Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how unafraid Scripture is to praise women of great faith and action. These passages where women are praised were written in a time where societies were extremely male dominated. We will roll through many great examples of women in Scripture during this episode, but there's a twist in the end—what does this have to do with parenting boys? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Before we jump into speaking about Mary, we'll first speak about the incredible work that so many mothers and wives do. It goes unnoticed far too often. Then, we'll transition to thinking about Mary and Jesus, culminating at the cross. Jesus brings Mary and John together—but why him and why at that moment? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about honoring our widows within the church, and the family first policy Paul lays out in I Timothy. First off, I want us to be impressed with how much God cares for the most vulnerable. This has been a staple of God's character since the beginning, and He wants to see it in His people too. What are some guidelines for how this is to be done? Also, what does it say that Paul brings up adversaries to the gospel in this discussion? Join me in thinking through it! To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me Isaiah's theophany. In the most up close and personal vision of God's glory to this point in Scripture, the lessons are powerful. How did Isaiah walk away a changed man? What did he see about God and himself that prompted his change...and are we ready to do the same? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the discipline of focusing solely on yourself. This is a tough discipline to learn when people around you aren't doing the right thing, but it is vital. Paul lends his friend Timothy some Spirit-filled advice along these lines in his work as a preacher...but the principle is broader. It applies in all relationships. Join me and let's think through it. To God be the glory!  Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about biblical interpretation. It's work! Sometimes it is extremely hard, laborious work. It is possible to understand Scripture correctly though. However, the believers that trust Scripture is understandable the most are oftentimes the least patient with people as they come along in their beliefs. Is there a balance we can work towards? Ponder it with me, and to God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me what it means to hit the gym of godliness. Literally, Paul says it like that in I Timothy. Our last episode on I Timothy (on March 24th) was about the spiritual war over our thoughts. We are to take every thought captive to obey Christ. But let's be real—this is not possible without rigorous discipline. Let's ponder what it means to hit the gym together! To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about a man we either hate to love, or we love to hate! This Bible character elicits strong feelings on both sides, because he lived so carnally! However, he ended up on our "team" ... or perhaps I should say we are on his team - the team of faith! God is so good and there is redemption for anyone that will turn to Christ. But wait — who is this man? Join me to find out! To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about why the miracles in the gospel of John are uniquely designed as evidence for Jesus as the Christ the Son of God. John says they are - John 20:30-31. However, why are they? Many people performed miracles in the Scripture but that did not prove they were the Messiah...so what is so special about these miracles in John's gospel? This is the subject of a new class I'm teaching, and I hope this short episode gets people excited. To God be the glory!Class begins on Wednesday April 8th, at 7pm. It's a 13-week course.Class is held at the church of Christ in Plainfield, IN :950 East Township Line RoadPlainfield, IN 46168 Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me some more about the glory of God! We have been tracing this theme throughout the year of 2026, at the beginning of each month. We start with the glory of God descending on the Temple, but that is now God's church. So, what does the glory of God look like when it rests on His church now? You might be surprised...and yet Peter tells us not to be! Please join me and see the evidence of God's glory on us. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how we let lies slip into our thinking and ultimately how lies end up dethroning Christ. Paul says in I Timothy 4 that people were going to leave the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. Demonic forces are a part of the religious lies we are surrounded with. Join me in this study and let's take that seriously. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder this question with me - is there ever a time when someone should be re-baptized? I realize this term "re-baptism" is somewhat controversial, because if the first baptism was not legit, then some think we should not call it a baptism at all. Regardless of what we call it though - is there ever a time when someone learns something different and then is baptized "again", with a fuller understanding? Consider this case study with me. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how to stay spiritually motivated. If you have been around the church very long, things can feel like they are "same ole, same ole". Worship is the same, life is the same - it can even feel like the movie Groundhog Day. This is a spiritual killer. What is our godliness motivation? Join in and let's think through it. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how to be spiritually confident. I'm sure you have met people who are oozing with confidence about the Lord and their walk with Him. It makes you want that for yourself! Where does that boldness come from though? We already know the answer - it is both simple and yet extremely profound. Ponder it with me and may we grow in it together. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the simplicity of how the church was structured in the New Testament. I Timothy 3 contains the qualifications of elders and deacons. In this lesson, we will not go line by line in studying the qualifications. Instead, I want to challenge whether we have exalted the role of preachers over elders - and what are the ramifications? Also, we'll end by thinking about the tremendous value of deacons...a role far too overlooked. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how God wants us to be near His glory! We will think about this in terms of God's glory filling the Tabernacle when it was first erected. This is such a heart-touching truth. God wants to be near us, and we need this desperately to provide perspective in our lives. However, because of sin, there are limits and barriers. How are these limits dealt with? Ponder it with me - to God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with the stark contrast between the no-kings protests here in the U.S. vs. Israel's demand for a king in I Samuel 8. The greatest irony is that we all have a king, then and now - King Jesus. Let's think through I Samuel 8 and the lunacy of trusting sin and worldliness. Trusting ourselves never leads to the places we think it will. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me what it means when Paul said, "Yet she will be saved through childbearing..." (I Timothy 2:15a). This has historically been hard for believers to unpack. We get into it pretty heavily in the last part of the episode. The first part is a continuation from the last episode about gender roles where we'll see Christ empower women very similarly to Paul. Please join me in this deeper study. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about Paul's seemingly controversial subject about women teaching or exercising authority over a man from I Timothy 2:12. How are people getting around this statement from Paul when it seems so clear? But more importantly, what is the reason of Paul for giving this instruction? Also, this paragraph was meant to be much more empowering to women than most people realize. Let's dig in. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me a new sermon series coming to Plainfield, Indiana! The Plainfield church of Christ is having Bryan Schiele come to teach a series called "Unveiled" - it's about removing the veils of distraction, pride, and noise, so we can reflect the glory of Jesus. He and I talk about our past teaching endeavors and this upcoming series. To God be the glory!Plainfield church of Christ - 950 East Township Line Road - Plainfield, IN 46168.Website - www.plainfieldchurchofchrist.orgTimes for the upcoming meeting (March 15-18):Sunday - 9am Bible classSunday AM worship - 10amSunday PM worship - 5pmMonday - Wednesday - 7pm Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about some of the ICE protesting and how it might relate to the singular path of salvation - Jesus. I know it sounds weird! It's less about ICE and more about how Christians ought to see the government, interact and pray for the government. Strangely, Paul connects these two ideas in I Timothy 2. Let's dive in! To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the providence of God from the book of Esther again. God works through the horrors of life just as much as the things we think are positive. We need that perspective to help reframe our hardships. Also, we'll think about the back-story of Haman and Mordecai and why this extermination threat should have never happened in the first place. Be careful! You might find yourself in this episode. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me how God has exalted humankind and bestowed on us glory. This glory was made to image His glory but unfortunately has been squandered. How can we get back to the glory God wants us to image? Lastly - is seeing God's glory about seeing the cool, visual spectacles or is there something deeper we are made to see? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me a little deeper about handing someone over to Satan and its connection to church discipline. We ended last episode with a question - WHY? Why is handing someone over to Satan a good way to speak about discipline? What does that say about the domain of God's church vs. the domain of the world? And perhaps more importantly...does this mean that those in Christ's kingdom have special protection? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me what it means to hand someone over to Satan. That is not a phrase you'll hear used very often in churches (if ever), but Paul uses that phrase twice in the New Testament. However, before we think through that phrase, we really need to wrap our heads around the possibility of Christians falling away. Is this possible? Many say it is impossible to lose your salvation but is that true? Join me and we'll think through it - to God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the possibility that God has pre-determined some things in your life. Most that listen to the podcast, me included, believe in human free will and that God has not pre-determined everything. However, it would be a grave mistake to ignore the fact that God is at work in all of us. What happens when we open up to the possibility that we are in this exact moment because God wants us to be here? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me one of the most famous quotes from Paul - that he was the foremost or chief of sinners. Is Paul saying that he was the worst sinner of all time? Is that even a biblically accurate thing to say? That's how most people have interpreted it, but we will think about the original word and the original context a little deeper in this episode to unpack what Paul is saying. It has more of an application for us than you might think. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the art of double checking everything we hear, even in the church. We are diving deeper and more specifically into the problems of Ephesus, where Paul left Timothy to help the church through problems. The issues arose with people mishandling Scripture...and we can be sure that the greatest problems in the church today will arise in the same way. What can we do about it? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the beginning of 1 Timothy and start by being amazed at the fact that Paul had Timothy stay in a troubled church. Timothy stayed in Ephesus because of the mess that existed there. After all the years of N.T. study, I'm still stunned by how open and honest the church leaders were about the problems that existed. We can learn from this. However, especially in dealing with problems, our attitude and our goal is central to being successful. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder about what the word "glory" means. We are going to embark on a series about the glory of God which we will tackle on the first Sunday of each month...this episode being the first. We'll begin by thinking about the original meaning of "glory" in Hebrew and then think through how God first demonstrated His glory - in creation. Are we listening to creation enough? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder what it means to hear with ears like Jesus. In Psalm 40 we have a strange phrase in Hebrew - "ears you have dug for me" (vs. 6). This is quoted about Jesus, which is clear enough. However, it gets stranger when you hear the Greek translation of it, and how the Hebrews writer uses this. We'll dive into the weird world of translation but in the end it's all about what listening is really about. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me one more time about helping one another thrive in the church. That was the theme of the congregation where I worship (Plainfield church of Christ). We dedicated one episode to that theme every month in 2025. However, in this episode we'll sum up everything we talked about in regard to the theme and then tie it up with a few thoughts on the chain of love, binding us all together. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me some of the broad themes in 1 Timothy. This book is not given a lot of attention. It certainly isn't given the attention other books are, and I think it's because it is viewed as a "preacher book". Is that the best way to view it though? Also, as we have done several other times on the podcast - we'll read through the letter in its fullness at the end of this episode. I love doing this as a spiritual discipline. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me one of the most ancient and strange laws regarding freeing slaves. However, the strange twist is not in the freedom but in the lawful keeping of a slave, if the slave wanted to permanently remain in the house of their Master. We will first think through how awesome it is that these ancient texts are so relevant and then we'll see if we can find ourselves in this practice. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me how sincere thanksgiving ought to be seen in us. This week is Thanksgiving, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I love this holiday so much. Please join me as we meditate on how superficial gratitude is a lot more common in our culture than the genuine. Where does all genuine gratitude end up, and with whom? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me one of the strangest, weirdest, cryptic references in Scripture! It is Jude's reference to Satan and the Archangel Michael arguing over the body of Moses. We'll talk briefly about what piece of literature this reference comes from (it's outside the Scriptures) ... but we don't want the main point to get lost on us. It's about leaving room for the judgments of God and putting ourselves under them without presumption. Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the agendas we have when we come to Scripture. Because of our culture, upbringing or popular religious thinking (that we have accepted without thinking through it), we all have expectations we are bringing to God's word. What happens when God comes in direct conflict with those? This scenario is played out in Jeremiah 41-43 - let's ponder it together. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about prayers of faith. Can we say that our prayers are of faith? Let's first look at what it means to have prayers of faith, and then we'll ponder the example of prayer that James gives - Elijah. There's a detail in Elijah's story that may shed light on what it means to have absolute confidence in prayer, like he had. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about taking matters out of our hands and letting the Lord fix it. As Americans we love to think we can fix anything and everything. We love to think we can influence any situation. It's not true though. There are some things in life that are too big, which only God can fix...and even then, we might need to wait until the return of Christ for the ultimate resolution. This takes patience. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about what to do with our extra manna. We don't often think about the contribution of money on the Lord's Day as being a facet of one-another Christianity, but it's at the very heart of taking care of one another. Please join me in thinking about some principles to guide our hearts in pondering the contribution on Sundays. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the final two temptations from Satan in Matthew 4. They are all about shortcuts. The shortcut to show everyone Jesus is the true Messiah, and the shortcut of God's promise to Christ of all the nations (Psalm 2). Satan is all about quick fixes and short cutting the sacrifice of true love. Praise God that Jesus has had enough - be gone! To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me some applications to some very big topics - loving our neighbor as ourselves and the brevity of life. It may seem silly to ponder such big things in one lesson, but James gives them in back-to-back paragraphs. Hint - it all has to do with the context of our previous four lessons from James - peaceable relationships and worldliness. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder the spiritual warfare in the wilderness between Christ and Satan, from Matthew 4. Christ, as our High Priest, is showing the way to fight temptation. Let's get into the mind of the devil, while also getting into the mind of Jesus. These temptations have so many layers to them, and it is all things we face today. I hope you'll join me - to God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how Christ helps us in our temptations. Although I don't know all the details, Hebrews is quite clear that Jesus is available and ready to help us in our temptations. The reason He is able to do so is because He was tempted in all things...which must be why the Holy Spirit was so adamant about sending Him into the wilderness to be tempted. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder worldliness a bit more. This is a bit of a continuation of the last episode. If I did not quite convince you that worldliness is idolatry, wait till you see the passages that speak of God's jealousy. Our love of the world has incited His jealousy, but that always has a specific context in the Old Testament. This lesson won't end negatively though, I promise. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the strong language James has about worldliness. He calls it spiritual adultery (4:4). That might not be as shocking on the surface, but when you compare it to how Scripture speaks of spiritual adultery in other places, you'll find it very compelling. I sure did. Ponder with me how worldliness might be more an affront to God than we might think. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder the deaths of Nadab and Abihu with me. They were Aaron's sons and died by the hand of God in Leviticus 10 because they offered unauthorized fire. First, what does this say about God's commands? Secondly - what does this say about how we view God? Moses' comment to Aarron following the death of his boys is quite interesting. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder another aspect of heavenly wisdom - being open to reason. This Greek term in James 3:17 is a super deep word! It's translated differently in almost every English translation. How does this wisdom show up in our everyday lives? We'll go to two examples in the O.T. to see it in action and then we'll apply it lastly in its original context - peace among believers. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Ponder what wisdom from above is all about. Heavenly wisdom shows itself in many ways, but one vital one that James brings to our attention is in peaceable relationships. What do our relationships in the church have to do with wisdom? Ponder it with me. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the raging debate within our society about free speech and hate speech. One of the results from Charlie Kirk's assassination has been this ongoing debate. Both sides of the political isle are saying that the rhetoric needs to calm down. We need to stop the hate-speech. But how? Is it just a matter of reigning in words or does the issue of speech involve something deeper? Please listen in and let's grow together. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]