing millions of listeners each month. Her book series Study Guides Children Materials are consistently among Amazon's top one hundred books. As of December twenty twenty four, Cells of the Bible Recap book has nearly doubled compared to the previous year. All right, so we got merchandise, We've got books, they're being sold, We've got the podcast. Now, she goes on to say, it has blown me away. She goes, this is a tool that has helped individuals, churches, people come closer to the Lord and the Reason it's selling well is because these people want what will not stop talking about it. They will not stop talking about how God has used it in their lives and their hearts. Marriages have been transformed, people have turned back from suicid, children have come to Christ. So because of her book, people have not committed suicide. Marriages have been transformed. Wow, this sounds like everybody's gotta get a copy now. See. I know I'm gonna sound jaded here. I know I'm going to sound cynical, but I've heard these claims a million times.

15:23 This book, this book, it's gonna transform lives, It's gonna change you. It's gonna do this. It did this by this time, all the books that promote this, and how many pastors do this. Oh, you've got to be here next week we're gonna begin a series and this series will change your life. This series will transform your marriage, This series will save your children. The series. Pastors will hype it as well. Christians don't need a hype man, They're their own hype man. And I've heard it a million times. If all the books and all the sermon series and all the Christian conferences will do what they claim, they will do. I mean Christians should basically be walking on water. Well, I mean we should just be flying around like superheroes with perfect everything. So I'm a little cynical, I know that, and I'm being very transparent about that.

16:14 I try, I mean, I hope, I mean, maybe I have been guilty of doing that. I try never to say, oh, listen to this podcast. It's going to change your life. It's going to transform your life. I hope I would never say that, because I think a lot of that is it feels like marketing one oh one. It does not feel like I mean, did the apostle Paul begin, you know the Book of Galatians, read this, and this will change your life, This will transform you. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe that's a bad illustration, but let's continue. She goes on to say, it's just incredible what the Lord is doing through this and in individual hearts and lives. She added, when our hearts and lives are transformed, we don't shut up about it. We just keep talking and we want to tell everybody. My own article just completely moved away here. We want to tell everybody. And so the people that are hearing is wedding their appetite. What I see happening is an awakening within the church that is peaking the curiosity outside the church. An awakening is happening.

17:16 People's lives are being transformed. How we engage the scriptures are being transformed. An awakening is happening in the church. All because of the Bible recap, podcast and associated merchandise or books are guides Now, she shares her cobble shares her own journey with the Scripture was far from effortless. Despite growing up in the church, she struggled to read through the Bible, and to a pastor friend guided her through it, answering questions along the way. After completing it on her own multiple times, she realized some something crucial.

17:57 People weren't failing to read the Bible because of a lot, a desire or time. It was a comprehension problem. Oh that's interesting. Now, I have been told a million times by Christians that, hey, as Christians, we can comprehend it. We've been given by the Holy Spirit, we can understand it. Now I reject that, but okay, I will agree that there's a comprehension problem in the American Church. How many times do I lose my mind when it comes to sermons, thinking someone's lacking in Bible comprehensions. So I would actually agree with her that I do believe there's a comprehension problem. All right, now, let's see what her solution is. I found when I tried to encourage other people to do it, they would have the same thing happened to them as happened to me. The one time that it worked was when I had when the time I helped a girl personally answering her questions along the way, That's what sparked the Bible Recap. I wanted to help remove barriers for people who wanted to read and understand and love God's words.

18:54 So there were barriers. What will remove those barriers? The Bible Recap? And you can get the book for nineteen dollars and eighty cents hardback or eighteen dollars on your kindle. They have found the thing that real will remove the barriers so that you can understand the Bible. You just you got to give them money, Okay, all right, all right, all right, maybe that's okay. Now you could put it in a pdfile and make it free, but okay, okay, okay, I digress. But but bu bup up up up bud. But you also have the podcast, so maybe the podcast can do with the book, can all right, let's see if we have here, right. So, The Bible Recap launched in January twenty nineteen, and just seventeen days later, Cobble started receiving emails from publishers eager to turn the content into a book. Though she was working one hundred hours one hundred hour weeks to complete the podcast, she recognized the demand and released the Bible Recap book in twenty twenty.

19:55 The response was overwhelming. Now, I look, I may get very net in all of this, but let me say to her, working one hundred hour weeks on your podcast, that's some that's some time. That's effort. Okay, As someone who's been broadcasting forever, who one hundred hour work weeks, that's crazy. I got nothing but respect. Obviously, I'm not that disciplined. I'm not willing. I mean, I don't know would I be even willing to put in one hundred hours a week on a podcast. I don't know if I would be. I don't know. I'm just gonna be honest.

20:37 I don't know. Maybe if I was making money off the podcast, maybe I would then I would just see it as a job. So I got nothing. But I mean that's work, that's work, that's hard work. So nothing but respect for that. Right. So then they published the book. We found that people who had done the podcast had then picked up the book wanted more resources. She said. They wanted a study guy, a discussion guide, a way to deepen their understanding. Then we started hearing from parents who told us my kid listens to the Bible recap with me every day. That's when we knew we needed a children's line. So then they begin to create all of these other content and they go on and then the story continues and you can read the rest of the story there. Right, So it was a in some sense, an overnight success. She releases the podcast and within what a short amount of time? Was it seven days? I think, hang on, let me go here? Was it seven days?

21:33 Hang on? Don't hang on? I want to make sure I state this correctly. Seventeen days. Seventeen days after launching her podcast, publishers were like, let's turn this into a book. That's amazing. Seventeen days and the publishers already heard the podcast and wanted to turn it into a book. I mean, that's amazing. So everything she's done, she's been successful. She has worked hard, crazy hard, one hundred hours a week. I mean that's I got nothing but respect for all of it. Now, am I skeptical that this is the thing that's going to transform lives and change life? I am.

22:19 And the reason I'm skeptical has nothing to do with her. It has something to do I've heard these claims a million times in my Christian life. I mean, you can just go go to it. Well, I mean, I know it's dated, but if if there is one in your city, just go to the Christian bookstore, walk around and just read what's on the book covers right, how they're how they're hyping it, how they're promoting it. Transform your life, will change your life. Your marriage will never be the same, your church will never be the same, your life will never be the same, your prayer life will never be the same, your Bible study will never be the same. This is gonna change it. Everything makes that claim. Well, when everything's making the claim, then I think there's a right to be a little bit going. This is marketing right now. I'm not trying to take away what she's claiming.

23:07 I'm just saying that I'm gonna be skeptical about it, all right, We're gonna be I mean, hey, we don't need anything else, ladies and gentlemen, because in twenty twenty five, we have something that will transform the way you handle the scriptures. It's called the Bible Recap. You just need the Bible Recap and then your way of dealing with the scriptures and those barriers that's keeping you from understanding will be gone. All you need is the podcast. I don't know if you need the book as well, but hey, you need that, all right. So there's the story. So I started doing a little bit more work here. So I started doing a little bit more work because I was curious, right, So I utilized AI to help me out here, and AI provides sources and everything else, all right.

23:50 The Bible Recap is a comprehensive pro project by Tara Lee Cobble designed to guide individuals through daily Bible readings and hand understanding and engagement with the scriptures. It encompasses a podcast, a series of books, and various supplementary resources. Now, let me make it clear, they also have merchandise there's hats, there's shirts, there's all the typical merchandise, right, okay, So of course that happens every single time something kind of explodes, all the other stuff is coming, you know it. You know you're going to get the books, the hats, everything. Okay, So we knew that was going I mean, as soon as you know something is this popular, you knew it was going to happen. The podcast was launched in twenty nineteen.

24:34 The Bible Recap podcast offers concise daily summaries and insights corresponding to a chronological Bible reading plan. Each episode aims to clarify complex passages and highlight key themes, making the Bible more accessible to listeners. The podcast has achieved significant popularity with over three hundred and twenty eight million downloads. Over three hundred and twenty eight million downloads, Now we could have we could have this kind of discussion right now, three hundred and twenty eight million downloads. Does that, then, Is that proof that there's an awakening in the church?

25:17 Does that prove that? What is three hundred and twenty eight million downloads prove? Some may argue, well, if it's that popular, how can you do a Bible podcast and be that popular, because you're going to end up offending someone. If you're doing a Bible podcast, you're gonna either you're gonna sooner or later, you're going to offend either the reform people, the non reform people, the charismatic the non charismatic. You're gonna reform, You're gonna offend someone. But if you can be that popular, is there a reason why you're that popular? Is it because you stay away from anything that could offend a specific group? I don't know. I mean you can draw your own conclusions there. It has also reached the number one spot across all categories on OPPS podcast charts, so it seems Apple's all the information I could recap. Pointing me to Apple on Spotify, I think it's like number eight, number nine. It's in the top ten, which is still amazing success, all right. A Building on the podcast success, Cobble authored the Bible Recap Book, published in November twenty twenty. This companion resource provides written summaries and reflections to complement the daily readings. The original hardcover edition, just the original edition sold more than three hundred and fifty thousand copies. There's an entire product line Right Leather Version, you know, fake Leather version, Personal Size Editions, study Guide, devotional discussion guide, Journal, and all of this has sold over six hundred thousand copies, millions of downloads,

26:50 hundreds of thousands of copies being sold. The widespread a pill of the Bible recap is evident and its sub substantial download and sells figures. The podcast consistently ranks in the top ten on Apple Podcasts, reflecting its strong listener base. Listeners appreciate Cobble's approachable style and her ability to demystify complex Biblical text, fostering a deeper connection with the Bible. User reviews frequently commend the podcast for enhancing their daily scripture engagement and understanding. Right Tara Lee Cobble approaches the Bible from a Christian perspective, aiming to present the Bible as a unified narrative that reveals the character of God.

27:34 Her interpretation aligns with mainstream evangelical theology. So this would be evangelicalism, modern evangelicalism. Now I don't know exactly. Is that modern evangelicalism mixed with a little bit of charismatic I don't know, or is she going to stay away from anything that would be too philological, that would define her philologically. Is it going to be kind of vague? She's, hey, thisage is complex, But is she going to get into well, what's the proper baptism salvation? Like, I don't know, Like that would require a lot. To the fact that she's so popular, I'm assuming she hasn't offended too many people.

28:17 Cobble's work encourages personal engagement with the Bible, aiming to help individuals see the overarching story of redemption in God's consistent nature through the text. Now, The Bible Recap has garnered positive feed feedback for its clarity and structure, some critics have emerged. A review from twenty twenty one express disappointment in suggesting that the book did not meet the reader's expectations, possibly due to a misunderstanding of its intended purpose. Additionally, discussions on platforms like Reddit highlight that while the podcast provides a structured reading plan, listeners may benefit from consulting additional commentaries to gain broader interpretation. But I mean it's only a couple of minutes. You'll you'll see so, AI basically said The Bible Recap serves as a valuable tool for those seeking to read and understand the Bible and a structured and insightful manner, fostering a deeper appreciation for the scriptures. Then it provides me some links to some in depth reviews of it, and I'm like, okay, great, you know, let me do just a little looking around.

29:23 So the first thing I did is I'm like, well, let me find a recent episode. So I grabbed the episode from yesterday, all right, and I'm just gonna let you hear just a few minutes of it so you kind of get an idea of what it is. By all means, whatever podcast app go look for it right now, The Bible Recap. Subscribe to it, listen to it for a month, and draw your own conclusion. Buy a copy of the book, The Bible Recap on Amazon dot com or wherever you get books. You can also find like one hundred pages available online like a pdf file. I think it's Google Books. I think you can find it there, and you can. You can, I think look at a one hundred pages like kind of a preview. So I would say, you know, purchase the book, you know, support it that way if you're going to if you want to look at it and kind of dig into it. Always, always kind of want to do that if I can, even if I disagree, even if I disagree. And the reason I'm telling you to listen to, the reason I'm telling you to read, is because I want you to see it and hear it for yourself. So we're going to play a little bit of this, and then we'll get to the area where I get a little frustrated.

30:24 All right, are you ready? Here we go, Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Let me start out by saying this book has been poorly named in English. In Hebrew, it was called in the Wilderness. For those of you who don't love actual numbers, just know that even though this book does contain them, it also contains some highly underrated stories of scripture, some of my favorites. Most people won't wade through the numbers to get there, but we're not afraid. We know we'll learn something even in the days of actual numbers. So let's go.

31:05 Numbers is the fourth book in the Torah, also known as the Books of the Law, the Book of Moses, and The Pentateuch Numbers is the continuation of the story of this family we've been following since day one back in Genesis one. According to the timeline laid out in scripture, we've been following this family for almost twenty seven hundred years of their lives. Adam eventually led to Noah. Then God wiped out the earth's population except for eight people in Noah's family, and they started over with a clean slate. Through Noah's second son, Shim, we eventually get to Abraham and God makes a promise to Abraham to be the father of many nations. His second son, Isaac, is the child through which this promise will be fulfilled, and that promise transfers through to Isaac's second son, Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons, and ten of them sold one of them, Joseph, into slavery. But God loved those twelve brothers and promised to give them the land of Canaan to live in where their enemies, the Canaanites lived. This one brother's enslavement took a turn for the good, but then resulted in all of his family and their descendants being in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years. Just thirteen months ago, God rescued him out of Egyptian slavery through the hand of Moses and his older brother Aaron. Moses just spent forty days on Mount Sinai for the second time, with God passing down laws for him to give to these twelve tribes of people who are the descendants of those twelve brothers we met almost five centuries ago. The last time we saw Moses, he was on Mount Sinai with God getting instructions about the covenant God was entering into with these twelve tribes. Today, God and Moses are talking again,

32:37 but this time they're meeting in the Tabernacle, which is in the midst of their encampment in the wilderness of Sinai, not far from the mountain. In this conversation, God asked Moses to take a census of all the men aged twenty and up from these twelve tribes. This is the kind of thing someone might do in preparation for war counter soldiers. Given what you know so far, who do you think God might be pairing them to fight against. After they're all counted, we see that Judah's tribe is the largest of the twelve by far, they are more than twice the size of some of the other tribes. Do you remember back in Genesis forty nine, when Jacob Israel was dying and he prophesied a blessing over each of his sons, including the two sons of Joseph that he had formally adopted as his own, Efriam and Manassa.

33:23 What we learned in these two chapters today about the size and pre eminence of the tribe of Judah aligns perfectly with what Jacob Israel said about Judah on that day over four hundred years ago. God is fulfilling the words he spoke through Jacob Israel when he said, Judah, your brothers shall praise you, your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Did you notice that when it came to Joseph the numbers diverged into the lines of his two sons, Efriam and Manassa. This is the result of his father, Jacob Israel's adoption of Joseph's two sons as his own heirs. So given this a day, it seems like there are now thirteen clans or tribes, not just twelve that could throw everything off right, Not to worry. God has a plan for it all, and we'll see that unfold in the days ahead. Maybe you also noticed that he told Moses not to count the Levite tribe. They were the tribe of priests whose jobs and lives were centered around the tabernacle, to work around it, to live around the perimeter of it, to care for and protect it, to protect others from coming in contact with the holiness of it so they don't die, as well as disassembling it, carrying it through the desert anytime they moved, and reassembling it in the new location. So the Levites were the one tribe of the original twelve that were set apart in this way. In chapter two, God gives orders on how all the tribes would be arranged in their camps around the tabernacle. This is a brand new structure for them, and it's supposed to be in their midst, in the very heart of the encampment. The inner rectangle would have been the Levites, and the outer rectangle had three tribes

34:55 on each side, dividing them into four groups. If you're visual and you want to see how the camp may have looked, we've included a link to a diagram in the show notes. God also gave them their marching orders, group by group, tribe by tribe, for when they moved through the desert with a tabernacle. What was your God shot today? Where did you see God's character on display? For me, it was in this census. And surely that was one of the purposes God had in mind for them as well, helping them to see His work in all this, building their trust in Him and in his promises. I think of all they've been through since God first promised Abraham that he would increase his offspring, and here we are, numbering into the millions if you count women and children. Some believe this is not the actual number, that it's a literary device that indicates a large army, but of much smaller size. But regardless which scenario is accurate, these twelve tribes of some great size are evidence of God fulfilling his promises. I've said it before and I'll say it again. What God initiates, he will sustain and he will fulfill. We've seen so much sin in this storyline so far, and it all goes to show that you can't manipulate your way out of his plan. You can't fear your way out of his plan. You can't murder your way out of his plan. You can't escape God's good plan for your good and his glory. We're in it, you guys. This is the plan. It's mountaintops some days, and pits and prisons other days. But here we are on all kinds of days, trusting that He's

36:26 where the joy is. Where do you recap? Where do you get your daily dose of joy? Show us a picture of yourself listening, or just show us the spot where you spend time with God. We would love to see it. Does your dog join you, your baby, your coffee or a front porch? Or do you recap in your cube at work or at the gym, or while wearing your sheet mask at night? Snap a picture, post it to your socials and tag us We're the Bible recap everywhere. There you have it. Now, She's got a pleasant speaking voice, very articulate, very clear. I do like that she's putting things in some form of a chronological order. Right, it's been this long, it's been this long, it's been this long.

37:13 That's all extremely beneficial. It also sounds kind of like the introductions that you get in almost any basic study Bible that you could just read for yourself. Right, I just picked up the first Bible that I have here, the Fourth Book of Moses, called Numbers, the Jew the author. Then it has the Jews Samaritans in the early Church testify to moses authorship. Several New Testament passages attribute events cited from Numbers to Moses. John three, fourteen, Acts seven, Acts thirteen, First Corinthians ten, Hebrews three through four. And there are more than eighty claims within Numbers that state that their Lord spoke to Moses. Numbers thirty three to two says that Moses recorded their journeys at the Lord command as an eyewitness who kept detailed records, and the central character of the events in the book, no one was better qualified to write the book than Moses. Okay.

38:08 So we have proof and argument for the authorship of Numbers being Moses. Okay. Then we have the time of fourteen forty four to fourteen oh five BC, the key verse numbers fourteen twenty two through twenty three, So I could read that. Then I have at SYINAI, this newly resurrected nation of Israel receives its laws, its systems of sacrifices and its national character or national charter. The people then should be ready to take the next step into the promised Land, but they are not. Numbers largely has Israel and a holden holding pattern. While the book records further steps taken in organization and organizing the nation, its central narrative is that of the refusal of the people to go into Canaan. But God still does it give up on his people. He continues to discipline them in an effort to have a new generation ready to fulfill his plan. And this context Numbers points to God's sovereignty, his patience, and his desire to bless his people. Now, of course she spoke more clearly and articulate than I did.

39:18 I stumbled over my words. But what I want you to see is what she did was kind of just a basic introduction. She went backwards and put it all in a chronological order, which is very well, which is very good. I mean by all means I'm not criticizing it, but I mean honest, like, that's the thing that's sparking a fire in the church. This is the awakening, this is transforming lives. This is the thing that maybe I need the book. Maybe if I had the book, then my life would be transformed. Then the awakening would be happening. Now is the awakening happening? But please note the brilliant marketing strategy there at the end. Hey, where do you spend time with God? Make sure you tag us and post on your socials a picture of where you do this, or you do this, or you do that. Make it fun.

40:11 Everyone post on their socials. Bible recap is tagged. This gets people knowing what's going on, and then other people listen to the program. Brilliant marketing. I mean, I got nothing, but that's brilliant, right, you get it. All is spreading on social media in a fun, creative way. That's brilliant. I got nothing but respect for that. Just if I was to ask you questions about what you just heard, I did I personally, I purposely did not interrupt it. Right, it was only five minutes long, right, So I mean, I mean, so I purposely did not interrupt it. But I mean, come on, you listen to that this morning. Now, I know what they would say, Well, it's not just supposed to be listened to. Then you're supposed to get the book or the study guide and you're supposed to read the text itself. Okay, I agree with all of that, but even if you read the text, you did all of that. I see where I'm having all heart. That's gonna be transformative, that's gonna be There are people on the Sermon's two point oh app who do kind of a morning devotional with their daily Bible reading that probably goes into more more well at least more in depth than that. So why is this thing the new? Why is this the flavor of the month or the flavor of the week or the flavor of the year. I mean, I don't want to be dismissive, but what what is it? So?

41:36 I don't know, but I wanted you to lose hereous. So here's where my problems began. So I opened up Spotify because I wanted to see where they are on the Spotify podcasting chart. Right, this is where I'm gonna get pretty frustrated. Right, So I was like, oh, the Bible Recap their number, They've got thirteen thousand plus review like a star ratings. They have a five point oh thirteen thousand people have gone there and given it five stars. That's insane. But that's right. Now, we're we're like at three. We've got like a three star rating on Apple. I think we've been dropped down to like a three. Some people don't like us right now. If I kept everything to five minutes, maybe I would not see anything to offend people. Right, Okay, maybe it's popularity is due to being short. And if it's only five minutes, can you get into much theological depth. No, so you're not gonna again.

42:35 You're not going to offend anybody. But so I was looking. It's number nine on the chart, so I clicked a tapped on it. You can go to Spotify and see this, and at the very top, I was like, wait, what is this exclusive episodes for subscribers, And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. They've got stuff hidden behind a paywall, and I start getting frustrated. As someone who has been broadcasting and uploading content to the Internet from way back right, Someone who used to record messages put them on cassette and send them to anyone around the world for free. We didn't charge anything. Someone who used to put fish bowls at the counter of Christian bookstores filled them with cassettes of my messages and they could take them for free. Never sold a thing, never put anything behind a paywall. Ever did that. I immediately like, behind a stinking paywall. The thing that's gonna transform lives, the thing that's cruck causing an awakening. We're gonna put some of our content behind a paywall. So then I'm like, I got to look into the money. I got to look into the money. So I started doing a little bit of work, all right, So here is what I found.

44:00 The Bible Recap offers additional content through its recap recaptions or recap recaps. I guess this is how you would say it subscription program. It provides members with exclusive resources and community engagement opportunities. The subscription tiers and their associated benefits are as follows. You ready official Facebook group. To be a part of the official Facebook group, three dollars a month access to the official recap recap t ins recaps. I guess this is how it's supposed to be stated Facebook group, facilitating engagement with the TBR team and fellow Bible readers. So if you want to be a part of the Facebook group, that's three dollars. So if I was to create a Theology Central Facebook group. I guess I could charge people three dollars to be a part of that. Oh, three dollars per month. I'm sorry, No, not just a one time fee. Three dollars a month to be a part of a faith this book group for crying out loud. Right, but wait, there's more. Transcripts.

45:05 Seven dollars a month includes all benefits from the previous tier, plus weekly delivery of the Bible recap transcripts. You want transcripts seven dollars. Now if you go to the sermons, If you go to sermon audio website right now, look up Theology Central, you'll see the transcripts for every one in my program for free. That's seven dollars a month to get the transcript Okay, now I'm getting frustrated. Oh but wait more. Ten dollars a month encompasses all previous benefits along with monthly bonus content such as additional podcast episodes, video Bible stuff, study resources, and more. So ten dollars a month you get a little bit more. But wait, there's more. The Bible Kneecap this is ten dollars a month offers the benefits of the official Facebook group the TBR transcripts, plus access to the Bible kneecap, a daily two minute prayer podcast corresponding to each day's reading and recap.

46:10 So you want to be able to get a prayer podcast based on the reading, Well, guess what you can pay ten dollars a month to get. And that's I guess, on top of the other content. I don't even know. Now we're up to at least ten dollars a month. I guess if you want all of this, maybe it's twenty, but at least ten dollars a month. Ten dollars a month so that you can pray along with the scriptures. What a great idea, A great I need to start doing that. Hey, guys, I'm gonna start charging ten dollars a month and I'm going to do a two minute prayer podcast. Oh you want the combo where you get the bonus content plus the Bible kneecap, it's fifteen dollars a month. Oh, but do you want to be able to ask questions and get a response? Fifty dollars a month.

47:00 It includes all the aforementioned benefits. With the added perka. You can submit one philological question per month related to Bible recap the reading plan and receive a personalized response from Tara Lee Cobble. You can ask her one question a month for fifty dollars a month. I have been receiving email and answering questions for basically thirty stinking years. Fifty dollars a month to ask one question. Someone emailed me what a little over two hours ago, And I'm a media while I'm producing a forty seven minute episode based on what they asked. People all the time email and I will do an hour program, our half program, two hour program. Sometimes it turns into a series. But to ask one question fifty dollars a month and you get a personalized answer from the new Christian celebrity. Oh no, we're against celebrity culture. Now, if you want the super Recap TIS program one hundred dollars a month. This encompasses all the benefits from the question and response here, plus contributes additional support to help the TBR develop resources and multiple languages, create materials for kids and families, and partner with prison ministries like God behind Bars. Basically, this is

48:31 you're paying them one hundred dollars a month, so in a sense, you're giving them a monthly donation one hundred dollars a month. These subscription options are designed to enhance the Bible reading experience by providing exclusive content and fostering a supportive community. How do you foster a supportive community? You have people pay to be a part of that support community. For more information or to become a Recap t visit the official page the Bible Recap dot com. Previously, the Bible Recap managed subscriptions through Patreon, and twenty twenty four they transition to Supercasts to offer a more streamlined experience.

49:20 This move result in a six times increase and the subscription growth and a twenty five percent increase and revenue per subscriber for existing Patreon supporters. Detailed instructions are available to assist in migrating to the new supercast platform. By subscribing as a Recap member, they not only gain access to exclusive content, but they support the ongoing mission of the Bible Recap to make Bible reading accessible and engaging for a global audience. Now, while specific annual revenue figures for the Bible Recap from subscriptions and merchandise sales are not provide are publicly disclosed, valuable available data provides some insight.

50:11 As of September twenty twenty four, the Bible Recap transitioned to subscription community known as recaps from Patreon to Supercasts. This move resulted in a six time increase in subscription growth and a twenty five percent increase and revenue per subscriber. Prior to this transition, the recaptans community had grown to ten thousand members, positioning the Bible Recap as number twenty four on Patreon's top creator list. So at one point they were in the top twenty four of Patreon's creator lists ten thousand members. Subscription tiers ranged from three to one hundred dollars per month, each offering various benefits. Assuming an average subscription fee of ten dollars per month with ten thousand subscribers, the estimated monthly revenue would be one hundred thousand dollars, equating to one point two million dollars annually.

51:13 One point two million dollars annually for what you just heard? One point two million dollars so that you can ask one question a month now. While the reported twenty five percent increase in revenue per subscriber subscriber post transition, the annual figure could actually be around one point five million dollars. One point five million dollars, and you get oh my goodness, gracious, oh but wait, there's more. In addition to this subscription revenue, the Bible Recap offers a range of merchandise, including apparel, study guides, devotionals. While specific sales figures for these items are not publicly available, the popularity of the brand suggest a significant contribution to overall revenue, notablympanying the accompanying book, The Bible Recap, a one year guide to reading and understanding the entire Bible, has achieved substantial success. As of June twenty twenty four, the original hardcover has now sold over five hundred thousand copies, and the entire product line, including various editions supplementary materials, has collectively sold more than eight hundred thousand copies. That's from Baker Publishing Group, all right.

52:43 Assuming an average retail price of twenty five dollars per book, total gross revenue from book sales would probably be somewhere around twenty million dollars. So, according to what I can find, the Bible Recap generates millions of dollars in annual revenue. The financial success reflects the widespread appeal and impact on the platform's offerings. Oh there's a fire, there's an awakening of God happening in the church, and I'm only, I don't know, making a couple million dollars. Now, if you go to the actual website, which I have right here. Oh, look there's a store. There's a store. Hang on, let me go to the store. Got to get to the store.

53:37 Here's a store. What do we have? Oh, all the fat is the Lord's has praying hands and it says all the fat is the Lord's twenty eight dollars. The Bible Recap for Kids twenty five dollars, The Bible Recap T shirt thirty five dollars, bookmarks five dollars, The Discussion Guide fifteen dollars, The Study Guide twenty dollars. If you want a sweatshirt forty dollars. If you want a different sweatshirt that says he does he does the doing, forty five it's just a gray shirt which just says he does the doing forty five dollars. If you want one that says hey, Bible Reader's hoodie for a small little print forty eight dollars. If you want a hat twenty five dollars. If you want a bracelet of fifteen dollars.

54:33 If you want a scripture and memory kit eleven dollars. If you want some baby onesie's twelve dollars. If you want a Bring your Wins and Losses tank top twenty one dollars. If you want a beanie fifteen dollars. If you want a tie die shirt twenty three dollars. I'm not even going through all of the materials, t shirts, books, onesies, for babies. Oh, in a Wakening of God, What's happening in the church? Because a podcast is popular that offers I don't know what we called that. I got right here. This is the feature a Daily Bible Study Guide. You can get this per quarter for I don't know if you go to see here. The Fundamentalists, the Fundamental Evangelistic Association, right, you can subscribe to this. It's not much I'd have to look up. It's www. F e A Today dot org.

55:37 F e A Today dot org. That's www dot f e A Today dot org. You can subscribe to the feature a Daily Bible Study Guide. They began the year by doing a daily devotional through all sixty six books of the Bible. All right, here's what they have for numbers. Numbers, the Book of Pilgrimage. The Book of Numbers describes the wilderness experience of Israel. It is the record of their prolonged discipline due to disobedience. The book's title refers to the two numberings of the people at Mount Sinai chapter one and the Plains of Moab chapter twenty six. Historically, it continues where Exodus leaves off. It is the story of the wilderness wonderings of a redeemed people who failed to enter the Promised Land. Along with the preceding Book Numbers, presents a picture of believer's experience Genesis, creation and Fall, Exodus, Redemption, Leviticus, worship and fellowship, Numbers that which should follow, namely service and walk. The events in in chapter thirteen and fourteen are pivotal to the book. At God's command, the tribes left Sinai and set out to possess the Promised Land, which was but an eleven days march from Kidish Barnea.

57:00 At Barnea on the borders of Canaan, twelve spies was sent ahead to scout out the land. After forty days they returned, ten of them giving an evil report. The other two, however, encouraged the people to press forward. Unbelieving Israel, afraid to trust God at his word, murmured and rebelled. Thus the Lord condemned them to sojourn in the wilderness for forty years. All who had been numbered, save Caleb and Joshua, the two faithful spies, would die there, and a space of thirty eight years, Israel almost ceased to have a history. Only one passover is recorded during this time, and even a circumcision was neglected. They eventually came back to ketish Barnea once again, no more no nearer to Canaan than before. A backslider cannot advance until he first returns to the point where rebellion began and starts anew.

57:52 There you have it. That was for January the eighth numbers the Book of Pilgrimage. Now I didn't read it as well as she did, but you could get this for I don't know, like I think, for an entire year. In fact, let me just look it up, for an entire year, for an entire year. Hang on, let me look at this, Let me look at this. Hang on, right here, we go all right, here we go. There's articles here, there's podcast here. All right, let me go to their publications, their publications. Here's the publications future twelve dollars a year. So for twelve dollars a year, that devotional actually gave more content in some ways, and what her content was a little differently focused, but it was at least equal to the same level of content. Now I could have broken it down a little bit more.

58:51 Twelve dollars a year, that's a whole year of devotionals and studies. But hey, these guys, they I don't know, I don't even know what to make you decide what you want to do with all of that information. But you know, as soon as something is popular, all the merchandising is coming. I have a hard time believe that I should not be answering questions until I get paid fifty dollars a month to get a question to answer it. Man, there's a lot of pastors, a lot of Christian podcasters.

59:42 You are doing something wrong from a human perspective, because you change it up. You could be making bank. You could be making Those numbers were staggering, the numbers we were pulling out. Now I understand that someone from from their organs say well, some of the money goes to this, and and I understand it may not be as much. I'm not saying that's pure profit. I'm saying that's a lot of money coming in to take things, put it behind a paywall. You draw your own conclusion. I'm not going to say one way or the other. But you've heard it the Bible Recap. Go find it on your favorite podcasting app. You go, hey, you only heard one part of well one episode. I mean they're only like five minutes long. You can go listen to, you know, listen to an hour of them, and just honestly ask yourself, is this the thing awakening the church? Is this the thing transforming you're engaged? There's nothing there transformative about how you engage scripture. There is no Chronological reading plans have been around forever. I've been using chronological reading plans of the Bible, well for a billion years. Okay, that's hyperbole, al right, So they've been around forever, and many of those you can get for free. Okay, So a chronological reading plan, there's nothing transformative about that, right, Little devotionals that take you through the Bible they've been around forever.

1:01:13 There's not a one thing transformative about that. I didn't hear that going. Oh, I've never thought about approaching the Bible this way. There's nothing transformative about that. As far as how I engage scripture, how it's changing people's lives, well, there's always those stories. Bethel Church will tell you how they've changed. I mean, every church, every religion, claims that they have transformed lives. So you can make your own determination about all the claims, all the money coming in, you make that judgment. Now, what I'm interested in is has the sermons three point oh app dropped yet? Oh? In the sermons three point oh app. That's five to six thousand sermons added a week. Oh, and guess what it's free for you. But I guess some people would rather pay money to support five minute devotionals. I guess I don't know. Okay, hang on, I'm doing I'm doing a search here to see Oh nope, New York Times did another one. Hang on, let me hear I'm gonna do.

1:02:16 I don't think we have a new update yet. Let me look, I'm looking here, all right, No, no new update yet, no update yet, so we're still waiting for the update. Once that happens, we'll talk about it. I don't know what I don't even know what to say. I don't even know what to say. I don't I know this is going to sound self serving, but I'm going to try to say this in a nice way. Hey, for the people who are giving you hours and hours and hours of content for stinking free, support them. If your church is putting hours and hours of content on the internet, support your church. If people want you to pay money to ask a philological question for crying out loud and so you can get a prayer podcast, and you can get additional content, and they want you to buy a book, and then they want you to buy their shirt, and they want you to buy their hat, they want you to buy a bookmark, and they want you to buy your baby a onesie. I don't know. Right.

1:03:36 For those listening to anyone on the Sermon's two point oh Apple, the sermon Audio website, remember every one of those broadcasters are paying sixty dollars a month to be on that application. Man, can you imagine if all Christian podcasters, if all Christian podcasters could have one hundred people two hundred people given you know, five or ten dollars a month. But man, that I don't know what to make out of it. I just know that whenever these things become this popular and that podcast is in like the zero point zero five percent of all podcasts in the world, it's like way up there. So it is popular. Just whenever it becomes that popular and entire industry is built around it, and you can say, well, that's a good thing, that's a bad thing. You can make your own decision.

1:04:34 I just man, as soon as I soon as I went to Spotify, I'm like, wait, they got content locked down, Like here we go, we get the Exorcist files. We've talked about. Now that's catholic. So I don't really care what they do. But they got content locked down as well. So I guess what you do is you just got to lock your content down and charge people for Maybe I think it's a psychological thing. If you put stuff and lock it down, it makes it feel like, oh, this podcast must be worth more because they're not giving it all away for free, so it's worth more than those people who just put hours and hours of content out for free. I think maybe it's a psychological thing if you'll lock it down and charge people, then people will pay. Maybe that's the secret. I don't know. All right, thanks for listening to the person who emailed me. I don't know if I answered all of your questions. And if I didn't answer all your questions, well tough. I answered it for free, so you get what you pay for. Okay, I'm joking. All right, everyone, have a great day. God bless