Rabbit Holes & Meditations - Christian Bible Study

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Tired of preachy, judgmental sermons? Rabbit Holes & Meditations is a Bible study podcast that trades performance for honest Christian conversation. We walk through Jesus’ words chronologically (this season), chase down the “rabbit holes” most people avoid, and let Scripture interpret Scripture. This show is for intentionally curious Christians who want depth without the drama. Sometimes we’ll spend 30 minutes on two verses—because careful reading matters. You’ll get biblical references, cross-references, deep dives, and real-life application around faith, fear, forgiveness, judgment, prayer, and hope—without being told what to think. We follow a strict “Bible interprets the Bible” approach we call the Berean Bible Study Filter, designed to keep teaching grounded and unencumbered by third-party commentary. Bring your questions—nothing is off the table. Come curious, leave grounded.

  1. 8h ago

    From Heart to Heart - What Comes Out of the Mouth

    The word "WORD" is heavier than at first glance.  I heard this stated in a video. "A word is the way the inside of one person reaches the inside of another." There is a thought locked inside your head right now that nobody can see. It has no shape, no color, no sound. Then you speak and suddenly that invisible thing is in the room, crossing the air, landing inside someone else's mind. They know what you were thinking. The hidden became visible. The silent became heard. That is what a word does. It takes what was inside and makes it known. Hold on to that because it is the whole point. When John wants to tell you who Jesus is, he does not reach for a crown or a throne. He reaches for the most ordinary, most human thing in the world, the thing that carries what is inside a person out into the open. And then he aims it at God. The video from which that comes is on a YouTube Channel called Deep Made Simple (no spaces). The name of the video was What "The Word" Really Means in John 1:1. I want to publicly endorse the videos on that channel. They are rigorous and inciteful. And then in this Parable, Jesus tells you what your words do.  Today, the podcast lands on Matthew 15:10-20 (but start at the beginning of the chapter to grasp the full context) and Mark 7: 14-23 (again starting at the beginning of the chapter for the full context). These passages of parallel accounts of the same parable spoken and in this case, harmonize well though there are difference that are noted in the source. Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/from-heart-to-hear-what-comes-out-of-the-mouth/

  2. 3d ago

    A Scribe With a History - The Humility of Growth

    So I started today like it was going to be another Parable podcast. But it was a single line and didn't feel too difficult to grasp.  I had in my notes that we were going to cover Matthew 13-51-52 as a Parable podcast but it was short and honestly didn’t need a lot of teaching. I still hold to the idea that it is not worthy of a separate parable study. But I couldn't walk past the scripture that is pointing straight back at me. And so today is a bit more of a personal deep dive into the journey through Rabbit Holes and Meditations. What it is. What it isn’t. The approach and the philosophy associated with the teaching and the information produced and delivered by this podcast. Admittedly, it's a bit longer than usual but I may take tomorrow off (not sure), so you can listen to this over two days. At the very least, I hope you find it enlightening, and refreshing.  Notes for A Scribe With a History Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholes.faith/e/a-scribe-with-a-history-the-humility-of-growth/

  3. 3d ago

    The Lamp on the Stand - Redux

    You might be tempted to skip this. The Lamp on the Stand is often taught as part of the Salt and Light parable from Matthew. But strip Matthew from the equation, focus only on Luke and Mark and you get a completely different take on the Parable of the Lamp on the Stand. Often, we try to harmonize texts across gospels. In this case, if you take that approach, you miss a LOT of what Luke and Mark are telling you.  Let's face it, we live in a distracted world.How often do you walk into a room, or a lecture, or sit down to a movie, and discover you can recall the last 30 minutes.  Or you're a chapter into a book and you realize I have no idea what I just read. It happens to all of us. Even with the person who, in that moment, deserves your whole attention. Your mind is elsewhere. So let me put it a different way. If you were in the room with Jesus, and He was saying something to you, how closely would you be listening? Everybody hearing this is going to sit up straight — if they're listening — and say, of course! Well. Do you give that same attention to His spoken words? This is how a parable can be a parable of a parable. It hides its meaning in plain sight, and the Lamp on the Stand is a parable exactly about that. Listening is to hearing what perceiving is to seeing. You can hear it, but are you listening. You can read the words on the page, but did you get it.  Confused yet? Welcome to parables. They are meant to be meditated upon. The lamp on the stand is way deeper than you think! Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/the-lamp-on-the-stand-redux/

  4. Sep 11

    Awake When He Comes

    Perhaps the best test for watchfulness is for times when you could be wrong. We considered the possibility of the person holding on to the pretribulation rapture theology. He has a chart. He knows the order. He knows which stage he will not be here for. And it doesn't happen the way he knew it would... Jesus told His disciples something else. He sealed the hour and He said so. And then He told them exactly what they would be here for: synagogues, magistrates, delivered up, afflicted, killed. In the same discourse as the door. Before the door. This parable is not spoken to seekers. It is spoken to a flock He has just told not to fear. To disciples who confess Him before men and expect to pay for it. To Peter, who asked the question everyone wants answered — is this for us, or for all? — and got a steward set over a household instead. If you have charge over anyone, the answer was for you. The command is not to guess. The command is to be found. Loins girded. Lights burning. Awake. The Greek is a state, not a motion. The same in the second watch as the third. The same whether He seems near or seems late. And when He knocks, the door opens at once — because the servant wanted this all night. One servant fails, and he does not fail by sleeping. He fails by deciding. My lord delayeth his coming. And on the strength of a schedule he wrote himself, he starts eating the household’s food and beating the household’s people. Then: The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware. Read that again if you own a chart. Because the mirror image of that servant is the one who wrote a different schedule — not late, but soon, and before it costs anything. His lamp is lit. He thinks he is watching. But his watching has a clause the Master never wrote, and he has been trained for none of the stages Jesus said were coming, because he was told he would be gone. When the lawlessness arrives on Jesus’ timetable instead of his, that servant is unprepared by definition. Not because his lamp went out. Because it was lit for the wrong thing. The thief comes only to the dark house. Ye, brethren, are not in darkness. Watch and be sober. The apostles named the cure with the one word the drunk steward lacked. The stakes are simple. Not when. What He finds. A door that opens at once, or a house broken through. A household fed, or a household beaten. A servant found so — the same in every watch — or a servant caught at a table he decided was his. And for the one who was taught wrong and acted on it, the parable has a category: few stripes. Mercy, and stripes, together. Do not take this episode’s word for it. Open Luke 12 and read the whole chapter before you read verse 35. Read Matthew 24:4–13 and ask who ye is. Read 1 Thessalonians 5 and Revelation 16:15 and ask where the thief-saying sits. The Bereans received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Search. Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/awake-when-he-comes/

  5. Sep 9

    The Danger of Believing in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

    Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer was the subject of a recent podcast. However, once we landed on the identity of the restrainer, we noticed a whole new window of revelation open. The baseball coach or the tennis coach refers to the follow-through. You don’t swing at the ball; you swing through it. Done correctly, the ball flies much farther. The original article opened some doors that were literally that - open. Once you walk through the doors, you see what’s on the other side with amazing clarity. I do have to be careful, but honestly, I feel a little slighted. I have been taught pre-tribulation rapture my entire life. There seems to be a fine line between intentional deception and a teacher who believes what he is telling you, even if it is wrong. In either case, “let no man deceive you” comes into play. The bottom line is to do what we’re doing. Be and act like a Berean. The source material includes the original article - Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer. Then, as we landed on the conclusion, we investigated further and discovered that the entire world of Revelation opens up with this interpretation (very cleanly I might add) We created a companion article to highlight some of the major differences. This podcast covers what we uncovered and focuses on what the direct reading opens. We’ll post both the expanded article and the companion that highlights what Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer led us to uncover.  Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer - Expanded Notes for The Danger of Believing in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/the-danger-of-believing-in-the-pre-tribulation-rapture/

  6. Sep 8

    Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer

    There’s a passage that was uttered by Paul in Thessalonians that has puzzled Christians for centuries: 2 Thessalonians 2-5-7. Something or someone was restraining the full appearance of the lawless one until God's appointed time. Paul assumes his readers knew the identity of this restraining force from previous teaching. There are many theories and that’s all that you can call them. And that’s how we left it in our prior podcast. But then I decided to dig deeper on the premise that no, we don’t have Paul’s specific teaching on the subject, though he clearly had told the Thessalonians who the restrainer was. In fact, he seems pretty definitive about the idea that they would already know when he brought it up in his second letter. We don't have to guess! Paul studies scripture. He wasn’t just making it up. Can we dig deep into scripture and discover clues to understand what Paul was alluding to? The answer is yes. But there is one other piece of the puzzle we had not considered. And we decided for the sake of this topic, it would be a useful resource. The first century Christians did not hold fast to the biblical Canon the way we have it today. There was a book that our Canon even quotes but the book it quotes is not in the Canon. We decided to consult 1 Enoch and we think we have solid footing to do so. Doing so provides solid clues to what Paul is referring to. We’re not stating it as doctrine. So far, nobody as labeled the restrainer in any theory put forth as doctrine and we won’t either. But what we did find is fascinating. Notes for Solving the Mystery of the Restrainer Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/solving-the-mystery-of-the-restrainer/

  7. Sep 6

    The Parables of the Divided House and the Strong Man

    They watched Him heal a man who was blind and mute, and they called it the devil. Nobody in that crowd said the man was still blind. Nobody said the demon was still there. The miracle was admitted in full. Then the men in charge — the scribes down from Jerusalem, the Pharisees who had already met to decide how to kill Him — gave it a new name. This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. They did not say it to His face. They said it to the crowd. The crowd had just asked the right question — Is not this the son of David? — and the leadership answered it for them, out loud, where everyone could hear. He heard it. He knew what they were thinking. And He turned and answered the men who said it. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. If Satan is casting out Satan, Satan is at war with himself, and his kingdom is coming down. Look at his kingdom. It is standing. It has never stood better. Whatever is driving these devils out, it is not the devil. Then He told them what it was. If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. A strong man keeps his house. His goods are in peace. Until someone stronger walks in, binds him, strips him of the armour he trusted, and starts carrying his goods out the front door in daylight. That is what an exorcism is. That is what the crowd had just watched. The strong man was bound. The plunder had begun. And the man doing the carrying was standing right in front of them. The crowd thought they were watching an argument between a healer and his critics. They were not. And He told them so. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. No middle. Not for the Pharisees. Not for the crowd. Not for the reasonable man standing at the back waiting to see how it turned out. Two houses. Nowhere to stand between them. Then He named the sin. Not a mystery. Not something a believer stumbles into by accident. They saw the Spirit of God set a man free and called it Satan. A word against the Son of man can be forgiven. That cannot. Then the last picture. The spirit goes out. The house is swept and empty. He comes back with seven worse than himself, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. He does not say how a house stays full. He leaves you standing in the clean, empty room. Which house are you in? Not which one you admire. Which one you are in. Do not take our word for it. The Bereans searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Open Matthew 12. Open Mark 3. Open Luke 11. Read what He said to the men who called Him the devil — and then read what He said to everyone else who was listening. Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/the-parables-of-the-divided-house-and-the-strong-man/

  8. Sep 4

    The Parachute and the Vine

    If you haven't heard Ray Comfort's sermon called "Hell's Best Kept Secret", it is worth listening to. It is a fair indictment of the use of the altar call and the sinner's prayer. Revealed by his own analysis, "80 to 90% of those making decisions for Christ were falling away from the faith that is modern evangelism with its methods was creating something like 80 to 90 backsliders with every hundred decisions for Christ." He goes on to cite this statistic: "in 294,000 decisions for Christ in just one year from 11,500 churches unfortunately they could only find 14,000 in fellowship which means they could not account for 280,000 of their decisions." That is the underlying inspiration for Ray Comfort's evangelical pursuits. It is worth noting that I'm not criticizing. In fact, that very sermon is what inspired today's message. I simply asked, would Ray Comfort's approach improve the result over the altar call and the sinner's prayer he preaches against. Well, maybe, to some extent. But I think someone that has been confronted by Ray in his approach can just as well be left there holding a conclusion he does not know how to reckon with. Ray's explanation of what the law does is profound and that's originally what got my attention. But if you leave a person standing there holding on to the revelation that he is not the good person he thinks he is; you even tell him he must repent; who do you leave standing there on the corner of that testimony? No amount of sound-bitten theology is going to be effective. That's what we tackle in today's podcast.  Notes for the Parachute and the Vine Ray Comforts Sermon from YouTube Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/the-parachute-and-the-vine/

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About

Tired of preachy, judgmental sermons? Rabbit Holes & Meditations is a Bible study podcast that trades performance for honest Christian conversation. We walk through Jesus’ words chronologically (this season), chase down the “rabbit holes” most people avoid, and let Scripture interpret Scripture. This show is for intentionally curious Christians who want depth without the drama. Sometimes we’ll spend 30 minutes on two verses—because careful reading matters. You’ll get biblical references, cross-references, deep dives, and real-life application around faith, fear, forgiveness, judgment, prayer, and hope—without being told what to think. We follow a strict “Bible interprets the Bible” approach we call the Berean Bible Study Filter, designed to keep teaching grounded and unencumbered by third-party commentary. Bring your questions—nothing is off the table. Come curious, leave grounded.

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